The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-12-01

&.Ey Our experience,
((AsI0R RlJSSEID In life nre to a
s:======- considerable OK.
tent what We. make them Bible stu.
dents should he phllosopbers-evcry.
one OF them. Why? Because the Wis.
dom from uhorc 10 the noLiest science aud
best Instruction. As st? rnul declares.
It tends to promote the spirit OF u
sound 1nind-nnd \ sound mind Is nee.
essarlly a philosophical one. gAlurmur.
ers and complaiIers are not philos0,
pliers. but the. reverse A sound mind
tells us'to take things rs they are. to
make the best Of them rather than 10
quarrel over them and fnd fault with
Divine providence and make ourselves
and everybody else In our environment
miserable.
True Christian people in every lan,l
and under NIL conditions have found
plenty Of cause for tliankfuIness, even
though they have hnd their share. or
more. of llfe's difficulties. Nor was this
] tlmukfulness because they Ind master.
ed the Divine philosophy and under.
stood the tthp and the irhercfOre Of the
present reign Of sin and death. They
accepted their portion Of LIES Joys and
sorrows by faith. believing that their
portion was measured to them by the
Lord and TINT full obedience aud sub.
mission With cheerfulness. was their
duty! 52,:Gl' ia
Excuses For Unthankfulnsss.
We. are ready 10 concede that the
world. awakening from the sleepy su.
'pertitions Of the past. can readily
find many excuses for declining to be
thankful. II we mention some Of
these It Will not be by way Of endors.
ingfhem. rather to show the unthank.
full masses that We recognize tllcir
viewpoint but do not agree With It.
We would point them to the better
course Of thankfulncss and proportion.
atea happiness. To their complaint
that they have fewer and smaller
blessings than their more wealthy
neIghbors. We remind them that the
poor of this favored land habitually
waste more than would make very
thankful some OF the poor Of other
lands.
We remind that under Divine bless.
Ing upon the soil and the Divine bless.
ing upon human skill convenIcnces
ind comforts have multiplied about us
so that the common people" Of our
land have home comforts and con.
veniences and educational facilities
md parks and libraries. well paved
and lighted streets and cheap trans.
portatlon such as were not dreamed
Of in our grandfathcrs' days. nor en-.
joyed even by the rich. Let us not
greedily asls more along these lines
until we have fully appreciated pres.
ent privileges and blessings and re-
turned thanks therefor. is.,ts v
But says one. ''our forefathers
were superstitiously thankful, and we
must avoid that. They gave thanks
to God for the sunshine and the rain.
We have learned that these are prori.
slons Of nature and we thank nobody
for them. Our forefathers thanked
God for escape from feudal slavery.
but we see that they should have re-
belled against feudalism and bought
their freedom with their own courage.
"Our forefathers thanked God. II
they were ,sick. that they did not die
and go to eternal torture. We are com.
Ing TO the rationalistic ldea that they
should have thanked their physician
for recovery from sickness and Should
not have believed In IN everlasting fu.
ture Of torture. because so far MS. we
can see that teaching Is all humbug.
Intelligent people of the world have
no more knowledge than ourselves re.
specting n future. We agree With
the college professors that our race Is
progressing by an evolutionary law Of
nature. and that God hns nothing to do
with It. and that; there Is no future
life for US except IN the sense that we.-
in the future. wills be represented on
higheriplanc of;uylng. by our evoluted
children. You will perceive. therefore.
why we consider Thanksgiving Day a
piece Of medieval superstition"
Replies to the Unthankfuf.
Our, reply TO this reasoning must be
along two lines: FIRST. philosophical:
second. analytical:-
~ Are not these increasingly large
numbers Of pantheistic nnd atheistic
evolutlonists unphllosophical? They nd.
NIT THAT they have blessings fur be.
yond anything known TO their fore.
fathers. and they admit that their un.
happiness has increased in proportion
as these blessings and reasonIngs re-
specting them have been received,
Would not u true philosophy tell them