[Dr. Thomas] Goodwin, having heard much of Mr. Rogers of Dedham [an early Puritan Boanerges] took a journey ...to hear him preach on his lecture day...Mr. Rogers was ...on the subject of...the scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostulation with the people about their neglect of their Bible; ... he personates God to the people, telling them, 'Well, I have trusted you so long with my Bible; you have slighted it, it lies in such and such houses all dust and cobwebs; you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer.' And he takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seas as if he were going away with it, and carrying it from them. But, immediately turns again and personates the people to God, falls down on his knees, cries and pleads most earnestly, 'Lord, whatever Thou dost to us, take not Thy Bible from us; Kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us Thy Bible, only take not away Thy Bible.' And then he personates God again to the people, 'Say you so? Well, I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see if you will use it, whether you will love it more...observe it more...practice it more, and live according to it.'" - A Quest for Godliness - the Puritan Vision for the Christian Life, by J. I. Packer
"A defense attorney doesn't have to be brutal...to tie a child witness up in knots. Most of them are not brutal at all, since browbeating a child on the witness stand is not likely to win points with the jury. If the lawyer is smart, his questions are gentle and patient, even kindly. 'Now Susie,' the lawyer may begin. 'Tell me. Have you ever told a lie?...Have you ever told any little lies? A big lie? What's the difference between a big lie and a little lie? What's the biggest lie you ever told? Have you ever told a lie where your mother didn't find out? If your best friend said please don't tell your mother about something, would you lie for your best friend? Do you ever do this?'...Once it has been established that the child is capable of lying, the first seeds of doubt have been planted in the jurors minds." - By Silence Betrayed - Sexual Abuse of Children in America, by John Crewdson
"America, being in danger of being controlled by a few families, was in need of social reform. It could have gone the way of South American 'democracies' without the changes wrought by the articles and books of a wide-open press. In 1900, 10 percent of the [American] population owned 90 percent of the nation's wealth. The new journalism at the beginning of the twentieth century may have prevented America from becoming the domain of a rich minority ruling a majority of citizens enslaved by poverty. The Standard Oil monopoly was broken up. The graft and bribes of city governments were diminished although not irradiated. The country was no longer apathetic nor overly trusting of its elected leaders. The muckraking movement thrived just over a decade before dying out. The public began to tire of an endless diet of articles on corruption and government injustices. Advertisers in the magazines began complaining of the environment in which they were forced to appear. The magazines began to get regular pressure from corporations that paid the ad bills..." - Deep Truth - The Lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
