The Tupelo journal., 1903-12-04

--- ualS, as we'll as a
- nation. There has
been a tendency,
| since the day became fixed as a ma
tional holiday, and was regularly des-
ignated each year as such, to subordl-
nate the true spirit and purpose OF the
day to the sports and festivities which
have crowded into it's observance. 1t
is the day of the great football con-
| tests, it is the day of feasting, and par
ties and merry making and pleasure
seeking, but it is no longer the day which
fills the churches with their devout con-
gregations whose hearts rise to GOD
in thankful recognition of His goodness
and mercies. In old New England, where
the day as observed in this country had
its origin, Harriet Beecher Stowe tells
us that, great as the preparations were
for the dinner and the festivities OF the
day, everything was SO contrived that
not a soul in the house should be kept
from the morning service of Thanksgiv-
ing in the church" But to-day ii is not
so. Church attendance is the excep-
ton rather than the rule. In most places
the union service of half a dozen differ
ent churches has hard work mastering a
respectable audience. Instead of every
church being filled with its thank-offer-
ing, praise-giving people. the large ma
jority of them stand mute and empty,
while the families which should be
there are busy with the pleasures and
e4-+,ri+;@r ~ +L@ 1o1- Trbse Sc ltchnpnr-
ing to God, a violation OF the purpose OF
the day, and disrespectful Indifference
to the request of the president, that the
people of the land shall gather in their
respective houses of worship n there
render unto God thanksgiving for the
the past year.
I was a genuine thanksgiving which
| in 1889 drew the English people to-
gether in public worship after the de-
struction of the famous Spanish Ar
mazda by the insignificant British fleet.
Knight in his history tells us that "on
that day there were given in every
church in the land public and general
thanks unto God with all devotion and
inward affection of heart and humble
ness for His gracious favor extended
towards us in our deliverance and de-
Tense in the wonderful overthrow and
destruction shown by His mighty hand
on our malicious enemies, the Span
iards, who had thought to evade and
make a conquest of the realm" 1t was
a real thanksgiving which the Puritans
observed in public worship after the
perils of famine and sickness had been
passed and deliverance had come.
Those were real thanksgiving days
which were held all through the revolu-
stionary war as the people of this land
united in thanking God for preserving
them and maintaining their cause.
When peace came in 1884 and a thanks
giving day was proclaimed, it brought
all the people together in public recog-
milton of Gods goodness and blessing.
Again in 1895. after the constitution
of the United States had been adopted.
when President Washington pro-
claimed a Thanksgiving day, it was
genuinely such in spirit and character.
Thus from time to time as special cir
cumstances suggested thanksgiving has
been generally and devoutly observed.
But with the establishing of the day
as an annual holiday without reference
to any special national blessing or
Providence have come, as we have al
ready said, a careless disregard of the
claims of the day, and failure to OBJ
serve in public or in private that
thankful, devout spirit which
from real recognition of God as Giver
and man as a dependent ard needy
creature.
THUS is lost to the individual and,
1 through the individual, to the ma
ton the real power and blessing of
Thanksgiving day. Our text reminds us
that God is the giver OF all good. The
tremendous crops of Grains and fruits
and vegetables of which this nation
boasts and Of which abundance thor.
sands of tons of food stuffS are sent to
feed other nations, all come from God.
The coal and iron and gold which man
takes out of the bowels of the eartL.
tttAo W "AANll VI 10 wal dItu HIS IL
dustries created and run were first
hidden in the ground by God. The fish
OF the rivers n lakes and seas, the
fowls Of the air, the cattle and sheep
and horses on the thousand hills and
the plains are the gift of God for the
blessing Of man. The very life which
throbs in mans veins and makes him
different from the rocks which lie cold
and motionless at his feet comes from.
God. The sunshine and the rain are
sent by God. All, all comes from God.
for every good and perfect gift is
from above and cometh down from the
Father of Lights" And because this
is true W. call our Heavenly Father the
Bountifui God, and at Thanksgiving
time His bcuntifulness should receive
special recognition. Dey and hum
ole thanksgiving shouli rise from
every heart to God Who gives all good
and perfect gifts. Our Thanksgiving
message is OF the Bountiful God, and
we want to take away the indefinite
and meaningless thought of God and
engraft in it's place a deep conscious
ness of the personal relations of God
the Creator and Giver to man the crea-
ture and the recipient. The farmer
needs to lift his gaze above the tassel-
ing corn tops and the crowded barns
and g~ranaries; the man in commercial
l;eo ~c.c+ Lob choxna th> oo1I r,L;.L