Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-02-20
II you cannot contend successfully

II you cannot contend successfully
against these small sorrows that come
down single handed. what will you do
when the greater disasters of life come
down with laundering artillery, rolling
over your soul?
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
proclamations we assemble in churches
and We are very thankful But every
day ought to be a thanksgiving day.
We do not recognize the common mer-
cies OF life. We are so stupid that
nothing but the misfortune 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 1t is God who makes
everything, from the animalcule in the
sod to the seraph on the throne. SO we
go on eating. drinking and enjoying,
but never thanking, or seldom thank
ing, or, If thanking at all. with only
half heart.
i compared our indifference to the
brute. but perhaps I wronged the
brute. do not know but that, among
its other Instincts, it may have an in
stinct by which 1t recognizes the divine
hand that feeds it. do not know but
that God is. through it, holding COM
munication with what we call IRA
tional 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 its song? The aroma of the
flowers smells like incense. and the
mist arising from the river looks like
the smoke OF morning sacrifice. oh,
that We were as responsive! Yet who
thanks God for the air, the fountain
OF life. the bridge of sunbeams, the
path of sound, the great fan on hot
summers day? Who thanks God for
this wonderful physical organism. this
sweep OF the vision, this chime OF har-
mony struck into the ear, this soft
tread of myriad delights over the
nervous tissue. this rolling of the GRIM
son tide through artery and vein. this
drumming of the heart on our march
to Immortality? We take all these
things as a 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 under
your feet. The air would cease its
healthful 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 life as that with the
life you live with your families! Is
1t not time that, with every word of
our lips and with every action of our
life we began to acknowledge these
everyday merciPs?
l was preaching one Thanksgiving
day and announced my text, "Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord, for he Is
good, for his mercy endureth forever"
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 himself as read
the text: "Oh. give thanks unto the
Lord. for he Is good"-Why, I have
never rendered him any thanks! oh,
what an migrate have beenw Can II
be. my brother. that you have been fed
by the good hand OF God all these
days. that you have had clothing and
shelter and all the beneficent surround
ings. and yet have never offered your
heart to God? Oh. let sense of the
divine goodness shown you in every
day blessings melt your heart. and II
you have never before uttered one
earnest note Of thanksgiving let this
be the day which shall hear your song!
What say to one | say to all. Make
every day Sabbath and every meal
sacrament and every room you enter
a holy of holes. We all have work to
do: let US be willing to do 1t. We all
have sorrows to bear; let us cheer
fully bear them. We all have battles to
fight: let us courageously fight them
II you want to die right. you must live
right. Negligence and Incidence will
win the hiss Of everlasting scorn.
while faithfulness will gather its gar
lands and wave its scepter and sit
upon its throne long after this earth
has put on ashes and eternal ages have
begun their march. So our every step
in life should be triumphal march.
and the humblest footstool on which
we are called to sit will be conquer
or's throne.