St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-01-01
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1Ss


times larger than the latter.
Pray for the religious newspapers of
America, because OF the fact that. il
they have the right spirit. each one
does as much good as five, or 50, or 200
churches. What are the 500 or 1900
people making up Sabbath audience
compared with the 10. 600. or SO. 900, or
300. 600, that the religious journal ad-
dresses? Such journals arc pulpits
that preach day and night They reach
weekly those who, through inyalidism,
or through Indifference. never enter
churches. They reach people in their
quietude, when their attention is not
distracted. as in church, by the fine
millinery that appeals to the eye, or
the rustic OF attire that attracts the
ear. 1t will always be our duty and
our privilege. not to forsake the as
sembling of ourselves together, but l
believe the consecrated printing press
is the chief agency under God to save
the world.
Pray also for the religious news
papers of America that they may re-
sist the temptation to become acerb,
harsh and damnatory of those who
think differently from themselves. In
all denominations there are diSap-
pointed people who put mean things
in religious newspapers about min
listers and other prominent Christian
workers. Unsuccessful men and wom-
en- never like successful men and wom-
ell. There are editors and reporters
who, instead of writing with ink, Dip
their pens in oil of vitrol or lamp
black. When religious news
paper does lie it beats all
secular Journalism in contemptibility.
As Adam Clarke. the commentator,
said: Some people serve the Lord as
though the devil were in them" That
only is helpful newspaper which. as
we fold it up after reading, leaves us
in mood to pray for all men. and in q
spirit that wishes prosperity for oil
Christian workers, whether they work
our way or some other way; and we
feel as though the angel, flying
through the midst OF Heaven. having
the everlasting Gospel to preach, had
the Tapping of his wing stirred the
air on our cheek and forehead.
And now, let all of us who are con-
nectel with either secular or religious
journalism remember that we will be
called into final account for every
word we write in editorial, or reporto-
rial, or contribu tors column-fore every
type We set, for every press we move,
and for the style of secular or religio us
newspapers we patronize or encourage.
In Ez-aiel's prophecy the Angel of God.
supposed To BE- Christ, appears with an
ink-aorn hung at his side, as an attor-
ney's clerk in olden time had an ink
horn III his side. Aud / have no doubt
the in!s-horn will have an important
part in the day of Judgment. Those
who have used it we'll to receive eter-
nal plaudit. aad those who have mis-
used it to receive condemnation.
Piled in all the worlds printing
offices, secular and religious. are the
publications. of past years, bound up
year by year; AMI in tn ,se Offices they
caa tell just what they printed any day
for the las. % years; AMI in the great
day of Judgment all that we have ever
written or printed will be revealed
from the mighty volumes of eternity.
All those who have ruthlessly
pred into the secret OF un-
happy domestic life and despoiled
homes. come to Judgment!
ali those vino have had anything to
do with salacious and depraved litera-
ture. come to Judgment! ALI those
who have produced pictures admins
trativc of vice, come TO Judgment! No
one will then dare say: Il knew it
was not true aud only intended it
for u joke" or, II had to make my liv-
ins,and the paper that worked for paid
me in proportion TO the startling ma.
lurc OF tii. stuff prepared or. Il
corrected the falsehood in the next is
sue o.. Il felt my power III the edi-
torial chair. having opportunity to al.
dress such multitudes week by week,
aud l wanted to keep the church and
the world in awe of me-" On that
great day of Judgment all the power
we have on earth will be Insignificant
compared with the power that will pro-
nounce urrapture or our doom, and that
which might have been considered .
joke in the composing room," because
1t humiliatcd an enemy, will be no joke
at all amid the wreck of ouutains and
seas; and the ink-horn will there tell
OF ali we wrote anonymous and under
the personality of y newspaper, as well
as that which was signed with oul
own name. hut what . beautiful
day for . Frances Havergal, when
she gets rewarded for ali the kind
things she ever wrote with the tears
of her invalidism; or when the author.
aud authoresses of all lands aud ayes
are told how many came to Heaven
through their instrumentalities; and
fur all those who use the influence oI
the press to correct the errors, and ex.
tirpate the wrongs. and break
the ssrfdom of mankindl Then
the ink-horn by the side Of the
Angel of the New Covenant will
speak out aud tell of what il
had to do with all letters OF kindness
written. with all emancipation procla.
matious, with all editorial and repor-
torial euiogies of the good, with all the
messages OF salvation TO lost world.
Better ia that day will it he to have
set up the type for one line of Chris
tian encouragement, or written one
paragraph of useful sentiment, or pub
iishad one page of helpful truth, than
to have written books as big as Glib
Hva In uut,,
ing 1.-The Decline and Fall oI
the Roman Empire,"if these volumes
put Christianity at y disadvantage; o.
as brilliant as Voltaire's '.Discourses
Upon Man, if they incuicated in.
furious theories; or As rh hythmic as By
ron's don JUAN" If it sacrificed the
d-cencies. On that day the flying roll
which Zechariah of the text saw thou
sands of years ago. and the rolls
H. H..