, 1886-04-18
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
AN ABLE AND ELOQUENT TRIBUTE
TO THE NEWSPAPER.

Sayt to the Bible 1t breaches Chris
tsanity to tho worid-rhe Editor. Re-
porter and Composition are Praised
by the Famous Divine.
BROOKLYN, April 1L-Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, d. D., preached before a vast con
gregation this morning. Tne opening hymn
begins;
De ora Jehovahs awful throne
Ye nations bow with sacred joy,
After expounding passages in reference TO
the SPREAD OF knowledge all over tho world,
the eloquent speaker announced his text.
Zccharinh V, l: behold a flying rollir DR..
Talmage said:
This winged sheet OF the text had ON It a
prophecy. Tho flying roll to-day is the news
paper. In calculating the influences that
effect s -ciety you can no more afford 10 ig-
more II than you can ignore the monday sun
or the Atlantic ocean 1t is high time
that l preach a sermon expressing my
appreciation OF what tho newspaper
press has done and is doing No man, living
or dead, is or has been so Indebted to it "a /
am, for it gives me perpetual audience in
every city, town and neighborhood Of Chris
tendon, and l take this opportunity. before
God and this people, to thank the editors and
publishers and compositors the world over;
and l give IA notice that ! shall take every
opportunity Of charging this field. whether
by stenographic report on the Sabbath or
galley proofs on Monday or previous dicta-
ton. l have said again and again to the
officers Of this church, whoever else are
crowded, don't let the reporters DO crowded
Each responsible and intelligent reporter Is
ten or nfteon churches built ON to
this church. Ninety-hve per cent. OF
eka w.ra uAu. $500 fwl.rla
and do ne full justice and moro than
justice, and the other i've OF the hundred are
such notorious liars hat nobody believes
thom. 1t was in self-defense that sixteen
years ago | employed an official stenographer
Of my own because Of the appalling misrop-
RESERVATIONS OF myself and church. From
that, things have mi~raculously changed, until
now IT is Just as appalling in the marvellous
opportunity opened
Tn newspaper is the great educator of the
Nineteenth century. There is no force com
pared with it. 1t Ia book, pulpit, platform,
forum-all in one. And there Is not an
interest-roligious, literary, commercial,
scientific, agricultural or mechanical
that Is not within its grasp, All our churches
and schools and colleges and asylums and art
galleries feel the quaking of the printing
press.
The institution OF newspapers arose in
Italy. In Venice the first newspaper was
published, and monthly, during the time that
Venice was warning against Solyman ii in
Dalmatia, 1t was printed for the purpose Of
giving military and commercial information
TO the Venetians The first newspaper pub
lished in England was In 1888, and called The
English Mercury. Others woro styled Tue
Weekly Dlscoverer, The Secret Owl, Heracli-
tus Ridons, etc.
Who can estimate the political, scientific,
commercial and religious revolutions reused
up In England for many years past by Bells
Weekly Dispatch. The Standard. The Morn-
ing Chronicle, The Post and The London
Timesf
The first attempt at this Institution In
France was in 1851, by a physician, who pub
liShed Tit Nows for the amusement and
health of his patients. The French nation
understood fully how to appreciate this
power. Napoleon, with his own hand,
wrote articles for tho press, and
80 early as In 1899 there were
in Paris 100 Journals But In the
United States the newspaper has come TO un-
limited sway. Though in 1175 there were
but thirty-seven in the whole country, tn,
number OF published Journals Is now counted
by thousands, and to-day-we may as well nc
knowledge II as not-the religious and sec
""l"lNf So NNo bhNNN tNeeHNtaa "
the country.
l find no difficulty in accounting for the
worlds advance. Four centuries ago, in
Germany, In courts OF justice men fought
with their fists 10 see who should have the
decision OF the court, and II the judges dc
cision was unsatisfactory then the judge
fought with counsel Many of the lords
could not read the deeds Of their own estates
What has made the changei
Books, you say.
No sirl The vast majority OF citizens do
not read books Take this audience, or any
other romi cuous assemblage, and how
many histories have they readf How many
treaties on constitutional law, or political
economy, or works OF sciencei How many
elaborate poems or books of travell How
much Of Boyle, or De Tocqueville, Xenophon,
or H~erodotus, or Percivali Not manyi In
the United States the people would not
average one such book a year for each indi-
viduall
Whence, then, this intelligence; this capac-
ity TO talk about all emes-secul and re-
lgious; this acquaintance with science and
art; this power to appreciate the beautiful
and grandi Next 10 the Bible, the newspaper,
s~wift-wingcd, and everywhere present, flying
over tho fences. showed under the door,
tossed into the counting house, laid on the
NOiA bthNut XIII through inc CAInl All
read It, white and black, German, Irishman,
Swiss, Spaniard, American, old and young,
good and bad, sick and well, before breakfast
and after tea, Monday morning, Saturday
night. Sunday and week day.
lnow declare that | consider the newspaper
TO be the grand agency by which the gospel
Is to be preached, ignorance cast out oppres.
sion dethroned, crime cxtirpatcd, the world
raised, heaven rejoiccd and God gloriHed.
In tho clanking OF the printing press, as
the shoots fly out, l hear the voice OF the
Lord Almighty proclaiming to all the dead
nations OF the earth; Lazarus, come forth n
and to the retresting snTges OF darkness;
Let there b lightl' In many OF our city
newspapers, protesting no more than secular
information, there have appeared during the
past ten years some OF the grandsst appeal
In behalf OF religion, and some OF the most
effective interpretation Of Gods government
among the nations
There are only two kinds Of newspapers-
the one good; very good, the other bad, very
bad. A newspapcr may be started with ar
undecided character, but after IL has been
going on for years everybody finds out Just
h ~ Is, and 1t is very good or II Is very
lad. The one paper Is the embodiment Of
news, the ally OF virtue, tho foe OF crime, the
delectation OF elevated taste. the mightiesi
agency on earth for making the world better.
The other paper Is a brignnd amid moral
forces, Il Is a besimar Of reputation, ii Is the
right arm OF death and hell, IL Is the
mightiest agency Ia the universs for
making the world wor~o and battling the
cause q God The one m angel Of In.
telligcnce and mercy; the other a hend OF
darknesx Between this archangel and this
fury 4 10 b. fought the great battle which Is
TO decide the fsfs Of the y~orld II you have