Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

NOTES ON LITERATURE.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES THE SECOND, by Thomas Babington Macauley. 4 vols. in one. Phila. E. H. Butler & Co.

This work is so well known that we need not speak of its merits. It is to be had very cheap at Murray & Stoek's, Lancaster. This firm continues to keep up a most excellent assortment of standard works in all departments. Their stock of the publications of the American Tract Society and American Sunday School Union is especially large. Sabbath Schools can here supply themselves at city prices. We can commend also to ministers their stock of Theological books. Murray & Stoek make it a point to keep substantial books, dealing but little in the floating trash of the day.

A GLANOB AT PRIVATE LIBRARIES. By Luther Farnham. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. 1855.

In this little work of 79 pages we have a very great amount of valuable information on the subject of books and libraries. It must have required much patience and perseverance to bring to light, and embody in so pleasing a form, so many interesting facts. We are here informed that the ten private libraries in and near Boston having the largest number of books contain an aggregate of about 90,000 volumes. "There are, then, within ten miles of the State House private libraries of one thousand volumes and upwards each, that will count up from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand volumes." This is truly, as Mr. Farnham says, a pretty good story for one little section of the country.", --THE MERCERSBURG QUARTERLY REVIEW for January is an excellent number. Its contents are-I. A Review of Dr. Boardman's Sermon on "The Christian Ministry no Priesthood," by Rev. H. Harbaugh. II. Sketches of a Traveler from Greece, by Prof. A. L. Koeppen. III. Faith and Reason, by Dr. Rauch. IV. Chief Justice Gibson, by Rev. J. Clark. V. Abelard, Abraham, and Adam. VI. Liturgical Contributions. VII. Short Notices.

[ocr errors]

JOSEPH GRAY, author of about twenty works on astronomy and geography, well known to teachers, is so poor that an advertisement has been printed in the public papers in his behalf asking the generous to contribute to his relief. Such is the reward of those who labor for the highest interests of men. Such as showmonkeys make a good living. Shame!

-DR. BOMBERGER has begun the preparation of a Theological and Religious Encyclopedia on the basis of Herzog's great work. He has secured the assistance of a number of American divines. The work is to be published in monthly parts by Lindsay & Blakiston, Philadelphia.

-THE largest Reading-room in the world is now nearly completed, in the British Museum. It is circular, 140 feet in diameter, and 140 feet in height. The tables will accommodate nearly 400 readers. The wrought-iron book cases will contain 102,000 volumes. The cost of the room will be about $300,000.

-THE Paris papers announce the death, at an advanced age, of Baron de Bonnefoux, author of a "Life of Christopher Columbus," a "Nautical Dictionary," and several works on nautical Science. He was a retired captain in the navy, and was at one time Director of the French naval schools.

-THE first book printed in British America was the Psalms in Metre. Printed at Cambridge, 1640.

-THE newspapers record the death, at Lincoln, of Robert Bunyan, the last male descendant, in a direct line, from John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress. -THE oldest work in the Russian language was published in 863, and was a translation of the Four Gospels from the Greek.

-IT is said that if the English language be divided into one hundred parts, sixty would be Saxon, thirty would be Latin (including French,) five would be Greek, and the remaining five from the other languages of the world.

-IT has been found on examining the Library of Daniel Webster just as he left it, that it contains not one infidel work.

THE GUARDIAN:

A Magazine Devoted to the Interests of Young Men and Ladies.

VOL. VII.

MARCH, 1856.

RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPERS.

BY THE EDITOR.

No. 3.

Ir is but a short time, comparatively, since religious newspapers have sprung into existence. The idea of turning the weekly newspaper into the service of christianity was certainly a great one; and thousands of pious hearts hailed the advent of this new power for good. The scheme has succeeded beyond what a score of years could have entered into the dreams of the most enthusiastic. Every branch of the church has its organs in the shape of a weekly or monthly sheet. There are the Observers and the Missionaries, the Messengers and Standards, the Intelligencers and Witnesses, the Records and Advocates, the Daysprings and Watchmen, the Journals and Churchmen, and time would fail to tell all the rest. Besides, we have in the different larger denominations, an organ for every prominent phase of doctrine or school: old school and new school; old measures and new measures; high church, low church, and broad church; symbolic and anti-symbolic; Synodical, Conference, and Association organs, with their corresponding Independents.

