348 RELIGIOUS AGENCIES 



Again, it has been found that the spread of knowledge does not 

 prevent the rise of fanatical or semi-lunatical forms of Christianity, 

 or the origination of new religions. Without the aid of the press 

 it would be impossible to reach those dominated by such abnormal 

 and often fascinating ideas and practices. 



II 



To a proper estimate of the press as a religious agency, the art 

 of printing must be considered as utilized in the leaflet, the tract, 

 the pamphlet, the book, and the periodical. 



Leaflet 



The leaflet is useful in a score of ways ; it diffuses items of 

 information, spreads notices of coming events, directs attention 

 to larger works, epigrammatically sows seeds of truth, and often 

 stirs thought and emotion to the point of action. It is especially 

 adapted to reach the young, the careless, the uneducated, and 

 those willing to read a little if brought to them, but who shun 

 books. 



Tracts 



The tract differs from the pamphlet in size and form, but the 

 line between them is hard to fix. The standard definition of a 

 tract is " a short treatise, discourse, or dissertation, especially 

 a brief printed treatise or discourse on some topic of practical 

 religion; ' and of the pamphlet, " a printed work consisting of a 

 few sheets of paper stitched together, but not bound. In the 

 restricted technical sense the pamphlet stands for eight or more 

 pages of printed matter, not exceeding five sheets, stitched or 

 sewed, with or without a thin paper wrapper or cover." But 

 popularly it is " a short treatise or essay, generally controversial, 

 especially one on some subject of temporary interest which excites 

 public attention at the time of its appearance ... a writing 

 intended to publish one's views on a particular question or to 

 attack the views of another." 



Yet there are tracts that consist of much more than eight pages 

 of printed matter, and there are pamphlets which contain only a 

 few pages. In the English reformation, according to Dean Swift, 

 tracts are powerfully used against the claims of the Roman Catholic 

 Church, and he distinguished between those written by the church 

 clergy and those written by the Presbyterians, giving the former 

 the palm in vigor, pertinacity, point, and effect. 



An illustration of the word " tract," as well as of the power of 

 the influence exerted by tracts, is found in the word " tractarian- 



