New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-01
THANKSGIVING IN CHURCHES
FORMER DAYS NOT THE BEST,

Thirty. fth-st preached THANKSGIVING sermon
day morning. The Rev. DIR. Stephenson pastor VI 'u
Rntcera Presbyterian Church, at hadsoh'a'e' IN"
Twenty. ninth-s, assisted In the services inc 'oA
vas Fcelesiasles vii. 10: e" Say not thou WIZ" y '
cause that the former days better than these o
tbou dost not inquire wisely concerning them"
Every such annual festival as this SAID ne preocn'i
h,y. with II n great deal OF etrbspec much OF when
IA Inevitably sad. not strange that the OLD kona
sarist knowing nothing Of Old age rs II IL '
the Gospel, and without any touch OF tnat 0nri7''
love which ia 50 tender and tolerant of the nirmes
age should have spoken conemp uousV OF 'ne oiu ''
as "praser OF tunes past anu
should have ciassed this characteristic WIN
others which are most unloyey, We eau uuderSNa"u
ana even sympathze With the tenaety win whicn age
clings to the past Most Of what IL ioVed on '"th -
there The weapons with which 1t won lts honordo'o
triumphs are there. The men who moulded u anu "n'
were its models and inspirations only names OF the
past The words whici Englands poet pus on Tue np'
Of the dying King Arthur find an echo IN their hearts
snch sleep they sleep the men loved
They cannot be expected 20 adapt themselves readV ~
new men and new measures
But the preacher in our text discusses the danger
which may lie in love for the past-and against this
no warus all OF Whatever age-the danger OF
queruousness, OF falling to see the good when
ia really In tho present, and OF charging the preTen
with wholesale Deterioration This disposition reveals
f6y
preacher wrote these words the emanclpaed Isrdoltes
forgot the blessings OF freelum and felt longing for
the leeks and the 1eshpots OF Egypt Three centuries
before Christ Aristotle wrote o. those who never cease
talking Of wnat has taken place, and are delight III
awakening the reaolectons OF things This detcrmina
ton m exat the past the expense OF the present Is OK
presy condemned as wise by the word OF God Say
uo thou what is the cause that the days
than these for thou dost not inquire wisely
corning this" Let IL we discover why 1t Is
unwise.
Not few causes for such complaint lie in the
,omplainer himself Imagination has great deal to do
with heghtenng the glores of the past Hence. in early
forms Of CIV izaon popular sentiment always places the
golden age in the past. Virgil sings OF time when
husbandmen bore rule the lands-when envi0us
boun larry line separated field from fell but happy men
possessed the earth in when no beasts Of prey
haunted forests and tenpests aGtated the sea.
and sweet honey hung upon the leaves OF the trees and
purple wine flowed every where. We know that this
only a au.iful dream; aud yet time has to mems
eyes the Inagniiying power Of mist, the
power of mirage to make enchantlnent out
Of harf and cruel facts to make the con.
di ions Of ollen time happier. its men stronger
and purer and its deeds more heroic. Even
az late as the eighteenth century EnrOpe has behed
Rousseau labonousy arguing for the superior happiness
of the primitive savage: maintaining that culture
has egendtred social deieroraOn declaring that he
were the chief savage African trite ho would erect
on his frontier illows on which be would hang the
first european who shoIll his territory and the
first naive should try to pass out, and wagng the
tte social with his head full OF the men and
tue civil politics Of Athens and sparta.
So TOO times and distances dwarf annoyances and
disasters OF the past. Their sharp outlines become
s,ftened The old to smart. We easily per-
suade ourselves that pan OF former
sharp after Ill.
The sclashness OF men good deal do wiz; their
ia Tho haVa
nzed place in their time and share in the glory II
not III tho achievement Of its triumphs and they
Jealous Of new conditions which they do not IN. and
whicl often leave them entirely out Of The account The
survivors Joseph do kindly to the king,
who knows not Joseph Moreover the real
progress Of the present is not favorable TO
the rest and hXedness into which they have
la sed Their formed, their opinions natufed
time with other habits ana opinions. jostlos
them unpleasantly When man has settled 10 to his
satisfaction that cartn is best he u gratdel
at the discovery that "GOt fuldis Himself in many
WAYS lest one good custom shoui corrupt the world
Progress generally means battle. and when has
CON ortdbly wrapped the drIpery his about
him" settled down " the happy assurance OF estab
Lshment. IL is not surprising that he Is anry when
trumpet Is tIrus bel his curtains ami blast 10
sounded his warning to @ forth and defend
his position capiiulate. Al sucn waking moments.
between astonshment and t. rOr. III n arc very
likely say, The former days better these"
Again the past receives a large share OF pra5,
through ignorance of Its faults II
shrewd observation of Lord Bacon that "men mark
wnen they hit ana never mark they miss" and
Archbishop Wnately in his common, that saying,
D aces beside the familiar maxim that things when
do not appear are regarded % they did not ex
st" Thus mi.deeds the past often treated
though mad no existence because they have been
largely lost sight. In the great chambers If history
only the particles Of dust which float the
beam, and hence conclude that there dust
in the sbad,. Thus it comes TO pass that,
to quote again FROM the great English Philosopher,
What bit Is history and what Is missed ia mystery
Measuring age whose Wees obscure1 by time an
by far the or ater part hidden altogether with
OF teegraphs and telephones ana newspapers and de-
tective agencies 1t Is not hard TO strike balance In
favor of past Thousands of brains and eyes are
busy exclusively with the detection examna
ton crime, and hundreds of presses in dusng
discoveries every household. murlcr In tue re-
mo mining district o. the Wess hnls its way in
twenty-four hours 10 the NewYork papers. A female
tourist IA assassinatod in African desert. ana
story Ia flashed und'r the ocean and Is read AT
our bre ikfast tables. burglary n little country
store the White Mountains Is the notebook OF a
Chicago reporter before snnset next day. societys
knowledge OF the details of crime is enormous, but IL
does not follow that there less CRIME Ia past age
because are aware of much IN the
present And besides. comparing the past with the
only the good which has been achieved and not The evil
which ms been prevented. They hold existing moral
agencies 10 rct uccOuIt for the evil winch they nave
succeeded IN suppressing, forgetting
there might nave been without these agencies IL
quife the thing these days 10 stones at the
CHURCHES to charse the clergy with falling reach
peOpie Without de iyilg seeking paluatc the
actual snOroOmi Of the c.urch the prsrut yuch
are quite suinciont without the addition Of any Tic i.ous
oucs-t f. simple Justice give her credit for inc
evil she prevented, well cnare herwitn that
failed To prevent. Murders. thcs, drunken
lccntlOusness-iye, tney abound. But Wnat OF
hanLs clean from boOi and teti wat of the
cells endnted What of tnOse would have D.en
u society but TO the ard its collateral
enclcsl Lei tneHtsults Of those influences be witt
from society tOuay, and the most cnIcaI crILe
churches would be hrst TO welcome tueu back
with All their lmperi ectiOns.