Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-03-14

TIE GREAT DIVINE ON THE CURSE
or FAD LITRRATURE. a vIvIn
POxrRAYAL OF THE POWER on
GOOD AND vICIOUsNEss OF AAD
LTTBAATUBE.
Brooklyn, March G-The plague d
pernicious literature formed the subject
Of DR.. Talmage's sermon to-day, which
was the third Of the series be 10 preach
ing on the "Ten Plaques Of the Cities.
The text OF the preachers discourse
was taken from Exodus, vii. 81: "And
the frogs came up and covered the land
OF Egypt. And the magicians did 90
with their entertainments, and brought
up frogs upon the land Of Egypt"
There 10 almost universal aversion
TO frogs, and yet with the Egyptians
they were honored, they were sacred,
and they were objects Of worship while
alive, and after death they were en-
bAlmed, and to-day their remains may
be found among the sepulchres Of
Thebes. These creatures, 80 attractive
once to the Egyptians, at divine behest
became obnoxious and loathsome, and
they went croakikg and hopping and
leaping into the palace Of the king, and
into the bread trays and the couches Of
the people, and even the ovens, which
are now uplifted above the earth, and on
the side Of chimneys, but then were
small holes In the earth with sunken
pottery, were filed with frogs when the
housekeepers came 70 look ct them. II
q man sat down TO eat Q frog alighted on
his plate. II he attempted 10 put on q
shoe it was preocQDpied byA frog. 1.-The
attempted to put his head upon pillow
it had been taken possession OF by
frog. Frogs high and low and every
where; losthsome frogs, shiny frogs, be-
sieging frogs, innumerable frogh great
plague Of frogs. What made the matter.
worse, the magicians said, there was no
miracle In this, and they could by
sleightof-hand produce the same thing.
and they seemed TO succeed, for by
sleightof-hand great wonders may be
wrought.
After Moses had thrown down his
stat and by miracle II became serpent,
and then he took hold Of II and by mir
acle it again became staff, the serpent
charmers initiated the same thing, and
knowing that there were Serpents in
Egypt which by peculiar pressure on
the neck would become as rigid as q
stick OF wood they seemed to change the
serpent into the stafi. and then throw
ing it down the staff became the ser
pent. So likewise these magicians tried
to initiate the plague Of frogs, and per-
haps by smell Of food attracting q great
OF them TO q certain point, or by
shaking them out from hidden place,
the magicians sometimes seemed TO &C
complish the same miracle. While
these magicians made the plague worse
none OF them tried TO make 1t better.
Frogs came up and covered the land Of
Egypt, and the magicians did 90 with
their enchantment, and brought up
frogs upon the land Of Egypt"
Now that plague Of frogs has come
back upon the earth. It Is abroad to-
day. 1t is shifting this nation. It
comes in the shape OF corrupt literature.
These frogs hop into the store, the shop,
the Office, he banking house, the fac
the home, into the cellar,
into the garnet, on the drawing room
table, on the shelf OF the library. While
the lad is reading the bad book the
teachers face is turned the other way.
One OF these frogs hops upon the page.
While the young woman Is reading the
forbidden novelette, after retiring ut
night, reading by gaslight, one Of these
frogs leaps upon the page. Indeed,
they have hoped upon the news stands
Of the country, and the mails at the
postoffice shake out in the letter trough
hundreds OF them.
The plague has taken, at different
times, possession OF this country. 1t is
Dne OF the most loathsome, one OF the
most frightful, one Of most CHASTITY OF
The ten plaques Of our modern cities.
There Is vast number OF books and
newspapers printed and published
which ought never to see the light. |
They are filled with q pestilence that |
makes the land swelter with q moral
epidemic.
The greatest blessing that ever came |
10 this nation Is that OF an elevated lit
,rature, and the greatest scourge has
been that Of unclean literature. The
asst has its victims in all occupations
md departments. It has helped to fill
insane asylums and penitentiaries and
and dens Of shame. The
,Odies OF this infection lie in the h0spi-
ais and in the graves, while their souls
ire being tossed over into lost eterni-
y, an avalanche OF horror and despair.
rhe London plague was nothing to it.
That counted its victims by thousands,
nut this modern pest has already SHOW
lied its millions into the charnel house
Il the morally dead. The longest rail
rain that ever ran over the Erie or
hudson tracks was not long enough nor
arge enough to carry the beastliness
nd the putrefaction which have been
,athered up in bad books and newspa-
,ers Of this land in the last twenty
ears. The literature OF q nation de-
ides the fate OF nation. Good books,
God morals. Bad hoods, bad morals.