Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-16
/" BOOKS
A BUDGET OF INFORMATION FROM
THE REV. C. H. BEEcHGo0D.
An Idea of the Great Deluge of Liter
AZURE Spread Upon the Earth
PernIcious Writings.

Rev. C. H. Beecbgood delivered very
interesting and instructive sermon yester-
day at Central NJ. E. Church. He took for
his subject, Books" and his text was from
Prov. xvi IS: How much better is it to
get wisdom than gold"
at is said that from the garden of Eden
four rivers flowed to water the earth" said
the speaker, land so the great streams Of
literature are flowing to the cardinal points,
and filing the whole earth. Literary
streams Of pure, limpid, sparkling, moral
water. flashing oct into the sunlight bub-
bling with life and activity, singing with a
quiet conscience, sending out its reviving
influence to everything upon its banks,
and bearing upon its bosom the white lily
of truth ss the insignia of purity. Children
plunge into it without fear of danger; women
launch out and trim their sails and fear not
shadows, nor sand bars, nor whirlpools;
men have spent their lives upon it, and
have received a generous rebate. There are
also literary streams of black, nauseous,
turbid water, tunneliDg into the mountains
of character, avoiding the light, hiding
away from the sunshine, sending out their
tributaries of moral disease into the hearts
and minds and souls of the youth; blight
ing the lives of thousands of women, and
floating the boats of thousands of men sail
less and rudderless, out on the great sea of
eternity
The great ocean of printed matter is
the flood tide and is covering the bare and
sterile shore of ignorance Tens of thou
sands of books fiom the press daily. Mill
ions of newspapers fly like carrier pigeons
to the very homes of the people. Over
5000 books go forth from the press of
New York alone, day; and three of her
dailies have an aggregate circulation of
nearly million and half. In the DAYS
of Noah the windows OF heaven were
opened and a great flood was the result; the
waters covered the face Of the earth. The
hands of Gutenberg and Faust, directed by
the hand Of Omnipotence, opened the win
dows OF the armament of letters, and with
their movable type deluged again the world
We cannot measure the vast depths of this
mighty flood; we may sound it in but a
few places and try to form some mental
calculation. The largest collection of books
Of ancient world was the library founded
by Ptolemy Philadelphius, at Alexandria
said to have contained 100000 Volumes
The great library of Pergamus, that was
sent by Anthony as gift to Cleopatra, con-
OVER ZNItlVO fOluulc5s nC
sian library at Milan, with its lao, 600 vol
umes; the Mazarine library in Paris, with
its 100000 volumes; the National library at
Naples, with its 200 0O0 volumes; the I'M
perial library of Vienna, founded BY En-
peror Frederick III. with its 400 900 vol
umes; the Royal library at Munich, with
its 100000 volumes that owes its origin to
Albert Y. Duke of Bavaria; the Imperial
library at st. Petersburg, with its 600, 900
volumes; the great library in the British
Museum, with its l ZOO, 600 volumes; the
great library of France, with its 1000, 900
volumes; and in our own country, the
Astor library with lis 10000 volumes; the
Mercantile library, New York, with its
10000 volumes. the Yale library at New
Haven, with its 100, 900 volumes, and the
library of Congress with its $4,000 vol
umes; and we would net forget our own
State library with its 10000 volumes, give
but poor and INADEQUATE idea of the num-
berless volumes of the world.
Magliabecchi, the celebrated librarian of
Florence lived, ate, drank and slept among
his books. His house was one great pile
of books. The lower rooms were filled
with them, not only on the sides, but in
great stacks upon the floors, only q narrow
WSlk from room to room.
"7ns% porches were filled with books as
far out as the awning would protect them
from the rain. The staircase and upper
rooms were filed with books; be slept
upon them, had them for his pillow, and at
night covered himself with books. He
carried pan upon his arm in which a fire
was kept constantly burning to warm his
hands. The world is one monstrous IL
brary there are books along all the walks
of life. in all our homes, stacked on the
shelves Of The book seller, at aslonishingly
low prices. Agents call upon you and urge
you to subscribe; advertisements fill the
papers, asking your orders for books. The
angel measured the city, New Jerusalem,
and gave its dimensions; but who can
measure the influence of this mighty, over
whelmiBg, irresistible tide of materialized
thought, boundless as the unexplored and
limitless universe2 The pen has done
more toward shaping the destiny of the
world than the sword. Marathon, Hast
ings, Orleans, Blenheim, Saratoga and
Waterloo did less toward revolution than
did the Reformation and the revival of let
tiers. An author may do more to influence
the fortunes of the world than statesman
or a warrior, and the deeds and perform
ances by which this influence is created
may rank in interest and importance with
the decision of great Congresses or the
skilled vslor of a memorable field. 1t is
certainly not too much to say that Homer,
Aristotle, Dante or Lord Bacon may take
rank with a Cesar, Napoleon or Well
ington.
"Homer's Iliad was the constant COM
panion of Alexander. He carried it in a
richly isweled cssket of gold, and at night
he laid it. with sword, beneath his pillow.
The thrilling deeds of its real and imagi-
nary herots had much to do in molding
the character of the great commander.
Again, the life of Alexander inspired two
other warriors. It was Ctesars highest am
bition to walk in the steps of Alexander,
and Charles the MI. of Sweden from his
boyhood sought to initiate the great Mace
DOMAIN corqueror. In turn the life of
Cesar infiamed the Turkish Emperor Soly-
man in his campaign through Egypt and
Persia. Take paper and pencil and cipher.
if YOU will, how far up and how far down
and how far out reaches the influence OF
the printing press.
IA mighty influence you say, rs ex-
erted By the press" A mighty influence
but what is that infuenceP Is it for good
or is it for evil? Both. both.
1.-THE pirate of pernicious literature and
unclean books and papers has circumnavi-
gated the globe with the black flag at the
masthead and many soul has been made
to walk the plank into the abyss of eter-
nal ruin. An epidemic of this loathsome,
moral disease is sweeping over our dear
country into our own community, nay,
into our very homes, and the bodies of the
victims are found in the penitentisries
and dens of shame, and in the asylums for
the imbecile and the insane. and many
more have gone down in an avalanche Of
horror and despair. The great heart OF
this country about two years sgo was made
to stand still, and then again her pulses
were made to beat with e quicker throb, as
the great trsgedy of seventeen months en-.
actment YVES at last brought to close.
refer to the execution of the Anarchists al
Chicago. -Four men at the command oil
the law stood bound hand and foot, with
covered faces, upon the death-trap a mo-
ment and then were sprung into eternity.
We listened and watched with great anx-
ietv for the dispatches, and every eye was
turned toward Springfield and to Governor
Oglesby. Ny friends, Thousands of the
sons and daughters of our own dear homes
are standing upon the death trap of PERM
cious literature. They are being bound
hand and foot, and a black cap is being
- - tl,eir infallect and 0ver the fair