Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-01-13
A SERMON TO EDITORS.

Rev. Mr.. Talmage = Talmsge, the
rather sensational preacher Of the Brook
lyu tabernaele-has commenced a series
Of sermons addressed to and In regard to
the different professions. Last Sunday,
the 7th INST, he addressed the editorial
profession, and was reported by tie Her
aid. Excep. the reporters detailed for
duty, only one gentleman connected with
the daily press was inthe crowded house,
yet he continually addressed bis exborts-
tons TO "ye men CT the press"
The text Of ihs sermon was the de-
scriEion Of the two baskets OF figs seen
by the prophet Jeremiah in his vision,
the figs in the one being very good, aud
those in the other very bad. How like
this is, said the preacher, to the period.
calls and newspapers of the day, about
which am going TO speak. There are
only two kinds OF newspapers, the one
good and very good, and the other bad
and very bad. A newspaper may start
With an undecided character; but after
it has been going many Years every body
Ends out just what it is, aud it is very
good or very bad. The one paper ia the
embodiment Of news, Of light, Of virtue;
the foe Of crime, the delectation Of ele-
waited taste, the mightiest agency on earth
for making TIE world better. The other
paper is a brigand amid moral forces;
It is a beslimer Of reputation; it is the
right arm of death and he'll; it is the
~mightiest agency in the universe for
making the world worse and battling the
cause Of God. The one is an angel of
intelligence and virtue, the other a fend
OF darkness. Between the s~rchangel aud
the fury is to be fought the great battle
which is to decide the fate Of the world
If you have any doubt as TO which is to be
the victor, ask the prophecies, ask God.
This battle is to be fought, Mr.. Tslmage
said, not with swords, but with steel
pens; not with bullets, but with types;
not with cannon, but with Hoes ten.
cylinder presses; and the Sumters and
Mouliries and Pulsskis aud Gibraltars Of
the conflict are to be the editorial and
reporterial rooms Of our great newspa-
per establishments.
Men Of the press, he added, under God
you are to decide whether the human
race shall be saved or lost. God has
put more %ptupendous responsibility upon
you than upon any other class Of per.
sons, aud is there any doubt about my
being right this morning 10 addressing
myself especially to you ? Mr.. Talmage
dWelt for a few minutes upon the long
strides your profession had taken
since tie day when Peter Schaeffer in.
vented cast metal types, and the fact Of
two books being found alike was ascribed
to witchcraft. The press and the tefe-
graph, he said, have gone down into the
same great harvest field toresp; and the
telegraph says to the Newspaper, " will
reap while you bind;' and the iron teeth
Of the telegraph are set down at one end
of the harvest field and sweep clear
across, and the journalist gathers up
the sbeaves and sets down one sheaf on
the breakfast table in the shape Of q
morning newspaper, and another on the
tea table in the shape of an afternoon
newspaper. And that man who neither
reads nor takes a newspaper would ut
the great Centennial Exhibition have
been a greater curiosity than the big
engine. daughter