Connecticut western news., 1895-01-31
SINS OF pESSIMISM.
NNv, uN, rAlMA0E pEPloRES THE
 MODERN TENDENCY.
rN~ss n No PiAos In the Life of . Chris-
 skn Tor Gleony Forebodings-Touch-
 sne I.ssAsas of Gladstons-Optimism of


 lne I,ssAs.t of Glat,stone-Op Optimism of
 SAsAsaAaaaty.
 Nnw YoRK, Jan. 27.-When Rev. Dr. Talmsge came upon the stage in the Academy of Music this afternoon, he found before him an audience such as is ssldom seen in any public building in America The vast space was crowded from auditorium to topmost gallery and the aisles and corridors literally block cd, while many thousands who had come to hear him preach crowded Fourteenth street and Irving place, unable to gain admission. He took for his subject "The Dangers of Pessimism. /" the text selected being Psalm cxvi, II. ''I said in my haste, All men are liars.''
 Swindled, betrayed. persecuted David, in . paroxysm of petulance and rage, thus insulted the human race. David himssh falsified when he said, "All men arc liars. :" He apologizes and says he was unusually provoked, and that he wae hAsty when he hurled such univer- gal dsnnnciation. "I said in my haste, <" and 70 on. It was in him only a momen- tary triumph of pessimism. There is ever and anon, and never more than NOW, . disposition abroad to distrust ev- erybody, and because some bank em- ployees defraud to distrust all bank en- ployees, and because some police officers have taken bribee to believe that all policemen take bribes, and because di- vorcs cases are In the court to believe that most, if not all, marriage relations gre unhappy.
 There are men who seem rapidly com , ing to adopt this creed: All men are kars, sCoundrels, thieves, ibertines Nhan . new case of perfidy comes to the snxfAoe, these people clap their hands in glee It gives piquancy to their break fast if the morning newspaper discloses . nsv exposure or a new arrest. They grow fAt on vermin. They join the devils ta hell in jubilation over reoreancy and 5 pollntion. If some one arrested is proved , hAocsnt it is to them disappointment. Fhay WoQld rather believe evil than good They arc vultures, preferring car rioa. They would like to be on @ com sittss to ind something wrong. They wish that as eyeglasses have been in vented to improve the sight, and ear tnmpets have becn invented to help the ,Asazin9 . corresponding instrument night be invented for the nose, to bring snsasss malodor.
 Evils of Cynioism.
 Rssimism says of the church, "The majority of the members are hypoorites. sitAoagh it is no temporal advantage to 1s member of the church, and there fofs AhsBe is no temptation to hypoo- Iisy." Pessimism says that the influence sf newspapers is only bad, and that they afs oo9fupting the world. when the fact h that they arc the mightiest agency fer tho arrest of crime and the spread If fiAtollfgenoe. and the printing press. secular and religious. is setting the na- sions freq. The whole tendency of things igtoward oynicism. and the gospel of Smsshup We excuse David of the text fer . paroxysm of disgust, because he apologises for it to all the centuries, but it is deplorablo fact that many have taken the attitude of perpetual distrust ard snathemasisation. There are, we aoss admit dcplorable facts, and we would not hide or minify them. We are noe much encouraged to find that the meat work of official reform in New York sity begins by a proposition to the liquor dealers to break the law by keep ing their saloons open on Sunday from 2 in the afternoon to II at night.
 Never sinoe America was discovered Aas thore been aworse insult to sobriety ? and deconcy and religion than that prop ssition. That proposition is equal to say ing: Let law and order and religion havo . chance on Sunday forenoons, but Sunday afternoons open all the gates to gin md alcohol and Schiedam schnapps and sour mash and Jersey lightning, and tho variegated swill of breweries snd drunkenness and crime. Consecrate tho frst half of tho Sunday to God and tho laas half to the devil Let the chil- dsen on their way to Sunday schools in New York at 8 o'clock in the afternoon meet tho alcoholism that does more than all other causes combined to rob chil- a1sn of their fathers and mothers and strow the land with helpless orphanage. Suoly strong drink can kill enough peo- pls and destroy enough families and safaciently crowd the almshouses and psnitontiaries in six days of the week without giving 1t an extra half day for paupsrtm and assassination.
 Power of Good.
 Although we are not very jubilant ever . municipal reform that opens the sxacises by . doxology to rum, we have fall fAith in God and in the gospel wAAch will yet sink all iniquity as the Atlantic ocean melts flake of snow. What we want, and what I believe we will have, is a great religious awaken iAg that will moralise and Christianize su great populations and make them supeRfm to temptations, whether unlaw- fll oR legaliEed. So see no cause for d3sheartenment Pessimism is sin, and tAss who yield to it cripple themselves .for tho war, on one side of which are all the forces of darkness, led on by AYoilyon. and on tho other side of which - sfl tho forces of light, led on by the Omnipotenk 1 risk the statement that tts vast majority of people are doing tho best they oan. Nine hundred and Afnety -nine out of a thousand of the 6flloials of tho municipal and the United SMtes governments are honest.
 OusO4 o suoueouu UonA Piooiuoneo anu eaahaees. nine hundred and ninety-n aIe worthy the position they occupy. Out q . thousand merchants, mechanics sDdt pSofessional men, nine hundred and nfns<y mine arc doing their duty as they andefstand 1t. Out of one thousand en- gtneezs and conductors and switchmen, ntne hundred and ninety nine are true to their responsible positions It is sell 6om, thas people arrive at positions of responsibility until they have been test q o~er and over again. If the theory of the pessimist were accurate, society wonld long ago have gone to pieces, and civilization would have been submerged wiEh barbarian, and the wheel of the centuries would have turned back to the