The Tupelo journal., 1903-12-04

hAo oNooNoso - pal
tial explanation at least why the ma
terial bounties Of this world are be-
slowed so %unevenly. God withheld
from Lazarus the good things Of this
world that He might give 10, him the
treasures of Heaven. If Lazarus had
had the wealth of the rich man he
might have been as selfish and blind
spiritually as was the rich man, and
might have bartered his soul for the
ease and pleasure of this world. This,
as We have said, may suggest a partial
explanation Of the difficulty, and fur
Their light may be found by remember
Ing that while God is the giver of every
good thing in the world, man TO a very
great extent determines how much Of
that good he will be possessed of. 1t
has been declared that any person can
become rich who makes that the life's
ambition and who subordinates everv
other thing in life to that one con-
Stunning desire. Man lays violent hands
upon the material good which God has
created and bestowed upon the human
race and perverts 1t to his own selfish
use. And on the other hand man may
be i~ntrusted by God with great riches
and minister them under this direction
to the blessing of his fellow men. But
whether man has much or little, God
Is primarily the giver of 1t. And how
much He is giving to man year by year!
Surely, God does crown the year with
goodness and His paths do drop fat
ness. "Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness, and for His WON
derful works to the children of men"
THE gifts of God to men are of two
kinds-temporal and spiritual.
And If God is a Bountiful God in His
provision for the temporal needs of the
world, what must we say for what God
has bestowed upon man in the way OF
spiritual gifts? The latter far out
weigh the former in value and i'm
portance. 1t is a low order Of life
which a feel gratitude to God only
when the stomach is full and the body
rests IN ease and comfort. Burns lines,
Some hae meat and Gamma eat.
And some would eat that want 1t;
But We haze meat, and we can eat,
Sac let the Lord be %thankit,"
is about as far as a great many people
get in the realization of the bounties of
God and their gratitude to Him for His
gifts. Others are thankful for what
circumstances have made them, as was
Thales, one of the seven wise men of
Greece, who used to express thanks for
three things: That he was born q rea-
sonable creature, and not a beast; a
man, and not a woman; a Greek, and
not a barbarian. But Gods richest
bounties are found in a realm above
that which involves the material life
and the conditions and needs of the
body. Man may well thank God that he
has been born a reasonable creature,
and MOI a beast, but that he has been en-
dowed with an undying soul and that
Gods i~nexhaustible riches of grace are
offered full and free to his soul are
worthy of eternal thanksgiving. We
who are born in this country ma well
be glad that a heather land was not our
home. but the refined and cultured soul
AZ AAS IAN "1tlioot Vii . d
as miserably lost as the most benighted
heather, and with q greater weight Of
responsibility resting upon it. A great
er thing to be thankful for is for spirit
ual birth into the kingdom of Jesus
Christ by faith in Him. and hat birth
in a civilized land with all it's enlighten-
ment and privileges has called you and
equipped you for service to the heather
world in It's greatest need, which is
Christ. The good and the perfect
gifts which God has bestowed upon
the world are not chiefly temporal, but
are spiritual. The Bountiful God has
looked beyond the span of the natural
life and made provision for the eternal
welfare and needs OF the soul. Christ
and salvation, the indwelling Spirit and
the fruits of His presence of love. joy,
peace, long-suffering. gentleness, good
ness. faith, meekness, temperance"
these are the greater gifts which the
Bountiful God has bestowed upon man
kind. Surely man ought to render unto
God thanks because Gods supreme
thought through the ages has been the
salvation and sanctifcation of mankind.
HWHAT. then" says the Psalmist,
w shall l render unto the Lord
for all His benefits toward me?"
Thanksgiving, which shall find it's eX-
preston in Thanksgiving. A thankful
heart is not dependent upon the album
donoo IF tho nOCcaCcinnc nf fh;o would
Henry Dorsey Cough, a wealthy Mary
land planter of the slavery days, and a
Cody man, tells this incident: While
riding one day to one Of his planta-
tons, he heard the voice of prayer and
praise in a cabin, and, listening, dis
covered that a negro from a neighbor-
ing estate was leading the devotions Of
his own slaves, and offering fervent
thanksgiving for the blessings of his
depressed lot. His heart was deeply
touched and with emotion he ex-
claimed: "Alas, o Lord! have my
thousands, and tens of thousands, and
yet, ungrateful wretch that l am, I
never thank Thee, as this Door slave
does, who has scarcely clothes to put
on, or food to satisfy his hunger!"
He never forgot the lesson. He real
lied then as never before that the
riches of the presence of Christ in the
heart brought greater joy and blessing
than could all the material comforts
and possessions of the world. We
must remember all of Gods benefits,
| but above all the spiritual blessings.