Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-02-26
Reading Matter on Every Page.
WASHINGTON CITY:
oNDAY Recommendations 26, lss2.
The First Religion. Paper-who
Started IL?

St0rte0
The old question of who published the first
religious newspaper In the world has been re-
yived, ard is just now being discussed with
some warmth through the columns of the New
York Erening Post The credit is claimed for
the late Nathaniel Willis, by his son Richard
Storrs Willis, and also for the late Sidney E.
Morse, by his son G. L. Morse. Each asserts
that his father was the person who founded the
Boston Recorder, on the Sd day of January, 1916,
and both assume and undertake to establish the
generally admitted fact that that was the first
religious newspaper ever published anywhere.
Considering what scme OF them have come to
be i'm these latter days, the honor Of having
founded that particular class Of newspapers NAV
perhaps be regarded by some persons as a rather
doubtful one; but, whatever il is it does not be-
long to either Mr.. Willis or Mr.. Morse Nor
was the Boston Recorder the pioneer in the field
of religious Journalism, as has generally been
supposed.
We have In our possession the first volume,
complete, OF The Weekly Recorder, q religious
(Presbyterisn) newspaper, published by John
Andrews, on the 5th day Of July, 1874, and
during the year following, at Chillicothe, Ohio.
This date, it will be observed, is q year and
half earlier than the commencement of its
Boston namesake. The paper Is in quarto or
columns. of about ten inches in length, and two
and-a-haif inches In width. 1t was printed with
plea or small plea type, on the rough greenish-
gray paper of that period, and presents a fair
typographical appearance, all things considered.
The motto Of the paper, standing under the
main title on the first page, is quoted from Solo
mon, as follows: "Righteoasness erdlteh q
Nation, but sin is q rsprooch 10 any People" The
plan and purpose of the paper are set forth in
the following extract from the somewhat lengthy
introduction, !" printed on the first and second
pages of the first number:
"The objects contemplated, through the bless
ing Of Heaven, in the publication OF the Weekly
Recorder, are various, benevolent and impor-
fant- To convey every kind of useful intelli-
gence; TO diffuse evangelical and moral truth; to
check the progress OF vice and error; to promote
vital piety, civil order and social happiness: to
encourage useful literature, arts and sciences;
TO excite a desire Of knowledge and mental i'm
prOvement; to meliorate the state of schools and
academies; and to call the attention of our fell
low citizens, as occasion may offer, to the
omnpOteDt hand of the Most High, directing
national concerns-are some of the leading OBJ
jeets which we have in contemplation, and de-
sign uniformly to pursue"
Following the Introductory article came one
nearly three columns in length, under the gen.
eTal al of " THEOLOGY" being " A SUMMARY
Tic,g Of Billie Societies" then a short one in re-
gard TO the 4" Synod Of Ohio and then one about
two columns in length, under the general head
of "CHRIsTIAN PRACTICE" on the subject of
" PASTORAL Tisits." These were followed in turn
by an article on the ' STATE Of Literature in ue
Western Country" about a column and a half in
length, and review, filling nearly three
columns, on a theological work then recently
published by Thomas Yeates, late OF the Univer-
sity Of Oxford, entitled " A COLLATION. of an Indian
Copy Of the Pentateuch. Also a col
laton and description OF a manuscript roll of the
book of Esther, and the sIegillah of Ahasuerus,
from the Hebrew copy originally extant in
brazen Tablets at Goa" &c, SC. The re-
mAipder OF the space in the first number-which
Is fair specimen Of the whole fifty-two consti-
tutiDg the first Volumes chiefly devoted to
general and domestic intelligence,-due promi-
nence being given to moral and religious affairs,
and aserlous and reyerent tone being observable
throughout. few advertisement and the pub
fishers prospectus are to be found on the eighth
psge,-the latter being, as was always the case
IN those times, and, indeed, until within a few
years ago, the very last thing in the paper.
These tacts, il must be admitted efiectually
dispose of the claims of both Mr. Willis and Mr..
Morse TO be regarded as the father of religions
journalism, and also Of the commonly accepted
belief that the Boston Recorder was the first pa
Per Of its class ever published. 1t must also be
conceded, We think, that the honor of the first
rishtfuily belongs to John Andrews, of Ohio.
and that the title of pioneer falls upon his paper
The Weekly Recorder, which, it may be added,
will not suffer by a comparison as to tone and
character with most Of its larger and more pre-
tentious successors of tue present day.
While 1t has always been considered both re-
markable and ereditable that America should
have given religious newspapers to the world, it
Is even more noticeable and significant that the
idea should have been conceived and first carried
out IN village of lew hundred inhabitants
situated IN new and 'sparsely-settled state
which was then literally upon the western
verge Of civilization.