The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-12-01
GOOD SERMON
DELIVERED At
CHRIST CHURCH
REV. WIN. 3. ALLEN OCCUPIED
THE PULPIT AT THE UNION
SERVICE AND WAS LISTENED
TO BY A LARGE coNoREoA-
TON.

union Thanksgiving service was
conducted yesterday at Christ church.
when the congregation of that church
and st. Katharines gathered and heard
an excellent sermon preached by Rev.
Vim. 3. Allen. Mr.. Allen said in part:
Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name
Of our Lord Jesus Christ. "-Epesians,
chapter 5, verse 20.
How good it is to have an all-in-
elusive anniversary and festival.
The legend of this day stands out, if
you will embossed upon the bosom of
the nation.
No sectionaltsm, no antipathy, no
prejudice, no creed save what is uni
versaL
The appeal of Thanksgiving Day
comes with a touch that makes, us kin.
There is no nobler national institution,
and no wiser one. And it stands an
ordinance forever that can never be
repealed.
The people have this day in their
breasts as they have no other, be-
cause it addresses itself to all as no
other can.
Were it necessary. it could be ex-
the most dense, most alien, and least
impressioDahle. It is national, but
even that does not express it's strong
est hold nor indicate it's firnest and
broadest base.
1t reaches the mass because it
touches the individual in relations that
depend uron no history.
To millions in it, 1.-THE father of his
country" is a hazy figure, and they
have never paused to think upon the
commemorative history. or age,
whether 200 . or 1900 years. But
Thanksgiving Day wakes both intelli-
gence and sentiment. This comes
- .
lest, the meanest and the least in
formed.
So the institution is a great, strong
bond and unif1er.
We have gathered together today as
American citizens and as Christian
people to give thanks to Almighty God
for all His loving kindness, tender
mercies and bountiful goodness be-
slowed upon us during the past year.
Citizenship First.
/ put the relation of citizenship first
because Thanksgiving Day is prin-
arily a political rather than social or
even a religious institution. 1t is in
/. e.. men of the country. It's date is
fixed and 1t is proclaimed by the
president and by the governors Of the
several states of the union.
It is. therefore. formal and official
declartion that the government Of this
country DIS government believes III
God and is founded on religion.
Even as a political entity our ma
ton is not agnostic; it is not atheistic;
it is not heather. 1t commits itself to
the Divine Providence and the moral
standards which it seeks to enforce
are not based upon expediency. nor
upon probability, but upon faith in
Judge of Man. We shall all. therefore,
be glad today to give thanks to God
for His manifold blessings upon our
country during the past year.
Its individual and collective wealth
| has been multiplied. Its harvests,
taken as whole, have been bountifuI
and every section of the country re-
perity.
We have a free government and
free education and free speech and
free legislation.
We have not been cursed with
| war.
Plague, pestilence and famine have
claimed no victims in our borders.
For all these blessings we thank
God.
But, my brethren, we Christians
have a deeper and and a wider obli-
cation of thanksgiving. I'VE are
thankful not only for our creation and
preservation and for all the blessings
for the redemption of the world by our
Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of
grace and for the hope of glory"
A Christian Government.
We maintain that this government.
| in all that is best In it's civilizat ton, is
a Christian government. We hold that
the great principles upon which it is
lions are protected and sustained, are
Christian principles.
We appeal to history; and history
demonstrates that the virtues which
are the safeguard of free government,
the virtues which have given our race
dominion and empire in the world, are
unquestionably the product of Chris
! tianity.
| The virtue that belongs to woman
hood-the capacity for work and for
| liberty, the great self commanding
power of moral courage. The virtues
j that belong to truth. genuineness, sin
cerity. reality, strength without show
without ostenstatious display
The virtues that relate to law, re-
spect for institutions, the reverence for
authority-the jealousy for equity and
| justice.
The virtues that relate to purity
! the dignity and sacredness of the
marriage relation and the family life,
which have made the home the most
ment of the Anglo Saxon and Teu-
tonic races.
These virtues have no influence in
| history adequate to account for them
except the Christian gospel and the
Christian church.
Therefore, my friends, today we are
called upon to thank God for all His
mercies to US as a nation and people,
and more especially that He has re-
veaied Hin self in the person and life
! of Jesus Christ our Lord, of whom
Victor Hugo says. in his peculiar way:
| THE first tree of liberty that was
| ever planted in this world was the
| Cross OF Christ, from which He
| preached for the first time the liberty,
equality and fraternity OF mankind"
My brethren, every privilege in
wolves corresponding responsibility.
| Constitutes an Obligation.
/ The Christian man may thank God
| that he lives in a Christian civilization
and that his home and children are
made sweeter and happier by the prev
| alence of Christian standards of life
But he is recreant to his duty unless
he realizes that this blessing consti-