Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1901-04-04
Dr,TALMAGE SERMON
THE GREAT DlVINE'S ELOQUENT
MESSAGE
anbject: Good Infiuenees-The MISSION u
"writer's Inkhorn"-How 1t Ma'he'
For the Worlds Batterment-The Ink
stand of the Worlds Evangelzatione
copyright 1901.

For the Worlds Batterment-Ihe Ink
stand of the Worlds Evangelization"
Copyright 1901
, WASHINGTON. D. Gin a new way and
.rom a n~eculiar text DR.. Talmage dis
courses Of good influences brought to pear
for the worlds improvement. The tex Is
Ezekiel *. 2, "And one man among then
was clothed with linen, with a writer
inkhorn by his side."
The poem from which my text is taken
is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird ana over
towering. 1t is more thar, Homeric p
hantesnTe. No one ever had such d.
vine dreams as Ezekiel; In a VISION s+ .nrs
prophet had seen wrathful angels, destroy
Ing angels, each with q sword, but IN my ny
tent he sees a merciful angel with an ink
horn. The receptacle for the ink in olden
time was made out of the horn of a COW
ar a ram or a roebuck, as now it is made
out of metal or glass, and therefore was
called the inkhorn, as now we say INK
stand. We have all spoken OF the power
of the sword, Of the power of wealth, OF
the power of office, of the power. of social
influence, but to-day l speak OF the power
for good or evil in the inkstand. 1t is
upon your tables, holding a black or blue
or red LIQUID. It is a fortress, an armory,
a gateway, a ransom or a demoiltlon.
"You mistake" says some one. "It is the
pen that has the power" No, my TREND.
What is the influence of a dry pen! Fass
it up and down a sheet OF paper, and 1t
leaves no mark. 1t expresses. no opinion.
It gives no warning. 1t spreads no intelll-
cence. 1t is the liquid which the pen dips
out of the inkstand that does the work.
Here and there a celebrated pen, with
which a Declaration of Independence or a
Magma Charta or a treaty was signed mas
been kept in literary museum or national
archives, but for the most part the pens,
whether, as of old, made out of reed or
tallic substance, have disappeared, while
the liquid which the pens took from The
inkstand remains in scrolls (which, If put
together, would be large enough to en-
wrap the round world. For practical, for
moral, for religious, for eternal purposes,
I speak of the mission Of 1.-The writer's
inkhorn."
First, I mention that which is purely
domestic. The inkstand is in every house
hold. It awaits the opportunity to ex-
press affection or coincidence or advice.
Father uses it.; mother uses it; the sons
and daughters use it. 1t tells the home
news; it announces The marriage, the
birth, the departure, the accident, the last
sickness, the death. That home inkstand
what a mission it has already executed,
and what other missions will it yet full
fill! May it stand off from all insincerity
and all querulousness. Let it cell only that
which it would be we'll to read after the
hand that wrote it and the hand that re.
ceived it can write no more. Dip out OF
that inkstand only that which is paternal.
maternal, flial, sisterly, brotherly. Sacred
let it be, not to what are sometimes called
the household gods" but to the one and
the only God who "setteth the solitary in
families" Dip out of it solace for par.
ents on the descending grade OF years and
encouragement for those who are climbing
the sleeps.
The carvers and glass blowers are ever
busy making more ornate and sklllful
bowls for the ink, but not one of them will
be so sacred as the old fashioned inkstand
making of the family record on the blank
leaves in the Bible between the Old and
the New Testaments, not so many leaves
now blank as before recent years made
birthday or mortuary inserLlons. From
that home inkstand the child dips out
material for those large and awkward let
tiers that n always makes when learning
to write, and from it are taken the trem:
bling letters that show the wrinkled hand
is gradually forgetting it's cunning.
Oh, ye who nave with recent years set
homes of your own, out of the new home
inkstand write often to the old folks, il
they be still living. A letter means more
to them than to us, who are amid the &C
Invites Of life and to whom postal CORE
spondence is more than we can manage
They await the coming of the letter: I'm
advice. Old people for counsel, young peo
pie for action. Even though through de
cadence they may be incompetent to give
valuable opinions on important affairs
compliment them by asking their counsel
1t will do them good; it will make theil
last days exhilarant. Make that home ink
stand a source of re- uvenescence to those
who are near the terminus of the earthly
journey. Domestic correspondence is no
attended to at once. The newspaper
joining with the telegraph, bears the It'd
ings of all the neighborhood, but swiftes1
revolving wheel of modern printing pres.
and quickest flash along the electric wire.
can never do the sympathetic work of thu
home inkstand. AS the merciful angel O.
with the lnkhorn at his side in Ezekiel!
vision, so let the angel of flial kindnes!
appear at the affairs of the old homestead.
Furthermore, the inkstand Of the bust
ness man has it's mission. Between nov
and the hour of your demise, O CONNER
clal man, 0 professional man, there will
not be a day when you cannot dip iron
the inkhorn a message that will in1uenc,
temporal and eternal destiny. There is
~ J0AA6 AAoh i0iAllAS 4lIO l. SDCCu
latlon, and with as much ink as you cal
put on the pen at one time you may saw
HIM from the Niagara rapids of a ruine'
life. On the next street there is a youn
man started in business who through lacl
OF patronage or mistake in purchase O
goods or want of adaptation is on tn
brink of collapse. One line of ink iron
your pen will save him from being an un
derling all his life and start him on a ca
reer that will win him q fortune whic
will enable him to become an endower g
libraries, an opener of art galleries an
builder of churches.
The most largely successful and usefr
men OF our time once wore an old Goa
because they could not afford a new on,
and got wages less than that which the
pay. their cook or butler. It will be
mighty thing if out of your inkstand 70
can dip a mans earthly and everlastiu
fortune. Dip out of that inkstand not or
word OF dlsheartenment. People hay
enough burdens to carry without vol
adding one ounce to the heft. From vo,
nkstand put not one blot on an hone
ambition. Keep all the whole of YOUR ia
tory spinning rays of sunshine. If YOU al
q christian man, put into your busine
letters, an adroit, moral, religious s1ege
ton that will keep the receiver tbinEir
after ne has left the counting room for h
nome and far on into the night when
lies upon a wakeful pillow. To-morro
morning at IL o'clock, as YOU begin RI ~
swer your letters, you will have on tho ~
OF your pen enough ink to save a sonl fro
death and hide a multitude of sins.
furthermore, great are the resnons;h;
tles or the authors inkhorn. All the no