The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-05-17
WAITING FOR ITS COMPANION.

AsSu hoh IT'S COMfANiON.
The press and the pulpit are the COM
monty accepted educators. Part Of the was
they have travelled over the same path. but
point Is reached where the road forks, aud
the latter continues in the direction which
II has been pursuing for eighteen centuries,
while the former blazes a pathway through
virgin forests and over sayannahs hitherto
unmarked by the footprints ofprogress.
Where is this point of divergence? A
quarter of a century ago the newspaper was
nothing il not the organ of a powerful poll
tical faction; to-day the newspaper is moth
ing IL 1t admits or intimates that il wears
the regulation collar. Twenty-Five years
ago the newspaper stood on dais aud look
ed down on the faces of its patrons; il
wrought inflexible opinions in the forge
within its sanctuary, tipped them with ex
pediency and hurled them into the throng;
In short, at the period adverted to, the
newspaper stood in the attitude of an edu-
Gator of ignorance, and its dictum was law
unto its subscribers. Twenty-Five years
ago the minister from pulpit, the top
whereof was almost on a level with his
brow, and warned men to flee from the
wrath to come depicting with studiously
hideous vvidness the mental and physi-
cal fortunes dwelling with stress on the lat =
ter-ihat awaited the unrcgcnerate in the
world to come. Then the pastor was
greatest of men among his flock, ruling
them with rod of iron rather than the
crook of persuasion; his congregation were
wont to accept his exposition of doubtful
passages of Scripture MS the only way ont OF
the quagmire of perpleXity. LET little
children come unto me-" was often upon
his lips, but the trembling child
felt that. the way thither
was by path that even fatherly
love could not smoothe. my yoke is easy
and My burden is light" the anxious
seeker after righteousness would endeayor
TO reconcile with the straight and narrow
path his spiritual adviser had traced from
his feet TO the Great White Throne. The
world at this time was throbbing aud
quivering under the ealyanism of new
thought and action, but these were declared
from entering the sanctuary. What have
been the fruits Of this tyranny on the part
Of the peoples two greatest teachers? They
have rebelled. The press has granted them
the Magma Charta of free thought, ana now
stands amCng the people receiving and
Iiannp ginu nI,ininn tinuinu II only with
matured thought and opinion. The
corners of the earth are ransacked for the
smallest morsel of information, and while
men sleep host of educated and specially
trained workers are preparing yesterdays
record, that OH arising they may peruse its
folds and profit from its successes and fail
ures before plungng into the affairs of to-
day. And as yet this transformed power is
defy definite determination, and every
stride is forward. How has the revolution
Jared with the pulpit? The minister OF to.
day will sadly tell you that his position and
influence are not such as enjoyed by
his father that the multitude no longer
reverent!y turn aside for the gown, but that
its wearer is rudely iostled among the
throng; that his opinions are weighed in
the scales of doubt, and that too often
an ounce of cavil kicks the beam
that the people have run after
strange prophets, notably modern jour
nalism. Clinging to the debris of
dead and rotten past, he means as the
swift and remorseless tide surges over and
past him. each moment threatening to
wrench him from his lrail fastening. The
fault is not with the glorious truths he pro-
lesses to teach, but lies in his mode oi.inter
pretationa mode that is redolent with the
mould of the monastery, and cannot bear
the light of to day as can the owl of the Dis
NAL swamp. lie casts sheayes of straw to
his sheep, the grain whereof. has long since
been trodden out by the hosts that have
passed over to the beyond, and marvels
why they turn into the rank pastures of
new thought. Strange that he does not Ie-
call that his divine Master refused net
only royal diadem but tie
robe of the Pharisee that, clad in
the coarsest of raiment, he broke
bread with the publican and the sinner, sat
by the well with the woman OF Samaria and
called himself the Son of Man; it is passing
strange that those who are constantly en-
gagged in expounding the words of the
Prince of Peace should fail to catch the
spirit and charm of his simple life. AS we
have indicated, the possibilities of the pull
pit have not departed, and its occupants are
responsible for the ineiliciency they speak
Of and upon them must rest the blame if
they neglect to pursue the course that has
led the press, its willing and waiting coad.
lutor, toward the heights of grandeur and
irresistible power.