The Morris County chronicle., 1900-11-30
GRATITUDE
TO GOD.
DR.. COuItaS' Sermon at the
Union Services Yesterday.

The Many Things for Which the
American People May Well be
Thankful His Views as to the
Peoples of Cuba, Porto Rico
and the PHILIPPINES.
Union Thanksgiving services were
held in the First Presbyterian Church
| yesterday at which the Rev. DR..
Coultas, pastor of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, delivered the follow
ing sermon, which will repay reading.
Text, Acts SS; 15 He thanked God
and took courage "
The thankful spirit is of the heart
and it is something that is to be drawn
out through inclination rather than by
volition. 1t comes to be because one
sees seryicable benefaction, and IiY-
ing benefactor
Surely then an interesting question
is where and how may we find that
view of Gods benefcences, which
which will awaken appreciation and
create in us the spirit of thankfulness?
have thought that W Q find something
of an answer to this question in the
condition and spirit of Paul on the
occasion referred to in the text when
it is said che thanked God and took
courage,
l. And first we are impressed that
if we would find that divine benef-
cence which moves the heart to graft
tude we will search for it on a higher
plain than the mere qualification Of
our selfishness, and the fayorableness
If our material condition We read
of Paul at this time that he thanked
God, and we have every reason to
believe that his thanksgiving was
sincere and of the heart. But if his
gratitude had been based upon the
fact that God had put him into plea
SAINT conditions and had given him
that which gratitied his selfish desires,
he would not have be4n thankful.
His conditions were far from being
pleasant His selfish desires were TAR
from being gratified. Paul was
prisoner on his way to Rome, bound
over to trial before Caesar, to whose
judgement seat he had appealed. He
has long been suffering as If he were
wrong doer, though he has been ao-
tuated by purity of motive, and has
maintained integrity of character. He
had received injustice at the hands of
Felix and Festus and through the neg
leet OF the former had been long IN
prison. On his way to Rome he had
been exposed to great and trying dan
gers on the Mediterranean sea, he had
| been shipwrecked and escaped cath
almost miraculously. For months his
experience had been of the most bitter
kind It was trying In the extreme
l to be torn away from home and friends,
from the counsel and communion Of
| his Christian brethren, ard from his
chosen work of preaching the gospel
of Christ And his conditions as he
approaches Rome can scarcely be re-
garded as improved. He is there at
Appi Forum a weary jaded prisoner.
chained to a soldier and scarcely hayr
from personal suffering as he looks
toward Caesar before whom he is soon
to stand And yet he thanks God.
Under these circumstances it is record
ed that he had thankful spirit, such
sense OF the divine benevolence to
him that he expressed his gratitude
to God. Doubtless the coming of his
brethren from Rome, distance Of
sixty miles to offer their sympathy
had much to do in awakening his
gratitude and especially as it remind
ed him of the larger sympathy and
greater love of the divine One who
was always near him, but he could
have had no expectation that these
brethren would break his chains or
exert an Influence over Caesar that
would make pleasanter his conditions
And yet he thanked God Perhaps it
was not easy for him to rise out Of
his oppressed surroundings to that
view point when he saw Gods bene-
violence. We read that she thanked
| God and took courage Perhaps
we would not read amiss if we should
reverse the order, he took courage
and thanked God. - His spirit of
thankfulness doubtless intensified his
courage, but it is not impossible that
at first it required not little cous-
age, the courage of christian faith to
thank God But if he rose to that
plain by the exercise Ct his WILL he
came to stand there with the full con-
sent of his heart. He was lifted into
o sense of the divine benevolence
which rested on something vastly
higher and better than selfish graft
fication and pleasant material sur
roundings. He had that heroism of
faith which discovered a fountain of
benevolence feeding the springs Of
life, even amidst the Withholding OF
physical good and the denial of many
things for which selfishness craved.
If this day our spirit of thankfulnesE
reaches the highest and most christian
attitude, it win not be because wa
have received everything we have de-
sired, and our feet have walked ex-
clusively along pleasant paths, but
because we have much of that courage
of faith which discovers the beneyo-
lence of God, i'll his Withholding and
in life's disappointmeuts. There is q
4 kind of gratitude which may be sim
cere enough but it is on an exceed
ingly low plain 1t is thankful sim
ply because its selfishness is gratified-
But there is another kind that is on q
much higher and more heroic plain.
1t is thankful because great forces
are at work, great agencies are being
employed for the triumph of right
eousness, for the progress of the race.
4 for the securing of an infinite and
celestial life, and glad to have some
part in manipulating them even
though it be at the cost of personal
suffering.
What does this Thanksgiving Day
mean? Does it mean that this whols
nation should be thankful? Does il
mean that this and every Other
community in all this country should
be thankful? Does it mean that every