Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-06-27

PTopueCy VI LILO rollSlOuS use tnaJ the GO
pei ministry in this country were to mai
of the types.
Again: we shall secure the secular PREF
as mightier reinforcement of religion an
the pulpit by making our religious ute
ances more interesting and spirited, an
then the press will reproduce them. On th
way to church some fifteen years ago
Journalist said thing thathas kept me eve
since thinking: "Are you going to give u
any points to-day?" "What do you mean?
| asked. He said: 81 mean by that any
thing that will be striking enough to be re
membered." Then said to myself: Wha
right have we in our pulpits and Sunda,
schools to take the time of people if we hav
nothing to say that is memorable. Davit
did not have any difficulty in remembering
| Nathan's thrust: s'Thou art the man." no
Felix in remembering PauPs roint-blanl
utterance on righteousness, temperance anf
| judgment to come; nor the English kine
any difficulty in remembering what the
court preacher said, when, during the sermon
against sin, the preacher threw his hand
kerchief into the kings pew to indicate
whom he meant. The tendency of criticism
in the theological seminaries is to file of
from our young men all the sharp points
and make them too smooth for any kind oi
execution. What we want, all of US, is
more point, less humdrum. If we say the
right thing in the right way, the press will
be glad to echo and re.eeho it. Sabbath
school teachers, reformers, young men and
old men in the ministry, what we all want
if we are to make the printing press an ally
in Christian work, is that which the report
or spoken of uggested-points, SHARP
points, memorable points. But if the thing
be dead when uttered by living voice, it
will be hundredfold more dead when it is
laid out in cold type.
Now, as you all have something to do
with the newspaper press either in issuing
a paper or in reading it, either as producers
or patrons, either as sellers or purchasers ol
the printed sheet, propose on this Sabbath
morning, June II, 1888, a treaty to be
signed between the Church and the print.
ing press, treaty to be ratified by millions
of good people if we rightly fashion it, &
treaty promising that we will help eact
other in our work of trying to illumine anG
felicitate the world, we by voice, you by
pen, we by speaking only that which il
worth printing, you by speaking that which
is fit to speak. You help US and we will
help you. Side by side be these two poten
agencies until the Judgment Day, when VIZ
must both be scrutinised for our work
healthful or bias ing. The two worst-of
men in that day will be the minister of re
ligion and the editor if they wasted thei
opportunity. Both of US are the engineer
of long express trains of influence, and WI
will run them into depot of light or tumble
them off the embankments.
What useful life and what gloriou!
departure was that of the most famous o.
all American printers, Benjamin Franklin,
whom infidels in the penury Of their re
sources have often fraudulently claimed fol
their own, but the printer who moved tha
the Philadelphia convention be opened witt
prayer, the resolution lost because major
ity thought prayer unnecessary, and wig
wrote at the time he was viciously attack
ed: "My rule is to go straight forward il
doing what appears to me to be right, leav
ing the consequences to Providence" ant
who wrote this quaint epitaph showing hi
hope of resurrection, an epitaph that hun
dreds of times read while living in Phiadel
phia.
The Body
of
Benjamin Franklin, Printer,
(Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out
And stript of its lettering and gilding)
Lies here food for worms.
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will Gas he believed) appear once more
In new
And more beautiful edition,
Corrected and amended
By
The Author.
That Providence intends the profession ot
reporters to have mighty share in the
worlds redemption is suggested by the
along with them and he reported their ad
dresses and reported their acts. Luke was
a reporter, aud he wrote not only tho book
of Luke, but the Acts of the Apostles, and
without that reporters work we would have
known nothing Of the Pentecost, and moth.
ing Of Stephens martyrdom, and nothing
of Tabitha's resurrection, and nothing oi
the falling and unjailing of Paul and Silas,
aud nothing of the shipwreck at Melita
Strike out the reporters work from the
Testament. 1t makes me think that in tie
future of the Kingdom of God, the reporters
are to bear a mighty part.
AUOub IbCCA yCetlp oS3O
of an important newspaper took his seat in
pews from the front of this pulpit. He tool
caricature the whole scene. When the
be derided that, and then derided the pray
er, and then derided the reading of t6,
Scriptures, and then began to deride thu
INF hn GOV fnrr
hand began to tremble, and he, ralIyins
himself, sharpened his pencil and started
again, but broke down again, and then pu
pencil and paper in his pocket and his heat
down on the front of the pew and began tt
pray. At the close of the service he cam
up and asked for the prayers of others ant
gave his heart to God; and though still en-
gagged in newspaper work he is an evangel
every Sabbath afternoon breaches Jesu
Christ to the people. And the men OF tina
profession are going to come in bod
throughout the country. know hundred
Of them, and a more genial Or highly
educated class of men it would be hard t
find, and, though the tendency of their pro
fession may be towards skepticism, an OF
ganized, common-sense Gospel Invitation
would fetch them to the front of all Chris
tian endeavor. Men of the pencil and per
in all departments, you need the help of tn
Christian religion. In the day when peopl
want to get their newspapers at three cent
and are hoping for the time when they ca
get any of them at one cent, and, as a COL
sequence, the attaches of the printing pres
are by the thousand ground under th
icylinders, you want God to take care of yo
and your families. Some of your best wor
is as much unappreciated as was Milton
Paradise Lost, for which the author recei,
ed twenty-five dollars; and the immorts
poem 'tHohenlinden" of Thomas Campbe
when he first offered it for publication an
in the column called "Notices to Correspor
dents" appeared the words: "To T. c.
The lines commencing On Linden when th
sun was low are not up to our standard
Poetry is not 7. C.'s forte.'
o men of the pencil and pen, amid YOU
lunappreciated work you need encourag.
ment and you can have it. Printers of a
Christendom, editors, reporters, compos
tors, pressmen, publishers and readers {
that which is printed, resolve that you wi
not write, set up, edit, issue or read an,
thing that debases body, mind or soul. /
the name of God, by the laying on of tb
hands of faith and prayer, ordain the prin
ing press for righteousness and liberty an
salvation. All of US with some influenf
the will help in the right direction, let U
put our hands to the work imnlor;n,, God ,