The Portland daily press., 1866-11-17

N them the truths of Gods Word, and the
events of His Providence, and the saving doc
trines of the Gospel of the son OF ood. We
must take men in our consequences I1a Would aim
euceassfllly at making them, under the bless
mo of Cod what they ought to be. To ignore
the Influences in the midst of which men are
living IS to ignore the men themselves. Our
nreacbing is not Divine preaching, but it is hui
man preaching, accompanied with Divine pow
er. We must meet them just as they are and
become all things to all men, if We would save
them. The newspaper, for six DAYS in the
week, is powerful agency in the make up of
human character; and therefore We are solicit
Gus the paper and the editor shall be objects
OF nfst regard among the instrumentalitles
which are at work among the men and women
to whom we preach on the Sabbath.
DO not say the daily press Is techlli' .',.c
Christian, OF religious. 1t don't ciaiIh Vi Pf uI
Tess to be; and technlcallties, howeao, So al
they may be in some connecuoh', az 80 s ~,
of secondarv ;,onortance But so far as TINS
point is concerned it would be hard 70 zen IN
some and not a few instances, Mn WIZ 40 So
most christian religlous-the u'tiiy newspa-
,,or ~, the socalIed Christian or church paper.
r., ol,Id NOT sneak irreverently OF unguarded-
iv in fhis matter; but has IT not passed almost
;,tn nroverb. in many instances, that the So
called religious papers are prone TO controvef-
sizes disputations and party spirit, which have
little to do with the spirit and grace of Chris
tan charity, and much to do with hindering
the growth of Christians, and in placing STUN
bling blocks before the world? The religious
paper is denOmindtiOndt, in many cases sectdr;-
an and often bigOted, and while prOfessedly
limited by its UNCONVENTIONAL interests, yet, in
cases, too frequent for the blessing of Christian
love, interfering with other parties, other sects
and other plans Of Christian work, only as 1T
would appear to the uninitiated, with view
to damage them; not scrupling sometimes, TO
say hard things which need not be SAID, and
III ssa1, NOT "a
things calculated to bring opprobrlun, and NIX
a stigma upon ministers and churches, VINO,
if they are not quite as good as their reyilefs,
are in bad case indeed -
Now. the secular press, the daily newspa-
per,-not protesting to be christian, technically
| and of course. entirely undenominational, ana
| independent, in religious atfairs-yet opens lts
| columns to all, of every denomination, ior III
| formation to the people concerning religious
plans and movements OF all Kinds, and III an
| directions In the New York daily papers, an
| immense amount OF religious intelligence Is
conveyed to the people, from the statistics ana
figures OF secretaries of Christian sccieties 20
| the tender, teryent and solemn lessons OF the
| living preacher. And this intelligence Is NOT
| conveyed in what is called the Religious col
umn,1 but it is dispersed throughout the pa
| perS and mixed up with the more Ordinary
| news and affairs of the day. This feature is
| working itself more and more into the charac-
| tel and conduct Of the daily press. Ministers
and churches don't begin to realize the advan-
tapss of the daily paper to all the interests of
| Christ's kingdom. Now our daily papers are
| teeming with accounts OF the progress OF the
| noble and stlpend0us Work, now being accom-
plished in connection with the centenary or
| Methodism The intelligence which the
| community has GU that matter is mostly de-
rived from the daily morning paper. some
would claim that such things should be Kept
| out Of the mt hing papers, and would charge
| that it is aiming at notoriety; but thlS ~ an
| mistake, a very great mistake tive al tue III
| telligence of this sort you can to the commu-
| nifty, and you are doing good work for God,
Tor His Church Let the Church avail itself
of the press, The press is at It's command.
\ Ministers and churches feel that it is power
| for good, if they may only use 1T; and b, ieye
there is no instrumental1ty for good, out OF the
| pulpit which is more worth welcoming than the
| press There is no establis hment in our land
| in which there is individual or corporate pro-
| prietorship, which is so much the establish
ment and property of the people as the news
paper 1t belongs to the people. 1t speaks not
only to the people, but FL the people. The
Church itself is not so much of the people and
for the people as is the press. The Church,
and we grieve to say it, Is not as open door as
| it might be, as it should be. Men and classes
| in ali our communities, are net as welcome to
| our Churches and pews as would seem should
| be the case from the proclamation :" 60 ye in
| to all the world, and preach the )spel to eve
~ creatures" and, as Chris ian Churches, we
are too far from acting out the Sayior's ipjunc-
ton implied in the parable F" Go into the high
ways and hedges and compel them to come in. ;,
| Let our Churches have open doors, and let
our ministers communicate with the people
through the press as they have opportunity,
and sinking the idea of churchly and conven-
tional responsibility out of sight forever, think
by what human means, under the blessing of
God, can we most surely and prohtably reach
the masses Of the people; and the press, the
daily paper, is an fundamentally which, in
Gods Providence, is made to their hand, and
the editor will be found ready, earnest CO.
worker in every good word and work. And
| then, whatever the pulpit and the press unite
| in saying shall be done for the welfare Of the
people, Tor their deliverance from prevalent
vices ana corrupting influences, and for their
elevation to moral dignity, and to Christian
| character, and to happy prosperity, SHALL under
| the blessing of God, be accomplished.