The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-04-18
MISSION or INKHORN
Power for Good or Evil Its Contents
May Weld.
DR. Talmage DiscOurses ON Influencei
Brought to Bear for Worlds
ImprOvement-The lnkhorn
of Gods Mercy.

Washington,
In a newway and from mapeculiar text
DIR. Talmage discourses of good infiu-
ences brought to bear for the worlds
The text is Ezekiel 9:2:
"And one man among them was
clothed with linen, with a writer's ink
horn by his side"
The poem from which my text is
taken is epic, lyric, dramatic, weird
and overpowering. 1t is more than
Homeric or Dantesque. No one ever
had such divine dreams as Ezekiel. In |
q vision this prophet had seen wrath
full angels, destroying angels, each
with a sword, but in my text he sees
q merciful angel with an inkhorn.
The receptacle for the ink in olden
time was made out of the horn OF a
COW or a ram or roebuck, as no" IL
Is made out of metal or glass, and
therefore was called the inkhorn, as
now we say inkstand. 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, gateway, a ransom or
demolition. "You mistake" says
some one; ''it is the pen that has the
power" No my friend. What is the
influence of a dry pen? Pass it up and
down a sheet of paper, and it leaves
no mark. It expresses no opinion. 1t
gives no warning. 1t spreads no intel
ligence 1t 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
pens took from the inkstand remains
in scrolls which, if put together,
would be large enough to enwrap the
world. For practical, for moral, for
religious, for eternal purposes,
speak of the mission of "the writer's
inkhorn."
First, 1 mention that which is pure
iy domestic. The inkstand is in every
household. 1t awaits the opportunity
to express 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 mission will it yet fulfill!
Nav it stand off from all insincerity
| and all querulousness. Let it tell only
that which it would be well to read
| after the hand that wrote it and the
hand that received it can write no
more. Dip out of that inkstand only
that which is paternal, maternal, filial,
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
parents on the descending grade OF
years and encouragement for those
who are climbing the sleeps.
Furthermore, the inkstand of the
business man has its mission. Be.
tween now and the hour of your de-
mise, o commercial man, o profes
sional man, there will not be day
when you cannot dip from the ink
horn a message that will influence
temporal and eternal destiny. There
Is rash young man running into
wild speculation, and with as much
ink as you can put on the pen a.
one time you may save him from the
r Niagara rapids of ruined life. Or
the next street there is young maj
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 save him from
being an underling all his life ant
start him on a career that will vii
him fortune which will enable hin
| 10 DeCOU1c al cuuCWcI u HDEdTlcS, dl
opener of art galleries and builder o
churches.
Furthermore, great are the re
sponsibilities Of the authors inkhorr
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 or their unbelief, thei
purity or corruption, their heave
or hell. Show me any mans librar.
great or small, and after examinin
the books, finding those with leave
uncut, but displayed for sake of th
binding, and those worn with FRI
quent perusal, and, without ever SCI
ing the man or knowing his nam
will tell you his likes and his di
likes, his morals, good or bad or il
different; his qualification for bus
ness or artistic or professional {
mechanical life. The best index
any mans character j. the book }