Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-30
Christian Endeavor Hour
For Sunday. December /. 1907.

TOT cunOay, OecemD0r ], l1Ot.
Topic: 1.-THE Beauty and Utility of GRATITUDE. E"
Psalm cxi : lilo.
1. Praise We the Lord. I will praise
the Eord with my whole heart. in the as
sembly of the upright and in the con-
gregation.
.. The works of the Lord are great,
sought out Of all them that have pleas
ure therein.
3. His work is honorable and glorious
and his righteousness endureth forever.
4. He hath made his wonderful works
to be remembered; the Lord is gracious
and full Of compassion.
8. He hath given meat unto them that
fear him; he will ever be mindful Of his
covenant.
6. He hath showed his people the
power of his works that he may give
them the heritage of the heather.
:. The works of his hands are verify
and Judgment; all his commandments are
sure.
8. They stand fast forever and ever,
and are done in truth and uprightness.
0. He hath sent redemption unto his
people: he hath commanded his covenant
forever; holy and reverend is his name.
10. The fear of the Lord is the begin
ming of wisdom; a good understanding
have all they that do his commandments;
his praise endureth forever.
The Lesson.
The first place to praise the Lord is the
church Thanksgiving morning how many
of us take it as matter Of course that
we will attend the Thanksgiving church
service somewhere? The dinner and the
turkey and the holiday and the company.
perhaps are all a part Of the day, to-
gether with supposedly thankful spirit;
hut the church service is SO dry and so
much of a hindrance to the day, Wn1ch
we want entirely for ourselves. that we
have forgotten the churchgoing entirely,
or gone. "grudgingly" or "of necessity
sometimes. Perhaps the one who selected
this topic and scripture for our thought
today had 1t in mind to bring to our re-
membrance the churchgoing part OF thank
fulness. For II Thanksgiving day means
ANYTHING at all to us as Christians 1t
ought to be recognized by US publicly,
which can only be done by attending
some public service held for the purpose
of returning thanks to God for what He
has done for us. No matter whether the
service is dull. whether We think the
preacher dry and do not like the music,
We are not going to hear the prea cher or
the music or to please ourselves this day
in any way but just to praise God.
3 There are q great many Suggestions
in this scripture of different things for
which we ought to be thankful. The
second verse speaks of Gods works.
Those would be naturally thought of by
those who "have pleasure therein. One
Christian, perhaps, takes pleasure In
Gods sunsets, another in the lovely tlnts
of autumn, another in the marvellous
discoveries in science-which ls only
finding out of the wonders Of God S
works.
Alexander Mckenzie says: This Is
Gods way, to whom all life is but the
expression of His heart. We rejoice con-
tinually in His bountiful goodness. What
is the need of flowers? He could nave
made a strong and honest earth which
would take in the seed and give it out
in harvest, and thus we could live, but
when He made the earth substantial.
useful as it is, He added flowers because
He wished to give them, was delighted
to look upon them and knew how happy
we should be who saw them blossom by
the roadside. There is a very good ex-
preston of Gods way OF dealing with
US In line of the twenty-third psalm
MY cup runneth over This seems I'M
necessary. To have the cup full or lit
tie less than full is enough for us and
more convenient for us, but not for God,
who delights in filling it; and when We
bid Him stay His hand He Keeps on
pouring, and the water flows till presently
the cup is overlooking not because we
thought to have it So but because OF
His great delight in giving; until 1t would
seem as If He could not stop Or content
Himself with that which He has already
bestowed upon us. Let this stand as a