Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-08-03
BURN THE BAD BOOKS
Or. TALmAGE CONDEMNS PRoFuoATE
LITERATURE.

Prisons and Insane Asylums-Pov-
err OF the Press For Good.
WASHINGTON, July 29.-Dr. Talmage
who has been spending few days in
St Petersburg. sends the following re-
port OF a discourse. which will be help
ful to those who have an appetite for
literature and would like some rules TO
guide them in the selection OF books
and newspapers; text. Acts xix. 10.
MANY OF them also which used curl
Gus arts brought their books together
and burned them before all men, and
they counted the price OF them and
found 1t $4,000 pieces Of silver
Paul had been stirring Up EpheSus
with some lively sermons about the
sins of that place. Among the more
important results was the fact that the
citizens brought out their bad books
and In a public place made n bonfire
of them. l see the people coming out
with their arms full OF Ephesian liter
allure and tossing it into the flames.
hear an economist who is standing by
saying: stop this waste. Here are
$500 worth Of books. Do you pro-
pose to burn them all up? If you don't
want to read them yourselves. sell
them and let somebody else read
them" mo-" 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
world of harm, and they shall never do
others HARM" Hear the flames crackle
and roari
Well, my friends. one of the wants Of
the cities is a great bonfire OF bad
books and newspapers. We have
enough fuel to make Il 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 insuferable trash and put il
into the fire and let 1t be known in the
presence Of God and angels and men
that you are going TO rid your homes
of the overlapping and underlying
curse of profligate literature
The printing press is the mightiest
agency on earth for good and for evil
The minister OF the gospel standing in
pulpit has n responsible position. but
do not think it is as responsible as
the position of an editor or q publisher
AT what distant point of time. Mt what
influence of Henry J. Raymond or a
Horace Greeley or a James Gordon
Bennett or a Watson Webb or an Eras-
tus Brooks or Thomas Kinsella? Take
the overwhelming statistics OF the cir
culation of the daily and weekly news
papers and then cipher. If you can. how
far up and how far down and how far
out reach the influences Of the Ameri-
can printing press.
Purified Literature
What is to be the issue Of all this?
believe the Lord intends the printing
press TO be the chief means for the
worlds rescue and evangelization. and
L think that the great last battle of the
world will not be fought with swords
and guns. but with types aud presses.
n purified and gospel literature tri-
umphing over. tranpling down and
crushing out forever that which is de-
PRAYED. The only way 10 overcome
unclean literature Is by scattering
abroad that which is hcalthfui. MAY
God speed the cylinders OF an honest.
Intelligent. aggressive Christian print
ing press,
l have TO tell you that the greatest
blessing that ever came TO the nations
is that OF an elevated literature.
and the greatest scourge has been that
or unclcan literature. This last has its
victims In all occupations and depart
fnents. IL has helped TO ill insane
asyiums and penitentiaries and aims
houses and denS OF shame The
pooies or this Infection lie In the hos
pitais and in the graves. while their
souls arg being tossed over into n lost
eternity. an avalanche OF horror and
despair! The London plague was
nothing 60 IT, That counted its victims
by thousands. but this modern pest
has already shovcled it's millions into
the charnel house or the morally dead.
The longest rail train that ever ran
over the tracks was not long enough
or large enough 10 carry the beastliness
and the putrefactiou which have been
gathered up In bad books and news
papers in the last 20 years.
Now, IL is amid such circumstances
That L put question OF overmastcrlng
Importance TO you and your families.
what books and newspapers shall we
readF You see I group them together.
a newspaper is only book in n swift
or and more portable shape, and the
same ruHs which will apply to book
reading viii apply 10 newspaper read
Ing What shall we read? Shall our
minds be the receptacle of everything
that an author has mind to write?
snail there be no distinction between
the tree of life and the tree OF death?
Shall we stoop down and drink out of |
the trough which the wickedness OF |
men has dlled with pollution and |
shamel Shall we mire I'm impurity |
and chase fantastic will-o,the- wisps |
across the swamps when we might |
walk In the blooming gardens or GodP |
Oh. no! For the sake OF our present |
and everlasting welfare we must make
an inte!l!gea. and Christian choice.
Pure htction n blessing.
standing. us we do. chin deep in fic-
titious literature, the question that !
young people are asking is, shall we
read novelsT | reply there are novels
mat are pure. good. Christian. ielevat-
ing To the heart and ENROLLING 10 the
life. but have still further to say that
believe that a. out of 100 novels in
this day are haleful and destructive to
the last degree. a pure work OF fc-
fion Is history and poetry combined.
1t Is history of things around ms
with tie licenses and the assumed
names OF r"try. The world can never
pay the debt which 1t owes to such
writer's OF fiction as Hawthorne and
Mckenzie and Landon and Hunt and
Arthur and Others whose names are
FAMILIAR to all. The follies of high life
were never better exposed than by
Miss Edgeworth; the memories of the
past were never more faithfully, en-
balmed than in the writings of Walter
Scott. Cooper's novels are healthfunv
redolent with the breath of the sea
weed and the air of the American for
est CHARLES Kingsley has smitten the
mOrbidity of the world and led n ,,roaA