Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-01-07
From the Congregatiopaliss.
The Press and the Ministry.
BY REV. ALBERT BARNES.

1t is the design of this article to illus.
trate ;his truth with reference to the
Christian ministry. There is, probably
no one class OF men which, on the whole,
exerts SO great an influence in this coun-
try on the masses of the people, as the
ministers of the gospel. l propose to
show that their influence might he great
ly increased by their availing themselves
of the aid OF the press. 1t is not ne
cessary now to dwell on the power Of
the press as a means of ditfusing the
opinions which man may hold, or as a
means among the arrangements of mod
ern times of abridging labor, and of
practically adding TO the length of human
life. One has only, in order to see this,
to compare the labor of transcribing a
book in ancient times with the power of
multiplying copies now by the press, to
have some idea of the practical addition
thus made 10 the life OF man. On the
suppositlon that it required in the middle
ages two years to copy the Bible in man.
uscrip,, aud that by the aid of Hoes
press now the entire copy of the Bible
can be stricken off in an hour, then all
this time has been practically added to
human life, and lite is thus of SO much
more value, than it was when the patient
monk WAS laboriously employed in copy
ing the Bible. On the supposition that
an author was required to copy his own
productions, say Livy, or Homer, or
Virgil, and could have furnished not a
dozen copies in his life, then we see what
an immense advantage has been given
him by the press at small expense, and
with the delay Of only few of multiply.
ing what he wishes to submit to the
world Life, so to speak, has become
immcasurably longer by this power than
it once was the power OF man has be-
come immensely greater than i: was in
ancient times. 1t would seem, also, TO
be q natural consequence Of this that the
responsibility of man who can use the
public press has been UNNECESSARILY i'll
creased. ....
The ae,cspaper press is in a great
measure peculiar TO modern tunes it is
eminently power among the American
people. The Americans are characteristic
cally reading people, and have been,
from the time when the Pilgrims frs,
landed on our shores bat they are fast
changing the habit of reading books
to the reading OF netospapers. Every
American reads the newspaper. A man
who never looks into the Bible, who
never heard of Edwards on the Will, ol
on Original Sin, and who would not
read them if he had ; who knows moth
ing of Gibbons History of the Decln,
and Fall of the Roman Empire, or o
Hume's History of England, or of Ban
crotts History of his own country; who
never reads or never would read bool
published by the Tract Society, will reac
a newspaper every day of his life, an,
make himself familiar with its contents
Newspapers are educating this natioI
more, probably, than all other causes pu
together.
The religious newspaper is one OF tn,
: things which have sprung up in ou
time is the creation of this country
has started into existence within tn
memory of not few who are yet in tn
land OF the living. 1t was, OF course, il
its first form small and imperfect it ha
grown to be, in the cant language fire
quently employed now, an substitution.
1t is among the institutions that are no
likely to die with the generation of tn
originator it is one Of the things tha
have been stricken out in this age ant
land that will enter largely into the re
ligion, the civilization, the intelligence
OF the last age of the world. Thousand
read religious newspaper who neve
read book on systematic theology, or
volume of sermons it is to be teare'
that thousands of professed Christian
read the religions newspaper who seldo1
read the Bible.
But it was not my purpose to consde
the religious newspaper with reterenc
to its influence and power in itself, bu
with reference to it as a means of Ell
larging the usefulness of ministers of tn
gospel, and promoting the great o6jec
to which they have devoted their lives
At present, 10 great extent, it is probi
bly, regarded by most ministers as
means by which they may be helped il
, their own work, rather than as mean
h. Uh;.h thav NAV hAln others or