The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-12-03
THANKSGIVING.
A Large Audience Gathers at the
Christian Church.
Rev. Edmand's Sermon Most Able and
Eloquent One, Marked With Great
Ability.


pletely filled at the union service
Thursday morning. The opening
services were led by Revs. Beattie,
Line, Works and Williams. The ser
mon was preached by Rev. Mr.. Ed
mandS, of the Congregational church,
and was strong and eloquent. pro-
duCtion, one OF the best ever delivered
on such an occasion in this city. He
took his text from Matt. 6:lO: THY
Kingdom come, Thy will be done, as
in Heaven, So on earth" He SAID in
part:
1t is extremely difficult to to see
how thoughtful man Can be thank
full unless he hUIds W The Christian
view vi Divine Providence; IUr unless
through storm, aS Well as through
sunshine, through famine as we'll ds
through plenty, through war as well
as through peace, Through death as
well aS through life, There is being
worked OUT benelicient purpose,
then thousands, yea millions, nave &C.
casion today W weep Instead OF re-
jOice, fast Instead OF feast.
tion of good received. We need DOT
discuss With the philosophers what IS
the nature of The gOUd, but We may
be sure that what Jesus caught His
disciples To pray for, must be the
greatest good.
There can be no thankfulness
greater than that which comes trUm
answered prayer. call your atten-
tiun then TO. the words Of the LORDS
Prayer, especially 10 the words Of the
text. NUtlce first what the prayer
has TO do with earthly things. Ine
Kingdom is of Heaven, but IL is to
come to earth. The ideal is thai of
perfect social state. The klngdUhAlS
a more comprehensive term Than
church. The Kingdom of God will
fully come when in business, educa
tiona, social and political life The
will vi God is done. Then the mer-
chant, the mechanic, and the office
holder will seek to minister TO the
good Of all as much as the clergy man
and the philauthrOpist. Men say
this is an ImpUssi OillLy. Some Chris
UiaDS even despair Of suCn a CONQUEST
or the world by the gospel. 1 hey
look upon the Kingdom of God as an
ark into when few souls may en-
ter and be saved from Tue general
wreck OF the world The Kingdoms
of this world are to become the King
domS of Christ. The gospel IS not TO
be such failure that God,by OmnipO-
tent power is 10 SubGue The word His
love could not Conquer.
This is a natural festival, but it has
no meaning apart from tue c. ming
Kingdom or GUd Ga earth. Let Us
turn TO the Pilgrims first Thanks
giving. Less than d year before a
band Of religious eXiies left their
loved native land for bleak unknown
shore.
Under the sod of their harvest field
lay the bodies of half their original
number. BY unre hitting tel they
hau gathered a scanJy harvest. BY
the bounty Of saYages they were en-
abled TO spread a rude feast. But
gave thanks that now they might do
the will Of God on earth as it is done
in Heaven. Limited in their outlook
they may have been mistaken as to
the accomplishment of their purpose
but heir ideal was splendid.
They sought to found nation in
which the will of God was to be done.
This ideal was what fired the heart
England and OF Penn in the city of
BrOtherly Love. When this idea
fades from the minds of men progress
is at an end; civil and religious
liberty will perish.
The Kingdom OF God thus becomes
the STANDARD by which we measure
the worlds progress. What we call
evolution is but the unroling of Gods
plans and purposes. Only in the
Kingdom of God does evolution find
an ad, quate outcome. The old
Hebrew prophets were the hr>t phi
lOsOphical students OF history. To
them the rise and fall of nations was
the carrying out of JehOvah's plans
for esta blishing the Kingdom of the
Messiah.
All things are working together for
the coming of the Kingdom of God.
The invention of printing, the use OF
steam and electricity are as much a
part OF the divine plan as the rise of
greacmissiOnary societies. Wherever
human life is being made better,
there the Kingdom of GOO is coming,
The past year has seen many ap-
parent defeats Of righteousness; mas
sacre of the ArmeDians, the retro
gressiOn in Japan, wars and rumors of
wars 10 India and Africa.
But Jesus said that the Kingdom
was 10 be like leaven. If we look |
below the surface we see in the deep
unrest of the world the working of
the leaven of the Kingdom. Every |
student of the early Christian CEN |
turtles knows that when the Pagan
religions began TO seek to reform |
themselves and to adopt the ideas
and practices or the Christians the
final victory was near at hand. Just |
this state of affairs exists in India |
and japan today and it is only ques-
tion of few decades at most before |
they become Christian nations. |
Never WAS the number Of Christ'S |
followf rs so great as today Political
corruption seems on the increase but
never were there so many lndepend |
emit voters as today. Platt, Hill and |
German are Indications of what is to |
be the fate of the boss and his ma |
chine The discouraged Hebrew pro-
phet was nightly encouraged when |
he thought. that there were 1000 in |