The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-06-29
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Discourse on the "Pulpit and
Press as Allies.'
The Power of the Press for Good or EVIL
The Folly of AntagOnizing It-A
Force that Should be Culti-
waited and Promoted.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached a
sermon in Brooklyn Tabernacle on the
Pulpit and Press Made Allies" taking |
for his text;
The children of this world are in their gener-
alton wiser than the children Of light Luke, |
xvi, g
He said: Sacred stupidity and solemn |
incompetency and sanctiied laziness are /
here rebuked by Christ. He says world |
ings are wider awake for opportunities !
than are Christians. Men Of the world !
grab occasions while Christian people |
let the most valuable occasions drift by |
lnimprOved. This is the meaning of our |
Lord when He says:
The children of this world are in their genera
ton wiser than the children of light
A marked illustration Of the truth of
that maxim is in the slOwness of the
Christian religion to take possession Of
the secular printing press. The Oppor-
tunity is open and has for some time been
open, but the ecclesiastical courts and
the churches and the min listers of re-
ligiOn are for the most part allowing the
golden opportunity to pass unimprOved.
That the opportunity is open 1 declare
from the fact that all the secular news
papers are glad of any religious facts or
statistics that you present them. Any
animated and stirring article relating to
! religious themes they would gladly print.
! They thank you for any information in
regard to churches. If a wrong has been
done to any Christian church or Chris
| tian institution, you could go into any
| newspaper of the land and have the real
| truth stated. Dedication services, minis
| terial ordinations and pastoral instala-
! tiOns, cornerstone laying of church,
anniversary Of a charitable society, will
| have reasonable space in any secular
Il - rrivy
! If I had some great injustice done me,
/ there is not editorial or repOrtOrial
/ room in the United States into which
! could not go and get myself set right, and
| that is true of any we'll known Christian
man. Already the daily secular press
! during the course of each week publishes
! as much religious information and high
moral sentiment as does the weekly re-
| ligious press. Why then does not our
/ glorious Christianity embrace these mag
! nificent opportunities? I have before me
| q subject of first and last Importance:
| How shall we secure the secular press as
| a mightier re enforcement to religion and
| the pulpit?
The first thing toward this result is
| cessation of indiscriminate hostility
| against newspaperdOm. You might
| we'll denounce the legal profession be-
| cause of the shyster, or the medical pro-
| fession because of the quacks, or mer-
| chandise because of the swindling bar
| ain-makers as to slam bang newspa-
| pers because there are recreant editors
and unfair reporters, and unclean col
| umns. Gutenberg, the inventor of the
| art Of printing, was about to destroy his
| types and extinguish the art because it
was suggested to him that printing might
| be subOrned into the service of the devil,
but afterward he bethOught himself that
the right use of the art might more than
| o,-,-co,,,a 4l,n ayr{1 11ca of and he
spared the type and the intelligence of
| all following ages. But there are many
to-day in the depressed mood of Gutten-
berg with uplifted hammer, wanting to
pound to pieces the type, who have not
reached his better mood in which he saw
the art of printing to be the rising sun of
the worlds illumination. If instead Of
fighting newspapers we spend the same
| length Of time and the same vehemence
in marshaling their help in religious
directions we would be as much wiser as
the man who gets consent Of the railroad
! / superintendent to fasten car to the end
| of a raiI-train shows better sense than
he who runs his wheelbarrOw up the track
TO meet and drive back the Chicago linn
tied express. The silliest thing that a
, man ever does is to fight a newspaper,
for you may have the floor for utterance
perhaps one day in the week, while the
newspaper has the floor every day of the
Wtth- NthpOlGOlg blOuSu a mig MY 41Acl1l
had many weaknesses, and one of the
: weakest things he ever did was to threaten
that if the English newspapers did not
. stop their adverse criticism of himself he
would with 100000 bayonets, cross the
channel for their chastisement.
n Don't fight newspapers. Attack pro-
4 ! vokes attack. Better wait till the excite
| ment blows over and then go in and get
n ! justice, for get it you will If you have pa
. tience and common sense and equipOise Of
> disposition. 1t ought to be a mighty
/ scdative that there is an enormous
n | amount of common sense in the world,
: and you will eventually be taken for what
a you are reall; worth, and you can not be
r puffed up and you can not be writer
: down, and if you are the enemy of good
!, society that fact will come out, and if yoT
' are the friend or good society tina
fact will be established. I know
y what l am talking about for / car
draw on my own experience. Al
# the respectable newspapers as far as
g know are my friends now. But many of yOJ
remember the time when l was the mos
n continuously and meanly- attacked man il
r. this country. God gave me grace not t
answer back and l kept silence for ter
wears, and much grace is required. Wha
/ said was perverted and twisted into jus
Il the opposite Of what 1 did say. My per
10 son was maligned and was presented a
n scribed by persons who had never seel
e me as monstrosity in body, mind AM
l. soul. There were millions of people VIII,
It believed that there was large sofa in thi
pulpit, although we never had any thini
II but chair, and that during the singing
IF by the congregation I was accustomed t
I. lie down on that sofa an d dangle my fee
S, over the end.
;. Lying New York correspondents for te
IS years misrepresented our church services
IS but we waited and people from ever
,, neighborhOod of Christendom came her
IF to find the magnitude of the falsehOOd
concerning tne church and concerning
le myself a reaction set in and nov
lie we have Justice, and as much Overprais
pit as once we had under appreciation, an
Dr no man that ever lived was so much in
ct deDted 10 the newspaper press for Oppor
e, tunity to preach the Gospel as / an
N Young men in the ministry, young men i
a oil professions and occupations, wait
You can afford to wait. Take rough mis-
L representation as a Turkish towel to star
ge up your languid circulation, or systeI
n, of massage or Swedish movement who's
pokes and pulls and twists and thrust
as are salutary treatment. There is onl
ed one person you need to manage, and tha
D. is yourself Keep your disposition swee
Y, by communion with the Christ, who ar
a swered not again, the society of genis
10 people, and walk out in the sunshine wit
your hat of and you will come cut a.
d. right And don't Join the crowd a peo
Of le in our day who spend much Of thei
4me damninR newspapers.
il Again. in this effort to secure TIE secu
an ar press as a mightier reinforcement @
ed -eligion and the pulpit, let us make IL ia
rn avenue Of religious information. Il yO
- put the facts Of churches and denomina
$ tions of Christians only into the column
OF of religious papers, which do not in thi
X, ,ountrv have an average of more tina