The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1900-08-04
ON WHAT To READ.
Tslmage, the Noted Divine, Gives
Some Timely Suggestions.
The Greatest Blessing Of = nation IL
an Elevated L~iterhturet Iu
Greatest CaFss, an Im-
pure Literature.
copyright 1900 by Louis Klopseh,l
WashtnRton Julv a

Washington, July y
DR.. TalmAge, who has been spending
q few days in St. Petersburg, sends
the following report Of a discourse
which will be helpful 20 those who
have an appetite for literature and
would like some rules TO guide them
In the selection Of books and newspa-
pers: Text, Acts 1919: Many Of
them also which used curious arts
brought their books together and
burned them before all men, and they
counted the price Of them and found it
5000 pieces of silver
Paul had been stirring up Ephesus
with some lively sermon about the
sins of that place. Among the more i'm
portant results was the fact that the
citizens brought out their bad books
and in a public place made a bonfire
of them. l see the people coming out
with their arms full Of Ephesian lit
erature and tossing it into the flames.
l hear an economist who is standing by
saving: stop this waste. Here are
$500 worth Of books. Do you propose
TO burn them all up? II you don't want
TO read them yourselves, sell them and
let somebody else read them" NO
said the people; IF these books are
not good for us, they are not good for
anybody else, and we shall stand and
watch until the last leaf has burned
to ashes. They have done us a world
of harm. and they shall never do others
harm" Hear the flames craekle and
/ roar!
Well. my friends, one Of the wants Of
the cities is a great bonfire Of bad
books and newspapers. We have
enough fuel 60 make a blaze 200 feet
high. Many Of the publishing houses
would do well to throw into the blaze
their entire stock of goods. Bring
forth the insufferable trash and put II
into the fire and let IL be known 10 the
presence of God and angels and mel
that you are going to rid your home,
Of the overlapping and underlying
Of proiigate literature.
The printing press is the mightiest
agency on earth for good and for evil
The miuister Of the Gospel, standing
in a pulpit, has a responsible position
but l do not think II is as responsible
as the position Of an editor or a pub
Usher. At what distant point OF time
at what far-out cycle OF eternity, viii
the influence Of a Henry ]. Ray
moR6. or a Horace Greeley, or a jane
Gordon Bennett. or a Watson Webb
or an Erastus Brooks, or 4 Thoma
Kinsella? Take the overwhelming sta
t%istics Of the circulation of the dali!
and weekly newspapers and the
cipher II you can how far up and hov
far down and how far out reach tn.
influences Of the American printing
press.
What is to be the issue Of all this7
believe the Lord intends the printing
press 10 be the chief can for tn
worlds rescue and evangelization, an
] think that the great last battle o
the world will not be fought wit
swords and guns, but with types an
presses, a purified and Gospel hters
ture triumphing over, trampling dow
and crushing out forever that whieI
is depraved. The only way to overeom
unclean literature is by scatterin
abroad that which is healthful. Ma
God speed the cylinders of an homes
futaIfgaut auurae~fva Chrf.1sor r-4r.
ing press.
1 have 20 tell you that the creates
blessing that ever came to the nation
is that Of an elevated literature, and III
greatest scourge has been that of VI
clean literature. This last has its vi,
Tins in all occupations and depar
mentE. II has helped TO fill insan
asylums and penitentiaries and aim
houses and dens Of shame. The bod,
of this infection lie in the hospitals an
in the graves. while their souls are b
ing tossed over into a lost eternity. a
avalanche Of horror and despairl III
London plague was nothing to il. Tht
counted its victims by thousands, bl
this modern pest has already shovele
its millions into the chsrnel house ,
: the morally dead. The longest ra
train that ever ran over the tracks Wi
not long enough or large enough I
carry the besstliness and the putrefaI
iion which have been gathered U
G in bad books and newspapers in Ii
las; 20 years.
Now. 1t is amid such circumstanc,
that | put a question OF overmasterin
Importance TO you and your familie
What books and newspapers shall "
read2 You see | group them togethe
A newspaper is only a book in swift,
and more portable shape, and the san
rules which will apply TO book readin
will apply TO newspaper reading. WIS
: shall Ne read? Shall our minds be II
receptacle Of everything that an a,
thor has a mind 10 write? Shall theI
/. be no distinction between the tree
= life and the tree Of deathf Shall "
IL stoop down and drink out Of ii
trough which the wicksdness Of me
% has filled gith pollution and shame
Bhall ~ mire in impuity and chai
q fantastic Will-o'the-wiSp6 across Oh
swampE. when e might walk in II
blooming gardens Of God? Oh, nc
For the sake Of our present and eve
lasting welfare we must make I'D int
ligent and Christian choice.
D. Standing as we DO, chin deep in O.
TtiouE literature, the question thu
young people are asking is: shall "
read nogeis7' ] reply; There are no
% els that are pure, good, Christian, ell
waiting TO the heart and enrolling I
> the life. But still have further TO 50
that / believe that IS out Of the 800 no
els IN this day are bsleful and destTuI
five 10 the last degree, A pure work {
fiction is history ano poetry combine
, It is q history Of things around US vii
the licenses and the assumed names
poetry. The world can never pay Il
debt which Il owes to such writers
fiction az Hawthorne and McKenz
- and Landon and Hunt and Arthur 81
others whose names are familiar to a
The follies Of high life were never be
ter exposed than by Miss Edgewort
The memories Of the past were new
a. more faithfully embalmed than In Il
4; writings Of Walter Scott. Cooper
novels arehealthfully redolent with Il
4 breath Of the sawed and the air
ihe American forest. Charles King
=. ley has smitted the morbidty Of Il
world spd lid a great many 70 Apr
eiate the poetry Of sound health, stroI
muscles and fresh air, Thackeray q
q grand work IN csricsturing the pr
tenders TO gentility and high bloc
Dickens has built his own monument
his books, which are a plea for Il
poor and the anaihems Of injustiS
u and there are q scote Of no,elistic pc
to-day doing mighty work for God al
righteousness.
Vow. ! cay, books like these, read