Milford chronicle., 1896-03-27
SPIRIT or THE PRESS
REV. DR.. TALMAGE FINDS TWO
UNIQUE TEXTS.


e And breaches BROAD Sermon on the j.
vine Mission of Newspapers lie sa.
They Are the sIost Potent Vehicles
knowledge OF the Age.
WASHINGTON, March as.-Newspap,
row, as it is called here in Washington
the long row OF offices connected wit
prominent journals throughout the lant
pays so much attention TO Dr. Talmag
they may BIO glad to hear what ho think
Of them while lu discusses n subject i
which tho whole country is interested
His texts today were, And the wheels wer
full Of eyes ezekiel X, 12), For all tn
Athenians and strangers which were thor
spent their time in nothing else but eithe
TO tell or to hear some new thing" (Act
xvii, 2D.
What is a preacher to do when he find
two texts equally good and suggestive
In that pcrplexity 1 take both. Wheel
full Of eyes2 What but the wheels Of
newspaper printing pressg Other wheels
are blind. They RON on, pulling or crush
ing. The manufacturer wheel-how il
over nerve ana muscle ard bono and heart
not knowing what it does. The sewing
machine wheel soos not the aches and
pains fastened to it-tighter than the band
that moves it, sharper than the needle
which it plies. Every moment Of every
hour OF every day OF every month Of every
year there are hundreds Of thousands OF
wheels Of mechanism whoels of enterprise,
wheels of hard work, in motion, but they
are eyeless
Not so the wheels Of the printing press.
Their entire business is TO look and report.
They are full Of optic nerves, from axle TO
periphery They arc like those spoken of
by Ezekiel os full Of eyes. Sharp eyes,
nearsighted, farsi GIFTED. Thoy look up
They look down. They look far away,
They tako in the next street and tho next
hemisphere Eyes Of criticism, eyes of in
vestigation, eyes THAT twinkle with mirth,
eyes gloworing with Indignation, eyes ten
der with love, eyes Of suspicion, eyes Of
hope, blue eyes, black eyes, green eyes,
holy eyes, evil eyes, sore eyes, political
eyes, literary eyes, historical eyes, religious
eyes, eyes that see everything. And tho
wheels were full Of eyes" But il
my second text is the worlds cry for the
newspaper. Paul describes a class Of pco-
pie in Athens who spent their time Other
in gathering tho news or telling it. Why
especially in Athens2 Because the moro
intelligent people become tie more inquis-
1.-Two they aro-not about small things,
but great things.
What Es the News?
The question then most frequently is
the question now most frequently asked,
What is tho news? 10 answer that cry in
the text for tho newspaper the centuries
havo put their wits to work. China first
succeeded and has at Peking newspaper
that has been printed every week for 600
years. printed on silk. i.omo succeeded
by publishing The Acta Diurna, in tho
same column putting fires, murders, mar
riages and tcmpests. France succeeded
by a physician writing oub them Of the
day for his patients. England succeeded
under Queen Elizabeth in first publishing
tho news Of the Spanish armada and 60
ing on until she had enough enterprise,
when the battle of Waterloo was fought,
deciding The destiny Of Europe, to give it
1ne-third Of column in tine London
Chronicle about as much rs the
Of cur day gives of a small fire.
America succeeded by Benjamin Harris
,encos, published in Boston in 1880, and
1y the first daily, Tho American Adver-
User. published in Philadelphia in 1884.
The newspaper did not suddenly spring
,pon tho world, but came gradually, The
line of the newspaper is this:
l'he Adam Of tho race was a circular or
news letter created 10y divine impulse i'll
human nature, and the circular bsgat the
and tho pamphlet bogat the
luarterly, and the quarterly begat the
weekly, and the weekly boga5 the semi
weekly. and tho semiwcckly begat the
aily But, alas, by wha5 q struggle it
amo to its present Development No
Donor had its power been demonstrated
han tyranny and superstition shackled it,
There is nothing that dospotism SO fears
nd hates as printing press. 1t has too {
AMY eyes in its wheel a great writer
eclared that the king Of Naples made it
nsafe for him TO write OF anything but
atural history. Austria could not endure .
-ossuth's Journalistic pen pleading for the
3demption Of Hungary, Napoleon ], try
~ to keep his iron heel on tho necks of
ations, said, editors are tho regents of ,
lvereigns and tho tutors Of nations and 7
70 only Git for prison" Bnt tho battle {
II tho freedom of the press was fought in
10 courlro0ms Of England and America {
nd decided before this century began by s
amilton's eloquent plea for J. PCtor J.
engcr's Gazette in America and Erskino's 5
ivocacy of tho freedom OF publication in G
nglund These were tho Marathon and O
in which the freedom of the '
rpss was established in tho United States s
Id Great Britain, and all the powers Of p
nth and he'll will never again DO able to
1t on tho handcnffa and hOpples of lit-
AIRY ard political despOtism. 1t IS nota- t
@ that Thomas jefferson, who wrote tho b
eolaration Of American Independence, v
rote also, of / had TO choose between q Il
without newspapers, or news II
.pers without a government, l should J,
afer tho latter" Stung. by some base is
IRRIGATION coming to us in print, we come Fl
write or speak of tha gnbridled printing Z
ess, or. our new book ground up by aH p
ijust critic, we come to write or speak ii
the unfairness of the printing press, OF q
rhaps through out own indistinctness Of
terance VIC are reported as saying Just
@ opposite of what we did say, and there M
"a small riot Of seinicolons, hyphens and "a
mmas, and we come to speak or write n,
the laundering printing press, or, seeing q,
paper lllud with divorce cases or social n.
.ndal, we speak and write of tho filthy to
hitting press. III, seeing a journal through ~
ibery wheel round from one political ri
10 to the other in one night, we speak of al
O corrupt printing press, and many talk is
cut tho lampoonery, and tho pmpiric k
Il, and the sans oulottism of tho print Q,
: press. Oh
a Good Newspaper, w
But 1 discourse now ON subject you pc
We never hear,l-the immeasurebiG and Oh
blessing of good newspaper, A
ank God for the. wheel full Of eyes, o
ank God that we 90 not have, like the at
bcnians, to go about to gather up and pa
ate the tidings Of the day, since the dc
nivorous newspaper does both for us. SO
Q erandcst temporal blessing that God in
, given to the nineteenth century Is this lo