The weekly intelligencer., 1901-03-23
MISSION OF INKHORN
Power for Good or Eyii Its Contents
May Weld.
Dr TaInage DiseouEsss on Taausnssa
BrpaGht TO BssE for Weria's
IARssvsnsBt-rhs IAkheEa
Of asAS Mercy.

LAANoN0nm1N-NnA AaAANAa
OF asAe Mercy.
tcopyrirh,. 1901. BY Louis Klopsch. n. IL
Washington, March u.
In a newway and froma peculiar text
DR.. Talmage discourses Of good inhu-
ences brought TO bear for the worlds
Improvement The text Is Ezekiel s;2'
"And one man among them was
clothed with linen, with writer's ink
horn by his side"
The poem from which my text is
taken is epic. lyric, dramatic, weird
and overpowering. II Is more than
Homeric or Dantesque, No one ever
had such divine dreams as Ezekiel In
a vision this prophet had seen wrath
ful angels. destroying angels, each
with a sword, but in my text he sees
a merciful angel with an inkhorn'
The receptacle for the ink in olden
time was made out Of the horn Of .
COW or a ram OF a roebuck, as now II
Is made out OF metal or glass. and
therefore was called the inkhorn, as
now we say inkstand. We have all
spoken Of tho power Of the sword, OF
the power OF wealth, Of the power of
Office, OF the power Of social influence,
but to-day I speak Of the power for
good OF evil in the inkstand. IL Is
upon your tables, holding a black or
blue or red liquid. 1t is fortress, an
armory. a gateway, a ransom or =
demolition. "Iou mistake says
some one; "it Is the pen that has the
power" No my friend. What is the
influence OF a dry penT Pass it up and
down a sheet Of paper, and 1t leaves
no mark. 1t expresses no opinion. II
gives no warning. II spreads no intel
hEsnce. Ii is the liquid which the pen
dips out of the inkstand that does the
work. Here and there . celebrated
pen. with which Declaration of lnde-
pendence or . Magma Charta or a
treay was signed has been kept in lit
erary museum or national archives,
but for the most part the pens'
whether, as of old, made out OF reed or
still later of wing of bird or still later
Of metallic substance, have disap-
peared, while the liquid which the
pans took from the inkstand remains
In scrolls which, II put together,
would be large enough TO eDwrap the
world. For practical, for moral, for
religious, for eternal purposes, ]
speak OF the mission Of "the writer's
inkhorn."
First, / mention that which is pure
IL domestic. The inkstand 10 in every
household. It awaits the opportunity
to expresses effsetion or coincidence or
advice. Father uses IL; mother uses
Il; the sons and daughters use II. II
tells the home news; IL announces the
marriage. the birth, the departure,
the accident, the last sickness. the
death. That home inkstand what n
mission Il has already executed, and
what other mission will IL yet fulhlll
May II stand OF from all insincerlty
aud all querulousness. Let II tell only
that which II would be well to read
after the hand that wrote IL and the
hand that received Il can write no
more. Dip out Of that inkstsnd only
that which is paternAl, maternal, hlial,
sisterly. brotherly. Sacred let II be
not 20 what are sometimes called the
Household gods" but 10 the one and
the only God who "settsth the solitary
IN families" Dip out Of II solace for
parents on the descending grade OF
years and encouragement for those
who are climbing the sleeps.
Tarthsrmore. ths inkstsnd OF the
business man has It's mission. De
tween now and the hour Of your de
mise. o commercial man, o profes-
sional man. there will not be q day
when you cannot dip from the ink.
horn a message that viii influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There
is q rash young man running ints
Wild speculation. and with as much
ink as you can put on the pen e-
cne time you may save him from tn,
Niagara rapids OF a ruined life. On
the next street there Is a young maI
started in business who. through lAcl
OF patronage or mistake in purchas,
OF goods or want of adaptation, is OF
the brink Of collapse, One line Of inl
from your pen will asvs him from
being an underling ali his life ant
start him on q career that will vii
him q fortune which VIII enable hin
TO become an endower Of libraries, a.
opener Of art galleries and builder o
churches.
Furthermore, great are the re
sponsibilities Of the authors inkhorn
All the people, or nearly all tn
people, read, and that which the.
read decides their morals or i'm
morals, their prosperity or failure
their faith OF their unbelief, thsi
purity or corruption, their heave
or hell Show me any mans library
great or small. and after examinin
the books, finding those with leave
uncut, but displayed for sake Of I'll
binding. and those worn with fr,
quent peTusal, and, without ever SEE
ing the man or knowing bis nam,
] will tell you his likes and his diI
likes; his morals. good or bad or Ii
different; his qualification for bus
ness or artistic or professional o
mechanical life. The best index {
any mans character 10 the book b
prefers above all others. Oh, th
power Of book fer good or evil!
Abraham Lincoln In early life rea
Paine's "ARe Of Reason" and It Z
1 influenced him that he wrote an el
say against Christianity. but nftei
ward some Christian books came int
, his hands and gloriously changed h
mind and made him 9 most ardeE
friend OF the Bible and q man {
prayer. A letter in Mr.. Lincoln's ow
handwriting is in my house, the le
ter in response 70 some resolution
passed by Methodist conferenc
Hsying: 'In response to your q,
dress, allow me TO attest the y
cursey OF its historical statement
indorse the sentiments II express,
and thank you in the nations nam
for the sure promise II gives. Mob
. sustained as the government hi
!. been by all the churches, woul
: utter nothing which might In Il
Least appear invidious against an
|. Yet without this II may fairly |
said that the Methodist Episeop
I church, not less devoted than u
bert. is by its great numbers u
most important Of all II Ia no fau
IN others that the Methodist ebur'
Z sends more soldiers 10 the field, mo-
nurses 20 the hospital and mo-
: prayers to Heaven than any. G,
!. bless the Methodist church--bless q
? the ehurches--and blessed be O.
who in this our great trial giveth I
the churches"
: What a great thing Il Was that Il
Christian books which Nr. Dinco
b. read obliterated frnnhis mind the in
!, del literature! William Carey beear
n q missionary by reading "The Voyag