The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-11-30
DR.. TALMACE'S SERMON.
nY rHE REv. FRANk be- vii rALMAee. D. 0.


worship cur Heavenly Father in secret.
as the early Christians used to do IN the
dark cataeombs of ancient Rome or as the
pilgrims before their embarkauon secretly
did it IN the stable Of the ,Sorooby manor
house. When next Thursday we sit down
to Thanksgiving dinner and say grace.
our children and loved ones being gath
cred about the dining room table, groan-
ing under the weight Of the best viands
the markets afford. may we thank God
that that dinner will not be stopped on
account Of that grace. o religious liberty.
thou art not always honored in this TWEEN
tieth century, for the living have never
seen the dagger Of bigotry driven into
thy rich. warm hearth o religious liberty,
before whose shrines Cromwell's Ironsides
made the earth tremble anc at whose al
tars the covenanters and the pilgrims
were ready to sacrifice their lives, may
we be ready To rapturously greet thee
next Thursday morning and to reverently
touch the pure white hem Of thy garment
with the holy kiss Of thankful lipss It
was for this religious liberty that the pill
for religious liberty that We, their
children ought to welcome the autumna1
queen of American festivals.
With humble prayer and fasting
In every strait and grief
They sought the Everlasting
And found a sure relief
Their covenant-God o. ershadowed them.
Their shield from every foe.
And gave them here a dwelling place
Two hundred years ago.
The Lesson of the Pilgrims.
My friend. there ought to be a lesson
for you in the pilgrim fathers gratitude
to God for the supplying OF their necessa-
y temporal wants. You may not be n
millionaire, You may not have big
bank account nor enought money to keep
you In ease If you ceased to work, but,
like the pilgrim fathers of old. on this
Thanksgiving day of 1902 you can thank
God that you have a home in which to
live, no matter hoY humble that home
may be. You can thank God that you
have enough clothes to keep you warm
and enough good, plain. wholesome food
to eat Should your table simply spread
you can thank God with the same humble
beautiful Christian spirit with which Ell
der William Brewster of Plymouth col
ony gave thanks. Although the bread
supply and the coffee and tea supply and
nearly all other supplies for months had
failed, and he and his family for weeks at
time were compelled to live upon fish
alone, yet William Brewster used to gath
er his children about his table and utter
devout grave. With nothing but CLAIMS
and oysters for breakfast, dinner and tea
HlOHtu III anu IuOuIn Ou1. Nlllam Brew
ster used to thank God that they were
permitted to enjoy the abundance of the
sea and the treasures hid in the sand"
But, although a few of us may thank
God merely for the bare necessaries, most
of us can thank him next Thursday morn
Ing for the luxuries as well. Our national
prosperity was never as great as today.
If we were to cross the seas and recount
to the inhabitants of any other land all
raj !, ia1,
surrounded, those foreign inhabitants
would not believe the Utopian stories we
would tell them. They would be as skep-
teal about our Munchausen-like tales as
the relatives of one of DIR. William s.
Breckinridge's Pensioners were supposed
to be.
1t was during time of great plenty In
Kentucky. Food at that time was so
abundant as to be practically without
value. But one day this parishoner came
to DR.. Breckenridge and asked him to
write to his family in ireland. Among
other things he said, Tell them / have
meat twice a week. without fail" why,
Patrick said DIR. breckenridge, you
konw that is not the full truth You
know you can have and do have meat
| every day instead of only two times a
week. IT know that your honor" was
the prompt reply, but il I told my old
father and mother, who rarely have meat
in Ireland more than once a week, thar
| meat was so plentiful in America that I
could have it twenty-one times a week
they would not believe another word that
I might ever say" Next Thursday, like
the pilgrim fathers all can thank God for
the bare necessaries of life. On that day,
like Dr. Brackinridge's parishoner, nearly
all of us can thank God for the iuxuries
also as well as the necessaries. We can
thank God that under the shadow of the
American eagles wings there are this
year more refined and cultivated homes
more abundant tables, more beautiful
wardrobes, more well-selected libraries.
with their food for the mind, more pianos
and musical instruments, more pictures
upon the walls and more of everything
that goes to make temporal life happy
than ever greeted any Thanksgiving day
before. Thanksgiving day is a harvest
day-a day for recounting your temporal
as well as your spiritual blessings. 1t is
a time for thanking God for a full cup
board as well as a church altar.
The Freedom From Sin.
The pilgrim fathers rejoiced because
they had removed their children from the
sinful temptations of foreign land.
They themselves were men and women
of sterling and unimpeachable integrity.
They were just as willing to lay down
their lives as martys for Jesus Christ in
Leyden in 1920 as were their three fellow
townsmen, Henry Barrows, John Green
wood and John Penny, who. in 1893, laid
down their lives in England; but though
the pilgrim fathers might be ready to die
for Christ, their undeyeloped children,
on account probably CT the influence of
their foreign surroundings, We're not al
ways of the same mind. Their sons and
daughters sometimes drifted away from
the principles of their fathers. They not
only fell into the sinful habits of the Eu-
ropean city, but they married the sons
and the daughters of the foreigners.
They enlisted in the foreign navies and
went forth as free lances to the foreign
wars, and 1t was in order to save their
own flesh and blood from the sinful con-
tact of the ''uncircumcsed Philistines,"
as well as for religious liberty, that the
pilgrim fathers turned their backs upon
the land Of their adoption and the homes
Of their friends. Shall we not then, on
this Thanksgiving day of 1902, be thankful
that we can rear our children IN a land
whose silver dollar is stamped with the
suggestive motto, Gin God We Trust 2"
Taking our little children's faces between
cur two hands and looking lovingly ana
earnestly into the depths of their pure
eyes. can we not be thankful that both
we and they are living in Christian COM
munities where human affections are held
sacred and where purity is not an oddly
and practically monopolized, as of old,
by few vestal virgins consecrated TO
lifelong service In a heather templeY
Can we not thank God that our children
are not breathing the morally deprayed
atmosphere of some less fortunate land
whose daughters are sold like chattels,
never even seeing nuptual day, and where