Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-01
TALMAGE GIVES THANKS.
NOVEL DECORATIONS IN THE
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

| BROOKLYN, Nov. 30.-At the annua
Thanksgiving service at the Brooklyn
Tabernacle the church was profusely
adorned with corn from the West, sugar
cane from Louisiana, wheat from tn,
North and cotton from Georgia. TIL,
opening hymn was:
clark, the sound of Jubilee,
Loud as mighty thunder's roar"
The subject of the sermon by DR.. Tai
mage was, Thanksgiving Day, 1884,
The texts were: Ezekiel xiii, .: "Anothel
door toward the south;" and Revelations
xxi, 10: "On the south three gates" DIR
Talmage said:
King George, of England, at the close Of tht
revolutionary war, in which he had lost the
thirteen colonies, set apart day for nationa
thanksgiving because of the return of peace
A chaplain of the King asked him: ''Are yoT
going to give thanks for the loss of the thir.
teen brightest jewels of your crOwn?" sNo
not for that" answered the King. because
SO many millions have been added to the ma.
tional debtg1 mo, not for that" answered
the King. because so many thousands have
been slain, though belonging to the same race
and religion" ''No, not for that" answered
the King. For what, then," insisted the
chaplain, 'does your majesty want us to give
thanks?" 'Thank God" vehemently cried
the King, "thank God it is not any worse -
And II the year now past has been to any Of
you misfortune, or calamity, or bereavement
you nave so many mercleS left that you ought
to thank Ged that things are no worse with
you than they are.
But to vast throngs of us it has been a year
OF overarchlng mercy, and, as individuals, as
a church, as nation, we keep jubilee and
would to God that our habit of gratitude
might become as fixed as that of st. Felix.
the monk of Cantalice, who on all occasions,
whether stopping a fight or soliciting aims
ri Ono
(thanks be to Cod, until the church called him
Brother Dec Gratias and the children hailed
him along the street as Father DeO Gratias.
After a year in which other nations have felt
the scOurge of epidemic. but this land has
been spared, after emerging unhurt from a
Presidential contest in which the blind Sam
son Of partisanshiD threatened to pull down
the pillars of state and to leave the temDle
fiat in the dust, and after 365 more days of
kindness from our God, we are here. In the
graceful and splendid decoration of this
church to-day with the grains and fruits of
all sections we have an American Congress of
national products. Delegations from North,
South, East and West. Here are delegations
with white hair from the cotton fields of the
South. Here are these with auburn beard
and locks from the golden wheat fields of the
North. Here are truits that have in their
round cheeks the blush of the setting sun of
the West. Behold this moss from Southern
woods. the bridal veil of the forest. Behold
these plumes of pampas from the far West.
Behold this rice from the Carolinas and these
grapes and pears from California. Behold
these apples from Connecticut, the land of
steady habits. Behold these great banana
trees. standing sentinel at either end of the
platform, by last steamer from Florida, but
the fruit this moment growing and one of
them In blossom of resplendent orb. Behold
this coal from pennsylvania and this iron ore
from Idaho, and this silver from Nevada. and
this lead from Colorado, and this copper from
Lake Superior, and these great blossoms of
New York and New Jersey and Long Island
n yu~Ia 20 ,f
down upon all their predecessors. The wave
of temporal blessing has dashed to- the TOP of
the nations corn bin.
