The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-11-25
proclamation issued by George
Washington urged upon the people


the necessity for prayer and praise.
Washington, the speaker said, hau
put the emphasis upon the prayer.
Thanksgiving services have been held
on Our country regularly from the
beginning. On only a few years was
the custom temporarily laid aside and
those were the years just after the
revolution when atheism and deism
were most potential in America.
With those exceptions the customs
of giving thanks to God has been
continuous and national one. and
it means a Christian country. They
talk to us about the union of the
church and the state, of some such
relation in other countries, but it
is not so here We talk not Of the
relation of the church and the state,
but of religion and the state"
IF we understand Alright the rela-
ton of man to man, the relations,
rights and responsibilities resting
between us and Our brothers, then
we are on fair pathway toward
correct consciousness of God and
Our duty toward him. With such
thoughts and such human princi
pies, and with an enthusiasm that
rises from the handtouch of brother
hood it is no wonder we are strong
and glorious nation, fitted to deal
with the gravest problems.
'FThe thought of the world has
been devoting too much attention to
individual salvation-in proportion.
What we must work for is the gen
era1 and wider social uplift of Our
country We must be imbued with
the idea that the power of the indi-
vidual increases with the square of
the radius when he joins hands with
his brother"
Mr.. Zimmerman said the people Of
ten claimed to be truthful when in
reality they were not, they were
straining the truth every day of
their lives. People were holding too
much to the old superstition that
they must not be too joyful. HE
who made tears made smiles" Too
many people had cotton hold of the
idea that they must not, under any
circumstances, be exurberant in
their joy and thanksgiving and love.
They would put on forlorn express
sion of tongue and countenance and
sort of put up with the blessings
God gave them" continual, open,
and joyous praise is the only correct
attitude, and this has been in the
thought of Our country from the be-
ginning. In honor to God and to
woman, in the elevation Of woman,
and consequently of man, no other
country has ever been so strong.
George Washington's first Thanks
giving proclamation was a prophecy
and an outline for the future pro-
gress of the nation. As we have fol-
lowed the principles laid down there
in we have prospered. and when we
have deviated the stoophas gotten into
our national shoulders and we have
walked and have not run. This procla
nation breathed dependence on God
and a firm belief in the union not Of
the church and state, but of religion
and the state. The proclamation
beseeched that in future years God
would preserve the state from "the
arrogance of prosperity and Of elu-
sive pursuits" It looked to the ex-
tension of knowledge and to the
foundation Of government built
upon the great principles of educa-
ton. and finally urged that each in
dinvidual attempt to impart por-
ton of his individual blessings to the
while family OF mankind The
speaker showed how the nation had
prospered by following these main
principles. Christianity. he said,
,ras q nart Of the common law of the