ELTON TRUEBLOOD ON THE WRITTEN WORD AND THE MINISTER
Long before he was a nationally famous man, Abraham Lincoln was asked what has been the most important invention of all mankind. With no hesitation came the answer, “The written word.” The answer was, at the time, a surprising one, but its correctness is obvious when we think carefully about the question. No mechanical invention, however ingenious, can equal the process by means of which the human mind is enabled to bridge the chasms of both time and space. The chief wonder of the written word lies in the fact that it permits a finite human being to choose his companions. Since the invention of the written word, whether on stone, clay tablets or paper, anyone who can understand the meaning of curious marks is no longer limited to his own age or his own place of abode. The word is really the tremendous liberator, one of the means by which we become free .…
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