The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-03

naye a. IeiS Its power. There are some ner
aons VINO nave only to enter a room or ster
t5n; = plattorm or into a pulpit and you ar
thrilled by their presence. and when fhe,
speak your nature responds and Won canno'
n5,p u. What is the peculiar influence witt
s Incl sucn a magnetic person takes hold Of
sociai groups and audiences? Without at
Gelnptlng to define this, which is indie.
unable, L Will say it seems to correspond To
me waves OF air set in motion by the voice or
1ne movements of the body. Just like that
atmospheric vibration is the moral or shirt.
ual vibration which rolls out from the
SOU OF what we call a magnetic person.
= Lnere NAV be a cord or rope binding bod
les 5ogeIner, there may be an invisible cord
plndlng souls. A magnetic man throws it
over others as a hunter throws a lasso. Mr..
Grady was surcharged with this influence.
ana It was employed for patriotism and
Christianity and elevated purposes.
1ou may not know why, in the converse
ton which l had with Mr.. Gladstone a few
weeks ago, he uttered these memorable
words about Christianity, some of which
were eabled to America. He was speaking
In reply to this remark: I said, "Mr. Glad
sLones we are old in America BY some people
chat Christianity does very well for weak
minded men and children in the infant class.
put 1t is not fit for stronger minded men;
put when we mention you, OF such large in
teuectuahty, as being a pronounced friend
OF religion, we silence their batteries" Then
Mr.. Gladstone stopped on the hillside
WneTe we were exercising and said:
In my faith in religion" 'sir,n said he, with
flashing eye and uplifted hand, talk about
the questions of tho day, there is but one
question, and that is the Gospel. tt can
and will correct everything. Do YOU have
any Of that dreadful agnosti cism In Ameri
eaT Having told him we had, he went on
to say: II am profoundly thankful that
none OF my children or kindred lave been
blasted byit am glad to say that about all
the men at the top in Great Britain are
Christians. Why, sir" he said, II have
been in public position ffty-eight years,
md orty-seven years in the Cabinet of the
British Government. and during those forty
seven years I have been associated with
sixty OF the master minds of the century,
and all but five of the sixty were Christians"
He then named the four leading physicians
and surgeons of his country, calling them by
name and r~emarking upon the high qualities
Of each of them and added: They are all
thoroughly Christian" My friends, I Think
1t will be quite respectable for a little longer
to be the friends of religion. William E.
Gladstone. a Christian; Henry W. Grady, a
Christian. What the greatest of English
men said of England is true of America and
of all C~hristendon. The men at the top are
the friends of God and believers i'm the sane
Titles of religion, the most eminent of the
lawyers, the most eminent of the doctors,
the most eminent of the merchants, and
there are 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, I ann sorry that you
ave fallen into bad mpa In an.
swer to the question pGS last spring,
"Can a secular journalist be a Chris.
tian% mot only answer in the affirmative,
but | assert that so great are the responsible
tiles 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
q mans pen" and so many are the surround
ing ~Cceaapptations that the men of no other
profes. pm more deeply need the defenses and
the re-eiforcements Of the grace of God.
And then look at the opportunities of jour-
nalism. / praise the pulpit and magnify my
Office, but l state a fact which you all know
when | say that where the pulpit touches one
person the press touches five hundred. Tit
vast majority of people do not go to church.
but all intelligent people read the newspa
pers- While, therefore, the responsibility OF
the ministers is great, the responsibility OF
editors and reportersis greater. Come, broth.
er journalists, and get your ordination, not
by the laying or of human hands, but by the
laying on of the hands of the Almighty. 70 you
is committed the precious reputation of men
and the more precious reputation of women.
Spread before our children an elevated lit
Hature. Make sin appear disgusting and
virtue admirable. Believe good rather
than evil While you show up the
hypocrisies of the church, show up the stu
pendous 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 write with q
mans pen be- message Of light and liberty
and kindness and an awakening of moral
power. But who is sufficient for these thingss
Not one of you without divine help. But get
that influence and the editors and reporters
IAN go up and take this world for God and
truth. The highest opportunity in all
the world for usefulness to-day is open be-
fore editors and reporters and publishers,
whether of knowledge on foot, as in the book,
or knowledge on the wing, as in the news
paper. ] pray God, men of the newspaper
press, whether you hear or read this sermon,
That you may rise up to your full opportunity
and that you may be divinely helped and res
cued and blessed.
Some one might say to me: "How can you
talk thus of the newspaper press, when you
yourself nave sometimes been unfairly treated
and misrepresentation l answer that in the
opportunity the newspaper press OF this
country and other countries have given me
week by week to preach the Gospel to the
u&llUnS, i uAn pun AuuCA ~ AA01h yASopAOA
EhaaI defy all editors and reporters tho
world over to write anything that shall call
forth from me one word of bitter retort from
now till the day of my death. My opinion is,
that all reformers and religious teachers, in-
stead of spending so much time and energy
in ~denouncing the press, had better spend
more time in thanking them for what they
haye done for the worlds intelligence and de.
claring their magnificent opportunity u
urging their employment OF it all Tor Dener'
cen and righteous purposes.
Again. I remark that HeGry W. Grady
stood for Christian patriotism irrespective or
political spoils. he declined all official re-
ward. 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 oyer, &c to Wash
ington. or Albany, or Harrisburg, or At
lanta, to get in city or State or National
Office reward for their services, and not get
ting what they want spend the rest OF me
time of that administration in pouting about
the management of public affairs or cursing
HarrisGIhSgascleveland. When the great
political campaigns were over MIR. Grady
went home to his newspaper. He demon
strated that it is possible to
toll for principles which he Thought TO be
right, simply because they were right.
Christian patriotism is too rare q
in this country. Surely the joy of living
under such free institutions as those estab-
lished here ought to be enough reward for
political fidelity. Among all the great writ
ers that stood at the last Presidential cleo
tion on Democratic and Republican plat
forms, you cannot recall In your mind ten
who were not themselves looking for remu-
~nerative appointments. Aye, you can count
them ell on the fingers Of hand The
most iIlustrious 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,