Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-27

Blessings brought to humanity
through the agency of inventions was
the subject upon which Rev. Frank
De Witt Talmage addressed his hear
ers at the First Presbyterian church
yesterday. The text was from Ec-
cleslastes, viii, 20: They Have Sought
Out Many Inventions"
! The preacher said In part: "Once
when studying picture painted by
/ Byam Shaw, the famous young Eng
| lsh artist, I was deeply impressed with
the inscription beneath the painting.
" So this only have found that God
hath made men upright, but they have
sought out many Inventions
Never did these Solomonic words
burn themselves into my mind and
heart more deeply than when I saw
them in the brilliant colors of Byam
Shaw's strange. and yet powerful ana
startling picture.
But when studying that picture
asked myself this question: DO all
modern inventions truly make men
Wretched and miserable, as King Solo,
mon implies? Did King Solomon him
self mean that all modern inventions
were bad? or course the greater op-
portunities of life, which come through
the revolving wheels of machinery and
the concentration of capital, do nat
wicked men to do evil; but are all
great Inventions agents of evil?' NO.
| answered. AS greater opportunities
OF life offer greater evils for wicked
men, so greater opportunities of ma
chinery and inventions afford greater
opportunities of good for good men,.
Thus on this Sabbath preceding our
national Thanksgiving day L will cat
alogue some of the blessings which, in
fn
the sewing machine, the railroad, the
factory, the telephone, the typewriter,
the printing press, and from all the
other inventions that have made the
past century the most remarkable, in
a scientific sense of all the ages.
Some people marvel at the mechan-
ism which makes it possible for the
farmer to sow and reap fields of wheat
hundreds and thousands of acres wide,
where their ancestors had only few
acres to a farm. 'Tis true we must
gaze in awe at the wonderful possi-
bilities of the modern farm, through
the miracles of modern machinery.
Last summer, while riding through the
country, 1 saw great machine going
over the prairie, where once the farmer
went swinging his scythe This mar
velous machine was called "A Com
bined Harvester 1t was drawn by
thirty-two horses, driven chariot-like,
four abreast. That machine cut the
wheat. threshed the wheat, gathered
the clean kernels into bags, sewed up
the bags, threw them to one side and
tossed the straw into heaps. All this
happened while the farmer was out
taking his pleasure ride behind hi.
thirty-two horses. Marvellous, mar
velous, wonderful, wonderful Com
bined Harvester But the benefits
which come to our table from "A
Combined Harvester are as nothing
compared to those that come from the
freight car and from the steamer.
LAS Bishop Clark in 1855 spoke in
prophecies of The Next Fifty Years.
so l may be permitted to speak mine.
Looking ahead 1 see strange and
wonderful world. Before my children
shall die L see the wonderful inven-
tions of the past infinitely developed in
producing power. 1 hear these ma
chimes calling to me, L will make
enough bread for all to eat. I will
make enough clothes for all to wear.
I will build enough houses in which all
can sleep. 1 will print enough books
for all to read. 1 will build enough
temples in which all can worship.
Then, oh man, if the Christian people
of your generation will do their Chris
tian duty, the human race will not only
learn the Fatherhood of God, but also
the Brotherhood OF man. Then instead
of a few having too much, and the
many having nothing, there shall be
enough bread for all and to spare. MAY
God help us to hear today the voice of
God in the voice of machinery, bidding
us to love the Lord our God with ali !
our mind and strength and our neigh
bors as ourselves"