But before we deal with public praise, let us think for a few tajnmtes of one of its pre-requisites and that is a thankful -.pirit. Public praise should imply private gratitude, otherwise it is a mere outward form and may degenerate into hypocrisy. Now gratitude is all, too rare, We too often look on the dark side of things, forgetting that that is not the only side. jin life and we may be well advised not to ignore it; but there is a good deal else besides. As we look around the world we see a number of things and some of them at least are causes for gratitude. Prayer may be rare but praise is rarer still. Deep trouble may agonize people to earnest prayers who very seldom pray in ordinary circumstances, but happiness still fails to evoke gratitude. All sorts of vows are made during times of trial that fare quickly" forgotten when the trouble passes. We read in the Gospels that there were ten lepers who one day prayed to Jesus, but only one who returned!to give thanks. I wonder if that the ratio of prayer to prai that. flesh is heir to, forgetting that men are themselves endowed with the dangerous gift of freedom and that we and others have our share! lof responsibility for these ill Far be it from me to try glibly to explain away the problem of pain; it ie far too profound for that, but we must not ignore the human causes of that problem. And neither must we ignore the of side and be insensitive to never ing mercies, new every morning and renewed every evening. For suffering is very far from being the whole atory. Have we not freely eazcived life and health and friends, leisure and pleasure and treasure and fergotten to be grateful? There are definitions of sin, and here is another in one word, ingratitude the living of a life of' mere receiving; the living in God's world of a life that calmly ignores God. That was the indictment of Moses against the people he had rescued from dondage—they were ungrateful. And that is a tendency of us all.
The Reaction Upon Self And both gratitude and ingratitude react upon oursd The dwelling upon the ills of life increases thave very ills; for after all it is in the mind that things really happen. "The complaining person the miserable person, not really because circumstances have been adverse, but because that person made the most of the diffcultics The dark coloured spectacles.were in his possession already before the trouble had come over the horizon, There was a suggestil thoughts of defeat and disaster. And similarly gratitude increases the joy of the world, by focussing attention on the bright side of the picture. The ancient Psalmist speaks of "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." praise acceptable to God? It is certainly beneficial to man. The kenial happy, praiveful spirt has Way of transmvting even sorrow into joy; it is impervious to thoughts of disease and depression and these are thereby rendered nocuous. That is not the whole truth but there is a good deal in it. Paul says "If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things;" for by letting your mind dwell upon them, you increase and multiply them. For the mind distressed there is often no treatment comparable to exercises in praise and thanksgiving, for these fasten us on to the health-giving influences that surround The Gospel of Love Revealed And chief amongst all causes for gratitude is the gospel of the love Of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
For deep trust in Him makes possible to be grateful even for those things which make the worlding sad. It has enabled some people to say, "Though He slay me yet will I trust Him." For they have been sufficiently into the heart of things to know that the deepest jeanses for joy are not to be found in any circumstances but in the nature and character of God Himself. The profoundest cause for There may be much that is sinister! praise is this that God cannot deny Bimselj. It was this deep condi
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.