The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-12-01
UNION THANKSGIVING SERVICES
Rev. Alexander MacCoIl breaches the
sermon In the First Church.


| The union thanksgiving services of
the two Presbyterian, Baptist and
Methodist churches were held in the
| First Presbyterian church at 1890
| M, with good attendance.
| The prayer of invocation was offered
i by the pastor, Rev. w. r. Bennett,
Rev. DR.. Urmy offered prayer and Rev.
Mr.. Horsman lead the responsive read
ing and announced that the offering
would be divided between the Mem
orial hospital and the old ladies'
home.
| Rev Alexander MacColl was the
preacher of the day, and spoke in part
as follows -:
| Mr.. MacColl took as his text g The
i Song of7the Well in Numbers 81; IL
lis;
"Then sang Israel this song
/ Spring up, o we'll sing We unto it;
Which the mobiles Of the people
delved,
/ BY direction Of the law giver, with
UQ6lT SUdV6S.
II He said at the outset that the Isral-
ties were prominently a songful race.
In the great experiences of their ma
tional life the pent-up feelings of their
souls found relief in song, which ever
afterward commemorated in family or
nation the events that gave them
birth. 1t was not only in the hour of
national victory and personal good
fortune that the Israelities sang, they
sang often as they worked. There was
no more venial occupation in Israel,
none which involved more monotony
and drudgery than that of drawing
water. Joshua. curSing the GibeoniteS
for theirs strategy confirms them to per-
Iennial service as hewerS of wood and
drawers of water. But the drudgery
of the work was often lightened by a
song. 1t is one of these songs which is
preserved for us in our text, a song
probably sung first as the ISraelites
on their long. Journey fingered by the
well which their leaders dug, and al
layed their thirst. but sung TOO by
generations of waterdrawers afterward
: at this and other wells. Beautiful
and very simple are the lessons of this
Hebrew song for our Thanksgiving
Day. M
z ~ Thanksgiving is summons to
us To tighten the monotOny and druid
gerry of life with song, to have at our
common tasks and in our everyday
cares the cheerful. tuneful spirit.
Nothing gives one so much hope about
. this old world as to think of the great
multitudes who are taking up the
; fnonotonous work of life daily with a
brave, hopeful spirit, for the sake of
lloved ones and of duty tightening the
burden with song. But the sunniest
l.souls are those who do their work for
) God. In him .our. discords attune and
four minor chords become richly must
zeal. Thanksgiving Day bids us re-
Emember this with gratitude. Is your
life full of sunshine, do not forget Him
Ito whom you owe, all your blessings.
, Does cloud hang oyer the festal day
flor you; have faith to believe that
: some great purpose of goodsis in it all,
: that through 1T God is.summoning out
the reserves of your strength, bidding
Il you show to the world what victories
can be won within in obedience to the
3 Infinite will, in love for Jesus Christ.
sI ~ This old Hebrew song suggests
} that Thanksgiving is summons to
gratitude to God for the rich gifts Of
1.-The soil. These men Of old seemed to
believe that the well dubbed up the
more freely as they sang to it. it was
/. this spirit of gratitude which led the
fathers to establish the first ThankS-
!, Igiving Day, and it should be in our
hearts to-day for another rich harvest,
+, for the bright outlook for the year to
? come, for all the discoveries in the
! natural world which are making the
world richer and human life fuller.
y. (3) This old song is summons to
! gratitude for and loyalty to tn great
5 ness and the glory of our national her
: itage. Every humble water-draw er as
II he sang this songs felt himself to be
. in succession to the princes and mobiles
long since beneath the dust who dug
5 the we'll, and to the great law giver
! who directed them. The hearts OF
4. these simple men were cheered by
= their kinship with the mighty past.
81 Thereason there is so much history
lin the Bible is that it was Gods con-
y slant thought to keep before his child
& rem the wOndrous guidanceS and the
!. mighty deliVerances of the past. The
+ blessings OF to-day could not be right
8 ly realized until men breathed again
. the atmosphere of bygone struggles,
and faced again the perils that made
heroes of old. So it is no small part OF
e the value of our annual day of Thanks
giving that it recalls the small begin
+, nings of our national life long ago, the
: great struggles and sacrifices and sim
pie tidelities that made our nation
: possible, the devotion OF the fathers
: to conscience, to the home, TO all the
higher ideals of life, and bids us test
our complex modern life by the SIM
l plicities of thought and effort which
: impelled them, without which the di-
: vine mission of our nation will not be
:, realised.
He also offered the closing prayer
and pronounced the beneniction.
The musical part of the services was
very fine; in addition to the three
: hymns there was an opening anthem
: Praise the Lord, o, Jerusalem, land
, an offertory anthem, Holy, holy,
holy. Lord God" The tenor solo parts
, of the anthems were taken by e. Lind
sey Cummings, of Providence, r. l., a
brother of Mrs. Hinchman, the choir
director. Mrs. Fox, the organist
gave as a prelude Misrepresentation"
by Boslet, and the closing selection
was War March Of the Priests, >
(Athalie) by Mendelssohn.
MOrIfstoWn,s New whist Club.