Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1911 — Thanksgibing A DUTY AND A GRACE [ARTICLE]

Thanksgibing A DUTY AND A GRACE

“And let the peace of God rale in jroar hearts, to the which also ye arc called In one bodyi and be ye thankful ” — CU. Si IS.

persecution were exhorted to be of good cheer and to “count up their mercies.” Paul’s words are not only hortatojy, but also mandatory. It is the duty of the Christian, amid all vicissitudes, to be thankful. A believer is never justified in forgetting God’s benefits to him. He is expected to figure out every now and then the sum of the divine favors that have been shown

to him, or what might be called the statistics of salvation. It is true that divine mercies have been innumerable, and cannot be tabulated with anything like completeness; yet the Christian believer is exhorted to dwell upon these mercies in thought and to render vivid to his mind, by frequent reflection, so many of the visitations of divine favor as he can discern providentially unfolded in his past life. There is, then, a duty of thanksgiving. Praise is the expected thing, gratitude is demanded. God is disappointed, and even angered, when men receive his gifts without returning thanks. The Lord is gracious, but that is no reason why the children of men should he ungraciously thankless. Thanksgiving is a part of the code of duty of a Christian, it is an integral portion of the decalogue of moral action. It is not a kind of extra service, or superfluous activity added on to the body of duty otherwise complete, but is of the warp and woof of the Christian’s obligation. “Be thankful” Was not the idle, chance remark of a sentimental apostle, but is t}le New Testament interpretation 01 the Old Testament burden of blessing.

But 1 if thankfulness is a duty, it is none the less on that account a grace. If it is not optional, it may certainly be ornamental. The fact that a thing or a trait is demanded by the moral law does not render the sacrifice of that thing or the exhibition of that trait any the lelrnoble or lovely. The grace of gratitude in particular is a peculiarly lovely virtue. There is even, we may say, an aesthetic quality to thankfulness. “Praise is comely for the upright,” said the Psalmist, who was an authority on the' beauty of holiness. Even the' world appreciates the aesthetic value of gratitude—as well as its earning power, acquisitive of future favors, as a practical asset of life —fund poets in all ages have sung of the charm of a grateful spirit, the nobility of a responsive nature. Even

the birds look up when they drink, as if in mute recognition of the heavenly source of the bits of blessing which fall to them, and certainly man, much more richly endowed and blessed, should do at least as much, and express his “Thank you!” both by the testimony of the lips and the generous actions of the life. Thanksgiving day is a proper and convenient occasion for considering both the duty and the grace of gratitude to the great Giver of all good. But Thanksgiving day is not simply for the abstract discussion of general ideas present in thought or stirring the emotions. This day' does —or should —have a direct governing re-‘ lation to the ministries of the hand and the unfolding of the wallet. . . . When it is celebrated in the spirit c£ the scriptural exhortation to thankfulness, it becomes a time of rejoicing in the truest, fullest sense, because it joins praise to God with practical ministry to the poor and unfortunate. Thanksgiving should issue in thanksgiving. Praise should become a practice. Gratitude must become a temper and tendency of the life. So will God be glorified and gratified, and men, by their cordial and constant recognition of his goodness, be lifted in the scale of being and be the bettfer fitted to receive from heaven more favors still. —Rev. C. A. S. Dwight.