THIS THANKSGIVING by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1893

THIS THANKSGIVING.

By Editor

Last year, on "Thanksgiving" day we wrote the following:—

Will our readers please note this fact, that on the twenty-fourth day of November, 1892, "in the land of the free and the home of the brave," while hymns of praise and thanksgiving, prayers, and sermons are sounding out from thousands of churches for the freedom enjoyed under the Stars and Stripes, there are fourteen good souls indicted as criminals under the laws of the commonwealth of Tennessee, against whom no charge can be brought save that of working quietly and to the disturbance of no one on the first day of the week after having rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment? Four of these men have just finished a sentence for this same "crime," in the chain gang. These men are said to be, even by their prosecutors and persecutors, good citizens. They are said, by their first-day acquaintances, to be good neighbors and honorable men. The Constitution of the State of Tennessee is violated by their arrest and incarceration, but judges of the Supreme Court of the State and of the District Court of the United States have approved the law and confirmed the penalty. At the same time men who keep no sabbath, great corporations of various kinds, and parties of sport, "desecrate" Sunday unmolested by law. These men were put in jail, these men are now indicted, because they keep the Sabbath of the Lord. We do not wish to take from the fervor of a single prayer or song, but it is well to remember these facts.

Yet is there reason to be thankful November 24 and all days. Great blessings are enjoyed in this "land of liberty." God has given abundantly of the good things of earth, and kept from us war and pestilence. In most parts of the land he has given the privilege of worshiping him according to conscience, and Jesus Christ is Saviour over all, rich unto all who call upon him.

Are we complaining for the sake of our brethren in Tennessee?—Not at all. They have more blessing than those who placed them there. Says Jesus: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Matt. 5:11, 12.

Let all give thanks. Let our persecuted brethren give thanks. They have special reason. They have the word of God. They have the promise and presence of Christ.

And on this "Thanksgiving" day, November 30, 1893, we repeat it, with simply this change, Maryland has three in jail for the same crime as was committed by those whom Tennessee considered worthy of the chain gang.

But let our brethren rejoice "that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." We bid them be of good cheer. Bear God's message in jail in the power of a godly life and conversation. Rejoice in Him who suffers with you. And let all our brethren "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."