The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-01
THE NATIONS OPPORTUNITY.
Ehe Sermon Preached on Thanksgiving
Day by the Rev. DR.. Talmage.
"a Year of Great Temporal Blessing-An Ar
gument in Favor of Extending Our
Commerce to South America.


giving service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the
church was profusely adorned with corn from
the West, sugar-cane from louisiana wheat
Erom the North, and cotton from Georgia. The
opening hymn was;
''Hark the sound Of jubilee
Loud as mighty thunders roar
Tho subject of the sermon by DIR. Talmage
was thanksgiving Day, 1884 The texts
were: Ezekiel, xii, II, Another door toward
the SOUTH Revelations, xxi, ID, Con the
south three gates" Dr. Talmage said:
King George of England, at the close of the
Revolutionary war, in which he had lost the thir-
teen colonies, set apart a day for national
thanksgiving because of the return of peace. A
chaplain of the King asked him: care you going
to give thanks for the loss of the thirteen bright
est pearls of your crown}' NO. not for that
answered the King Because so many millions
have been added to the national debtF mo,
not for that" answered the King. Because so
many thousands have been slain, though belong
ging to the same race and religon" mo, not
for that answered the King. For what then, "
insisted the chaplain, does your Majesty want
us to give thanksl7 fThauk God" vehementiy
cried the King, thank God it is not any worse.
misfortune, or calamity, bereavement you
have so many mercies left that you ought to
thank God that things are no worse with you
than they are.
But to vast throngs of us it has been year Of
overarching mercy, and as individuals, as a
church. as a nation, we keep jubilee, and would
to God that one habit of gratitude might become
as fixed as that Of St Felix, the monk of Canta-
lice, who on all occasions whether stopping a
fight or soliciting aims for the monastery, cried
out Dec gratius, thanks be to God, until the
church called him Brother Dec Gratius, and the
children hailed him along the street as Father
Dec Gratus. After year in which other ma
tions have felt the scourge of epidemic but this
land has been spared; after emerging from a
presidential contest in which the blind Samson
of partisanship threatened to pull down the pill
lars of state and to leave the temple fat in the
dust and after 365 more days of kindness from
our God we are here In the graceful and
splendid decorations of this church to-day, with
the grains and fruits of all sections, we have an
American congress of national products. Dele
cations from North, South. East, and West
Here are delegations with white hair from the
cotton fields of the South Hero are those with
auburn beard and locks from the golden wheat
fields of the North Here are fruits that have
in their round checks the blush of the setting
sun of the West. Behold this moss from South
ern 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 fruits 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 respondent orb. Behold this coal
from Pennsylvania, and this iron ore from
Idaho, and this silver from Nevada and this gold
from Colorado, and this copper from Lake Su-
perior and these great blossoms Of New York,
and New Jersey, and Long Island cereal luxu-
rance. Harvests of 1884 looking 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
profitable market for More manufactured
goods than we can dispose of. The grain mar
kets are glutted, and the factories by the hun
dreds stopped, or run with only half the spindes
harnessed, and wages are cut down because the
supply has swamped the demand. Moth
ing is the matter to-day with this country
but overproduction and underconsumption
Where there is work for ten there are twenty
who offer their services and the hundred thou
sand wheels of American industry are slowing
up, not because there is too little but because
there is too much. God has showed upon the
track of the Nation such vast accumulation of
prosperity that the engine which draws the train
cannot plow any further through. The Ameri-
can Nation is being cheked to death with sur
plus of production and manufactures. Too
much wheat, too much corn, too much 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 excellent men in my own pro
fession without settlements some might think
too many ministers.
CHANGING THE TARIFF WILL NOT HELP.
The deluge of supply rises fifteen cubits high
above the mountains of demand. The load of
national wealth is greater than the train can
draw The man who dies for lack of crust of
bread Is no worse off than the man who is smoth-
cred to death in a wheat bin. The Nation suf-
fers to-day not of marasmus, but of plethora;
not from consumption. but from apoplexy. What
shall we dot ''Let us rush right down to Wash
ington, and have the tariff changed say null
titude. 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 pairs of shoes for every two feet that needs
them, aud twenty curtains for every window
that could support them, and twenty pairs of
eye glasses for all the visions that could be rein