The age-herald., 1902-02-23

not contend successfully against these small sorrows that come down single handed what will you do when the great. CT 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 merctes of
 life. We have to see a blind man led by
 his dog before we begin to bethink our
 selves of what grand thing it is to
 have undimmed eyesight. We have to
 see some wounded man hobbing on his
 crutch or with his empty coat sleeve pin ned up before 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 misfortunes
 of others can rouse us up to our bless
 ings As the OK grazes in the pasture up
 to It's 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 ev-
 erything. 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 thanking. or. if
 thanking at all. with only half heart
 I compared our difference to the brute,
 but perhaps I wronged the brute. I do
 not know but that, among its other in-
 sttncts, it may have an instinct by which 1t recognizes the divine hand, that feeds
 it. do not know but that God Is through
 1t, holding communication with what we
 call irrational creation" The COW that
 stands under the willow by the water course chewing it's cud looks very thank
 ful, 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 water that gushes up in the
 we'll and that foams in the cascade, and
 that laughs over the rocks. and that pat
 ters in the showers. and that claps its
 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 hot summers day? Who thanks God for this wonderful physical organism, this sweep of the vision, this l chime of harmony struck into the ear. 1 this soft tread of a myriad delights over | the nervous tissue, this rolling of the | crimson tide through 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 blessingsl Your body would be- come an inquisition of torture the cloud would refuse rain every green thing would crumple up, and the earth would | crack open under your feet. The air
 would cease it's healthful circulation, pestilence would swoop, and every house
 would become place of skulls Streams would first swim with vermln and then dry up and thirst and hunger and an | guish and despair would lift their scep- l ters. 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 begin to acknowledge these ev-
 eryday mercies? Whether ye eat or | drink or whatsoever ye 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?
 1 l was preaching one Thanksgiving day | and announced my text-"Oh give thanks
 unto the Lord. for he is good for his I mercy endureth forever" I do not know
 whether there was any blessing on the | sermon or not. but the text went straight
 to young mans heart. He said to him
 self as I read the text: "Oh, give thanks l unto the Lord for he is good-ZVhv I
 have never rendered him any thanksi i Oh. what an ingrate I have beenW Can | 1t be, my brother, that you have been l fed by the good hand of God all these days, that you have had clothing and
 shelter and all the beneficent surround 1 ings, and yet have never offered your | heart to God? Oh, let a sense of the | divine goodness shown you in everyday l blessings melt your heart and if you | have never before uttered one earnest | note of thanksgiving let this be the day l which shall hear your song What I say 1 to one l say to all. Take this practical | religion l have recommended into your everyday life. Make every day a Sab path and every meal a sacrament and every room you enter a holy of holies | We all have work to do; let us be willing l to do It. We all have sorrows to bear; let us cheerfully bear them We all have battles to fight; let us oourageously fight them. IT you want to die right you must live right Negligence and incidence will win the hiss of everlasting scorn, while fafthfulness will gather it's garlands and wave it's scepter and sit upon its throne long after this earth has put on ashes and eternal ages have begun their march
 You go home today and attend to your
 little sphere of duties. I will go home
 and attend to my little sphere of duties
 Every one in his own place So our ev-
 cry step in life shall be a triumphal
 march. and the humblest footstool on
 which we are called, to sit will be con-
 querors throne.
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