The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-11-28
PLENTY OF REASON
TO BE THANKFUL
Yet There Are Bad Conditions Which
Should Prompt the Best Endeavors of
All To Combat, Said Rev. E. F. New
ell at Union Thanksgiving Service.

All 10 COMBAT, SAID Kew. l.. 4. New
ell at Union Thanksgiving Service.
At the union Thanksgiving service at
the Presbyterian church Wednesday
evening, Rev.. f. f. Newell took as his
subject, Thanksgiving to God for Good
Things Working with God for Better
Things" the text being part of the
second verse of Psalm 95 and the ninth
verse of Galatians 6, as follows; "Let us
come before His presence with thanks
giving" and LET us not be weary i'll
well doing, for in due season we shall
reap if we faint not
| After declaring that it shows the base
ness of ingratitude not to return thanks
| to God, Dr. Newell said in part;
"There are so many people who COM
| plain and murmur at their lot in life
and vet there are so many things to be
thankful for, for eyesight, for hearing,
for sanity, for fairly healthy bodies;
yes, it sometimes is well to be thankful
| for trouble, as this may bring out the
very best in us. Why are we so slow
to thank God in times of adversity as
well as in prosperity, in time OF sickness
as well as in health for the little things
as well as for the larger thingsY At
this season of the year we have so many
| things to be thankful for.
81. For the splendid harvests taken
| from the surface of the earth--wheat,
corn, cotton, rice; thankful for the cat
| tie, the timber, etc.
"2. Thankful for business interests
that cause wealth to be taken from the
bowels of the earth-coal, iron, gold, sill
ver thankful for the wealth from the
sea-fisheries, commerce.
"3. Thankful that no famine has come
to us, no epidemic like that of yellow
fever, no plague to take away by death
thousands of our people.
"a. Thankful that business is SO good
throughout the length and breadth of
our land.
"There are haryests however, that we
are not thankful for--the harvests OF
sin. J. As Babylon, Greece Rome, with
all their glory in architecture, in litera-
ture, in art, in powerful armies, lost
power till ruin shows us to-day where
once glory was and all because the peo-
pie of those nations were intemperate,
Sabbath breakers, worshippers of men
made idols; because they were ignorant.
superstitious, immoral; because there
was lack of Biblical conscience, char
acter and mercy among so many of
those in power; because there was too
much desire for mere material wealth,
so many times obtained without regard
to what God calls right; because of un-
Just taxation; because of disregard of
e h. Az sr,4a 30 nf he
pie too often crushed under the heel of
those who wished them to make bricks
almost without straw; because there
has been too little sympathy between
capital and labor, as each has often
failed to appreciate what is due the 9th
er and instead of working together have
sometimes fought each other; because,
too, there have been those who have
sometimes denounced Christianity as a
base superstition and done what they
could to wreck its power, so the lesson
for us to-day is for America to beware
of the fate of so many nations that have
gone and are now going down with loss
of power because of sin.
"2 Sin wrecks homes till those who
dwell there almost wish for death to give
them rest Sin so slowly creeps upon
and destroys true life that, like a pam
ther as he crceps slowly at first before
the fatal spring so sin almost uncon-
sciously steals upon its prey till the ia
tai spring that destroys true life. To
change the figure of speech, sin is sow.
ing awful harvests of sin.
"The American Civic Reform union is
responsible for these statements: Over
1000 girls are enticed into life of
shame each week; ! 800 boys begin
smoking cigarettes each day; IS per
cent of our young men have venereal
disease and are unfit to marry; the
saloon kills over 100000 people each
year and pauperizes many more; di-
vorces are being granted at the rate of
1870 each day; 80 per cent of the boys
sent to the reform schools are from
homes broken by divorce; the practice /
of polygamy has been resumed in Utah |
and the Mormon elders are importing |
women from England and the southern |
states for the purpose of supplying the !
demand for additional wives
"NVe are not thankful for the harvests
of sin being reaped in our courts, jails.
warehouses, in unhappy homes and |
blighted lives. We are thankful, how
ever, for the splendid harvests of right
eousness gathered during the past year
81. Thankful for men with splendid |
spiritual vision--for men like some of |
those at the head of the nation familiar |
with the helpfulness of the prayer meet
ing.
"2. Thankful for great inspirational
gatherings where not only the preach
ers but the laity a:e getting new visions
of opportunities to seize.
"3. Thankful that the different de-
are working together more
for the conquest of the world for Jesus |
Christ, as we are making less of dogma
and more of the real spirit of Christ.
"a. Thankful that we see the spirit
ual age dawning as splendid Christ like I
work is done among those people coming
to us from lands across the seas; work
for the black man and the poor white
in the Southland for the poor and the
in our large cities, for those
who need a greater spiritual vision in
our rural communities. The golden age
is coming that is to appeal to reason
and with conscience, to life that shall
bring capital and labor together crowned
with the spirit of the Carpenter of Naz-
areth. 1t is coming as our churches are
waking to their responsibilities, not
waiting for congregations to come to
them, but going out during the week to
try to remove evil and help those who
need help. 1t seems as if we ere getting
10 IL ,,,nro NJ ,pora L.. |