Newport weekly independent., 1902-11-28
TRUE THANKSGIVING
It Involves a Three-Fold Attitude
 Towards God.
Recognition of Dependence, of Gifts and of Obligations Essential Thanksgiving Day Ser-
 mon by "HiEhway and
 Byway" Preacher.

Copyrighted, 1902, by A. N Kellogg
 Newspaper Company
 Chicago, Nov. 23, 1902.
 Text-"Be ye thankful!'-Col 315
 The president has issued the GUS tomary Thanksgiving day proclama- tion, and the governors of most, if ,hot all, of the states have emphasized fhe call to the people of this land to .frender unto God thanksgiving for the blessings to the nation and to the individual which have been received during the past year. Our text is in the imperative mood and, antedating the presidents proclamation by something over 1,S00 years, calls to recognition of Gods goodness and bounty by it's short, emphatic com mand: Be ye thanllful!"
 Over a thousand years before PauFs Divinelyguided hand penned the words of our text King David is sued to the kingdom over which he ruled a Thanksgiving proclamation, and I am inclined to think that Paul had been reading the one hundredth Psalm before he echoed its senti- ments in his letter to the Colossians. Paul wrote primarily to the disciples of Jesus Christ, because they, above all others, should have thankful hearts and recognize God as a potent factor in every detail of life, but David's call is to ''all ye lands:"
 Make joyful noise unto the Lord. all
 ye lands!
 Serve the Lord with gladness:
 Come before His presence with singing! Know ye that the Lord, He is God:
 It is He that hath made us, and not we
 ourselves.
 We are His people, and the sheep of His
 pasture
 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise:
 Give thanks unto Him, and bless His
 name!
 For the Lord is good His mercy endur-
 eth forever;
 And His faithfulness unto all genera
 tions."
 In the light and spirit of the above psalm and in obedience to the command of our text, we wish to consider what are the elements of true Thanksgiv- ing, and discover the claims which God has upon us for rendering unto Him grateful acknowledgement of blessings both individual and nation al, and for which one day in each year is most fittingly set apart.
 A spirit of true thankfulness on the part of a dependent creature must issue towards it's benefactor if there is to exist between the two the least degree of fellowship and of communion. Ingratitude separates as an impossible gulf. The boat 7oads of gifts and blessings may con tinue to pass from the benefactor to the recipient, but they can never build bridge over the gulf of in gratitude so as to afford means of heart to heart communication be- tween the two; but recognition of the blessings and the gifts, and a thank full spirit, can throw out span by span the bridge over which may flow the unbroken current of kindly feel ing and genuine fellowship. Ingrat- itude as canker doth eat up and de- stroy human friendships, and what Us true between man and man is more infinitely true between man and his Maker. We need not dwell upon this point. A moments reflection is suf- ticient to call to mind instances in your own life, or the lives of others with whom you are acquainted, where ingratitude has wrecked friendships and terminated the fel- lowship of years. The pride of the human heart and the selfwill of an independent spirit are the seeds from which the poisonous plant of ingrat- itude grows. Mans ingratitude to man is only exceeded by his ingrati- tude to God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. What are the ele- ments of true thanksgiving or thank fitness?
 Elements of True Thanksgiving.-l First of all l believe comes recogni- tion of dependence, and that which is it's correlative, recognition of the Benefactor; secondly, a recognition of the gifts and blessings, themselves | and in the third place, recognition of reciprocal obligations. Our text tells us to be thankful, and David's | Psalm in the rare beauty of it's po- etic lines reveals to us what is meant by true thankfulness. A joyful, glad | strain flows through it all, because there is music in the thankful heart. | The opening burst of music is fol | lowed in the third verse by the call | to recognition of dependence, for we lave not made ourselves, but i've are His people," by right of creation. And because this is true, "know ye that the Lord, He is God: it is He | that hath made us," giving us a sub lime recognition of the Benefactor. | And the strains of our Thanksgiving | song carry us on then to a recogni- 1 tion of the gifts and blessings re- ceived, for we are 'the sheep of His | pasture, ,"-the green pastures and | still waters found there given to the | sheep everything there for their | comfort and blessing. Then comes, | in the fourth verse, recognition of | reciprocal oblipatiOnS "Enter into