The Thanksgiving Sermon

Dr. Eddy's Thanksgiving sermón is a remarkable one, and coming from a man who was born in the early years of this century, and who'yet unites with ripe scholarship a clear mind, it ought to have great effect. One of the most beautiful traits of the American Indian in his prime was the deference with which he listened to the words of wisdom from the agrd men. We Americana have notso much of this spirit, and do not take heed. Somehow there has become imbued in the American mind the idea that this country has none of the evils which afflict older countries. The old Fourth of July speeches and Thanksgiving sermons in which the Yankee spirit ol " brag" predominated, are largely to blame for this. The extreme optimism (or blindness) of such harangues now appear absurd to many who see in the signs of the times the same forces at work here which destroyed Home and have brought,London to the terrible condition in which it is. Dr. Eddy's words of warning had no uncertain sound. We should heed them. The conflicts of party or faction are infinitely small compared to the questions he raieed. The venerable speaker proposed no remedy; but he has a sublime faith that God will bring good out of all our troubles. This faith is beautiful. At one time when a New York city mob, angry and excitedconcerningthe vague reports of Lincoln's assassination, was bent on mischief, Garfield, then comparatively unknown, calmed the crowd by springing to a commanding position and exclaiming: " God reigns, and the government at Washington still lives." It is very fine, and undoubtedly useful. But, after all, it comes to political economy at last. The man alone in deep water, no matter how much faith in God he has, must swim or go down. And so with society. We must find out and destroy the cause of the evils, or our civilization will perish as others have. Our current political economy gives no hope ; for it is saturated with the Malthusian doctrine which makes poverty, misery, crime, and disease necessary. According to this doctrine more people are boni into the world than there can possibly be food for. It is manifestly absurd, of course, but John Stuart Mili taught it, and it is supreme. If it be true, then Dr. Eddy's faith in God has no good foundation, and there is no hope. If there can not be snfficient food in the world for all, then some must suffer; selfishness follows as a necessity and a mad Bcramble for wealth in which the weakest go to the wall, and all the bad passions of man are intensified. On the other hand, if the Malthusian doctrine is not correct, and this hunger and the scramble are not caused by a law of God, what does cause them ? It m'ght be well for some of our clergymen to take hold of that question. It 8 far more fruitful than most of the sermonizing on abstract tbemes that are worn out. ' The Courier, a paper published in Ann Arbor, is vexed (and it took a quarter column last week to teil about its grievance when the whole thing might have been put in a few lines) because at the recent Prohibition conference, The Register was praised " right out in meetin' " by the chairman. What the chairman said was this : The Register would give a fair report of the conference, and in the past had treated the Prohibitionists fairly. What he said about the Courier is this: It had - well, it had nol treated them fairly. TnE Register can afford to have such comparisons made. We mean to treat every one fairly. The Michigan prohibitionists will be happy to learn that their idol, Prof. Dickie, was chosen chairman of their national committee yesterday. He says he will resign his professorship in Albion college, which he can well afford to do as he is guaranteed a salary of $3,000 a year by the committee. Word comes from Washington, D. C, that 1,500 of the needy poor of the city were supplied with an excellent dinner on Thanksgiving day by one mission ; and that is in the beautiful capital of the United States !