The minister of the Gospel standing in a pulpit has a responsible
position, but I do not think it is as responsible as the position of an
editor or a publisher. Take the simple statistics that our New York
dailies now have a circulation of 450,000 per day, and add to it the
fact that three of our weekly periodicals have an aggregate circulation
of about one million, and then cipher, if you can, how far up and how
far down and how far out reach the influences of the American
printing-press. I believe the Lord intends the printing-press to be the
chief means for the world's rescue and evangelization, and I think that
the great last battle of the world will not be fought with swords or
guns, but with types and press--a purified Gospel literature triumphing
over, trampling down, and crushing out forever that which is depraved.
The only way to right a bad book is by printing a good one. The only way
to overcome unclean newspaper literature is by scattering abroad that
which is healthful. May God speed the cylinders of an honest,
intelligent, aggressive, Christian printing-press.
I have to tell you this morning that I believe that the greatest scourge
that has ever come upon this nation has been that of unclean journalism.
It has its victims in all occupations and departments. It has helped to
fill insane asylums and penitentiaries, and alms-houses and dens of
shame. The bodies of this infection lie in the hospitals and in the
graves, while their souls are being tossed over into a lost eternity, an
avalanche of horror and despair.
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