Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-05-29

Tabernacle in continuation of his serle
of sermons on the popular questions O
the day. Before the sermon he reat
about the flying roll in the Prophecies
The opening hymn was:
"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journey rum"
The subject of the sermon was "Pes
tiferous Literature" and the text wa!
Ecclesiastes xii, 18th: "Of making books
there is no end"
True in the times so long B. c., how
much more true in the times 50 long A
ID. We see so many, many books we dc
not understand what a book is. STAND
it on end. Measure 1.-THE height of it
the depth of it, the length of it, the
breadth of it. You can do it. Examine
the paper and estimate the progress
made from the time of the impressions
on clay and then on the bark of trees
and from the bark of trees to progress
and from progress to the hide of wild
beasts, and from the hide of wild beasts
on down until the miracles of our mod
ern paper manufactures, and then see
the paper white and pure as an infants
soul waiting for Gods inscription. A
book! Examine the type of it. Exam
inc the printing of it and see the progress
from the time Solon's laws were written
on oak planks, and Hesoid's poems were
| written on tables of lead, and Sinaitic
commands were written on tables of
ing press A bookl 1t took all the uni
versities of the past, all the martyr fires,
all the civilizations, all the battles, all
| the victories, all the defeats, all the
glooms, all the brightnesses, all the GEN.
turies to make it possible. A bOokl 1t
is the chorus of the ages-it is the
drawing-roem in which the kings and
queens, and orators, and poets, and his
torians and philosophers come out to
greet you. If 1 worship anything on
earth l would worship that. If burned
incense to any idol would build an altar
to that. Thank God for good books,
healthful books, inspiring books, Chris
tian books, books of men, books of wo-
men, books of God. The printing press
is the right agency ca earth for good and
for evil. The minister Of the gospel
standing in pulpit has responsible
position, but do not think it as respon-
sible as the position of an editor or a
publisher. Take the simple statistic that
our New York dailies now have a circu-
lation of 455,0OO per day and add to it
the fact that three of our weekly period
icals have an aggregate circulation of
about 100000, and then cipher if you
can, how far up and how far down and
how far out reach the influences of the
American printing press. believe the
Lord intends the printing press to be the
chief means for the worlds rescue and
evangelization, and think that the great
last battle of the world will not be fought
with swords or guns, but with types and
presses-a purified gospel literatule e
trampling over, trampling. down and
crushing forever that which is depraved.
The only way to fight bad book is by
printing a good one. The only way to
overcome unclean newspaper literature
is by scattering abroad that which is
healthful. May God speed the cylinders
of our honest, intelligent, aggressive,
Christian printing press.
I have to tell you this morning that 1
believe that the greatest scourge that
has ever come upon this nation has been
that of unclean journalism. 1t has its
victims in all occupations and depart+
ments. 1t has helped to fill insane asy-
lums and penitentiaries and aims houses
and dens of shame. The bodies Of this
infection lie in the hospitals and in the
graves, while their souls are being tossed
over into a lost eternity, an avalanche
of horror and despair. The London
plague was nothing to it. That counted
its victims by thousands, but this modern
pest has already shoveled its millions
into the charnel house of the morally
dead. The longest rail train that ever
ran over the Erie or Hudson tracks was
not long enough or large enough to carry
the beastliness and the putrefaction
which have gathered up in the bad books
and newspapers of this land in the last
twenty years. Now it is amidst such
circumstances that put the questions
of overmastering importance to you and
your families: What can we do to abate
this pestilence? What books and news
papers shall we read? You see l group
them together. A newspaper is only a
book in a swifter and more portable
shape, and the same rules which apply
to book reading will apply to newspaper
reading. What shall we read? Shall
our minds be the receptacle of every
thing that an author has mind to write d?
Shall there be no distinction between
the tree of life and the tree of death ?
Shall we stOop down and drink out of
the trough which the wickedness of men
has filed with pollution and shame ?
Shall We mire in impurity and chase fan.
tastic will @ the wisps across the swamps
when we might walk in the blooming
gardens of GodP Oh, no. For the sake
OF our present and everlasting welfare