The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-12-07
GAVE THANKS TO GOD.
Annual Thanksgiving Service Was Held
at the Congregational Church
Yesterday Morning.
MEASURE OF A NOBLE LIFE

Corey, of the First Baptist Church. as the
Topic for the Days Religious Teachings
Many worsh1ppers Attend the Service
Music was Furnished by the congrega-
tional Church Choir
The annual Thanksgiving service
was held yesterday morning at the
First Congregational church, all the
Protestant churches uniting 10 give
thanks to God for the many blessings
of the years. The church was crowded
to the door Rev. Rob1ee had charge
of the service and the music was fur
nished by chorus choir. Rev. S. w.
Nay1or, of the Park Avenue church,
read the scripture, after which Rev. l.
w. Corey, of the First Baptist church,
delivered very earnestssern1on on the
subject, measures and Motives of a
Noble Life, or Thanksgiving for the
Privilege of Service. The text was,
| thank Him that enabled me, even
Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he
counted me faithful appointing me to
his service. Tim. 1:12.
Rev. Corey said in part: The ques-
ton of supreme Importance to every
human being is, or ought to be, Glow
Shall I Make the Most of Life? To
answer this question: intel1igent1y, one
should have clear and true conviction
concerning the value and design of
life. No architect builds sbetter than
he plans; no poet sings nobler than he
dreams: no painter puts on canvas
more of beauty than his'sou1 conceives,
and no life rises in nob1eness above
the thoughts of life which reign within
the soul. There is no true measure of
a noble life that does1not include first
the quality and after that the quantity
| of the service which it renders to the
world. This was the unite of measure
ment employed by the Son of God, who
came to set up on earth the standards
of the skies. He gave heavens meas
urinp rod into the hands of men when
he declared, 'Whosoever would be-
come great among you shall be your
minister, and whosoever would be flrst
among you shall beyour servant.
But just here let us discriminate be-
tween service and labor, A man may
perform prodigious tasks and after all
render no true service. One OF the
saddest things in life is the fact that
so much of the world toll fails from
one cause and another to class as
service.
Again many Of the works of men are
designed1y destructive and devilish.
Napoleon, that fiery prodigy of war
and conquest, was the hardest work
ingman of his day, but he was the
scourge, not the servant of his time,
or, labor may be essentially selfish and
again it falls below the rank Of serv-
ice The fountain and the whirlpool
both toll cease1ess1y, but to wondrous-
1v different effects. The fountain
yields up it's contents for the blessing
of the world, pouring forth its streams
to make the grasses grow and Stake
the thirst of man. The whirlpool,
though doomed to an endless round of
action, gives nothing forth, but draws
all things that come within it's reach
into own vast vortex to feed its in
satiab1e NAV. There is an immense
amount OF activity among men of the
whirlpool sort. We may call it work,
but it is unworthy the name of service.
Still again a man may work under the
sheer conpu1sion of necessity, and
now he is no more a servant, but
slave. Forced labor is serfs1n, not
service. The unwilling toiler is
thra11. Christ's thought for man is
that he shall be neither drone nor
drudge, but a workman with free
spirit.
This true measure of .nob1eness was
also, in Christ's day a new measure of
nobleness. The common sentiment of
his contemporaries ran directly coun-
ter to this high conception. To live
at ease; to lie in warm baths; to1o1l on
soft couches; to be 1u11ed by dreamy
music; to DO sprink1ed with delicate
perfumes, to be famed by attendant
slaves; to be gar1anded with flowers;
TO feast on ingenious dishes; to sip
rare wines; to view spectacular dis
plays in the arena; to levy tribute up
on the whole world for ones personal
enioyment-such was the sensual, sell
fish, rotten ideal of life throughout the
Roman empire in the first century
And it must not surprise us to find it
so, it was the legitimate product of the
time. The pagan supposed that even
the gods themselves were Tapped in
luxury and ease. If his gods lived for
self,indu1gence, why should not he.
Would you compare samples of their
products Think of Paul toi1ing. suf-
fering, preaching, praying, penning
immortal epist1es, and then think of
Nero, petted and pampered, with
painted face and Tyre in hand, drunk
with the adu1ations of the rabb1e in
the theatre. will not ask which you
consider the nobler picture, which
comes nearer your ideal, but I will ask
you to remember that each of these
men was what his religion made him.
Eacn was true to the motto of his life.
Pau1's motto was: 81 owe myself to
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