The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-28
THE DANGERS OF PESSIMISM.
TALMAGE breaches BEFORE AN
IMMENSE AUDIENCE.

All Men Called Liars by David in n
ParOxysm of PetuIance and Rage
After Being SwindIed, Betrny ed
and Persecuted-A Disposition
Abroad To-day 10 Dfsfrust Every
bOdy-A Great Religious Awaken
ing Declared the Need of the
Hour.
New York. Jan. 27.-When Rev. DR..
ralmage came upon the stage IN the
Academy of Music this afternoon. he
found before him an audience such as is
seldom seen in any public building in
America. The vast space was crOwed
from auditorium TO topmost gallery.
and the aisles and corridors literally
blocked, while many thousands who had
come to hear him preach crowded Four
tenth street and Irving place. unable
10 gain admission. He took for his sub
3ect, 1.-THE Dangers OF Pessimism." the
text selected being: Psalm JIG: II, Il
said in my haste. All men are liars"
Swindled. betrayed. prosecuted David,
in a paroxysm of petulance and rage.
thus insulted the human race. David
himself falsiied himself when he said.
'.All men are liars" He apologies and
says he was unusually provoked and
that he was hasty when he hurled such
universal denunciation. Il said in my
haste" and so on. 1t was I'm him only
a momentary triumph of pesslmism.
There Is ever and anon. and never more
than now, a disposition abroad to dis
trust everybody, and because some bank
employees defraud, to distrust all bank
employees; and because some police Off
GERS have taken brides, to believe that all
policemen take brides; and because d.
vorce cases are in court. to believe
that most, If not all, marriage relations
are unhappy. There are men who seem
rapidly coming to adopt this creed; All
men are liars, scoundrels, thieves, lib
ertines. When new case Of perhdy
comes to the surface, these people clap
their hands in glee. 1t gives plquancy
10 their breakfast If the morning news
paper discloses a new exposure, or a
new arrest. They grow fat on vermin
They join the devils In he'll in Jubilation
bver recreancy and pollution. II some
one arrested is proved innocent. IL is to
them a disappointment. They would
rather believe evil than good. They are
Nultures, preferring carron. They would
like to be on a committee TO lind some
thing wrong. They wish that as eye
glasses have been invented to improve
the sight, and ear trumpets have been
invented to help the hearing, a cor
responding instrument might be invent
ed for the nose, to bring nearer mall
odor. Pessimism says of the church,
THE majority of the members are
hypocrites, although 1t is no temporal
advantage to be a member of the church.
and therefore there is no temptation to
hypocrisy" Pessimism says that the in
fiuence of newspapers is only bad. and
that they are corrupting the world; when
the fact is that they are the mightiest
agency for the arrest of crime and the
spread of intelligence, and the printing
press, secular and religious, Is setting
the nations free. The whole tendency
of things is toward cynicism, and the
gospel of Smash-up. We excuse David
of the text for a paroxysm Of disgust.
because he apologies for it to all the
centuries, but 1t is deplorable fact that
may have taken the attitude of perpet-
ual dstrust and anathematization. There
are, we must admit. deplorable facts.
and we would not hide or minify them.
We are not much encouraged to find
that the great work of official reform
in New York city begins by a proposition
20 the liquor dealers to break the law
by keeping their saloons open on sun
day from two in the afternoon TO eleven
at night Never since America was dis
covered has there been worse insult
to sobriety, and decency. and religion
than that proposition. That proposition
Is equal to saying: Let law. and order.
and religion have chance on Sunday
forenoons, but Sunday afternoons open
all the gates to gin, and alcohol. and
Schiedam schnapps and sour mash. and
Jersey lightning, and the variegated swill
of breweries, and drunkenness, and
crime Consecrate the first half Of the
Sunday TO God, and the last half to the
devil. Let the children on their way to
Sunday schools in New York at o'clock
in the afternoon meet the alcoholism
that does more than all other causes
combined to rob children of their faith
ers and mothers. and strew the land
with helpless orphanage. Surely, strong
drink can kill enough people and destroy
enough families, and sufficiently crowd
the alms-houses and penitentiaries IN six
days in the week without giving an extra
half day for pauperism and assassination.
Although we are not very iubilant over
q municipal reform that opens the exer-
cises by a doXology to rum, We have full
faith in God. and in the gospel, which win
vet sink all iniquity the Atlantic ocean
vnelts a flake of snow. What we want,
and what 1 believe We viii have, Is a
great religious awakening that Will mora
lie and Christianize our great popula-
TONS and make them superior to tempta-
ffons whether unlawful or legalized. So
I see no cause for DISAGREEMENT. Pes
simism is a sin, and those who yield to
1T cripple themselves for the war, on one
side of which are all the forces of dark
ness, led on by Apollyon, and on the
other side of which are all the forces of
light, led on by the Omnipotent l risk
the statement that the vast majority
of people are doing the best they can.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a
thousand of the officials of the municipal
and the United States governments are
honest. Out of a thousand bank presi-
dents and cashiers, nine hundred and
ninety-nine are worthy the position they
occupy. Out of a thousand merchants,
mechanics and professional men, nine
hundred and ninety-nine are doing their
duty as they understand it. Out of one
thousand engineers, conductors and
switchmen, nine hundred and ninety
nine are true to their responsible posi-
tions. 1t is seldom that people arrive