Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1870-07-09
WHOLE NO. s,ris.



In o recent sermon by one Of She
Presbyterian ministers In Cincinnati,
on the secular and religious press, It
was said:
We can go along without oar coffee
for breakfast better than we can with
out our paper. Not only as q vehicle
OF news Is the paper powerful; not
only because by the paper does Flora
McFlimsey do her days shopping
and the merchant his days buying,
but especially because II does the
practical thinking Of a large part of
the people. They are too indolent to
do IL for themselves, 50 they get a
man to sit up nights, state tile facts,
and draw the conclusions aud advo-
cate q theory for them, do the whole
up In a convenient package and slip
It under the front door. In half an
hour, while they sip their coffee, they
have not only learned what Is going
on In the world, hut exactly what
they ought to think, and how they
ought to feel about the mixed up bus
iness IN this sgreat rushing world of
ours. 1t Is Idle to say q newspaper
Is very ephemeral thing, or a very
unreliable thing, and that people do
not believe what In in newspapers.
It IL ephemeral only as the leaves Of
the summer are ephemeral, easily
trampled, but ever renewing and ex-
erting their influence on the face Of the
earth In all generations. The paper
you had at your table to-day is easily
thrown under the counter, but the
power II speaks Of Is one you would
not care to grapple. And rs to not
believing the papers, while there Is q
great deal of that kind Of talk, 1 be-
iieve that half Of the business COM
munity, affecting to patronize the
press, believe In it with q surrender
of faith more absolute, by far, than
they give to the Bible.
The preacher thunders on Sunday,
4" He that believes shall be saved; he
that believes not shall be damne,i,n
and II scarce makes a ripple In the
peoples life. They go home and sleep
sOundly under the terrors of the mes
sage that has been launched over
their heads. But on Monday morn.
Ing, a single line In the paper, telling
how yellow dust has gone up or fal-
len, throws every man of that placid
people into q fever. A few letters
Of type, more forcible than 81 much
powder, shoots In through the streets
as II he had been shot out Of q NOR
tar, and more quickening than SO
much electricity, makes him quiver
through all his fiesli and spirit, as he
rushed around 'change. sat5
God speed the day when, forgetting
our littlenesses, our party strifes, our
denominational Shiboleths, we shall
comprehend the breadth OF the land
Of our heritage, stretching from the
river to the sea (; when our wealth,
our enterprise, our activity, as we'll as
our faith being pledged to God, we
shall use with all enthusiasm as un-
matched as our work Ia glorious, every
element ofnature as well as every force
Of grace, for the progress Of the truth
and the redemption OF man. Then
impatient OF the feebleness Of human
breath alone, we shall use lightning
and steam to be heralds ofthe gospel,
and count foremost among agencies
for the elevation of man an elevated
secular and an enterprising religious
press, twining their banners together
FOR common advance upon the ig-
norance and the wickedness of the
world.