The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-01

lay tI Is Tie VOICE VI 1dllH II Is
the peculiar privilege of the believer:
with joy, it is function of Christian
life. hence a duty. To the believer
prayer is a blessed privilege; to the
trusting man a source of continual
blessing. The prayerful man Is a joy
full man, the prayerful man is thank
full man, and the life of such thankful
man is continued invocation and an
ever-abidng benediction. God, / thank
Thee; Father, bless me, that l may
bless others
Thanksgiving is the voice of happi-
ness and prayer from man the creature
to God the creator 1t is the natural
fruit of joy, as it is the natural accom-
paniment of prayer. 1t is the exercise
of joyful and praying heart. The
thankful man is a happy man; the
thankful man is contented man. Con-
tentment, happiness, thanksgiving
these three are one!
THANKSGIVING is a function of life,
hence a duty. IT is the service due God
the Father. 1t is a function necessary
to the enjoyment of life. The unthank-
full are never happy. 1t is mark of
the wicked that they have no thank
fulness. God is recognized in the
thanksgiving spirit
therefore, it is truly wise proVis-
ion that arranges for time of national
thanksgiving-a time of joy, of prayer.
Of remembering God. 1t is a beauti-
full and appropriate design, this day in
which a nation gives thanks to God.
Beautiful because God is presented as
the Oliver of all good; appropriate be-
cause coming, as it does. at the end
of the harvest months, after the fruits
of the fields have been gathered, pro-
vision made for the long months when
man can neither plant nor reap, it gives
evidence of the goodness of the God
of nature and provides something to be
thankful for. If we find God in the
harvest we have our joy increased, and
surely it is soul far from God that
fails to find the Creator in blessings Of
the fields or of the mines.
1T is day of helpfulness. Joy is
ever helpful In families reunited, in
evidence of continued favor, in health
full recreation, in happy faces gathered
about tables grooming with good things.
And then comes the service of song,
prayer and Thanksgiving in which we
join as children of one Father-the
holiday that becomes a holy day in
keeping in mind the design of the sea-
son so set aside. In this we grow
stronger, encouraged and helped. Our
hearts grow warmer and our souls en-
large, and these are helpful.
ITO the Christian it is the culmina-
ton of 1854 preceding days of thanks
tie time or gives but little thought to
thanksgiving-a day when God is sug-
gested to the mind. and if it is only d
suggestion and appeals only to the
mind, yet it is God who is suggested.
and who can tell what the mind will
reply in time to this suggestion? To
present God is always helpful.
AS a national institution it is help
full to the nation. We are not an I'M
grateful people. Making due allowance
for the howls of calamity from poll
ticians and socialistic iconoclasts, the
close observer of the rank and file
finds them, at heart. thankful Thank
full for small favors it may be; desir-
ing, like Oliver Twist, more yet CRATE
full for what they have. But We are a
fOrgetful people. Like the Israelites,
we forget God in the many blessings
which are our portion. This may be
through ignorance or thoughtlessness.
or both; and we may not be more so
than any other people; but, taking into
consideration how much greater are
our blessings than any other nation,
we should remember God more than
any other nation, and this, l am led
to believe, we do not. 1t would seem
that in our hustle and hustle for sue
cess in life we forget the Author of our
being and success. We are a, patriotic
people, thankful people. but our pa
triotism and thankfulness may arise
from the consideration of conditions of
a local or personal character. 1t is the
usual thing to say, L did it. we did it,
our country, etc We may be thankful
because of success. but our thanksgiv-
ing, like unto the worship of the
Athenians before an altar erected to
an unknown god thankfulness from
dissatisfaction rather than to God.
And so the annual proclamation for
national thanksgiving, like the words
of Paul. presents God as the giver of
all blessings and reveals Him ever near
us to continue to bless.
But the day is more helpful when
it calls to mind the needs of others and
affords us an opportunity to contribute
to those who seem to have little to be
thankful for. The act of giving thanks
is an evidence that we have something
to be thankful for and the giving OF
our substance to those less fortunate
| places them in the same position 1t is
| part of the function of joy to make
| others joyful. Joy is never solitary. II
| is part of the function of prayer to be
| the medium through which prayer is
answered. 1t is part of the function OF
| Thanksgiving to give to others oppor-
| tunity to obey God, who says: In every
| thing give thanks. A depleted larder
and an empty stomach are not favor
| able to rejoicing. Fasting may tend tC
keep in subsection our animal natures
| but feasting is a source of joy and good
feeling. The shivering child finds little
to be thankful for in your warm clothing
and cracking fire unless you share it
and the sin of the world is due in par
to the fact that this is not done. We
are partners with God in sharing will
the needy. If Thanksgiving is a func
ton of life, help others live. Give
thanks to God for your blessings; exer.
else your opportunities, so that others
will give thanks to God for your bless
ings because they thus become the
blessings of others. This presents the
proper design Of the day.
History tells us that this annua
celebration of the fireside joys grew Out
Of moment of great peril and marked
deliverance therefrom. Our Pilgrim
fathers, strangers in a strange land
suffering from privation due to the
tickle climate. sickness. and unfriendly
treatment from the Indians, had ap.
pointed day of fasting and prayer
But ere the day had arrived they
Weakened one morning to find that dur
ing the night a good shin from home