Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-03-13
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject "rhe Plague of Bad Books. /,

objects of worship while alive, and after
death they were embalmed, and to-day their
remains may be found among the sepulchres
of Thebes. These creatures so attractive
once to the Egyptians, at divine behest be-
came obnoxious and loathsOme, and they
went croaking 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 now are upliftei above the
carih and On the side Of clinneys but then
were small holes in the earth. with sunken
pottery, were filed with frogs when the
| housekeepers cane to look at them. If a L1an
sat down TO eat a frog alightel on his plate.
| If he ATTEMPTED to PIT on a shoe it was pre-
occupied by a frog. If he attempted to put
his head upon pillow it had been taken pos
session of by frog
Frogs high and low and everywhere; loath-
some frogs Shiny frogs, besieging frogs, in
Vulnerable frogs, great plague of frogs.
| What made the matter worse the niagicians
said there was no miracle in this, and they
could by sleight OF hand produce the same
thing ami they seemed to succeed, for by
sleight of hand wonders may DO wrought.
! Aftei Moses had thrown down his staff and
| by miracle il became a serpent. and then lie
took hold of it and by miracle it again be-
came a staff, the serpent charmers initiated
the same thing, ana knowing that there were
Serpents in Egypt which by peculiar pres
sure on the neck would become as rigid as
stick of wood, they seemed to change the SER
pent into the staff, and then. throwing it
| down, the staff became the serpent.
So likewise these magicians tried to imi-
tate the plague OF frogs, and perhaps by
smell of food attracting great number of
them to q certain point, or by shaking them
out from a hidden place, the magicians some
| times seemed to accomplish the same mira
| Gle. While these magicians made the plague
worse. none Of them tried to make it better.
Frogs came up and covered the land of
Egypt, ami the magicians did so with their
enchantment, and brought up frogs upon the
land of Egypt"
Now that plague Of frogs has come back
| upon the earth. 1t is abroad to-day. 1t Is
shifting this nation. 1t comes in the Shape
of corrupt literature These frogs hop into
the store, the shop. the office the banking
| house the factory-intO the home, into the
cellar, into the garrett on the drawing room
table, on the shelf of the library. While the
lad is reading the bad hook 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 re-
firing at night, reading by gaslight, one Of
these frogs leaps upon the page. Indeed
they have Eopped upon the news stands of
tue country anu Tic ildlio az NuD lOoJOliiSD
shake ont in the letter trough hundreds of
them The plague has taken at different
times possession of this country. 1t is one of
the most loathsome, ono Of the most fright
full, one Of the most CHASTITY of the ten plaques
Of our modern cities.
There is vast number of books and news
papers printed and published which ought
never to see the light. They are filled with
pestilence that makes the land swelter with a
moral epidemic. The greatest blessing that
ever came to this nation is that of an ele-
waited literature, and the greatest scourge
has been that OF Unclean literature This
last has its victims in all occupations AMI
departments. 1t has helped to ill insane
asylums and panitsntiaries and almshouses
and dens of shame The bodies of this infec-
ton lie in the hospitals and in the graves,
while their souls are being tossed over into
n lost eternity, an avalanche Of horror and
despair.
The London plague was nothing to it.
That counted its victims by thousands, but
this modern pest has already shovelet its
millions into the Charnel house of the morally
dead. The longest rail train that ever ran
over the Erie OF Hudson tracks was Otlong
enough nor large enough to carry the beast
illness and the putrefaction which have been
gathered up in bad books and newspapers OF
this land in the last twenty years. Tho
literature Of q nation decides the fate OF
nation Good books, good morals. Bad
books, bad morals.
begin with the lowest of all the htera.
ture that which does not even pretend to
be respectable-from cover to cover blotch
of leprosy. There are many whose entire
business it is to dispose of that kind OF lit
erature. They display it before the school
boy on his way home. They get the cata-
Of
names and postoEice addresses, and senl
their advertisements and their circulars,
and their pamphlets, and their books to every
one Of them.
In the possession of these dealers in bad
literature were found nine hundred thou
sand names and postOiiice addresses, to
whom it was thought it might be profitable
to send these corrupt things. In the year
1873 there were one hundred and siXty-iye
establishments engaged in publishing cheap
corrupt literature From one publishing
house there went out twenty different styles
Of corrupt books. Although over thirty
tons of vile literature have been destroyed
by the Society for the Suppression OF Vice,
still there is enough Of it left in this country
to bring down upon us the just anger OF an
aroused God.
In the year 1868 the evil had become SO
great in this country that the Congress OF
the United States passed a law forbiddlng
the Transmission of bad literature through
the United States mails, but there were
large loops in that law through which
criminals might crawl out. and the law was
a dead failure-.hat law Of 1868. But IN
1873 another Law was passed by the Congress
Of the United States against the Transmission
OF corrupt literature through the mails
grand law, a potent Law, Christian law
and under that law l1ulttudes OF these
scOundrels have been arrested, their property
coniiscateG and they themselves thrown into
the penitentiaries, where they belonged.
Now, my friends how are W. to war
against this corrupt literature, and how are
the frogs Of tbs Egyptian plague to be
slainy First OF oil by the prompt and mex
urablo execution OF the law, Let all good
posUmasters. and United States distr ct at
torneys. and detectives, and reformers con-
cert in their action to stop this plague.
When Sir Rowland Eli spent his life in try
ing to secure cheap postage not only for
England. but for all the world, and to open
the blessing of the postOffice to all honest
business. and to all messages Of charity,
and kindness, and affection, Tor all health
full intercommunication, be dill not mean to
make vice easy or to fill the mail bags OF the
United States with the scabS OF such
leprosy.
II ought not 10 be in the power OF every
bad man who can raise a one-cent stamp for
a circular or two-cent stamp for letter to
blast a man or destroy a home The postal
service OF this country must be clean, must
he kept clean, and we must all understand
that the swift retributions of the United
States Government hover over every viola
ton OF tie letter box.
There are thousands of men and women in
this country, some for personal gain, some
through innate depravity, some through
spirit OF revenge, who wish TO use this great
avenue Of convenience and intelligence. for
purposes revengeful, salacious and diabolc.
Wake w the law. Wake up the penalties.
Let every court room on this subject be a
Sinai thnnderous and ahame. Let the con-
victed offenders be sent for the full term TO
Sing Sing or Harrisburg.
/ am not talking about what cannot be
done. an talking now about what is being
done. 4 great many OF the printing presse
that gave themselves entirely to the publca-
ton Of vile literature have been stopped OF
have gone into business less obnoxious.
What has thrown of, what has kept off the
rail trains of this country for some time
back nearly all the lepTous periodicals,
Those OF us who have been on the rail trains
have noticel great change in the last few
months and the last year or two. Why have
nearly all those vile periodicals been kept of
The rail trains for soma time baciY Who ef-
fected il? These societies for the publication