The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-30
SERMON BY REV. DR.. FERRIS
THANKSGTVrNG DISCOURSE IN TIE
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH,

Large Attendance at the Union servio,
Yesterday--The Sermon by the Pastor
Was Very Interesting One and Wal
be Long Remembered by All who
Heard LIT.
AT the Calvary Baptist church yes
terday morning the pastor, Rev. George
I'll. Ferris, preached a very eloquent ser
mon before a large congregation con-
sisting of Baptists from several church
es of the city. The First Baptist church
was largely represented and there were
members of the Hope Baptist and How
ard avenue Baptist churches present.
The pastors of the different churches
were present and the service was a most
interesting one. The music was by the
First Baptist choir and the programme
rendered was an excellent one. Rev.
Dr. Ferris sermon was Thanksgiv-
ing sermon and was one that will long
be remembered by all who heard it. His
text was taken from Psalms 27:13, Il
had tainted, unless l had believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of
the living" Rev. DR.. Ferris spoke as
follows:
Psalm 27:13.
We are just closing the last year of
another century. AS we approach the
summit of the mountain range that di-
vides these two vast periods of time, If
we can take a long look back over the
past, can see the events of the centu-
ries in their proper perspective, and can
trace the trend of certain world move
ments, perhaps we can look into the flu
ture with a truer vision, can trust in
spiritual forces with a deeper faith, and
can believe with the Psalmist that we
shall yet see "the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living" This is the
true prophetic gift, and the power that
separates mankind from all lower crea-
lures. The animals are prisoners of the
present; are borne through life by the
force of extraneous circumstances find
all their happiness in making the hour
minister to their sensuous nature; and
make no provision for the future, save
the food necessary to meet the viciss-
tudes of the immediate season. But in
treasurng the years in his memory; so
that great suggestions and ideals rise
out of the ashes of the past, and, light
ing on some distant height of truth and
righteousness, enable the prophet to
point out the goal toward which the
ages move. So the clock of the prophet
has longer pendulum than has that of
his narrow minded and low-visioned
neighbor, and, instead of striking once
every sixty minutes, it sometimes
strikes but once in a century. Astron- |
ony tells us that the orbit Of the plan
ct Neptune is so great that 1t takes one |
hundred and sixty years for this world !
to journey around the sun. According |
to this calendar, therefore, Christ was
born only eleven years ago. But we
can make a still larger reckoning We |
are told that it takes the star Mizar
two hundred thousand years to make a
single revolution According to the cal
endar of this star therefore, one of our
centuries is only between four and five
hours long; and our whole Christian
era is but three days and a half old
So we shall not be journeying far be-
yond the realm of fact into the region
of fancy, this morning, if we picture to
ourselves a giant clock. whose long pen
dulum is adjusted to the passing of the
centuries, and whose hours ring over
the world but once in a hundred years
Let us go back six hours, and see the
condition of the world Our clock has
just struck thirteen hundred. We of
ten hear people talk of the good old
times" II is evident that they do not
refer to the period now before US All
over Europe the peasants are living in
dirty mean novels, covered with turf or
thatch, and ventilated by hole in the
roof There are no chimneys in the
houses, for such a luxury is as great a
rarity as are brass bedsteads in the
cottages of our day. Nor are there any
windows save in those more fortunate
homes where an old oiled cloth let's in
some semblance of light The hole in
the roof that let's out the smoke has to
let in the light too In the evening the |
wretched family gathers around the fire
in the middle of the house until bed
time comes, when they fling themselves
down upon a heap of straw in the cor
ner, which is as near al they come to a
mahogany bedstead or a hair-mattres
They have no lamp or gas-jet in these
eliCleut HOIIleS, anu CHey would nave no |
use for such luxuries, if they had; for
none of them are able to read and as I
for books, such things are unknown. {
and only princes are able to buy manu- /
scripts. Deeds of rapine and law1ess- {
ness are of everyday occurrence, for e
people resort to the courts only when t
every other eXpedient has failed The f
common method of redressing wrong @
Or righting an injustice is to gather to- c
gether band of desperate rogues, +
which is an easy thing to do in these I
good old times" and to set out to C
plumber, and burn and murder In the S
records of one sparsely settled country t
district in England, in a single year. y
within radius Of ten miles, according V
to the historian Jessopp, there were t.
eleven men and five women put on trial t.
for burglary, eight men and four wo- I
men murdered, three men and two wo- b
men killed in fatal fights three men a
and two women committed suicide, ! d
eleven desperate wretches hanged ''for "
various offences" and one man torn to e
pieces by horses for debasing the kings s
,oin In nearly every case the only W