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J.R. Miller in The Book of Comfort (1912) writes:
Thanksgiving implies thought of God. One may be glad all the day and never think of God. Thanksgiving looks up with every breath and sees God as Father from whom all blessings come. Thanksgiving is praise. The heart is full of gratitude. Every moment has something in it to inspire love. The lilies made Jesus think of his Father, for it was he who clothed them in beauty. The providence of our lives, if we think rightly of it, is simply God caring for us….He who has learned the Thanksgiving lesson well has found the secret of a beautiful life. "Praise is comely," says the Hebrew poet. Comely means fit, graceful, pleasing, attractive. Ingratitude is never comely. The life that is always thankful is winsome, ever a joy to all who know it. The influence of an ever-praising life on those it touches is almost divine. The way to make others good is to be good yourself. The way to diffuse a spirit of thanksgiving is to be thankful yourself. A complaining spirit makes unhappiness everywhere….Thanksgiving has attained its rightful place in us only when it is part of all our days and dominates all our experiences. We may call one day in the year Thanksgiving Day and fill it with song and gladness, remembering all the happy things we have enjoyed, all the pleasant events, all the blessings of our friendships, all our prosperities. But we cannot gather all our year's thanksgivings into any brightest day. We cannot leave to-day without thanks and then thank God to-morrow for to-day and to-morrow both. To-day's sunshine will not light to-morrow's skies. Every day must be a thanksgiving day for itself. (pp. 167, 170-172) HT: Dorothy Simpson
For your Thanksgiving reading pleasure, be sure to check out the full chapter in Miller’s book titled “The Thanksgiving Lesson.” Also, you may wish to peruse William Carlos Martyn’s classic The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867). Earlier this year we shared a post about Presbyterian Timothy Alden, Jr. ‘s account of his Mayflower ancestor John Alden’s courtship of Priscilla Mullins. We have also written about an earlier Thanksgiving celebrated by the French Huguenots in Florida in 1564. Many Thanksgiving sermons can be read here.
We here at Log College Press are thankful to God for the men and women of faith who have gone before us, and left us with such a rich legacy that our generation is able to rediscover through the blessings of technology. We are thankful that God has not left us without a witness to his faithfulness from generation to generation. We are thankful for the team of contributors who help Log College Press to bring the writings of earlier generations to the eyes and ears of the modern world. We are thankful for all of our readers, and all the kind expressions of support which we have received. Thank you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!
