The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-28
pEsr1FERoUs LITERATURE.
A SERMON By DIR. TALMAGE.

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: PEsTIFER0Us LITERATURE.
SERMON By DR. TALMAGE.
TExT-@of making toeAs there is no end. .''-E
elesiasteS XII: II
> True in the time 50 long B. c., ho'
much more true in the times SO long A
, d. We see so many books, we do no
understand what book Is. stand it ol
end; measure it, the height of it, tn
depth of it, the length Of it, the breadtl
of it; you cannot do it. Examine th
, paper and estimate the progress mad
from the time of the impressions OF
clay, and then onto the bark of trees
and from the bark of trees, to papyrus
and from papyrus to the hide of wild
beasts, and from the hide of wild beast,
on down until the miracles of our mod
, ern paper manufactures, and then SET
the paper, white aud pure as an infant,
: soul waiting for Gods inscription.
book! Examine the type of it. FIX
anime the printing of it, and see the
progress from the time when S0lon's
laws were written on oak planks, and
Hesiod's poems were written on tablets
of lead. and the Sinaitic commands were
written on tables of stone, on down
to Hoes perfecting printing press. A
book 1t took all the universities of the
past, all the martyr fires, all the civili-
cations, all the battles, all the victories,
all the defeats, all the gloOms, all
the brightnesses, all the centuries to
make it possible. A book 1t is the
| IL t. . hr
room in which kings aud queens, and
orators and poets, and historians and
philosophers come out to greet you. If
| worshipped anything on earth | would
worship that. If l burned incense to
any idol, | would build an altar to that.
Thank God for good books, heaithful
books, inspiring books, hristian books,
books of men, books of women, books
of God. The printing press is
THE MIGHTIEsr AGENCY OK EARTH
for good and for evil The minister of
the Gospel standing in pulpit has a
responsible position, but do not think
it is as responsibilities the position of an
editor or a publisher. Take the simple
| statistics that our New York daiIies
now have circulation of 10000 per
dav, and add to it the fact that three
Of our weekly periodicals have an aggre-
gate circulation of about l,000, 600, 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 evangeliza-
ton, and think that the great last bat
tie of the world will not be fought with
swords or guns, but with types and
press-a purified Gospel literature tri-
umphing over, trampling down and
crushing out forever that which is de-
praved. The only way to fight a bad
book is by printing a good one. The
only way to overcome unclean newspa-
per literature is by scattering abroad
that which is healthful. May God speed
the cylinders of an honest, intelligent,
aggressive, Christian printing press.
have to tell you this morning that |
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
asylums 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 be-
ing tossed over into 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 CEARNEL-HoUsE OF THE MORALLY
DEAD.
The longest rail train that ever ran
over the Erie or the 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 question of
overmastering Importance to you and
your families? What can we do to
abate this pestience? What books and
newspapers shall We read? You see |
group them together. A newspaper is
only book in swifter and more port
able shape, and the same rules which
apply to book-reading will apply to
newspaper reading. What shall we
read? Shall our minds be the recepta-
Gle of everything that an author has a
mind to write? Shall there be no dis
tinction between tile tree of life and the
tree of death? Shall we stoop down
and drink out Of the trough which the
wickedness of men has filled with pol
luton and shame? Shall we mire in
impurity and chase fantastic wilpo' the
wisps across the swamps, while we might
walk in the blooming gardens of God?
Oh, no. For the sake of our present
and everlasting welfare we must make
an intelligent and Christian choice
Standing as we do, chin-deep in icti-
tious literature. the first question that
many of the young people ask me is:
.'Shall we read noye's?" | reply, there
are novels that are pure, good, Chris
tian, eleyating to the heart and ennob-
bling to the life. But / have still fur
ther to say that ] believe three-fourths
of the novels of this day are baneful
and destructive to the last degree.
A PURE WORK OF FICTION
is history and poetry combined. 1t is a
history of the things around US, with
the licenses of the assumed names of
Il
| debt which IL owes to such fictitious
writer's as Hawthorne. and Mackenzie,
and Lander. and Hunt, and others,
whose names are familiar to all. The
fOllies of high life were never better
exposed than by Miss EdgeWorth. The
memories of the past were never mora
faithfully embalmed thanin the sritings
of Walter Scott. Cooper's novels are
healthfully redolent with the breath of
the seaweed and the air of the AmeTi-
can forest. Charles Kingsley has smit-
i ten the morbidness of the world and led
a great many to appreciate the poetry of
sound health, strong muscles and fresh
air. Thackeray did grand work in
i caricaturing the pretenders to gentility
and high blood. Dickens has built his
1 own n snunenf IN his books, winch are
an everlasting plea for the poor and the
| lanatheua Of Injustice Now / say books
i like these, read at right times and read
i in right proportion with other books,
cannot help but be ennobling and puri-
living. But alas for the loathsonle and
/ impure literature that has come upon
this country in the shape Of novels,
| like freshet, overh0wlng all the banks
1 Of decency and common sense. They
4 are coming from some Of the most cele-
lbrated publishing houses IN the eoun-
TRY. They are coming with the recon-
i nendation of some Of our religious news
lpapers. They lie on your centretable,
Il curse your children and blast with
i their internal fires generations yet IN
i born. You find these books in the desk
i az the school miss. ii the trunk OF the
young man, II the steamboat cabin and
On the table of the hotel reception room.