Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1912-11-29
CAUSE FOR THANKS
BISHOP {. n. HUGHES.

"Give thanks at the remembrance
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. II
will be necessary that We think to-
gether OF some ground that is unmis-
takably common to all II 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
walton or nakedness or homelessnese.
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 II our
thankfulness is to be unanimous, its
field must be above our differences in
situation and in opinion. Our grati-
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 remembrance 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 a day for a
personal retrospect. The only date
which would challenge its field in this
respect is New Years day. and that
as even its name indicates. looks for
ward rather than backward; it is a
day for resolves rather than for re-
membrance. Whatever may be the rea-
son for mans gratitude. it has to
do in some form with his memory
If he is thankful for his future It is
because he throws into it the conf
dence that he has won from his past.
This is true in reference even to the
gratitude that a man would feel for
the promised heaven He who is thank
full 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 God 5
holiness. Thanking is simply remem-
boring seasoned with justice and rev.
erence; 1t 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 its 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
at God. the day is without meaning.
An atheistic people could have no
Thanksgiving day. Such day with
out God would be an eye with nothing
to see, a voice with nothing to hear. a
heart with nothing to love. 1t Is
true that men might have 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 II is the conception that he
broods in holiness over our lives that
alone gave the day its historic begin
ming and continues II 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 it is
impossible for him to obey the COM
mand, Give thanks at the remem-
brance of his holiness"