It is easy, or rather it is not easy, to calculate the vast influence which these organs exert upon the wide range of American Christendom. They enter into hundreds of thousands of families. They are read by millions of immortal souls, in our immense cities, in the quiet country villages, in the still more rural communities, and in the cabins of the wonderful West. Who can measure or imagine the amount of thinking, feeling, and acting which they incite as they go forth week after week, like leaves before an autumn storm, and are caught up and eagerly read by the learned and unlearned, by parents and children, by saints and sinners!

What an amount of power, what a source of influence, do these religious papers hold! This influence, moreover, is in the hands of comparatively a few men. For though these papers are in many cases authorized organs of denominations; yet experience shows, and it lies in the nature of things, that the general mind of these denominations, especially in an official way, has but little direct control over these

papers. In many cases, therefore, they represent but little of the general christian sentiment. How shall the thousands, under whose authority they go forth, influence their weekly contents? They are in fact, in the end, the pictures of the minds of their editors. They control not only the editorial department-which is the soul of the paper, if it has anybut also the selections, and, in a way little limited, also the correspondence. Thus they hold the power, if they choose to employ it, of virtually silencing every spirit but their own. In this way the general mind which they fail to represent may be, and often is, kept at bay, while the vast remainder of the material which they reach, being negative or pliable, is molded instead of represented by the papers. This is the more easily done, owing to the strange practical delusion into which we unconsciously fall, which causes us to imagine that what appears in the organ of a church is in fact the sentiment of that church as a whole, and of all its readers. The voice of the editor is lost as an individual, and we listen to him as to the voice of his audience. Let any one put this kind of practical imposition to a personal test, and he will see how much he is unsconciously under its power. How naturally do we, for instance, read an ungracious sentiment embodied in the editorial of a church organ, issued by another denomination than our own, as though it were an unkindness or offense from the whole body which that organ professedly represents; and yet that same editorial may represent not a single mind in that church but that of the editor.

These observations may serve to show what an amount of power is thus actually in the hands of the editors of religious papers; and how the animus of these organs, in whole or in part, will be found at last identical with the animus of individual editors. True, it may be supposed that the editors are themselves often the mold of the denominations which have created the organs which they control-and there is to an extent room for this allowance-yet, after due weight is given to this restraint, there is still a wide freedom, and a momentous individual power, which enjoys unmolested range beyond.

It will at once be seen and admitted, that a power of such immense sweep should be conferred in the most deliberate, cautious, and prayerful spirit; and should be guarded with the greatest vigilnace, jealousy, wisdom, and concern. There is scarcely any other appointment that should be made with greater solemnity, and under a deeper sense of vast interests involved. Qualifications are evidently demanded which are not to be found at random, but which are "few and far between." Whether the church in general has been, and is now, adequately impressed on this momentous point, we confess is doubtful to our mind. We do not believe that the different branches of the church exercise that care over their organs which is demanded in view of the vast influence which they do and might exert.

We very much mistake the character and christian spirit of the American church if the religious press truly reflects the general religious mind. We fail entirely to interpret the undertones of our christian life, if there is not widely and deeply felt a mournful degeneracy in the tone, spirit, and substance of religious newspapers, and if there is not a general need, as well as a general desire, for a great reform. In giving utterance to these sentiments, we protest that we give our own individual

views. If we supposed this, we would not have written a line on the subject; on the contrary, we most confidently pronounce what we have no doubt is the silent voice of the general christian mind and heart, as it utters itself in many a thoughtful heart, and in many private circles. What ought a religious newspaper to be? If we answer to ourselves this question, even in a most general way, we shall at once become painfully conscious of the reigning degeneracy and defect in regard to this point.

What ought a religious newspaper to be? What would we expect it to be if it were proposed for the first time to send one into our family? In one word, it ought to be a saint-a christian! Its life ought to be the warm life of a christian. Its spirit ought to be the holy spirit of a saint-like the spirit of John! Its love ought to be the serene character of a saint. Prayer, praise, thanksgiving, cheerful hope, affectionate instruction ought to breathe on its whole surface. The fruits of the spirit ought to hang in clusters in its columns. The graces of the spirit ought to garland every sentence and sentiment. It ought to lie on our table redolent with the fragrance, and radiant with the light, and rich with the love of heaven.

