The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-11-29


us, and we are glad that the Pilgrim
Fathers long years ago started the
custom They pluced It at the end of
the harvest and in recognition Of the
same. The keeping of such day ap.
peals to all civilized mankind In con-
siderable degree. because our Great
Creator 40 organized us that the quail
fly of reverence. of worship, lies prom
inently on the top Of our heads. The
man or woman. rich or poor, educated
or ignorant, bond or free, who hns not
this organ of veneration developed In
considerable measure cannot be uppre-
ciative and deferentlal toward his Gre
ator. and hence would not enjoy
Thanksgiving day. We are glad that
these are comparatively few. We are
glad to suppose that the majority OF
this great nation of civilization looked
up to God with grateful hearts and
rendered him thanks for blessings
manifested
Hindrances to True Reverence.
Nevertheless the numbers increase
yearly Of those who are losing their
reverence for The God of the Bible and
vaguely turning towards God of Ma
ture. of whom they profess to know
comparatively little. These irreverent
and untnankful fellow-creatures are
not generally the most ignorant of our
race, nor the lclst favored In temporal
mercies and blessings. Among them
are many learned, wealthy. influential.
Their condition Is we'll represented by
that of young woman who called at
my study recently. In assistance she
said. IL have lost my God. am un-
happy. am hoping that you will be
able to assist me In finding him
again" Thank God. we were able to
assist her, and now she IA able to give
thanks to God In all sincerity.
am not speaking TO the irreverent
in this audience. nor to those of this
class in my larger audience of millions
all over the world, to whom ! speak
through the public press. l am speak.
ing to others who, while not yet fully
in the faith. are sun disposed to
give thanks | speak to these be-
cause realize that each day Is
bringing to the world greater intelll-
gence, Lhore independent thoughtful
ness. In wider use of reason. l
speak because my experience teaches
that unless these be fully armed with
the Truth and awakened to lndepend-
ent thought, they are almost certain to
fall into unbelief-Evolution Higher
Criticism. and mere form of godi-
ness. which denies the real power
thereof
The Truth Shall Make You Free.
The Great Teacher prayed for his
followers. "Sanctlfy them through thy
Truth; thy Word Is Truth gohn xvii,
10. 70 be forearmed with the Truth
is to be safeguArded against the error.
TO be ignorant of the Truth IL to fall
prey 70 the or-espcciully In this
"evil day" when "a thousand shall
fall AT thy side and ten thousand at
thy right hand" psalm xcl, y, The
difficulty with us hns been that many
have supposed that the conversion of
the world and It's sanctlllcatIon can be
Dtlltl aANblilIlllHHN'u Wy thlNltIlltrtllh-
tion of Divine Character and Justice.
Unconsciously wc have learned to
twist and interpret our Bibles to 1T
the erroneous creeds which were hand
I'd TO us by our wcllmeanlng fore
fnthers The Day of Judgment upon
these false creeds Is upon us. I'm
less we learn that they do not prop
,erly interpret the Bible, we will re-.
ject the Bible when we reject the
creeds-and that must be very soon
for all thinking people. 'To the Law
and to the testimony: if they speak not
according TO this Word, II Is because
there Is no light Ia them" Qsaiah vlii
2M.
Causes For ingratitude.
"Come, let us reason together. saith
che Lord" If our crecds tell us truly
that we were all born damned. either
TO Purgatory or 90 eternal torment
should we give thanks on this nc
count? II our crccds tell truly TINT
an elect handful of saints will escape
che torture, how do we know wheth
or or not we belong 20 that elect h,lnd
fuli Have we sufficient informa tion
on this subject TO give thanks there
fori II our crceds tell truly that near
ly all the members OF our families
nearly NIL OF our nelghbors and friends
being insanity, not ''sanctlfcd IL
Christ Jesus" not followers IN the
footsteps OF Jesus. not OF those "whC
walk not after the aesh. but after tho
spirit"-these all. except mere hand
ful, are doomed TO more horrible tor
ture than the wors, earthly sufrcrIn9l
we could possibly imagine for them
and are doomed TO these for centuries
In Purgatory according TO the Catho
lie; or for all eternity, according t
our Protestant theories, can we hon
estly thank God for any Of these cou
dit.ons. II we believe them to be true
Can we worship In spirit apd Il
truth" Creator who would max
such an atrocious planf And coul,