Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-04-08

across your soul without It's making
you better
Our national government did not .
think it belittling to put tax on pins
and tax on buckles and tax on /
shoes The individual taxes do not |
amount to much, but in the aggregate |
to millions and millions of dollars. And /
/ would have you. Christian man,
put high tariff on every annoyance
and vexation that comes through your
soul This might not amount to much
in single cases. but in the aggregate il
would be a great revenue of spiritual
strength and satisfaction. And | have
to tell you, Christian men, II you
cannot apply the principles of Christ's
religion on small scale you will never
be able to apply them on large scale
If you cannot contend successfully
against these small sorrows that CONS
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 it 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, IL thanking at all, with only
half a heart
l compared our indifference to the
brute, but perhaps | wronged the
brute. | do not know but that, among
its other instincts, it may have an in7
stinct by which it recognizes the divine
hand that feeds it. l 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 its 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 a 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 a 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
n things as a matter of course.
J. But suppose God should withdraw
r these common blessings Your body
e would become an inquisition of tor
: ture, the cloud would refuse rain
! every green thing would crumple up
u and the earth would crack open under
u your feet The air would cease Its
y healthful circulation, pestllence would
} swoop. and every house would become
J. place of skulls. Streams would first
Z swim with vermin and then dry up
IT and thirst and hunger and anguish anC
's despair would lift their scepters. Oh
, compare such life as that with tn,
life you live with your families! II
W 1t not time that, with every word o
's our lips and with every action of ou
~ >, life we began to acknowledge thes'
everyday mercies?
was preaching one Thanksgiving
= day and announced my text, "Oh
70 give thanks unto the Lord, for he 4
:, good, for his mercy endureth forever.
II do not know whether there was an
= blessing on the sermon or not, but tn
" text went straight to a young man
70 heart. He said to himself as rea
II the text: "Oh, give thanks unto tn
Nv Lord. for he is good"-Why, | hav
40 never rendered him any thanks! OF
,r what an migrate / have beenw Can
ot be, my brother, that you have been fe
es by the good hand of God all thes
n days. that you have had clothing an
he shelter and all the beneficent surround
or ings, and yet have never offered you
70 heart to God? Oh, let sense OF tn
nh divine goodness shown you in every
n day blessings melt your heart, and
an you have never before uttered on
10 earnest note of thanksgiving let thi
, be the day which shall hear your song