Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-02-21

y
scratch of a sixpenny nail sometimes
produces lockjaw, and the clip of a
most infinitesimal annoyance may
damage you forever. Do not let any
annoyance or perplexity come across
your soul without its making you bet
ter.
Again, we must bring the religion of
Christ into our commonest blessings.
When the autumn comes and the har-
vests are in and the governors make
roclamations, we assemble in church
es and we are very thankful. But
every day ought to be Thanksgiving
day. We do not recognize the COM
mon mercies of life. We have to see
a blind man led by his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what a
grand thing it is to have undimmed
eyesight. We have to see some wound
ed man hobbling on his crutch or with
his empty coat sleeve pinned up be-
fore we learn to think what a grand
thing God did for US when He gave US
healthy use of our limbs. We are so
stupid that nothing but the misfor-
tunes of others can rouse us up to our
blessings. AS the OK grazes in the
pasture up to its eye in clover, yet
never thinking who makes the clover,
and as the bird picks up the worm
from the furrow, not Knowing that it
is God who makes everything, from
the animacule in the sod to the seraph
<on the throne, SO we go on eating,
drinking and enjoying, but never
thanking, or seldom thanking, or, if
thanking at all, with only half
heart.
1 compared our Indifference to the
brute, but perhaps I wronged the
brute. I do not know but that,
among it's other instincts, it may
have an instinct by which it recognizes
the Divine hand that feeds it. 1 do
not know but that God is, through it,
holding communication with what
we call Irrational creation" The
cow that stands under the willow by
the watercourse chewing it's cud
| looks very thankful, and who can tell
how much a bird means by it's song?
The aroma of the flowers smells like
incense, and the mist arising from
the river looks like the smoke of a
morning sacrifice. Oh, that we were
as responsive! Yet who thanks God
for the water that Gushes up in the
well, and that foams in the cascade,
that patters in the showers, and that
claps it's hands in the sea? Who
thanks God for the air, the fountain
of life, the bridge of sunbeams, the
path of sound, the great fan on a hot
summers day? Who thanks God for
this wonderful physical organism,
this sweep of the vision, this chime
| of harmony struck into the ear, this
i
the nervous tissue, this rolling of the
crimson tide through the artery and
vein, this drumming of the heart on
our march to Immortality. We take
all these things as matter of
| course.
But suppose God should withdraw
| these common blessings! Your body
would become an inquisition of tor
ture, the cloud would refuse rain,
every green thing would crumple up,
and the earth would crack open I'M
der your feet. The air would cease
| it's healthfu1 circulation, pestilence
would swoop, and every house would
become a place of skulls. Streams
would first swim with vermin and
then dry up, and thirst and hunger
and anguish and despair would lift
their scepters. Oh compare such a
life as that with the life you live
with your familiesi Is it not time
that, with every word of our lips and
with every action of our life we be-
gan to acknowledge these everyday
mercies? whether We eat or drink
or whatsoever We do, do all to the
glory of God" Do I address a man
or a woman who has not rendered to
God one single offering of thanks?
I was preaching on Thanksgiving
day and announced my text-"Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord, for He is
good and His mercy endureth for
ever" 1 do not know whether there
was any blessing on the sermon or
not, but the text went straight to a
young mans heart. He said to him
self as I read the text: "Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is
good Why, I have never rendered
Him any thanks! Oh, what an in
CRATE have beeni" Can it be, my
brother, that you have been fed by
the good hand OF God all these days,
that you have had clothing and shell
ter and all the beneficent surround
ings, and yet have never offered your
heart to God? Oh, let sense of the
Divine goodness shown in your every
day blessings melt your heart, and if
YOU have never before uttered an ear
nest note of thanksgiving let it be
this day which shall hear your songi
What say to one I say to all. Take
this practical religion I have recon-
mended into your everyday life.
Make every day Sabbath and every
meal a sacrament and every room
YOU enter a holy of holes. We all
11f - l.