Newspaper Page Text
. . i' tlx* most pernicious influences with which
he (')mrch is c*;i 1 1?*? I to deal. Am! llie pity is
: tic more that in many cases the own ts ami
publishers arc professedly Christian men.
I'li.'sc iik*ii have assumed that t In* Sunday is
-ue is si necesity and under that guise they
nistify the commercialization of the Sahhath,
? >l alone lor themselves, hut for the thousands
f newsies ' ' who assist tlieui in the market
ing of their wares.
In larg? cities the crying of the newsboys
nil Sundays, as they seek buyers for their
wares, has become a menace to that quiet
which those who seek to worship Cod so much
? itvet. I5ut the r *al destroyers of the spirit ot
tin* Lord's Day are not the boys who sell but
i In* men higher up. often themselves members
>>f the churches which are disturbed, who own
Hid publish the papers.
One feature whicii is often overlooked is the
influence which the sale of icwspapers on Sim
day has upon the subsequent life of the thou
sands of boys who engage in the traflic. The
very standing in the community ami in the
< hureh of the owners ami publishers is re
garded by these boys as siiflicicnt just ilieat ion
for the gratification of their own greed for
L'ain. They argue in their minds that if it is
right for such men to own and publish the
papers on Sundays it must be all right for them
i ? ? eondust the sales on the same days. Ami
this mental justification is further strengthened
by the standing of the men <o whom they make
their Sunday sales. This army of boys grow
up to the idea that it is all right to commer
cialize the Sabath day, that it is all right to
stand against the principles for which the
< 'hureh of .Jesus Christ contends. It seems to
me that there is an awful responsibility in
terms of misdirected and wrongfully influ
enced lives, to be faced by the men who make
these wares for Sunday sale.
It is a great pity that church members wave
aside the very principles of our religion, lend
their aid to increasing the demand for Sunday
publications; put their influence on the wrong
side in the lives of the boys from whom they
purchase; and make it all the more difficult
for the will of Clod to be done on earth. And
>c| they are doing these very things when they
purchase and read the Sunday newspaper.
Hut the point of this whole article is that
the contents of a Sunday paper can never jus
tify its purchase. The wonderful articles of
Mr. Bryan, and even the printing of large sec
tions of the Bible in the Sunday papers, can
never justify a church member in doing one
wrong that some supposed good may be
brought, into his life.
Our publishers ami owners of such publica
tions may not so intend it, but the fact re
mains that the Sunday newspaper is the enemy
"f the Church of Christ in that it is subver
sive of that character which it seeks to estab
lish and is against that institution, the Sab
hath, without which the knowledge of C Sod can
not be kept alive in Mie earth.
The writer could wish that Mr. Bryan's ar
' ii'lcs on the Bible could be given to the Chris
tian public through the medium of editions
which are not subversive of the very prin
ciples for which these articles are supposed to
stand.
Baltimore, Md.
1 'oinforl the poor; protect ami shelter the
vv,,iik ; si ti?l with all thv 1 1 1 i <rh t . r i i? 1 1 1 that which
ls wroiij^. Then shiill the Lord love thee, and
' "?d Himself shall Ik* thv reward. Last words
"I All red the fJreat.
PEREGRINE PAPERS
By Kev. W. II. T. Squires, I). D.
XXV.
JANNES AND JAMBRES.
Since t In* days ol' 1 1< Tim lit us it lias h:'eil ens
toinary to say t li.it K??ypt is til*' jjil't ol* tin
Nile. And that is true. K?v|it is 1 1 1 < > oldesl o
ol.l lainls. She is 1ln' inotliiT ol' t In* mothers
of civilization. ( >nr alphabet may he 1race<
1 h I'oiiirh Latin ami <!reek ehamiels to tin- hank
ol the Nile, ami ran hi- traced no further. All
ei vili/.at ion likewise ami all history leads hark
ami further hack until yon reach 1 h * land of
K?r.\|?t then no further. I\?rypt is the land of
ultimate resort; beyond her lie only fathom
less shadows of aire Ion mystery.
