The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1912-11-22
CAUSE FOR THANKS
BISHOP E. n. HUGHES.

! NlNo luduhS dI luc duCO
Of his holiness "-Psa. 30:4.
II the spirit of gratitude is to be
awakened In the hearts Of those who
receive this Thanksgiving message, 1t
will be necessary that We think to-
gether OF some ground that is unmis-
takably common to all. 1t is prob
ably true that, If we wished to do
So we could find reason for thankful
ness in the material side of our lives:
for we have not been reduced to star
vation or nakedness or homelessness.
| But without doubt there would be vast
differences among us in this respect.
Some Of us have walked with steady
feet up the ascent of prosperity, 9th
ers Of us have slipped down the hill.
which we had before climbed toward
ease and independence.
From this you will see that If our
| thankfulness is to be unanimous, its
! fell must be above our differences in
situation and in opinion Our graft
tude must go up toward him who Is
| the owner of the earth, with it's sill
yer and gold; toward him who by the
discipline Of the worlds suffering pre-
pares men for the painless and death
| less country; toward him who pre-
sides over all our partisanship and is
to be at last the ruler of all rulers.
In this effort to gain a common and
| lofty ground for our gratitude, let
us raise our thanksgiving to the very
| highest thing and let us heed this an
cient commandment, Give thanks at
| the remembi ance Of his holiness
You will note that this text con-
meets thanksgiving with remembrance.
Perhaps more than any other day in
the year this holiday is day for
personal retrospect. The only date
which would challenge it's field in this
respect is New Years day, and that,
as even it's name indicates, looks for
ward rather than Backward it is
day for resolves rather than for re-
membrance. Whatever may be the rea-
sen for a mans gratitude, it has to
10 in some form with his memory.
# he is thankful for his future it is
because he throws into it the conf
Aence that he has won from his past
! This is true in reference even to the
gratitude that man would feel for
.he promised heaven. He who is thank
eul for worldly success gives thanks
because he remembers; he who is
thankful for bodily health gives thanks
because he remembers And he who
is thankful for the highest things gives
thanks at the remembrance Of Gods
holiness. Thanking is simply remem-
bering seasoned with justice and rev.
erence; it is thinking backward over
the past and upward to God. 1t is
thought climbing from the lowest to
the highest. 1t is the mind travers-
ing it's old Journeys, recognizing that
Gods company was all along the
ways, and lifting up here and there
memories of the divine holiness. The
word Of the psalmist thus states the
process through which one must come
to his real thanksgiving.
But we have here given not merely
the path along which gratitude comes.
but also the goal which gratitude must
reach. Unless a mans heart arrives
| ~ NOu, IhC uoJ 10 "ANAOUI
An atheistic people could have no
Thanksgiving day. Such day with
out God would be an eye with nothing
to see, voice with nothing to hear a
heart with nothing to love. 1t is
true that men might have a Thanks
| giving day wherein they should pass
| from house to house and from man
to man, giving praise to humankind
! for help, and friendship.
But in the ordinary sense Thanks
giving day is impossible without
| God 1t is the conception that he
| broods in holiness over our lives that
alone gave the day its historic begin
ming and continues it until now. This
psalmist thinker leads us straight to
this thought. True gratitude cannot
! stop short OF God. II ever man is
the victim of his own unfaith. it must
be on Thanksgiving day He cannot
! be grateful to nothingness. At that
time no man can really get on unless
| he has a God. In deepest truth he
can have no gratitude because ~ Is
impossible for him to obey the com
mand, Give thanks at the remem
brance of his holiness"
The First THANKSGIVING.