The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-26
THE BIBLE IN JOURNALISM.

Editor Dana of the New York Sun has ALWAYS
| held the Bible as the highest authority in lit
! erature says the Troy On. Y Telegram For
| grammatical accuracy he has often claimed
| superiority over every other work, and he has
administered many stern rebuke to the pre-
sumption which yentured to call in question
its perfect correctness. In these references he
has shown by unmistakable signs his reYer-
ence for the sacred volume.
In his recent lecture before the Wisconsin
Editorial Association on "The Art of Newspa-
per Making" which with two other lectures on
the same subject has just been published by
the Appletons in neat little volume, ne spoke
of the books young journalist ought to read
"What books ought you to read? There are
| some books that are indispensable - few
"Almost all books have their use, even the
silly ones, and an omnivorous reader, II he
reads intelligently, never need feel that ms
time is wasted, even when he bestows it on
the fiimsiest trash that is printed; but there
are some books that are absolutely 1nd1spens-
| able to the kind of education that we are con-
te1nplating and to the profession that we are
considering; and of all these the most lndls-
pensable, the most useful, the one whose
knowledge is most effective, is the Bible:
There is no book from which more valuable
lessons can be learned. l am considering IL
now not as q religious book, but as manual
of utility, of professional preparation and pro-
fessional use for a journalist. There is per-
haps no book whose style is more suggestive
and more instructive, from which you learn
more directly that sublime simplicity whlch
never exaggerates, which recounts the greatest
events with solemnlty, OF course, but without
sentimentality of affection; none which you
open with such confidence and lay down with
such reverence.
.iThere is no book like the Bible. When you
get into controversy and want exactly the
| right answer, when you are looking for an ex-
| preston, what is there that closes dispute
| like verse from the Bible? What is it that
sets up the right principle for you, which
| pleads for policy, for cause so mucn as the
| right passage of Holy Scripture?"
| One young journalist won a high position
few years ago, and still holds it, chiefly by his
| aptness at Scripture quotations, which at
| tracted the attention of the gentleman in
| charge. They were always appropriate and
! opposite, and frequently put an unansWeraole
clincher upon an argument.
| The majority of readers accept the Bible as
| absolute authority, and hence it has more
power for conviction than any other classic.
| There may be those who question its iner-
rancy, but they seldom dispute the force OF its
| logic or the value of its grand moral max1ms.
| And then it is book for universal reading,
| and those who pass it by as Anticipated or de-
| void of interest and entertainment makes mis-
| take.
Much of the value of the Bible has been lost
| through the error OF p1ous parents In making
| its reading task or punishment for their
| children, instead of pointing out its beauties,
| and there many narratives that are ealcu-
| lated to hold the interest OF children.
We have always regarded that OF Joseph and
| his brethren as the best No grander story of
i frdternaI ana 0Qdl love was ever IOlQ, none
more heroic or truer to the Hottest conceptions
| of true manhood and character.
| The rescue of Moses, his truth to his people,
| and the gradual development of his character
| til he was chosen as their leader; the wander
| ings in the wilderness, in all OF which he re-
NAMED their master and retained their conf
dence and kept them true to the immortal
faith, is one OF the sublimest chapters in all
history.
The youth of David was also full of thrilling
incidents, and his elevation from the place of
a humble shepherd-boy to become the greatest
of all the monarchs of Judea is unparalleled by
any success of leadership in later history.
If romance of the sweetest and tenderest
kind is sought it can be found in the stories of
Ruth and of Esther, or If the readers taste in
clines to poetry, no sublimer strains are to be
found than in Job, the Psalms, or ''rapt Isaiah's
wild seraphic fire."
And in the New Testament is given the great
so far in advance of his time in all the prin-
ciples and motives that direct men that his
precepts and his life have been found in all
the centuries since he lived on earth to keep in
perfect accord and harmony with every adj
vance of civilization.
There is not department of human thought
but which finds something in the Bible to fit it
grandly and satisfactorily. History, science,
religion, poetry, philosophy, law, ethics, ro-
nance, all are to be found there, and he who
reads il through-reads it patiently, thought
fully and with resolute purpose to find out all
of its beauties and its truths-wiQ be aston
iShed to find how much it contains, and will
probably indorse Mr. Dana's encomium, "There
is no book like the Bible" He will then no
longer wonder why it is conquering the world.