The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-25
OUR ENLARGED DESTINY
AMERICA EVER TRUE TO IDEALS
OF THE PAST.
Rev. A. q. Henry's Eloquent Address
Tribute to Our Soldiers and Sal
1ors-The Standard of Civil and
Religious Liberty Lifted Up For
All the People of All the Earth.


er and held union Thanksgiving serv-
ices yesterday morning, in the First
Presbyterian church, the sermon being
by Rev. Alfred H. Henry, pastor of
the First Methodist church. Above
the pulpit, in the alcove. was suspend
| ed an American flag, and upon it the
words, Thank God for Peace and
Plenty" the letters being formed from
ripened wheat blades Rev. William
Paden introduced the various parts of
the service. The Festival Hymn by
| Dudley Buck was sung by the choir
Rev. Bagby of the Christian church led
the Scripture lesson. Mrs. A. G. An
! drews sang 1.-THE King of Love My
Shepherd Is from Gounod. Prayer
was offered by Rev. Clarence T. Brown.
| The closing hymns were He Leadeth
Me- and America"
Rev. Henry, in his introduction, re-
ferred to two editorials which recently
attracted his attention, in one of
which it was urged that Thanksgiving
day is not a religious festival, and in
| the other that there is not much to be
| thankful for. Those who cannot see
God in the world he said, should be
excused for pessimism. The supreme
reason for thanksgiving is not the mere
! incidents of personal success or pros
perity. We have this that binds US
| to the race: We share in the glory and
privilege of the grandest century in
the worlds history. The Waterman
upon the walls who can command a
wide horizon and who believes in God
can truthfully utter the cry The Eter-
nal God is in the world All is we'll,
! for his truth is marching on
Rev. Henry took for his text:
Matthew xiii, 80: 1.-THE kingdom of
! heaven is like unto leayen which a woman
! took and hid in three measures of meal
until the whole was leaYened.'
! He spoke in part as follows: Gods an
| clent seerS stood upon the mountain-top
! of vision and, looking forward, pro-
! claimed in confident tones the universal
| triumph of Christs kingdom upon earth.
| In the fullneSS of time one appeared in
| far Galilee, commissioned with authority
| and endowed with power, who inaugur-
| ated mighty world movement and said:
And |. if be lifted up from the earth,
| shall draw all men unto me-"
Since then the time seems long. Nine
| teen hundred years have passed. Empires
have arisen, have fiourished and been
! shattered. New races of men have been
] born, new lands discovered, new nations
past possesses absorbing interest Mighty
/ forces have been at work. Through the
tragedy and triumph of human history,
Gods guiding hand is seen. Transforms
| uens have been wrought in social condi-
tons, political ideals, individual ambi-
tons and in mans entire conception of
the. meaning and method of life.
Alaric, king of the Visigoths, who
sacked the city of Rome boasted that
nothing ever grew where his horses feet
! had trod. The world conquerors of today
! have learned to Spell the word human
| ity, and point TO harvest fields, fruitful
vineyards and prosperous villages and
| cities IN Justifica ton of their rule. The
forces that make for righteousness have
been gathering momentum through the
! years. They have been steadily overcom-
ing the opposition of passion and selfish
! ness and are daily becoming more dom
inant in human thought and life. Chris
! tianity stands for something more than
the mere salvation of the individual from
! sin. Its wonderful progress cannot be
measured by church statistics or ecclesE
astical reports. Its ultimate goal is the
| redemption of the world from all that
holds it in bondage, the dispersion of the
| darkness of ignorance and superstition
! and salvation from all things that poison
| the springs of life and blight man S
| dream of true happiness.
Christianity is voice crying in the
| wilderness of sin and human helpleSsneSS
Prepare We the way of liberty and learn
ing, light and progress, truth and equity,
for the oppressed, the benighted the
tened to this message has felt a mighty
impulse onward to gain a deeper reaIiza-
ton of the Christ ideal.
What are some of the signs that the
world is growing better, that the leaven
is working in the lump and that shall
incline our hearts to offer true thanks
| giving?
Sometimes we feel that evil can never
be dispoSsessed-tha it is even gaining
| the ascendancy. Looking upon the sur
face, we say, everywhere there are wars
and rumors of wars; the passions of me1
are inflamed: hatred, jealousy avarice
greed for gain everywhere prevail. So.
ciety seems hopelesSly diseased, politics
are VIGOROUSLY corrupt, the church is
possessed of the spirit of worldliness
God is forgotten by the majority of meT
and his laws are ignored. Infidelity is
becoming more outspoken. Efforts al
social reform are spasmodic and sporadic
RevivalS of religion are few and far be.
tween. Creeds and denominations are
multiplying, while the old-time conviction
of sin is growing less intense. Surely
there are spots in our .'feasts of charity
There is certainly material enough fol
painting q dark picture or for the con.
coction OF. bitter pill, to be swallowed
hastily before the Thanksgiving feast be
gins. But these things do not describe
the tendencies of the age. They rather
indicate the few remaining points of re
sistance to the victorious march of tht
truth of God. Public conscience wa.
never more enlightened and sensitive thai
at present. The worlds standard of NOR
atty never approached closer COINCIDENCE
with the standard of the New Tesla
ment. There are those who still cry, "Ul
with Barabbas and down with Christ,
who are in love with brute force and seen
untouched by the exquisite beauty o
pure unselfish virility. But the sentimen
is deepening and growing in favor 0
clean, strong, healthy manhood, and al
the elements of society that militat
against this are being placed more an,
more strenuously under the ban of publ
disfavor
The worlds ideal OF greatness neve
approximated more nearly than at pres
ent TO the ideal of Christ, who taught hi
disciples that true greatness came throug
service. Men are realizing their response
! bilities to their fellow men as never be
l fore. Practical, systematic benevolenc
has become the rule and not the eXcep
ton. The poor and helpless, the sick an
erring, are being cared for as never be
fore The dignity and worth of woman
hood is being respected in such fashio
as was never dreamed of in the days O
chivalry. The story of neglected or de
l PRAYED childhood arouses thrill of pit
and indignation as far as the tiding
spread. City Sums are being invaded i
the name of Christ. The cup of col
Elements, industrial Schools manual tran
ing schools, sewing schools and gymnas
for both body and mind
Reformatory institutions are taking tn
place of prisons. Solitary confinement
giving way to useful labor. The gospel
l preached behind bars. Books and maya
zines are placed upon corridor shelve:
Free libraries, free museums, free schools
free baths. free hospitals, free diSper
saries. are all opened TO the people. Life
saving stations and lighthouses are foun
l not only on our dangerous seacoasts, bu
2 in the heart of our great cities. Men al
: beginning to ask: Which is the MOI
? Christly service--to give to the poe
prayers or potatoes? To humble masse
: for the dead, or prescribe medicines fc
. the dying? To commiserate a mans is
s norance or to teach him how to think
To establish soup kitchens and free lods
+ lighthouses, or to provide the means
" | honest labor? To climb the rickety stail
of foul city tenements, Drawing the pest
lential breath of disease. in order to la
a sympathetic hand upon a fever-flushe
forehead, or to cause such death-breedin
tenements to be torn down and to Il
, in Gods sanitary angels of fresh air an
e sunshine?
t The humanitarian spirit is abroad
S the world, and the humanitarian spirit
Z ..-.i;t- l,li. - -.