In the olden time the Bible formed the chief reading of Christian
congregations, and the pulpit occupied the place of power in popular
instruction. This is now changed. The newspaper, the magazine, the
popular novel, the multitudinous products of the press, crowd the Bible
from its former place even in religious families, and the platform and
the press rival the pulpit as vital educative forces in guiding and
controlling popular thought. It is useless to declaim against this; it
is one of the great facts of providence connected with our age and
life; but the wise pastor will carefully consider what he can do to
control this inevitably potent force of the press, and make it a help
instead of a hindrance to his work; for with proper supervision this
vast power may be made a most beneficent auxiliary to the pulpit. Here
I suggest:
1. The pastor should aim to secure in every family a good religious
newspaper. This is a matter of primary moment, for such a paper is an
ever-present force, educating religious thought and feeling and
enriching and elevating practical life. Most pastors would be startled,
on making the inquiry, to find how few families in their congregation
take a religious paper, and how many are taking only trashy and often
morally poisonous publications, the habitual reading of which must
utterly neutralize the instruction and influence of the pulpit. The
magazine and newspaper are the habitual reading of the family circle;
and the pastor who fails to exercise watchful care in regard to the
character of this reading will often find it one of the most
destructive forces at work among his people.
2. The intelligent and thoughtful minister, in his public and private
work, will often call the attention of his people to good books, and
use his influence to introduce them. His people, pressed under secular
care and toil, are most of them not in a position to judge of the value
and tendency of the literature offered to them; and they rightfully
look to him, as an intelligent and studious man, to guide their
judgment in the selection of reading. The Sunday-school library also
should be carefully selected under his eye and secured a wide
circulation. In a large congregation it may sometimes be of advantage
to have a reading-room and a circulating library, placed under the care
of some association; and over this also the pastor's watchful
supervision will be required. He should also provide himself with
tracts--brief, simple, pungent, clearly setting forth sin, redemption,
repentance, faith, and Christian duties--such as may awaken the
careless, guide the inquirer, and press to duty the hesitant Christian.
These little winged evangels are most valuable auxiliaries in his
pastoral work and should be kept for judicious circulation in the
inquiry meeting, in pastoral visitation, and in seasons of revival. As
issued by our Publication Society, they are now of such wide variety
and high value, and of such slight cost, that no pastor should allow
himself to neglect a means so important to his success.[1]
3. The subject of reading and books should also be presented in the
pulpit that the great importance of care in this may be felt, and the
purity of the homes of the people be guarded against a pernicious
influence of a poisoned literature. Many a Christian parent has never
been aroused to the real peril in which he is placing his family by the
reading he thoughtlessly admits to the home circle.
4. A pastor should also seek to inspire and elevate the public
sentiment of the community where he is located in regard to schools,
lyceums, libraries, and public lectures, so as to secure pure and
Christian influences at these important fountains of public opinion and
character. As an educated man and a Christian minister, this duty
naturally devolves on him; and his influence, rightly and quietly used,
may often determine the question whether the schools shall be under
Christian or non-Christian instruction, or whether the lecture-course
shall be filled by men who revere God's Word or by those who hate and
traduce it. No minister ought to be indifferent to the public sentiment
around him; for it is the intellectual and moral atmosphere in which
his people live, and which must needs tend either to poison or to
purify their souls.
+FOOTNOTES:+
[1] It would be well were every church to see that the pastor is
furnished with a sufficient supply of such publications. Some
churches are accustomed to make regular provision for this
object. They believe that the soldier should not be expected to
purchase his own ammunition.--EDITOR.
+SECTION XIV.+