Editorial April 23, 1910 Issue

WHEN TO GIVE THANKS

Annie M. Knott

In the 107th Psalm we have a wonderful presentation of the great drama of human redemption from sin and sickness, with several interludes which call upon men to give thanks to God for all His goodness and for His "wonderful works to the children of men!" In this psalm every phase of human wretchedness is outlined,—the sin and sickness, the "darkness and the shadow of death," the penury, the hunger, the tempest; but in each case the all-sufficiency of divine Love is shown and every storm is stilled. The psalm closes with the significant words, "Whose is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."

All through the Scriptures, moreover, we find exhortations to thanksgiving. In the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans he speaks of those who were not thankful, and says of them that "their foolish heart was darkened." In another place his counsel is, "In every thing give thanks," an admonition for which he had the authority of Christ Jesus' teaching and example.

In Christian Science we have had a great revival of the giving of thanks, not with outward ceremonial and at stated times, but daily and hourly, for the reason that we have learned how to appropriate and appreciate the divine goodness, and the time once given to the rehearsing of trials and tribulations is now devoted to the recalling of the triumphs of Truth, which have brought deliverance to the erstwhile captives of sense, with the joys of spiritual freedom.

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