Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-01-14
The Signs Of the Times.
Chaplain TribOu of the United states Navy
Commends the Newspapers.


Commends the Newspapers.
Chaplain d. II. Tribou, United States
navy, on duty at the Naval Home in this
city, and a delegate to the late Ecumenical
Conference preached in the Broad street M.
r. Church. Thanksgiving Day, to large
congregation, on The Signs of the Times"
he began by an allusion to the great
American feast day. which he said was the
most generally observed Of any feast day
in any Protestant nation on the globe;
paid high tribute to the fathers for their
religious principles; enumerated some of
the special reasons for thanksgiving and
then passed to consider the hopefulness of
the signs of the times. The first of these
signs he mentioned was the alliance of the
public press with the church.
I'VE haven't all found it out yet" he
said, but unless some Van Winklean sleep
falls on the church, it won't be long before
this mighty engine will have post of hon
or and will be rivalDg the pulpit In its in
fiueDce for righteousness. If you have not
compared the newspaper of a former gen.
Grafton with the newspaper of to-day, you
can have no conception of the change
which has taken place. hear loud cries
raised against the press in various quar-
:ers; hear people say it is infidel, cor
rupt and used In the interests of the evil
rather than the good; but If you will take
up almost any daily paper on any Monday
morning you Will find an abundance of re-
llgious truth, The report of the services
OF the church are so important in the eyes
OF the press that IL must have good place
and plenty of space. And YOU will notice
that whenever any great religious conven-
ton meets it finds the reporter waiting for
it.
The British representatives of the AS
sociated Press cabled to the American rep
resentatives, just as the Ecumenical Meth
odist Conference was about to meet, TO
send the fullest reports by cable for publi
cation in the daily papers Of Great Britain
The pastoral address of that conference
was not only cabled to Great Britain, but
it was telegraphed in full to eight hundred
daily papers in the United States Why,
never since the world began has any king,
prince, potentate, pope or hierarchy had
such teet-footed messengers as the church
has to-day. | do not believe there is
sovereign on earth who could issue so long
proclamation as this conference address
and have so many people reading it the
next morning Why, it is wonderful. 1t
is the greatest evangel under the whole
heavens.
Do not let any side issue or minor mat
ter cause you to lose sight of The fact that
all the great daily papers are messengers
of the gospel, that they are carrying to
millions of people the clearest, freshest
statement of Christian doctrine, the most
earnest calls to repentance, the most tend
er and loving eXhortations TO new life,
the most solemn warnings of the Judgment
to come, and, in short, all the messages of
the pulpit. Bankers, brokers, merchants,
doctors, lawyers, the workingman and the
capitalist, are all within the reach of the
press, and the press echoes the pulpit.
Never before did the pulpit have so wide
a field; never before were all classes to be
reached by single messenger. What
wonderful thing is this. And when we
remember the assurance of Jehovah, My
word shall not return unto me void, but
shall accomplish that whereto | sent IL,
it wiz stimulate US ~ give thanks with
exulting hearts,.
A second sign is the increasing interest
in the study of the Bible. The speaker
said that this generation will perhaps be
longest remembered for what it has done
to throw light on the Word of God, and
that there was never time when so many
different classes, men of different views,
pursuing divergent lines of thought, were
so much interested in the Bible as now.
Another sign is the Sunday school, which
has enrolled in its list of officers, teachers
and scholars grand total of nine million
names. Statistics were quoted showing
ibhSs fhs marye;9af Ia growth Of Christianity dr~,
tribute was paid to the army of young
people marching a million strong in the
Young Mems Christian Association, Soci-
ETY. of Christian Endeavor and the Ep-
worth League. The signs of the times
fully warrant our loudest pnans of praise
and our heartiest thanksgivngs. But the
songs Of rejoicing must not be mistaken
for the final shout of triumph, and the
army of our Lord is formed for waging
battle, not for dress parade"
Rev DR.. Buoy. Rev. Dr. Pearson and
Revs. Robinson, Barnes, Smith, Wolfe,
McMichael and Read We're present, and
took part in the exercises Philadelphia
Times.