Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-11-25
CalnaQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. ID. d.

sermon turns the brighter side OF the |
picture of our national life and shows |
MS that we ought TO be thankful that |
we are living in times that have under |
gone vast improvement since the good |
old days" OF our grandfathers. The |
text is Psalm iv, q, "There be many !
that say, Who will show US any good?"
The depreciators. the carpers, the
fault finders, the calamity howlers. the |
pessimists, who, like the blind fish Of
Kentucky's Mammoth cave. cannot
see the light of day. have an ancestral
record as old as the human race. They
belong especially to no one century or
generation. Their family connections
are not limited to the Caucasian race,
or to the Ethiopian, or To the Malay,
or to the red skinned American Indian,
or to the Monaghan, or to the jaun-
diced faced Chinaman. They are found
alike I'm the poor mans hut and the
rich mans palace, among the sailors
on shipboard and the citizens on land.
Like the Eskimos, they live among
the arctic icebergs. They thrive well
In the temperate zone. They bask in
the boiling heat Of the tropics. They
are found among all social classes OF
all nations of all times.
Mythology placed representative of
the class among the Greek gods on
Mount Olympus. His name was Mo-
mus, the god of fault finding and
mockery- he took pleasure in finding
fault with men. He found fault with
the gods themselves. He criticised
Vulcan because after he had made
man he did not place n window In his
breast so that mans thoughts could
lie seen by the passersby. lie de-
nounced Minerva after she had built
a house because she did not make the
house movable. He found fault with
Neptune because he did not place the
horns of the beast he had created
farther forward in his forehead, SO
that he could fight better. He kept on
finding fault with everybody and
everything until at last the gods be-
came Disguised and drove Momus out
Of heaven, because, said they, heaven
can be no heaven with a chronic fault
finder around"
What the Grecian NEUROLOGICAL gods
said In reference TO heaven with
Momus In il is literally true. No soci-
ETY. on earth can be happy or content
cd with a chronic grumbler around.
And yet. coming up to the glorious cell
ebration OF our autumnal Thanksgiv-
ing day OF 1904, we find our pessimistic
. Momusss everywhere. This is the
time when we ought TO be making an
inventory OF all our blessings, Instead
OF which these modern calamity howl
ers are making false collection OF
misanthropic statements. They are
also making their pessimistic prophe-
cies. Not only are they saying that the
world is going TO the dogs, but they
furthermore assert that il has already
gone to the dogs. why" they say,
y eve have nothing 20 be thankful for
this Thanksgiving day. IT'S true there
Is more money in the world, more than
ever before. but we do not have It.
Our social. civic and spiritual condi-
lions for the great mass OF folks were
never at as low ebb as they are today.
Who will show US any good?' they cry,
as the calamity howlers OF my text
cried in David's time, thousands OF
years ago.
Moder. Times Versus Ancient.
Some OF these modern fault finders
much worse than were the ancient
times. I Will pick up their challenge.
They ask, "Who will show us any
good?" i answer, 81 WILL" And | will
show that the church OF Jesus Christ
m better today spiritually than the an
cient church. i will show that modern
governments are better and the homes
are better and people in the mass are
higher toned morally and better. The
fact that lot Of chronic croakers at
this Thanksgiving time are going
\ around finding fault with things does
not IN the least prove that most peo-
pie are poorly chad, poorly fed, poorly
housed and under the merciless heels
or despotic tyrants. AS rule, you
will find that those people who grum-
bic the most have the least 10 grumble
about.
The Menus OF political life declares
that there IL nothing In our national
life TO warrant thanksgiving. He says:
Modern rulers aud legislators are self
ish oppressors. They do not govern by
Gods Golden Rule, but by force. The
code OF civilized nations Is immoral,
merciless and unjust. II connives at
dones the thefts OF province. Strong
governments trample upon the rights
OF the weaker governments. Within
those governments one social class
places the yoke OF tyranny upon the
other social class. Within those gov
ernments laws are not equitable and
Just. We find that the poor man who
steals loaf OF bread TO avert starva-
ton is hustled or TO Jail, as Jean VAL
jean was sent to the galleys with n
twenty years sentence for stealing two
loaves OF bread TO feed the gaunt and
haggard and starving children OF his
widowed sister. On the other hand, a
man like James Fisk, il he Is big
enough scoundrel TO steal n railroad,
can defy justice, while a millionaire,
like Edward Stokes, who shoots a
James Fisk, has no mere TO fear from
the gallows than a leopard has who
Stays q helpless fawn" NO" say the
living pessimists, "our modern govern
ments and their internal laws are all
corrupt There are none that doeth
good-no. not one, not one"
It's true, o carping critic and CO.
iamity bowler against rulers and ma
donai laws, that modern governments
are not all that they ought to be- This
Is not the age OF perfection even in leg
islative hall or presidential cabinet or
privy.council of the king. Perhaps Eng
land did not do right in her dealings
with the African Boers. Possibly the
United States government did not do
right In compelling Mexico at the point
or the bayonet to cede to her all OF
Texas, oil of New Mexico, one-half OF
the present state of Colorado, all of
Arizona, all OF Nevada, all of Utah and
the whole OF California. We know that
Russia, trying to steal Manchuria, and
Turkey, in her massacre OF the Arme-
mans, have been outrageously wicked.
We know that Spain, in her cruelties
toward Cuba and the Philippines, and
the United States government, In its
cruel treatment of the North American