484 INFIDELITY IN ITS VARIOUS AGENCIES. come so closely together in the world, and are found in such perpetual antagonism, that wherever you see an effective instrumentality in the hands of the former, you may expect to meet with a like one in the hands of the latter. Infidelity thus follows after faith in order to destroy it. The magicians are suffered to do with their enchantments in like manner as Aaron the servant of God. But Aaron's rod at last swallows up their rods. And so will ultimately be destroyed all the works of the devil. Infidelity, meanwhile, is up and doing; and, as if conscious that the hour of decision had come, is vigorously plying for evil all the instrumentalities of good. "It may be," as Professor Garbett remarks, "that at all the periods of the world, the rude material of unbelief is a constant quantity. The only difference may consist in the presence or absence of outward checks, and such repressive influences as, in ancient times, were exercised by those civil and ecclesiastical polities which can never be reimposed upon the masses of mankind. The spread of liberty alike of action and thought, the enormous expansion of the sphere in which intellect ranges, and, above all, the approximation, through the press, of man to man, and the contact of intellect with intellect, have, on this hypothesis, only quickened and revealed what was always latent." But so it is. The power of the Press, of the Clubs, of the Schools, and of the Pulpit, is wielded most effectually on the side of the various forms of infidelity. CHAPTER I. THE PRESS. Great power of this agency-Its benignant doings in the worldPowerfully employed on the side of infidelity-Great breadth of the reading mind-Unprecedented cheapness and abundance of literature Influx from Germany - Shoal of French novelsCarlyle and his imitators-Influence of Combe's Constitution of Man--Tractarian books for the village poor-Periodical literature the strongest combined agency-French Newspaper Press--The feuilleton Continental Press in general-Our own periodical literature-Newspapers-Classification of the enormous issue of anti-Christian cheap publications: 1st. The avowedly infidel— Organ of atheistic secularism--2d. The polluting-Disclosures of Mr. Mayhew-3d. The latitudinarian-The "Family Herald "4th. The morally neutral--The Church becoming awake to the evil-Improvements in some old influential organs-Edinburgh Review-Good service doing by younger ones-A lack of cheap entertaining Christianized literature-Defect of Chambers'-Resources of the Church. THE mightiest agency of modern times, in disseminating either good or evil, is unquestionably the Press. It has long been the rival of the pulpit, and is now, if we mistake not, in the wide range of its influence, far ahead of it. Millions, who listen, week after week, to the living voice of the preacher, are daily fed by the press; and millions more are only accessible by its instrumentality, and to them it is the great teacher. The time was when it was otherwise. Before the discovery of printing, society was almost entirely dependent on oral instruction. Books, existing in the shape of manuscripts, were few and costly, and beyond the reach of all but the wealthy. Men learned nearly everything that they did learn from the orator in the forum, from the philosopher in the schools, or from the preacher in the church. The breadth of mind that came under such influences was by no means generally great; and, if we except the illustrious teachers of the ancient world, and the preachers of the early age of the church, the instrumentalities as means of instruction were for the most part powerless. But the press, for the last three centuries, has occupied much of the ground that once belonged exclusively to the oral instructor; and with vast multitudes in our day it is made the chief, if not the sole teacher. This is the case to a considerable extent in our own country, and much more is it so in France and other parts of the Continent. The appetite for periodical literature, on both sides of the channel, is strong. And every class, movement, and interest, are represented, in a greater or less degree, in the mighty current. Like a never-failing fountain, the press is sending forth its publications of every possible variety of character, as numerous as the dew-drops from the womb of the morning, all of which are exerting an influence for good or evil on the masses with whom they come in contact. It has been said-and, notwithstanding the temporary thraldom to which the French press is now subjected, the statements are still substantially true"without a newspaper, France is deaf. Every morning when it awakes, the reading public of France is appealed to by the defenders of interests, parties, ideas, systems of all descriptions, waging war against one another, for the conquest of the present, or the direction of the future. Religion, politics, philosophy, industry, arts, sciences-everything is represented, everything finds an utterance, everything stirs about, under the full blaze of daily publicity: everything— except Evangelical Protestantism; for in this universal concert of human passions and convictions, the voice of the Gospel alone is missing." If this description does not apply, in every particular, to our own country (and we rejoice to think that it does not), it is for the most part applicable to the range and influence of our own press. Its sends forth its streams of powerful influence for weal or woe, far and wide; here diffusing the blessings of heavenly truth and holy beauty, and there scattering the curses of error and moral desolation. "By thee religion, liberty, and laws, Exert their influence and advance their cause: By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh's land befell, Like Eden's dread probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil springs from thee." The good resulting from the press, upon the whole, is certainly much greater than the evil. The invention of printing has proved one of the mightiest and 2 'Pastor Boucher. (In "The Power of the Press :" p. 32.) most beneficent instrumentalities that has been brought to bear upon the world. The civilization of mankind has advanced rapidly since this noble discovery. It has been one of the most effective agencies in scattering the seeds of immortal truth abroad among men. And all who take an interest in the advancement of human society have reason to thank God for the press. It gave the mightiest impulse to the revival of learning in the fifteenth century. It roused the mind of Europe from the sleep of the middle ages, and made the nations feel that they were men. It not only brought to light, and scattered abroad, the treasures of classical literature, but it was early consecrated to the work of quickly multiplying and disseminating the sacred Scriptures which were hidden and rare. But for the press, the Reformation, that most benignant of events since the introduction of Christianity, had probably never taken place. By its agency in promoting the revival of learning, the way was prepared for the overthrow of mental despotism, and for teaching men, in opposition to human authority, the right of private judgment, and the duty of appealing, in things sacred, to "the law and the testimony." And when the Reformation had been effected, this agency was yet more powerfully exerted in extending and strengthening it, by diffusing the writings of the reformers and vernacular copies of the Bible among the people. Luther influenced the mind of Germany, not only by the energies of the living voice; but, by his version of the Scriptures— edition after edition of which issued from the press |