The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-11-26
Thanksgiving Sermon.
Continued from paSe /.

NCoutlnucu from puot 4.
ing to an immutable program. He has Civ
en- it central position so that it Is washed
by the waves of the Atlantic and Pacific.
If we take its geographical location, or its
climate, or our mineral and agricultural ca
pacities, the variety and healthfulness of
our climate, no matter from what stand
point we view our location, we must con-
TESS without self conceit or national vanity,
that our national location is the most desir-
able on the face of the earth. DIR. Newman
has said 1T is far from the frozen regions
Of the north, 1t Is far from the burning
sands Of the south, but sweeping over the
lovely regions of a.temperate zone" 1t is
therefore on the right side Of the equator,
destined by providence to be the great re-
ceptacle OF humanity. Our vast oceans,
rich valleys, broad, fertile praires, mineral
mountains of gold, silver, iron, copper and
coal, are divine facts, magnificent object
lessons, chiselled out by the hand of the
Omnipotent. They are indexes of universal
history, mute prophets of the fu ure of this
nation. Commerce centralizes population,
breaks down the barriers of nationality, re-
moves prejudice and opens the way to the
gospel Of the Son of God. Our country is
big with possibilities. 1t Is vast magazine
where Is treasured up whatever will be
needed in our advancing civilization. De
Tocquevllle declares that the American con-
tinent alone is capable of giving sustenance
TO three thousand six hundred million of
people, or more than three times the pres
emit population of the globe. "Take five of
the six first class powers of Europe" says
DIR. Strong, "Great Britain, France, Ger
many, Austria and Italy; then add Spain,
Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark nd Greece;
let some greater than Napoleon We 4 them
into one mighty empire, and you could lay
it all down in the United States west of the
Hudson river once and again, and again
three times. Notwithstanding the fathers
on Massachusetts, bay once decided that
population was never likely to be very dense
west of Newton Ia suburb of Boston, and
the founders of Lynn, after exploring ten
or fifteen miles, doubted whether the coun-
try was good for anything FARTHER west than
that" Well may Mr.. Gladstone say that
we have the national base for the greatest
empire ever established by man." The
greatest measurement of Texas is nearly
equal to the distance of Chicago to Boston.
Lay Texas on the face of Europo and this
giant with his head resting on the mount.
aims of Norway, with one palm covering
london, the other Warsaw, wou Il stretch
himself down across the Kingdom of Den
mark, across the empire OF Germany and
Austria. across Italy, and leave his feet
hanging over into the lap of the Mediter-
raDean for foot bath Or, says promin-
emit officer Of the army, ''place the great
state of New York down in the middle of
Texas and traveller setting out without
guide or compass, might ride for weeks and
then not be able to find 1t. The mind Is
staggered as II strives to comprehend the
nf OF in
make us tremble when we remember the
vast moral perils which threaten this great
nation.
Vi. Another occasion or ground of graf
itude, Is the abundant rewards which Pr0vi-
dence has again blessed the labors of the
husbandman. We come TO the close OF
year of plenty throughout our land. Our
fields have yielded their increase, our garn-
ers are full for ourselves and the hungry
millions of the old world. We may fail to
be moved by such benediction, dwelling as
we do amid the whirl of mechanical indus
tries and the activities of commerce; yet
these are very Intimately and vitality de-
pendent, as we we'll know, upon what after
all, is the deepest fountain of our wealth
and welfare, namely, the culture of the soil.
For wheat or bread is emphatically "the
staff of life," as we call II In familiar speech,
inasmuch that II famine, only in this one
item of public sustenance, should ever visit
MS, wailing would go up from every cottage
and mansion in the land at the 0verwhelm-
ing calamity. All material comforts and
necessities even wait upon this; let the la
Dor of the husbandman fail, let God with
hold the rain, and what becomes of the rich
man? Can he grind his gold into flour?
Can he leaven his bank stock and govern
ment bonds into bread? With all his boast
ed wealth he will starye side by side with
the poorest beggar. All the ears of the
ripened corn the farmer brings to market
are the germs of life to the sixty-6ve mil
lion In our great American household.
The sails of our commerce, the wheels OF
our factories, the implements of science,
the scheming brains of statesmen, the men
of genius, the chisel of the artist, have their
being and powers only because earth yields
its fruits to the patient labors of the farmer.
We might be able to live without orators,
without poets, without politicians, perhaps
we might possibly survive the loss of the
theatre, and the prize-fghters and perhaps
the saloon, but am sure that we could not
live without the pOwman. 1t is the wealth
which comes out of ''mother earth" which
Is the foundation of all our gain. and 1t is
WELL therefore, to make grateful mention
OF these benefits on such day as this. And
rs the sunshine of prosperity is ising upon
MS, let us today join hands WITH the farmer
and shout the harvest home. saying. Now
therefore, our God we thauk thee because
thou hast filled Us with the finest of the
wheat,n and that we have an abundance to
supply the demands of neghboring nations.
". l ask you for a few moments to