The Nile rises in tli.' lofty, snow capped
mountain of Central Africa under the very eye
of a hi 1 1*1 1 i hit. equatorial sun. Like a Initre
serpent it crawls hither and thither h 'tween
vast deserts, searching an outlet to the sea.
Only the perpetual How of its niontain fed
waters holds the d'serts apart. If one conld
look down upon tlic sinuous pathway of the
\vln?sr miserable hovels more than a m i 1 1 i? ? ii
people live mid die.
Like ( 'oustailtiuoph' a 1 1< I I hltnascllS, ('airo is
one of the ehiet' seiits of th 1 Mohammedan re
ligion. In fact. the .Moslem missionary propa
ganda. wliieh has heeii so successful in (Vntral
Al'riea. has its heat h| na it el's in the so called
I "iii versit y of Cairo. (Mi eith.'r side of ('airo
lie two aneient Kyyplian eentres, Memphis
ami I leliopolis. Kaeh is practically a suburb.
Memphis was the political ami Ib-liopolis the
religions capital of the innumerable I'haraohs.
|? 'tween these two aneient seals the Mo
I I a 1 1 1 1 1 1 e? I a 1 1 s hnilt their city. With hands ruth
less. ever, everywhere a in I always. I hey de
stroyed liia?rililiceiit temples, costly palaces
ami am-i'iit pyramids!, ohelisks, pillars and
monuments of a precious and historic antiq
uity to build the lilt h hovels of this vast,
squalid city. It is merely another instance of
I til lows ???? Sand liaised l?y l)?>s<>i't Winds.
Nil** from some heavenly height, In* would sec
;i iiiil'i'ow strip of given 1 :i ?*c? laid upon yellow
cloth, as soli as satin, fr*?tted by tiie front Is of
a million palms. I >u t as the Nile approaches
its end its waters drop the Inirtlen of soil. which
they have carried from the heart of fertile
Ethiopia. This deposit, laid hy the ocean's
side, in an immense triangle is the richest land
on earth. The Delta ot the Nile is the cradle
of civilization. The Egyptian sun rises every
morning over the silent, mysterious wastes of
the Arabian desert. It sets in the violet clouds
of the far west, behind the rolling billows of
Sahara 's s -a of sand. From desert to desert,
from silence to silence, from mystery to mys
tery, that is the career of an Egyptian day.
Ami who shall say it is not the career of every
man's brief day?
'".Man in his strife and b'licath him tho earth
in her green repose,
Ami out of the silence lie eonielh,
And into the silence he goes."
A poet has likened the Delta to a green fan,
and Cairo to a pearl set upon the handle. It
is true that Cairo is at the narrowest point of
the valley. The citadel, erected by our old
friend and gallant en-niiy, Saladin, crowns a
hill to the cast. Tin* pyramids stand on the
edge of the Sahara to the west, lietween these
heights li-.'s the vast African metropolis, within
Ill** heart-breaking I ?l i irli 1 laid upon beauty,
art, learning and literal lire l>y the Moslem.
Islam blasts the higher ami nobler impulses
and efforts of every land and nation which it.
touches.
It should be said, however, that hy the sid.'
of the mediaeval. Moslem, Arabian Cairo a
modern Kuropcan, Christian city, is building.
The I) road boulevards, ornate private homes of
wealth and luxury, tli>' cool, green parks and
garden spots, the palm girt avenues with ele
?rant administrative buildings, suggest I'aris,
Lisbon and other handsome capitals.
It is a unique experience to st 'p from one
ag ? and civilization into another. To lint cross
a street, walk not KM) feet, and yon pass from
the twentieth century to the ninth. Il is as
though aii expert magician had hypnotized
you with his wand. Look about ! (lone are all
evidences of cleanliness, order, wealth and civ
ilization. About you are squalor, tilth, dirt,
desolation, ruin ami decay. Naked children and
filthy goats light in the re 'king streets for the
garbage Hung carelessly from windows or
doors. From some minaret nearby the bc
whiskered. wild-eyed, dirty-skinned iiiuessin
(holy man!) calls the faithful to prayer.
Magicians are here as in the days of Moses.
In the contest before Pharaoh. Ajii'oii threw
his rod on the ground and it* became a ser
pent.
The Kgyptian ncernmaiiccrs threw their rods