Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-30
Famous Woman Orator
Delivers Masterly
Discourse
Miss Elizabeth w. Greenwood Speaks
Upon the Necessity for "Dream-
ers," That Progress for Good
May Not Be Hindered

IN view OF Ine pubic ldlu IL ouNA9 ehiiN
postal populations, has said: Govern
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people will perish from the
earth if bribery is tolerated.
Emerson has said: Our entire his
tory seems like the last effort of divine
Providence in behalf of the human
race of which Mathew Arnold said: A
republican form of government is the
ultimate form of government for the
world and America holds the key OF
the future "
Thus spake Miss Elizabeth w. Green
wood, world and national superlnten-
dent of evangelstic work of the w. o.
r. u. in her annual sermon before the
national convention yesterday afternoon
at the First Congregational church.
Miss Greenwood spoke in a mastertul
manner, dealing with the optimistic
outlook rather than the pessimlstlc'
She took for her text Proverbs, 29:lS,
"Where the vision faileth. the people
perish" Following is the sermon In
full:
"This text was a proverb among the
Hebrew people and their whole history
illuminated it, Their national life was
created and maintained by their capac-
ity for vision. In their actual life they
were repeatedly relapsing into idolatry
and sin. but through all the centuries
there was constantly held before them
the vision of an ideal state-a holler
future.
"Thus Elijah rebuked their idolatry
and Nehemiah their Sabbath desecra-
tion Thus Isaiah and other prophets,
clad in coarse raiment, uttered woes
against worldliness; against those VINO
confounded moral distinctions; against
the covetous amassers of land, ana
with pathetic tenderness held before
them the vision of their high calling.
"This was what sustained the nation
through centuries of reaction and super
stition Had they once lost this vision
of their calling as people CHOSEN OF
God to fulfill some high end, the history
of religion would never have found us
greatest epoch in the midst of them'
National Ideals
"This has been true of all national
life and is true today. What gives TO
any country it's stability and strength
is not the immediate prosperity II mas
gained, but the national ideals winch
pervade it's life. Has 1t a vision OF
better future or is it sunk in material
prosperity and self-indulgence, untll
there is no more any vision?
''Rome the supreme and eternal city,
once capital of the world, to be a citi-
zen of which was the universal ann,
and whose institutions and laws were
the only rule of civilization; Rome,
home of the conqueror, the greatest hu-
man center of power and lnnuence
which our race has known, became
great because of her youthful vision OF
a. robust and conquering manhood' ana
the world was at her feet
But Rome, in her maturity of self
centered power, eaten up by pride, lust
and luxury, lost her vision and was
doomed to decline. Well might Seneca
write as her epitaph:
Der that rude age disgust and secret
loathing. fell; ,,u+ 5o
Deep WEAKNESS ana sateu luSI hdue
human life hell.
"Greece, inspired by vision OF
beauty, became the teacher of the
world in architecture, sculpture ana
nainting; Greece with it's Par
theron, unrivaled statues of MIN
erva and Jupiter, it's Percicles and
Phidias, it's palaces and tenn
,,les But Greece without a vision,
idolator of sensual beauty, became the
warning of the world.
"America, with her view of COM
pIeted democracy, an equality OF oppor-
tunity and aristocracy of character, her
politics based on moral issues, her
Foundations the home, church ana
school. holds the key of destiny and the
future of civilization in her hands, but
should America become increasingly
a victim of her own wondrous pros
perity, sunk in mammonism and self
Indulgence, rushing after pleasure, tor-
getting her high calling, she will sink
into a sensualism as base as that OF
Rome and Greece, for Where the VISION
faileth, the people perish
Russia and Japan
"Has not a difference of vision been
the secret of the history of Russia
and Japan? On the one hand autoc-
raov. enslavement. superstition. ambi-
tion for worldly advantage only; on the
other hand, a vision of liberty, edu-
cation. openness of ideas, courage and
patriotism. AS the vision, so the re-
ward.
"The vision which uplifts a nation
must be one of hope, not despair. op-
tinism, not pessimism, leads nations
and individuals to highest possibilities.
While warnings and perils must be
faithfully protrayed, only a vision of
hope can lift upward. Hence the pro-
phets, poets, artists, writer's, individ-
uals who best serve the nation are
optimistic, not pessimistic.
"The saddest pessimistic vail of the
nineteenth century was James Thomp-
sons The City of Dreadful Night
where faith, love and hope are dead.
'The pessimst insists that suffering
and sorrow are universal and balanced
by no compensations, that there is no
real good anywhere.
I'm French, Italian and much of
German literature pessimism is the
dominant note. Omar, Byron and
Goethe are their favorite poets; they
find little in human experience but
sickness, suffering, failure, the ruin of
virtue and triumph of vice.
"zola, Paul Bourget and Brunetiere
.,,o1y I1a clyaDtios: HnI1nt0na nm. Harrison
and Mrs Humphry Ward, Thomas
Hardy, Matthew Arnold and George
Eliot may be agnostics, but nevertheless
optimism, not pessimism, is the domi-
nant note OF today, in spite of the
drifts of current skepticism, which far
too largely have penetrated into
schools and colleges, factories and
clubs, books and magazines. Sordid
realism uttering its doleful complaint
is becoming more and more indistinct.
An Age of Faith
"a