The Brookhaven leader., 1890-03-06

Va bho anu lutTb dEt no
better men in all our land than some of
those who sit in editorial chairs. And
IL that does not correspond with your
cquaintanceship, / am sorry that you
have fallen into bad company. In an
swer to the question put last spring:
Can a 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
infinite and eternal the consequences of
their obedience or disobedience of the
words of my text: Take thee a great
roll, and write in it with a mans pen,"
and so many are the surrounding
temptations that the men of no other
profession more deeply need the defenses
and the reinforcements of the grace of
God
And then look at the opportunities of
journalism. 1 praise the pulpit and
magnify my Office, but 1 state a 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 response
bility of the ministers is great, the re-
sponsibility of editors and reporters is
greater. Come, brother journalists, and
get your ordination, not by the laying
on of human hands, but by the laying on
of the hands of the Almighty. To you
is committed the precious reputation of
men and the more precious reputation
of women. Spread before our children
an elevated literature. Make sin APP
pear disgusting and virture ad-
mirable. Believe good rather than
evil. While you show up the
hypocrisies of the Church, show up tn
stupendous hypocrisies outside the
Church. Be not, as some of you are,
the mere echoes of public opinion;
make public opinion. Let the great
roll on which you writewith mans pen
be q measure of light and liberty and
kindness and an awakening of moral
power. But who is sufficient for these
things? Not one of you without Divine
help. But get that influence, and the
editors and reporters can go up and take
this world for God and the truth. The
mightiest opportunity in all the world
for usefulness to-day is open before ed
itors and reporters and publishers,
whether of knowledge on foot, as in
the book, or knowledge on the wing, as
in the newspaper. pray God, men of
the newspaper press, whether you hear
or read this sermon, that you may rise
up to yourfull opportunity, and that you
may be divinely helped and rescued and
blessed.
Some one might say to me: Howccan
you talk thus of the newspaper press,
when you yourself have sometimes been
unfairly treated and misrepresented?"
l answer that in the opportunities the
newspaper press of this country and
other countries have given me week by
week to preach the Gospel to the ma
tions l am put under so much obligation
that defy all editors and reporters, the
world over, to write any thing that shall
call forth from me one word of bitter re-
tort from now till the day of my death.
NV opinion is, that all reformers and
religious teachers, instead of spending
so much time aud energy in denouncing
the press, had better spend time in
thanking them for what they have done
for the worlds intelligence and declar-
ing their magnificent opportunity and
urging their employment of it all for
beneficent and righteous purposes.
Again, remark that Henry w. Grady
stood for Christian patriotism irrespect-
i've of political spoils. He declined all
official reward. He could have been
Governor of Georgia, but refused it, He
could have been Senator of the United
States, but declined it. He remained
plain Mr.. Grady. Nearly all the other
orators of the political arena, as soon as
the elections are over, go to Washing
ton, or Albany, or Harrisburg, or At
lanta, TO getin city, or State or National
office reward for their services, and not
getting what they want, spend the rest
of the time of that Administration
in pouting about the management
of public affairs or cursing Harrison
or Cleveland. When the great po-
litical campaigns were over Mr.. Grady
went home to DIS newspaper. He dem
onstrated that 1T is possible to toll for
principles which he thought to be right,
simply because they were right Chris
tian patriotism is too rare commodity
in this country. Surely the joy of liv-
ing under such free institutions as those
established here ought to be enough re-
ward for political fidelity. Among all
the great writer's that stood at the last
presidential election on Democratic and
Republican platforms you can not recall
in your mind ten who were not them
selves looking for remuneratsve APP
pointments. Aye, you can count them
all on the fingers of one hand. The
most illustrious specimen of that style
OF man for the last ten years was Henry
w. Grady.
Again, Mr.. Grady stood for the new
South, and was just what we want to
meet three other men, one to speak for
the new North, another for the new
East and another for the new West.
The bravest speech made for the last
quarter of century was that made by
Mr.. Grady at the New England dinner
in New York about two or three months
ago. sat with him that evening and
know something of his anxieties, for he
was to tread on dangerous ground, and
might, by one misspoken word, have
antagonized forever both sections. His
speech was victory that thrilled all OF
us who heard him and all who read him.
That speech, great for wisdom, great
for bravery, will go down to the genera
tions with Webster's speech at Bunker
Hill William Wirt's speech at the ar