Editorial November 16, 1912 Issue

"IN EVERY THING GIVE THANKS."

Archibald McLellan

In this issue of the Sentinel we publish the proclamation of the President of the United States, naming Thursday, Nov. 28, as the annual day of thanksgiving. This observation of a day when all should return thanks to God for the blessings received throughout the year, is the outgrowth of that deep trust in Him, and love of Him, which nearly three centuries ago inspired brave and devout men and women to set sail for the new world, in the hope that they might there find "freedom to worship God."

This national custom of setting apart a day for the special observance of public thanksgiving and praise to God, comes down to us from these Pilgrims of the seventeenth century, who in the midst of the hardships and dangers of their new home forgot not to give public thanks to the giver of all good when with the coming of the ensuing autumn a bounteous harvest reassured them against the scarcity of provisions which had attended their first winter in the new land. From New England the custom has extended throughout North America; not, however, in the purity of its religious aspect, but, like some other commemorative days whose original significance has been forgotten, more as a holiday of general recreation. Whereas it was formerly the custom for all churches to observe the day with largely attended services, now many churches are not opened at all, and even those where a service is held are but lightly attended.

Just what is the reason for this decadence we shall not attempt to explain here, but simply note, as an exception to the general rule, the churches of the Christian Science denomination which are springing up all over the world. In these churches the congregations assembled on Thanksgiving day are much the same in numbers as those assembled each Sunday and Wednesday, and the services held on this holiday are simple and spontaneous outpourings of gratitude for blessings received. No doubt Mrs. Eddy, in making these services a part of the regular order of worship in the Christian Science churches, intended not only to check the material trend of present-day religion, but also to encourage the spirit of fellowship, hospitality, and benevolence which bore so significant a part in the first New England Thanksgiving day. These qualities are indeed inseparable from true gratitude, and should likewise be inseparable from the outward manifestations of Christianity.

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