The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-06-08
communicated
A NEW PAPER.

ana snOulu not be decided hastily. vi the
necessity, perhaps there is no dispute for
Church doctrines and news are less known
and understanded of the people than
those of any other religious body. The OBJ
ieclions to our doctrine, discipline and wor-
ship must be shown to have no foundation
in sound reason, nor in Gospel teaching.
The past history of the Church must be
made familiar to the public mind. What
the Church has done and is doing must be
pressed home to their perceptions. In short,
the Church in all its relations to mankind in
this world and the next must be taught, re-
peated and insisted upon.
III. 1t must rot only be Church paper,
but it must be news paper as well. 1t
must not content itself with the details of
church life and work-wth full reports of
conventions and convocations-with Epis-
copal vsitations and clerical local labors. 1t
should digest carefully all the secular news
of the diocese, of the State, of the Union,
of the World OF course it follows that
the paper should not be edited with the
scissors, but by the pen not forgetting that
beneath the rule of men entirely great, the
pen is mightier than the sword Thus it
should be made to answer among the rural
populations all the ends of the local, secular
and news paper at the same time that it is
distinctively in aid of the Church.
III. Nor in my judgment should it be in
in the hands of a clergyman as editor. There
is not one in a thousand with sufficient tact
for the position, and anything Objectionable
from a clergyman-edi is seized upon and
made more of than if said by a layman. Be-
sides, he would make the paper partake too
much of the pulpit and its dialectics. Its
teachings should be of another quality, its
sermons, paragraphs, its polemics without
the odium theologicum. A layman of bus-
ness experience, education, Judgment, and a
knowledge of men would fill the require
ment He need not be theoogian. My
theory of the paper is,that it is not intended
for any such purpose. If any point needs
discussion, plenty of able clergymen could
be found to furnish the argument and a,l-
thority. 1t should be in the hands of lay
man who minglcs daily with his fellows on
a plane and in manner to which no cler-
gyman can gain access.
". If it is to be successful and efficient
church paper, it must not be an organ of any
person or party neither Of the high church
nor of the low church nor of the Episcopate
The Bishop could not stand it to have an or.
gan, any more than the President or the
Governor. They should be in accord, o.
course, but its views need not be necessarily
his views. If he desires to reach the pub
lie, and be responsible for his utterances, il
should be over his own signature. Entirely
impersonal, it should be independent in all
things, subject, however, to the most un.
doubted fealty to the Protestant Episcopal
Church, its doctrine, discipline and worship
V. The purpose and object of the papel
being to bring to its readers and the public
a more perfect knowledge of church history
general and local church work past anC
present, and church progress in the diocese
the paper should be of such size and shape
as would make it convenient for preservation
and binding. 1t is time the local and per
sonal history of the church should be gath
cred up and | would make this paper tn,
store house of things in the church new ant
old-and would call upon the old clergy
men and laymen of the church and upor
other competent persons to furnish for it
pages their personal recollections of the day.
of yore.
VI. 1t should not be a monthly. The in
terest in it tlags-the news grows stale-it
magnetism is lost. But it is a question
whether at first it should be weekly TIL,
expense would be considerable, and the first
year would be burden. Pages could b.
added as business and matter and advertise
ments increased, and as the resource and cir
culation grew, the frequency of publication
could be doubled. 1t was my idea to max
it bi-weekly at the first, although | shoul,
prefer weekly, except for the expense
For
VII 1t should be cheap. Fifty cents,
possible, and certainly not over one dollar
should be the cost of it. 1t should be $
cheap that every church family could pa
for one copy; and through mission fund
give it large gratuitous circulation, or s.
nearly so as to insure its entrance into ever
household.
VIII. 1t should be perhaps owned by an,
be under the general direction of the Boar
of Diocesan Missions. They might elec
the editor and select the place of publica
ton.
These are mere suggestions, and as sue
are submitted to the better judgment of tn
Church.
Since the above was written we have bee
favored with the first No. of 'The Centra
, Diocese" Unpublished in the interests of tn
Board of Missions" Editorialy and me
chancally, it must be said to be disgrace
ful failure. The makeup of the pape
shows wonderful lack of skill ,and the typ
made use Of is by no means neat or tasteful
! The paper is without date and althoug
the Bishops page requests us to please pu
the successive numbers carefully away fc
preservation, this number is not PACED, an
if there should be anything in the successiv
numbers, put carefully away for preserva
tion, it would be impossible to find it b
: page or index. There has been carele.
5 proof reading, and the commas and otht
, stops have been mainly put in the wron
places. The paper is poor and the ink NJ
. . much better. The geography is also some
what at fault-Catawissa being put in Mon
q tour county instead Of in Columbia county,
The combinations at Bloomsburg ar
omitted altogether-there h not word a
to when or where the Diocesan Conventio
will meet-neither the time nor place {
conversational meetings is stated-and, il
deed, you could not tell, from any thing i
!, the paper, in what year it was published.
r. The fact is, the paper has no editor, an
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