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LONDON. SATURDAY, OCT. 10.

THE CHURCH AND THE PRESS.

AT the late Church Congress in Dublin one
of the subjects of discussion was the atti-
tude of periodical literature towards religion.
The proceedings commenced by what might be
termed a counterblast against newspapers by
Archdeacon LEE. He described the functions of
journalism to be limited " to a machinery for re-
" ducing to method and rendering, as it wore, ar-
" ticulate, the confused utterances of what is
" called public opinion." In this process the
journals ground up, amongst other things, a large
quantity of atheistic materialism, " known as the
" Positive Philosophy," and presented it in leading
article forms to the general reader. The religion
of huminity,' as it is called, has its apostles
amongst the editors and contributors of all sorts
of papers. This was not the case always, though it
was in the days of LUCIAN, Of CELSUS, of STRAUSS.
WILSON, DE QUINCY, JEFFREY, MACAULAY, and
Scorr, were not as irreverent or as rationalistic as
modern writers. Thus does the venerable Archdea-
con procetd, him words obtaining a certain commu-
nicative power as he advances. Is this charge true
in the first place If the Press is bold
towards the Church, surely some of her bishops
and preachers have been at least equally audacious.
In fact, those special topics of discussion referring
to supernatural and eternal interests are usually
left untouched within the protection of the clerical
folds until they are started into the light of com-

mon day by one of their own eltstodian s. What
then follows is simply that the newspapers &al
with them in the course of business, as generally
with a cautious regard for the, feelings of their,
supporters. This is the lowest ground of reason,
for prudence, and the ,press. is influenced
by more creditable motives, but this ono at least
should not have been overlooked by the Arch-
deacon. Neitherblasphemy nor atheism would pay.
As for the scepticism—what is a aseptic ? Is
Col ENBO sceptic ?—is Mr. MAURICR P—is Mr. MAR-
TEINEAII ? Archdeacon Lau admits the difficulty of
interfering, conceiving that a case for interference
exists, and he speaks of " calmly accepting the
" situation while we deplore the fact that a seep-
" tical tone of thought should prevail, inviting the
" expression Of that thought rather than seeking
"to drown its utterance." This is a wise resolve
considering that no Church Congress in this
country without, a Pope ea its president, could
venture to stop the papers from oommenting on
religious questions. Further on the Arch-
deacon tone us, that after all it is bettor
that there should be plain speaking in' such
matters than whispered incredulity. Then comes
his great point. Let it be a fair fight on both
sides. The Church is ready to do battle for her
belief and her authority with the Press, but the
Press, by the system ,f anonymity, has an undue
advantage. " The legitimate influence of perio-
" dical literature can be maintained solely by the
" force of truth and the weight of argument. To
" seek to add to this influence something over and
" above what the appeal to reason bestows, is to
" convert the freedom of the prose into an atm-
" lute despotism. There is at present a kind of
" corporate power in journalism the existence of
" which depends on the authorship of the dif-
" ferent leading articles, or reviews, or letters, in-
" serted being concealed—a power which would
"at once disappear wore signatures enforced,
" whether by law or by mutual convention."
Admitting that this is correct, and that
the proposition cunningly wrapped up in
it is true—namely, that this " corporate
" power" has been generally used for mischief, lot
us set against it the weight furnished to the other
side by the names of bishops and the hierarchy
attached to what they say or write, and in what
direction does the balance of influence fall 11 We
cannot enter into the old controversy about signed
articles and essays with the Archdeacon. There
may be some advantages in the principle he advo-
cates; but we fail to see the force of the logic on
which he basei it. It does not seem to us that ho
shows a sufficient courage in his cause when he is
afraid to confront it with the Press until
the Press has been cut up into divisions and
groups upon which his artillery can be brought
to play with convenience and comfort. The
Church will fight Baowx, JONES, and ROBINSON,
as Captain BOBADIL fought the army ; but the
Church will not engage with those champions if
they organise a newspaper. We are not taking
aides with the sceptics in stating that no body has
ever availed itself of " corporate power" and of
other more awful powers and aid than the Church,
and we are inclined to think that the Archdeacon's
requirement will not meet with the sanction of
many of his brethren, who must perceive on the
face of it an expression of weakness which may
thoroughly misrepresent them.
Has not the Church its own press and its own
periodical literature? There are tracts for tho
million and delightful magazines for the masses,
to say nothing of the Accord. The Rev.
EDWARD JACKSON, of Leeds, who wound up the
Congress meeting to which we are referring had
" banded together about 30 young persons for the
" purpose of soliciting orders for religions periodi-
" cals, and in the last year no less than 15,000
" copies of religious publications had been circu-
" lated amongst the young persons in the factories
"of Leeds alone. If every clergyman attempted
" this and succeeded to the same extent, there
" would be no less than 150 millions of useful and
" religious periodieals circulated yearly in England
" alone." We may be pardoned for considering
so magnificent a distribution a mitigated advan-
tage, bearing in mind the literary and even sacred
value of the works to be disseminated. Banco doubt
the Rev. E. Jecssofe means well, and so do all the
members of this Congress. They will not, however,
see any blame in themselves, We do not think the
Press responsible for the scepticism of the age as
they call it. Are the clergy free from intellectual
narrowness? Have they done sufficient to ac-
commodate and reconcile certain apparent points
of difference between the Scriptures and modern
science ? Where do they attempt in reality to
combat the spirit of which they complain ? There
is plenty of respect for them, plenty of reverence
for them ; but the Press cannot help reporting the
proceedings of Convocation and the freaks of
Ritualism. It is not the newspapers altogether
that require reforming. The sympathies of
the intelligent Press are towards religion,
but it cannot close itself to the murmurs
from without, to the vague questionings which aro
often left disregarded and unnoticed by those who
should attend to them, until at length they be-
come so definite and peremptory that journalists
must &sculls them. It is comforting for us to read
however, that the Bishop of DERRY considered
that the official organs of the Church were harder
upon ecclesiastics than the profane newspapers.
His lordship took a mote cheerful view of things
on the whole than Archdeacon Liz, and ho en-
couraged young clergymen to enter the
lists of literature on behalf of the Church.
This position need not to be delegated to
recruits, and wo have a suspicion that
there are as many young clergymen mixed up with
literature or journalism at present as are wanted
in either department. But let us have them by all
means in preference to the amateur and profes-
sional tract hawkers of the Rev. EDWARD JACK-
SON.