The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-03-29

sL1oocEu utWsi1ptf Win hS tetfpH0Qie
and Geographic annexes. all the world
twice a day passes in review. The man
nez in which continental and information
al. events are put before us makes deep
impression. We gaze on all the con-
fagrations and watch the pursuit of all
the desperadoes and hear the crash OF
all the collisions and rejoice In all the
discoveries and thank God for all the
noble achievements. After the editor has
corrected the last proof Of bis editorial
and the reporter has put into form his
last .stenographic report of swift utter
C or announced in best form some
great munifcence or sketched In most
forceful style some brave rescue By fire.
men or lifeboat, he has q right 10 70
home feeling that he has done something
worth doing, something that his con-
science win approve and God will bless.
Newspaper Impressions.
A wrong theory is abroad that the
newspaper impression is ephemeral. Be
cause we read and cast ii aside in an
Jour and ne-er see it again we are not to
judge that we are parted from its iniu-
ence. No volume of 500 pages makes
such impression upon the people as the
daily newspaper. 1t is not what we put
away carefully upon the shelf and once
in awhile refer TO that has as close rela.
ton to our welfare as the story Of what
the world is new doing or has recently
done. Yesterday has more to do with to-
day than something occurring a century
previous. The engineers who now guide
the rail trains, the sea captains who now
command the ships, the architects who
now design the buildings, the batons that
now control the orchestras, the legislators
who now make the laws, the generals
who now march the hosts, the rulers who
now govern the nations, the inkhorns
that now food the world with intelli-
genee-these are what we have most to
do with.
You have all seen what is called indeli-
bic ink, which is a weak solution Of sill
yer nitrate, and that ink you cannot rub
out or wash out. Put it there, and it
stays. Well, the liquid of the editorial
and reportorial inkstands is an indelible
ink. 1t puts upon the souls of the pass
ing generations characters Of light or
darkness that time cannot wash out and
eternity cannot efface. Forever indelible.
Be careful how you use 1t. The impress
sion made with 1t will be resplepdent or
repulsiye or the day for which all other
days were made.
But how shall l speak Of the inkhorn
VI int NOfiO , eNduSellZdllOu ou, now
may loving and brilliant and glorious
pens have been dipped into it! Thomas
a Kempis dipped into it and brought SD
his limitation of Christ" Horace Bush
nell dipped into it and brought up "Ev-
cry Mans Life a Plan of God" Thomas
Binney dipped into it and brought up
his "Weigh House Chapel Disconrses."
Conybeare dipped into it and brought up
the Life and Epistles of Paul" Arch
bishop Trench dipped into it and brought
up the "Epistles to the Seven Churches"
Stuart Robinson dipped into it an6
brought up "Discourses of Redemption"
Austin Phelps dipped into 1t and brought
up The Still Hour" Mark Hopkins
dipped into it and brought up evidence
Of Christianity" Thomas Guthrie dip
ped into it and brought up 1.-The Gospe,
In Ezekiel" John Cumming dipped into
it and brought up THE apocalypse"
Oh, the opulence of Christian literature,
Oh, the mighty streams of ~evangelistic
power that have poured from the writer's
inkhorn that appeared in Ezekiel's vision!
The Mothers Letters.
While you recognize the distinguished
ones who have dipped into the inkstand
Of the worlds evangelization do not for
get that there are hundreds of thousands
of unknown men and women who are en-
gagged in inconspicuous ways doing the
same thing! How many anxious mothers
writing to the boys in town! How many
sisters writing encoura cement to brothers
far awayi How many invalids bolstered
up in bed, the inkhorn on the stand at
their side, writing letters of coincidence
to those worse off than themselves They
are flying all the time kind words, gospel
words, helpful words, saving words. Call
the evangelistic inkhorn into service in
the early morning, when you feel well
and you are grateful for the protection
during your sleeping hours. and write be-
fore you retire at close of day to those
who all night long will be saying, would
to God it were morning" How many
bruised and disappointed and wronged
souls of earth would be glad to get a let
ter from you! Stir up that consolatory
inkhorn.
All Christendom has been waiting for
great revivals of religion to start fror?
the pulpits and prayer meetings. now
suggest that the greatest revival of all
time may start a concerted and organized
movement through the inkhorns of al
Christendom. each writer dipping froE
the inkhorn nearest him a letter Of Cos.
pei invitation, gospel hope. gospel warn
Ing: gospel instruction. The ink is all
ready on a hundred thousand tables, and
beside it are the implements with which
to dip it out. Why not. through such
process, have millions of souls brought to
God before next summer? By letter you
could make the invitation more effective
than by word Of mouth. The invitation
from your lips may be argued back, may
evoke querulous reply, may be answered
nv a inEo buf a good warm pnSnal LOT
ter, written in prayer and started with
prayer and followed by prayer. will be
read over and over again and cannot be
answered in a frivolous way. 1t will
speak from the table by day and night
or, if pettishly torn up, will, in its scat
tered fragments, speak louder than when
it remained whole. Within arms reach
Of where you sit there may be a fluid that
you may put on wing with message of
light and love. Oh, for the swift flying
angel Of mercy which Ezekiel saw in vi