Arizona republican., 1891-01-04
SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS Their Weighty Influence for
 Good. Sensible Sermon of a New
 York Pastor. Rev. Thomas Dixon Terms Them the Mightiest Educational Factor
 of the Day.
From the New York World

about Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr., of the Twenty-third street Baptist Church. He breaches in church that is singu- larly free from all that is solemn or somber in appearance, and he breaches boldly on unusual topics. Yesterday morning he preached on 'The Sunday Press" to large congregation.
 "0ur subject is The Sunday Press, :" said Dr. Dixon, "and l invite your attention for the key thought to the nineteenth verse of the tenth chapter of Romans: But 1 say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, will pro- yoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation.' For the last four years have been trying carefully and prayer fully to study the question of the Sum- day newspapers. It has been & most difficult subject to me, but it is a ques- tion of paramount importance, a ques- ton which neither you nor l can avoid. It is question that refuses to let us pass on without taking notice of it. The more we look at it, the more we study it the more tremendous it's importance appears. The influence of the Sunday press, from an educational point of view, is enormous. As 1 came into this house this morning passed dozens of people who were reading these papers; they lay piled up in great heaps on the news stands; you see them everywhere, and their influence scarcely can be esti- mated. The fact that these papers are here is tremendous fact that has pro voked the church to jealousy. That this new power has come and has arraigned the church of the living God is no longer to be questioned. The most serious question Is, What is to be it's effect? Is it of God or of the Devil2 There IS no question as to the opinion of some of the good brothers in the church.
 "A short time ago l went to Chicago and some persons who had heard of something had said in sermon some time previous with all regard to the newspaper hunted me up with all haste, and it was rather warm in the car where we met for quite distance on the journey. There was no question a: to the attitude of some of them upon the Sunday newspaper. It was the devil it was born in hell and its in huence was of the devil and of hell That was all there was about it. told the brother who said this that wished knew as much as he did and had the sources of information that ht seemed to have. l had been studying the question of the Sunday newspaper for the last four years and never had arrived at that certainty of opinion which he seemed to have.
 ''There IS no question that there is 1T this new power that has arisen, chal lenge to the Christian Church. The more we look at this new power anC the more we study it in the light O Gods word and Gods truth the nor, the birth and growth and development of tho Sunday newspaper are seen to bt a tremendous indictment of the visible living Christian Church-an indict ment of those people whom God ha' chosen in the past to do his work. How did the Su Iday newspaper come here Where was it born? In hell? No. | was born of the weekday newspaper How did the weekday newspaper come totdevelop such branch as this? The pulpit neglected it's true field of labor ant ignored the living questions of tht day that bear upon the life of the peo
  down to ceremonies and ecclesiasticisn until the great throbbing, thrilling world was left outside. Carlyle has wei said, as l quoted two weeks ago, that tn, clergy of England is not found in tn, pulpit today, but m the newspaper of fees. We saw a Sunday or two ago hoy the newspaper press has usurped thu prophetic functions which once belonged to those who were especially called O God to that office, because it is the onl, power through which a man today ma! talk with the King. It is the power tha goes before Parliament and says: 'Thi is Gods truth. This is right and tha is wrong The only power today tha lays its hands on wrong-doing in thi city is the power that sits in those tai towers down town. We have seen tha the newspaper editor has assumed thi prophetic function, and has sat besid, him that read and instructed him. Now because the editor has grown to thi enormous stature, because he has com, to be moral teacher and leader, preacher for the masses, we find that h, took to preaching on Sunday. That i all. The Sunday newspaper was bori because the newspaper press had takel its stand upon the platform where thu prophets of God once stood. It is her because it is doing the work that uset to be done by the pulpit, but which tn, pulpit was neglecting. That is why tn press gradually became the moulder anC fashioner and director of the moral sen timent of the world.
 "There are some who say that the Sun day newspaper was started because O the money there was in 1t. That vii not do. No newspaper will exist for an, length of time that does not appeal t' the moral consciousness of constitu ency. That is the condition upon whlcl all newspapers exist, whether week-da, or Sunday. No purely commercial req son can account for the tremendou power of the weekday press; and yol might just as we'll attribute the powe of the Sunday press to that source as tn weekday. To say that the Sunday news paper was born purely for none, speculation is false, every inch of it. was born because the weekday pres had already assumed the functions of
 teacher, and it had to preach Sunday because Sunday was the best day of al the week to preach on. would just a willingly preach Monday as Sunday if could preach to better account. If
 could draw larger congregation Mon day than Sunday l would preach Mon day and close up Sunday.
 As congregations go, l am preachin this morning to good congregation. Il this city there are 300 preachers ad dressing the people from their differen l.x.k fr1s L1.. To l