St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-17
+ HIS CHALLENGE ISSUED.
II Is Matter Now of Pacts---Serm0ns
by Revs. Burrell and
Shutter.

posed the Sunday newspaper. AS tne
people of the middle ages strOve to
drive out the devil by the use OF holy
water, so these enemies of the Sunday
| newspaper chose for their holy water to
drive it out that weapon Of mob law,
the boycott. But while the average
clergyman saw in the Sunday paper a
work of the devil 10 be boycotted, the
speaker accepted a different version.
When sturdy Martin Luther was alive
the legend says, the devil showed him
self. Luther picked up his ink and hurled
it after his Satanic majesty. He fled,
and ever since has been afraid OF print
ers' INK, which, in the opinion of Mr..
| Powers, could much better be chosen
as holy water to drive out evil from
| society than the boycott chosen by some
of the Minneapolis clergy. Mr.. Powers
showed how the invention of printing
had led to the reading of the Bible.
especially on Sunday, by the common
| people. This was a greater innovation
upon the Sunday usageS than the re-
cent introduction of Sunday newspaper
reading. 1t was opposed by the elder
clergy with their cry, 1T is the work
of the deVil.' Nay" said Luther and
Calvin, this Sunday Bible reading will
drive that being out of society,""
| Professionalism arose founded upon the
| idea of making. among other things,
the Sunday sacred toall, leaving knowl-
edge in the hands of the common peo-
pie. The Sunday newspaper in our
day comes as the latest expression of
that old reformation, making the day
sacred to knowledge and truth, and
that. as Calvin expressed it, would
| In oil ma nrtA r. q
| ennobled humanity.
SOME STARTLING ASSERTIONS.
Mr.. Powers then made some startling
assertions, that will no doubt call ont
some reply from the opponents of the
Sunday paper, who say it is bad and
| only bad. lie SAID that in our great
American cities Professionalism is totally
| unable TO establish self-supporting
church where from one-half TO nine
| tenths of the male contributions do not
come from families where the Sunday
daily was read Catholics and the
Salvation Army could get the unread
ing people into self-supporting churches,
| but PresbyterianS ana Congregational
lists were as great failures rs UNIVERSAL
lists and UnitarianS in reaching the
| ignorant and brutal classes i'll large
cities save by mission and charity
hardly be called a means Of grace, but
it was at least All index, by its circula
ton, of tie people who i'll this day
could and did make Self-supporting
churches.
Again, of the leading orthodox
churches in the city, from ec-fourths
to ninc-tenthS of their contributions for
church support, for charity, for educa-
ton and reform, came from families
where the Sunday paper was read. SO
an equal proportion OF the gifts for the
charitable Institutions of the city came
from the circle under the influence of
this Sunday paper which these oppo-
nentS call so unutterably bad.
A PROPOSITION.
Mr.. Powers has enough faith in his as
Sertion to propose TO any evangelical
clergyman who questions them to prove
them in this way: IL that clergyman
will have his church treasurer furnish
a certified list of its contributors and
amount of their gifts, he will have the
listinterviewed by disinterested party,
and thus find how many and who among
them read or take the Sunday paper in
their homes. He further protfers to
have a house to house canvass made to
ascertain the exact influence of the
Sunday paper upon church attendance.
Mr.. Powers. il is said, has been look
ing the subject up at the various news
paper offices in the Twin Cities and
elsewhere. Among the statistics thus
obtained by him was the following for
certain section OF Minneapolis in the
best residence portion OF the city, In
which reside eleven orthodox clergy
men:
There were l,5l6 houses at which
i.
pers were delivered on seven days to
l.1so: on SUNDAY only. 3SSS. The eleven
preachers and TWENTY-FIVE others re-
fused to take the paper on Sunday.
MIR. Powers said that the Sunday pa
per had become the greatest means for
calling ont contributions for charity.
The gifts for any public charity to
which attention was called by the daily
press were twice as great on Monday as
on any other day.
Referring to his own aud the Uni
tartan denomination. he said nearly all
contributors in large cities take the
SUNDAY paper. But these churches and
the Congregationaist lead all others in
their per capita contribution for church
and charitable work. We favor the
Sunday paper because we believe 1t
stimulates and not binders giving. 1t is
a significant fact that the opposition to
the Sunday paper Increased with other
denominations almost in proportion to
their per capita gifts, and contributions
fell below those OF the three churches
mentioned
A QUESTION OF FACTS.
He quoted number of facts obtained
from the counting hoSueS of some of the
great dailies. They show. so the
speaker asserted, that the paper whose
Sunday issue was most sensational lost
many Sunday subscribers thus show
ing that the true work of Christians was
to seek a reform-an elevation IN the
character of these papers and not to
suppress them.
AS showing how some intelligent men
in other communions were looking up
these facts, he quoted from recent ser
mon by DR.. Mcintyre. one Methodist
pastor of Chicago. DIR. Mcintyre said
that the Sunday paper was nothing to
him now, but he well remembered the
time when ii did him great good. He
was once n mechanic, toiling in Chi
cago. 1t was great help to him then,
and from PEI sonal knowledge he knew
that the Sunday newspaper Kept hum
dredS and thousands from the saloon.
the gambling table, and from worse
temptations.
From such incidents it was inferred
that this whole subject of controversy
was one of facts and not of mere aSser-
ticn on the part of any preacher. Mr..
Powers asks for further Investigation,
and believes that all the facts of the
case once before the people VIC shall see
an end of controversy. and society Will
find its Sunday filled with new sacred
ness, and thereby carried more fully
toward the realization of Gods king
dom on the earth.