The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1901-03-28
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
DISCOURSE BY THE EMINENT DI
VINE LAST SUNDAY.
Subject Good Infiuences-The Mission OF
the "Nriter's InIlhorn''- How 1t Makes
Tor the Worlds Batterment-The Ink
stand ofthe worlds Evangelization.
Copyright 1901. ]

| Tor the Worlds Batterment-The Ink
stand ofthe Worlds Evangelization.
copyright 190l.l
| WASHINGTON. d. C.-In new way and
from a peculiar text DR.. Talmage dis
courses of good influences brought to bear
for the worlds Improvement The text is IS
| Ezekiel tx. 2, And one man among them
was clothed with linen, with writer's
inkhorn by his side
The poem from which my text is taken
| is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird and over
! towering. 1t is more than Homeric or
| Dantesdue No one ever had such dl-
vine dreams as Ezekiel. In vision this
prophet had seen wrathful angels, destroy
| ing angels, each with a sword, but IN my
text he sees a merciful angel with an INK
| horn. The receptacle for the ink IN olden
time was made out of the horn of cow
| or ram or a roebuck, as now 1T 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 I speak of the power
| for good or evil in the inkstand. 1T IS
upon your tables, holding black or blue
or red liquid 1t is fortress, an armory,
a gateway; a, ransom or de dem. on
| ''You mistake says some one. 1T IS the
pen that has the power" No, my TREND.
| What is the influence of a dry pen? Pass
it up and down a sheet of paper, and it
| leaves no mark 1t expresses no opinion.
1t gives no warning. 1t spreads no ntell-
gence 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
| Magma Charta or treaty was signed has
| been kept in literary museum or national
archives, but for the most part the pens,
whether, as of old, made out of reed or
| later Of wing of bird or still later OF me
talic substance, have disappeared, while
the liquid which the pens took from the
| inkstand remains in scrolla which, II put
together, would be large enough to en-
wrap the round world. For practical, Tor
| moral, for religious, for eternal purposes,
| speak of the mission OF the writer
| inkhorn."
First, I mention that which is purely
| domestic. The inkstand is in every house
hold 1t awaits the opportunity to eX-
press affection or condolerce or advice.
| Father uses it; mother uses it; the sons
| and daughters use 1t. 1t tells the nome
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 1ul-
| fill! May it stand off from all insincerity
| and all ouerulousness. Let it tell only that
which it would be well 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 IL
| families Dip out OF it solace Tor 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 sklllfui
| bowls for the ink, but not one OF them will
be SO sacred as the old fashioned inkstand
| out of which was dipped the liquid for the
making of the family record on the blank
| leaves in the Bible between the Old and
| the New Iestaments, not so many leaves
now blank as before recent years made
| birthday or mortuary Insertions. From
that home inkstand the child dips out
material for those large and awkward let
| tiers that one always makes when learning
to write, and from it aretaken the trem,,
| bling letters that show the Wrinkled hand
| is gradually forgetting its cunning
| Oh, ye who have with recent years set
! homes of your own, out of the new home
| inkstand write often to the old folks, If
| they be still living. A letter means more
| to them than to us, who are amid the ac-
| tivities of life and to whom postal CORE
| spondence is more than we can manage.
| lney await Ine COMING OI Ille lSCGSl' IN
| dertake no great thing in life without their
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 their
| last DAYS eXhilarant. Make that home ink
| stand source of rejuvenescence to those
who are near the terminus OF the earthly
| Journey. Domestic correspondence Is not
| attended to at once. The newspaper,
| Joining with the telegraph, bears the It'd
ings of all the neighborhood, but swiftest
revolving wheel of modern printing press
and quickest fash along the electric wires
| can never do the sympathetic work OF the
home inkstand. As the merciful angel OF
my text appeared before the brazen altar
with the inkhorn at his side in Ezeklels
| vision, so let the angel of tilial kindness
appear at the affairs of the old homestead.
Furthermore, the inkstand of the busl-
| ness man has its mission. Between now
and the hour of your demise, o CONNER.
| cial man, o professional man, there Will
| not be a day when you cannot dip from
| the inkhorn a message that will influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There IS
rash young man running into wild specu-
lation, and with as much ink as you can
put on the pen at one time you may save
him from the Niagara rapids OF a ruined
man started in business who through lack
of patronage or mistake in purchase OF
goods or want of adaptation is on the
brink of collapse. One line of ink from
your pen will save him from being an UNI
derling all his life and start him on ca
reer that Will win him a fortune which
will enable him to become an endower OF
Libraries, an opener of art galleries and
builder of churches.
The most largely successful and useful
men of our time once wore an old coat
because they could not afford a new one,
and got wages less than that which they
pay their cook or butler. 1t will be
mighty thing if out of your inkstand you
can dip a mans earthly and everlasting
fortune. Dip out of that inkstand not one
word of DISAGREEMENT. People have
enough burdens to carry without your
adding one ounce to the heft. From your
inllstand put not one blot on an honest
ambition. Keep all the whole of your fac
tory spinning rays of sunshine. If you are
Christian man, put into your business
letters an adroit, moral, religious sugges-
ton that will keep the receiver thinking
after he has left the counting room for his
home and far on into the night when he