The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-11-24
Union SERVICES
OF THE CHURCHES
Rev Frank Baptist Church Speaks of the Uplifting
Power Religion and of the Progress Religious Freedom
That Won Even in This Country.

Human Progress" was the keynote
OF Il most eloquent Thanksgiving ser
mon delivered this morning by the
Rev. Frank G.. Brainerd of the ConGre
gational church at the First Baptist
church The large edifice was nlled
to overflowing by the throng Of peo-
pie of nearly every denomination who
were called together by the announce
ment OF the meeting given out in the
various chuches,
The meeting was in charge OF Rev.
H d. Zimmerman of the Baptist
church and. with one or two eXcep-
tions, every minister of the city was
present So great was the crowd
that tXtra chairs were brought into
the church and even then some of the
late arrivals were forced to stand nj
the corridors.
The musical pTogram--waS an es.
pecally pleasing one The services
began Mt 1890 and closed at IL: 40.
giving the congregation time to
reach their homes for Thanksgiving
dinners
Rev. Brainerd said:
THE distlnctlyeness of our nation
al observances comports with the
uniqueness of our cosmopolitan life;
and the romance of our America are
the wonder pages of all history.
'Indolent and dreamy foreigners
heard the fable OF the Fountain of
Perpetual YOUTH and sought TO find
it in the land Of flowers whose per-
fumes made somniferous the summer
air. Their descendants are still seek
ing lives OF ease and dreaming Of to-
morrow
"Broken-down gentlemen and impe-
cunious sons sought the golden sands
OF the Virginias that they might there
repair their fortunes and live lives
of relative ease. Their descendants
have learned the dignity and happi-
ness of labor and are doing their part
OF the worlds work.
Sturdy men braved frost and fam
ine to settle in New England and
possess liberty of conscience 1t was
they who instituted the observance
OF a day of thanks giving, not only
for the sufficient harveSts and for
safety from savage massacre, but be
meath all this was their gratitude for
the assurance of life in this new land
and for the vision Of the ultimate tri
umph of those principles for which
they had pledged their all, And for
all this they came together and gave
thanks, not to each other, but to GOD
Like them, let us this morning be
thankful, not merely for the physical
blessings of the year, which in them
selves are more than can be number
ed, but let us also be grateful for
the growing victory of TRUTH and for
our assured hope in the days which
are to come To this latter point let
us take as the keynote for our pres
ent Thanksgiving Day this senti-
ment. Our supreme confidence in
mans eventual understanding of God.
and in his consequent fulfillment of
life'
The elevation of life since the
early days of mankind has been so
stupendous as to give US firm ground
for our confidence From caves and
temporary structures. we have ad-
yanced TO houses of wood and brick
and stone; from preying upon beast
and men, we have given ourselves TO
agriculture, mining manufacturing
and to the friendly exchange of com
modities. We have advanced from
Rutturals to the languages of the ma.
S''ANs 'lOhi SA6hol ulGo ~ lut ltlt-
graph. the telephone and the wire
less; from walking to steam, electric
ity and ships Of the air; from the tom
tom 10 flute, violin and pipe organ.
We have passed from the days when
puny children were abandoned to riy.
er or mountains when the aged were
thrust out to die, when the erring
one was made an outcaSt, and have
established childrep's homes. hospl-
tails and Florence CHttenten missions.
We are pushing the debtors prison.
the slimy dungeon and the horrors of
the inquisitlon far into the past and
have substituted fraternal orders. pol
itical equality and religious tolerance.
Our high schools offer a better Cur.
riculum than was studied by Emer.
son, and the teachings of religion To-
day give us larger conception of
God than was had by the Children of
Israel and a truer knowledge of Jesus
OF Nazareth than came to the dis
clples who walked with Him the roads
OF Galilee.
In all this onward march, whose
momentum is increasing with the ac-
cumulatlng years. the progress Of
Inc people in fullpess Of life has been
In direct ratio to their progress In re.
ligious conceptions
This universal fact furnishes us
with a working basis for the indiyid
ual; Every mans life is determined
by his conscious or unconscious con.
ceptlon Of and relation to. God
1T is not difficult to verify this
by comparison OF the belief and the
life OF any man who has a known con.
ception and an acknowledged rela-'
ton, When we say known concep-
tion, we do not mean merely a pro-
fcssed one Many people profess. and
most Of them sincerely. belief that