If

Have we drawn the portrait of a religious paper correctly? Plainly this, as nearly as it can be reached, ought to be its character. Is any approximation to this spirit realized in the religious press of the present time? We answer painfully, but without hesitation, we believe not. it be asked in what manner this spirit is sinned against, we find no difficulty in giving answer in pointing out what all will feel to be most lamentable defections from this standard.

Shall we bear testimony on this point? Then we at present refer only to one feature: To the prominent secular spirit which reigns in many of them, and in all more or less. Secular not only in the way of general news, but even in the way of political news, amounting often to evident party proclivities-suppressing the one side and dilating on the other in the selection of items. Some even carry their sectional and party preference so far as to give to their paper a political animus. Thus the feader, who should be piously disposed by what he reads, has his mind averted, if not even excited, by these "items" selected from the secular press, and almost always penned under strong party prejudices. Secular news is taken up as it comes hastily and under excitement from some point in the Dailies, and before the slow Weekly reaches its readers, is contradicted by authenticated facts, showing that a particular coloring had been given to it for party purposes. The man now who takes up the religious paper of his church is already posted up on both sides, and consequently item after item in the "secular department" strikes a hot brand into his feelings. How shall it be avoided, does any one ask? It may be avoided by letting the whole business alone. What! shall religious papers contain no secular news? We answer they cannot contain news in the nature of the case. News, nowa-days, comes by dailies and tri-weeklies-yea, by morning and evening papers, not by weeklies. It is truly amusing to read, two weeks after it is all over, that "Sebastopol has been taken;" or to receive the "President's Message" in due form, column after column, long after the county papers have sent it into every nook and corner of the townships.

There is therefore no call for secular news in a religious paper on the plea either of necessity or accommodation to the readers.

Suppose even it were desirable as a convenience, is it proper in this way to mix up the religious and secular. Is it not a kind of conformity and succumbing to the spirit and taste of the world? The secular is important, but only in its place; and there it ought to be kept. Why should Cæsar, to say nothing of the world, parade his temporal business in God's paper? Two articles of food may be very palatable and wholesome when eaten separately which would neither be for health or comfort when mixed.

How often, too, does this secular feature of religious papers take the form of positive diversion and fun. Jokes and repartee are not uncommon. Granting that there is "a time to laugh," that time is certainly not when one is endeavoring to edify his spirit in the reading of a religious newspaper. It is the same as bringing a harlequin into a solemn assembly. There is a place for wit, humor, and smart sayings, but not in a religious newspaper.

How often, again, is an amusing vein, and a whole chain of positive fun, made to animate an entire communication, even when it professes to treat on a subject solemn in itself. Thus sacred things are treated with lightness. So common is this that it is scarcely possible to pick up a paper at random without falling upon an article of this kind. In many cases wit endeavors to show off even by allusion to a particular quotation of some scripture passage. No one who is at all read in our current religious papers will fail instantly to justify this remark and acknowledge its force.

The same secular spirit to which we have alluded, runs also through the advertising columns. Certainly the advantages of a religious paper ought to have some important accordance with the spirit of the paper. How common, however, is it to find columns devoted to business interests that have no more connection with religion than has a millstone, or a box of pills. Who has not seen quack-medicine advertisements in religious papers that not only flourished all the humbugging boasts to catch the ear and inspire the wonder of the ignorant, but presented all the positive indelicacies and even vulgarities which are so common in the silly twaddle of quackdom. How edifying to children!

We find even that the common catch-penny impositions from our cities are encouraged by some of our religious papers; or at least such as may be the worst kind of impositions, for all the reader knows Who does not know that thousands are allured into the hands of impostors through advertisements like the following, which we cut from the religious paper which is at the moment of writing nearest to us:

Α

GENTS WANTED!! MAKE MONEY WHEN YOU CAN.— The subscribers desire to procure the undivided time of an Agent in every County in the United States. Efficient and capable men may make several dollars per day, without risk or humbuggery of any kind. Full particulars of the nature of the business will be given by addressing the subscribers, and forwarding ONE Post Office Stamp to prepay return postage.

& CO., Philadelphia, Pa.

They are little posted up in the ways of modern humbug who suppose that this mysterious advertisement will not be responded to by thou

« НазадПродовжити »