Year: 1873

| The following embraces the geners


outlines Of q sermon delivered by Rev


W. NJ. Green, passer c. the NJ. I


Church, of this city, on Thanksgivin


day:


THANKSGIVING SERMON.


Psalm cIIr-2. Bless the Lord, my sou


and forget not oil his Dement'S.


I presume that you have assemble,


to-day in obedience to a proclamatiol


by our Chief Magistrate and by tn


Governor of the State of Tennessee


You are aware that Power, not o


this world. has issued a Proclamation


requiring us to be subject to the poaoer


that be-" In many instances from


compulsion we. doggedly obey thest


temporal powers. In this instance ]


trust that you are actuated by some,


thing more than the slavish duty o.


obedience-that you are here from


choice, with hearts full of gratitude


to render thank Offerings to the God Of
all our mercies.


The world has its stated festival


and while we recognize this day as a


special occasion, yet, as christians, we
cannot consent to adrrO,c dorm our


thanksgiving to single day in the
year. The Christians thanksgiving is
perpetual: it extends through his nat
ural life, and has its perfect develop
ment only in eternity. Is there fol-
lower of the Lord Jesus in this house,
who does not make every day of his
life thanksgiving day?


This occasion is secular appoint
ment but Thanksgiving, disassociated
from the proclamation of our Presi-
dent, has full and beautiful history.
1t is needless, even if we had the time,
to refer back in detail to the thank
offerings of the Jewish or Mosaic dis
pensations. In passing from the old
to the ne,o we find the tangible offer
ings dispensed with in the service of
the Church. However we must bear
in mind that these two epochs of grace
only differ in externals.


We bring to the altar now no blood
of bulls or goats, no firstlings of the
flock, no first fruits of the field and
vintage; these have become the num-
mics or fossils of the Church; but the
meaning-the soul that animated them
is blooming in immortal youth. God
has ceased to delight in carnal sacri-
fee; buta broken and contrite spirit
He aoiU not despise. Gods requisition
upon you is after the pattern of His
boundless nature. He will not be
satisfied with any thank-offering but
your love.


David had a religious habit of con-
versing with himself. We have reason
to believe that these private cOllOquies
were of great service to him. Occa-
sionally, while reading these charming
odes, we are ushered into private

chamber devoted to meditation and
private examination. Our text is one
of these private apartments. Here we
find the inspired poet in the presence
of his own immortal spirit advising
yea, beseeching and exhorting it to
bless God. What dignity he attaches
to this service of thanksgiving He
did not call upon the ear with its fond
ness for euphony, the eye with its love
for symmetry, the tongue with its elo-
quence or the hand with its skill these
were all too mean for such a service.
He goes to the throne of Immortality,
and calls upon the soul-the divine in
man to bless God. No doubt that
glaring defect in human character, an
gratitude, was casting its shadow upon
the poets heart, hence the earnest ap-
peal to his spirit: Forget not all HIS
beneftsl" How natural it is for hunaan
nature to forget the benefits of the
past How unfortunate that we should
hoard up, as we do, imaginary wrongs.
Mans greatest prosecutor is him
self.


We enter now upon the intensely
practical. A croaker ironically in
quired: "What have we to thank God
for?" This is strange question for
you and l to repeat. We, who have
occupied the highest seats at the Feast
of Providence, should rather inquire,
What have we not to thank God for?
In answering this question we will
have to reverse the rhetorical plan by
with the moaimun, instead
of the minimum.


Our creation brings us under debt
of gratitude, We were made in the
likeness and after the image of God.
If the Deity had so determined we
might had the form of brute, creep
ing upon the earth with our heads
downward, but the Creator graciously
made himself the pattern by which
to form His sentient creatures. Man
is distinguished from all other animals
in that he is immortal, walks erect
and looks up into the sky.


Like rivers of unfailing source,
our hearts should ever be pouring forth
their gratitude that we have such
pure and comprehensive religion,
which is not an invention of the human
mind but of divine origin and suffi-
cient to meet all the demands of suf-
fering humanity, and proposes to build
another and more enduring Eden.


We will not leave out of the cata-
logue of thanks that precious benison,
Friendship. The shining stones, that
form my palace beautiful, are my
friends. | am not afraid of them for
[ know their hearts are right: they