The Russellville Democrat., 1890-03-06

newspapers answered, No. I answered, Yes: and lest you may not understand me I say, Yes, again Summer before last riding with Mir. Grady from re- ligious meeting in Georgia on Sunday night he said to nnessome things which I now reveal for the first time because l 1t is appropriate now that Irevcal them. He expressed his complete faith in the Gospel, and expressed his astonishment and his grief that in our day so many young men were rejecting Christianity. From the earnestness and the tender
 ness and the confidence with which he spoke on these things concluded that
 when Henry ". Grady made public pro- fession of his faith in Christ and took his place at the holy communion in the Methodist church, he was honest and truly Christian.
 That conversation that Sunday night, first in the carriage and then resumed in
 the hotel, impressed me in such way
 that when I simply heard of his de-
 parture without any of the particulars,
 concluded that he was ready to go.s
 warrant thcre was no fright in the last
 exigency, but that he found what is1 commonly called 'sthe last enemy a
 good friend, and from his home on earth
 he went to homo in Heaven. Yes. Mir. Grady not only demonstrated that
 an editor may be Christian, but that
 very great intellect may be gospel ized. His mental capacity was so won
 derful that it was almost startling. |
 have been with him in active conversa- ,<,, ,.tt1a ,f tba r.,a tit,,o ba xpoo 6ic. tating to n stenographer editorials for
 the Atlanta Constitution But that in- tellect was 2ot ashamed to bow to Christ.
 Among his last dying utterances was a
 request for the prayers of the churches in his behalf.
 There was that particular quality in Him that you do not find in more than one person out of hundreds of thousands namely, personal magnetism. People have tried to define that quality and always failed, yet we have all felt it's power. There are some persons who
 have only to enter a room or step upon a platform or into pulpit and you are
 thrilled by their presence. and when
 they speak your nature responds and you can not help it. What is the pecul-
 far influence with which such a mag
 netic person takes hold of social groups
 and audiences? Without attempting to
 define this, which is indefinable, I will say it seems to correspond to the waves
 of air set In motion by the voice or the
 movements of the body. Just like that atmospheric vibration is the moral or spiritual vibration which rolls out from +h Of fr.rka aa11 tic son. As there may be 8 cord or rope binding bodies together, there may be
 an invisible cord binding souls. A mag netic man tnrows it over others as a lhunter throws a lasso. Mir. Grady was
 surcharged with this influence, and it
 was employed for patriotism and Chris
 tianity and elevated purposes.
 You may not know why, in the con yersation which l had with Mir. Glad stone few weeks ago, he uttered these memorable words about Christianity, some of which were cabled to America. He was speaking in reply to this re-
 mark: I said. "Mr. Gladstone, we are told in America by some people that
 Christianity does very well for weak
 minded men and children in the infant
 class, but 1t is not fit for stronger
 minded men; but when we mention
 you, of such large intellectually. as be- ing a pronounced friend of religion, we silence their batteries" Then Mir
 Gladstone stopped on the hillside where
 we were exercising and said:
 "The olderI grow, the more confirmed
 I am in my faith in religion" Sir" said he, with flashing eye and uplifted
 hand. talk about the questions of the day, there is but one question, and that
 is the Gospel That can and will correct every thing. Do you have any of that dreadful agnosticism in American"
 Having told him we had, he went on
 to say: ''I am profoundly thankful that
 none of my children or kindred have
 been blasted by it. l am glad to say
 that about all the men at the top in Great Britain are Christians. Why, sir" he said, have been in public
 position ffty-eight years, and forty seven years in the Cabinet of the Brit ish Government, and during those forty seven years I have been associated with sixty of the master minds of the cent ury, and all but five of the sixty were Christians"
 He then named the four leading phy- sicians and surgeons of his country, calling them by name and remarking upon the high qualities of each of them, and added: ''Fhey are all thoroughly Christian" My friends, think it will be quite respectable for little longer to be the friends of religion. William E. f.1aJotnna a (hrictior. Hanru " Grady a Christian. What the greatest of English men said of England is true of America and of all Christendom. The men at the top are the friends of God and be- lievers in the sanctities of religion, the most eminent of the lawyers, the most eminent of the doctors, the most eminent of the merchants, and there arc no better men in all our land than some of those who sit in editorial chairs. And if that does not correspond with your acquaintanceship, l am sorry that you have fallen into bad company. In an- swer to the question put last spring: Can secular journalist be a Chris tian?" not only answered in the affirm ative. but assert that so great are the responsibilities of that profession, so lnnnite and eternal the consequences or their obedience or disobedience of the words of my text: "Take thee great roll, and write in it with mans pen" and so many are the surrounding temptatio that the men of no other profession more deeply need the edefenses and the endorsements of the grace of God.
 And then look at the opportunities of journalism. l praise the pulpit and magnify my office, but I state fact which you all know when l say that where the pulpit touches one person the press touches five hundred. The vast majority of people do not go to church. but all intelligent people read the news papers. While, therefore, the responsi- bility of the ministers is great, the re- sponsibility of editors and reporters is