THE PRESS AS A RELIGIOUS AGENCY 357 



have been printed. These have been published in 100 languages, 

 and 340 dialects, in 120 complete Bibles, 150 complete New Tes- 

 taments, and the rest in Gospels or other portions. 



(3) In the broad sense in the present age the press as a possible 

 religious agency is not surpassed by the pulpit. Whether this 

 should be so in any age or under any circumstances may be doubted. 

 But in the comparison the press is entitled to what it does for the 

 preparation of the minister for his work, by the publication of 

 the Bible, the hymnal, and the different necessary publications 

 of the Church for instruction, consolation, and defense. On the 

 other hand, the press is often a foe of religion, which both the 

 pulpit and that part of the press which favors Christianity can 

 hardly counteract. In France this situation, possible anywhere, is 

 reached. In Germany and Italy it moves in increasing volume in 

 that direction. In the word " press," in these comparisons, all 

 the work of printing is indicated, not merely the press as repre- 

 senting the periodical. 



(4) As it is able to reach a vast number, both of the ministry, 

 the laity, and the general public, and to do it immediately, upon 

 the press largely depends the exposure of evil teachings and errors 

 in practice. 



(5) The tract and the pamphlet might be made as important as 

 ever they were, and the aim should be to develop in every religious 

 communion men capable of producing stirring appeals, convincing 

 vindications, and clear expositions. 



(6) Discord between the press and the pulpit introduces a divi- 

 sive element into a Christian communion, which will be certain to 

 nullify the efforts of one or both. 



(7) A combination of the press generally and a living pulpit 

 would be irresistible, making impossible the decline of Christianity, 

 and possible and practically certain its rapid progress. 



(8) The religious press will always be necessary to make a full 

 presentation of the doctrines, regulations, and ceremonies of those 

 who maintain them, in order to protect its constituents from the 

 inadvertent errors of the general press, to serve as a forum for 

 intra- and inter-denominational discussion, and to defend Chris- 

 tianity and public and private morality against the tendency of an 

 age, whether it wear the livery of heaven, or without disguise drifts 

 or rushes toward the rocks and eddies which have ruined churches 

 and states. It will always be needed to exploit the philanthropies 

 and educational enterprises of the Church, to keep alive the 

 memory of the worthies of the clergy and laity, and as a purveyor 

 of information to and from the ends of the sphere of Christianity, 

 which is, according to its founder, " the whole world." 



Finally, as civilization advances, the press as a religious agency 