Aye, the prosperity of this nation has rolled
up until the crest of the wave has broken and
recoiled upon itself. More corn and wheat
and cotton and rice than we can find proGUa-
BILE market for. More manufactured goods
than we can dispose of. The grain markets
are glutted, and the factories by the hundreds
stopped or run with only half the spindles
harnessed, and wages are cut down because
the supply has swamped the demand. Moth
ing Is the matter to-day with this country
but over production and under r-eonsumption
Where there is work for 20 there are 20 who
offer their services, and the 100000 wheels
OF American industry are slowing up, not be-
cause there Is too little, but because there is
too much God has showed upon the track
of the nation such vast accumulation of pros
perlty that the engine which draws the train
cannot plough any further through. The
American nation is being chOked to death
with surplus of production and manufactures
Too much wheat, too much corn, too muca
cotton, too much fruit, too much coal and
iron, too much hardware, too many dry goods,
too many shoes, too many carpets, too many
philosophical instruments, too many cattle
too many sheep, too many artisans, too many
merchants, too many lawyers, too many
doctors, and from the large numbers of excel
lent men in my own profession without settle
ments, some might think too many ministers
The deluge of supply rises fifteen cubits
high above the Ountains of demand. The
load of national wealth is greater than the
team can draw. The man who dies for lack
of crust of bread is no worse off than the
man who is smOthered to death in q wheat
bin. The nation suffers to-day not of maras-
mus but of plethora. not from consumption
but from apopleXy. What shall we do? "Let
us rush right down to Washington and have
the tariff changed say multitude. But put
up the tariff as high as the Tip-Top House of
Mount Washington, and while you might keep
out foreign goods, we have enough mills of
our own left to weave ten flannel shirts where
there is only one back to wear them, and ten
pair of shoes Tor every two feet that need
them. and twenty curtains for every window
that could support them, and twenty pair of
glasses for all the visions that could be
reinforced by them, and twenty ear trumpets
for all that could hear through them. Doctor
the tariff with homeopathic or allopathic or
eclectic dose from now until the Thanksgiving
day of the year 1000, and you cannot in that
way cure this chronic national malady
Others hope by change of national admins
tration to correct the trouble. No President
though he combined the patriotism of Wash
ington and the broad views of a j fferson and
the snavity of a Madison and the courage of
an Andrew Jackson and the Old-fashiOned
honesty Of an Abraham Lincoln, could regu-
late the lnexorable law of supply and de-
mand. Well, some say, "Let us pack our
trunks and move East or North or West -
Going East toward Europe would be exodus
into starvation. The avalanche of population
from Europe assures us that that country is
already overcrowded. We all know that this
is the best country to live In L have $50, 600
new reasons for saying $3.50, ,000 people com
ing in one year from the other side the sea to
our country. If this had not been the best
country to live in there would have been $50, =
900 Americans going to the other side the At
lantic. Shall we go North? Already the
busiest lives Of competition are along the st,
Lawrence and the AndroscOe gin and the Pc
nobscot and the woods of Maine, and the wa
ters Of the Lake Chain answer, 'No room
here"
Shall we move WestP There is no West.
The emigrants chased it across the Ohio.
across the Mississippi, across the La Platte
and Fremonts exploring expedition put their
spurs into their horses fianks and chas ed the
West from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra
Nevadas, while the forty miners from Cali
fornia, landing from their ships on the Pacific
beach took the West in the rear. And the
WOrkmen of the Union Pacific and Northern
Pacific and Southern Pacific came upon it
with their spades and the giant West has
ceased. And though many might suppose
that it m ght be said of it as of Moses: 'sNo
man k0OMGbU VI HIS b6pulCUfe 10 LfllS 0aV.U /
think that the Yosemite Valley is it's sar-
cophagus, with Ell Captain for the headstone
and Cathedral Rock at the foot. The millions
OF foreign population that are yet to cross the
sea for America will soon fill all the area be-
tween the Atlantic and the Pacific beaches.
But, in the words of my text. now declare
''another door toward the south.'' And when
| say south, L do not mean the Southern
States OF the nation, but mean a magnificent
infinity of opportunity beyond-Portuguese
America, the fifteen Spanish-American re-
publcs, and the islands Of the South Pacific.
Through that door will come the comnIeta
and glorious relief for all this over-supnIy. II
will come within ten years, within five. with
in three. On the 10th of next month at the
New Orleans Exposition that door will begin
TO swing open. II the government of the
United states fully appreciate the Oppor-
tunity and the people will help, the highest
water mark that the wave OF our national
prosperity has ever reached will be ahundred
feet under what shall speedily be the full tide
of commercial, agricultural, manufacturing,
literary and moral success. In the name of
God, proclaim revolution. Not by sword or
dynamite or nitro -glycerine or giant powder,
but by ploW and saw and yard-stick and
factory bands and new lines of steamers, and
whole nations rising up to greet our nation in
commercial amity. Our people for the most
part sit in appalling ignorance of an oppor-
tunity such as was never spread out before
any nation since the morning stars sang
together. "On the south three gates'-yea,
three thousand gates, and all of them wide
open.
L have had facts put before me enough to
keep man awake nights because of their
startling significance, and statistics so loaded
with meaning that they move with the spIen-
dor and power of the Iron Dukes army at
Waterloo-Scotch Grays and the Life Guards,
and Packs infantry and battalions of Pom
sonby. and Ryland and the Dutch Belgians
and Highlanders sounding their bagpipes.
Aye! Aye! 1t is a bloodless Waterloo which
will decide the commercial destiny of North
and South America. The simple fact is that
the vast realms of population in the tropics
are buying from trans Atlantic nations al
most everything, and from us almost nothing,
and the tide onCht To turn and the fidn rriIi