St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-01-03


stand in the presence of God. 1t is a
grand and inspiring sight to see hui
| man pluck and determination carry.
! ing the individual step by step up the
| steep mountain side of difficulty until
the summit of success is reached. But
| the self-made man on the mountain.
| top of his success must gaze still
| higher than himself and the eminent
place he occupies for the reason of his
existence and his success. He is de-
pendent upon God for life, for abilities.
for opportunities, whether he recog-
nizes such rela tionship to his Creator,
or not. And if this is true of those
who have seemingly done so much for
themselves, surely it is true of those
of us who occupy comparatively hum
BILE and unknown spheres in life. These
two points we wish to emphasize: The
fact of our dependence and recogni-
ton of such dependence.
Thanksgiving day is fittingly the oc-
casion upon which mans dependence
upon God is specially emphasized, and
the day has not failed of its mission
if this thought is given place in the
hearts of those who celebrate. The
fact of dependence is proven by two
things: That mysterious something
called life, and the earth and its nat
ural conditions which go to sustain
and nourish that life. All, soul that
boasteth thyself of life, from whence
obtained thee that vitalizing some
thing which makes thy body some
thing more than dead, cold piece of
clay? The scientist cannot tell you.
He cannot tell you how it came or
what it is. The wisest man who ever
lived, Solomon, whom God endowed
with surprising wisdom, could not tell.
He could follow life through all its
manifold ambitions and expressions,
he saw it lay hold of all the POSSIBLE
tiles of the human mind. he saw it ex-
perience all the delights of pleasure
loving life, and in the end what?
''Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was; and the spirit Tor life)
The rich fool of Christ's parable. who
was banking upon the possibilities OF
the morrow, found that his boast was
but the grim forerunner of his last ex-
piring breath. To the truly thankful
heart the fact that it is dependent
upon God for life is a conscious real
ity. and it lives from day to day as
in His presence.
The recognition of this dependence
marks the difference between super
fetal Thanksgiving and true thanks
giving. 1t is all very well, or rather,
it is not well at all, to in a general
way talk about God as the Giver of all
things, to say that He is the Sender
of the rain and the sunshine, that He
unrolls the springtime of blowing and
sowing. the summertime of growing
and ripening, the fall of harvesting.
and the wintertime of Natures rest,
but it is quite another thing for the
heart to swell in humble gratitude to-
wards God for His gifts and His bless
ings.
The first element of true thanksgiv-
ing, then, is recognition of depend
ence upon God, and the degree of the
sense of dependence upon God is
demonstrated by the faithfulness
with which the individual lives up to
the requirements of the other two ele-
ments of true Thanksgiving. those of
recognition of the gifts and blessings,
and recognition of reciprocal obliga-
tions.
In how far the spirit Of Thanksgiv-
ing day celebration and even worship
of to-day is a genuine expression of
gratitude towards God may be judged.
perhaps, by our further analysis of
what constitutes true thanksgiving.
Certain it is that the football games,
the feasting and festivities, the fam
lily reunions and the JOY of congenial
associations, the ballroom and parties
and the thronged theaters are not
Thanksgiving. They may be incidents
of the day which is set apart for the
giving of thanks, but in no sense do
they constitute the purpose of the day.
The church services throughout the
land may give opportunity for the ex-
preston of true Thanksgiving, but the
swelling anthem of the trained choir,
the full-rounded prayer, the eloquent
discourse of the picked speaker, the
stirred emotions of the congregation,
are not in and of themselves true
Thanksgiving. Let us further apply
the test and endeavor to discover what
is true Thanksgiving. We have already
seen that the first element of true
Thanksgiving is recognition of de-
pendence upon God. We will next con-
slider the recognition of the gifts and
blessings.
Recognition Of Gifts and Blessings.
1t is fundamental truth of mathe
MATES that the greater always con-
tains the less. This is true of other
things. For this reason l wish to
speak first of Gods greatest gift to
mankind in the person of His Son,
Christ Jesus, and show that all othe
gifts and blessings are contained in
Him, and that real recognition of Gods
gifts and blessings cannot be apart
from their relationship to Christ, the
greatest gift. How could it be other
wise? The center of Gods purpose in
Heaven and in earth is found in the
Christ; the only hope of the world
rests in Christ the Crucified One. How
could Thanksgiving to God for gifts
and blessings which left out the Christ
in thought and spirit be acceptable in
any degree to Him? Recognition of
gifts and blessings. then, as an ele-
ment of true thanksgiving must find
its center in the Christ. Our text is
addressed to believers on and followers
of Jesus Christ. They are told to be
thankful. Gods message to the world
is not, ''be thankful for lesser gifts,
hut "helieye on and accept" the great