Christian Literature / a sermon delivered May 8th, 1870, in Kensington Chapel, at the seventy-first anniversary of the Religious Tract Society
Date: 2021-02-06T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Sermons; English -- 19th century; Congregational churches -- Sermons; Christian literature -- Sermons; Bible. John; XXI; 25 -- Sermons

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Title: Christian Literature

Author: John Stoughton

Release date: February 6, 2021 [eBook #64472]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

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Credits: Transcribed from the [1870] edition by David Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN LITERATURE ***

Transcribed from the [1870] edition by David Price.

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

A Sermon

DELIVERED MAY 8th, 1870, IN KENSINGTON CHAPEL, AT
THE SEVENTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE
RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

BY THE
REV. J. STOUGHTON, D.D.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

LONDON:
56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD;
AND 164, PICCADILLY.

LONDON:
PARDON AND SON, PRINTERS,
PATERNOSTER ROW.

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”—John xxi. 25.

The chapter before us is plainly a supplement to the main history.  St. John concluded that history under a deep conviction that it was far from a full account of his Master’s wonderful ministry.  “Many other signs,” said he, “truly did Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.”  But in this supplementary chapter, added to the Gospel, perhaps, after a lapse of several years, the inspired Evangelist returns to his subject, and relates with singular minuteness of detail the miracle of the draught of fishes.  He then appends to the whole narrative an asseveration of its truth; and still feeling, as he had done before, that there remained an inexhaustible fulness of facts and lessons in the life of his adorable Lord which defied every attempt at recording them, he at last finishes his Gospel—inclusive of the appendix—in the same spirit in which he had concluded what he wrote before.  Persuaded of the impossibility of doing perfect justice to such a life as that of the Word made flesh, he employed a strong Oriental hyperbole to express the impossibility, whilst his heart overflowed with adoring love and wonder—“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”

It is not unusual for an author to return to the perusal and examination of a work composed by him in bygone years with a deepened belief of the truth of its contents, accompanied by an overwhelming conviction of its want of completeness.  Another chapter may be added to what was written before, and then, when all is done, the pen may be laid down, with the feeling that not one-half of all the beautiful truth to which the book relates has yet been told.  A circumstance so common in connection with efforts of genius finds something of a parallel here, in connection with the higher and nobler exercises of inspiration.  It is to the last degree affecting to behold the aged Evangelist reading over his own Gospel, dwelling with delight upon sacred memories of the Divine Friend who so graciously loved him, and whom he so gratefully loved in return, thinking of one act of his after another, one word of his after another, never written, and realizing the impossibility of producing a perfect portrait of the Divine original, yet folding up his own MS. with the devout assurance that in giving it to the Church he was an instrument, in the hands of the Spirit, of bestowing upon mankind one of the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I.

The Evangelist here speaks of books—of the possibility of writing an immense number of them on one subject; and thus he calls to our mind the saying of the wise man, that “of making many books there is no end.”  They were very numerous in the ancient world.  The library of the Ptolemies at Alexandria was of such prodigious magnitude that it numbered half a million volumes.  Large public and private collections were not uncommon in St. John’s time; and in Rome, at that period, the bookseller’s trade signally flourished.  In the shop doors lists of new publications were exhibited; nor were the prices of some by any means immoderate, a considerable proportion of the MSS. being so small as to come under the modern denomination of pamphlets or tracts.  Thus early existed multitudes of those productions which Milton eloquently describes as “not dead things,” but such as “contain a potency of life,” as “active as the soul whose progeny they are,” preserving, “as a vial, the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect which bred them,” as “vigorously productive” as the “fabulous dragon’s teeth,” and which, being “sown up and down,” may, like them, perchance, spring up into armed men.  Throughout the civilized world, in the first account of Christianity, were there books containing “the life-blood of master spirits,” that “ethereal and fifth essence, the breath of reason.”  And besides these, there existed, among the elect people of God, a literature incomparably superior to anything else—a literature furnished by historians, poets, and moralists, who far surpassed merely classic ones.  For now, in the fulness of time, the Greek, as well as the Hebrew language, had become enriched by inspired contributions, and four peerless histories or biographies appeared—four lives of the divinely-incarnate and ever-living One—followed by another history, recording the acts of his Apostles, accompanied by epistles or letters which explained the meaning of the life of Jesus, and the acts of the first preachers of his incomparable and blessed Gospel.  These books came into the world, stamped with unmistakable signs of a Divine origin perfectly unique.  They were sons of God amongst the children of men—Divine wisdom visiting the earth in human form, thought after thought, like angel after angel, coming down from heaven, with a countenance like lightning, with raiment white as snow, yet speaking in tones of meek assurance to affrighted souls, telling them not to fear, because the crucified Redeemer of mankind had risen from the dead.  Such books have, indeed, a life within them; a life truly, and without any hyperbole, immortal, to attempt to kill which would be as idle as it would be impious, for it would be to strike a blow at that which, above everything else on the face of the earth, is an image of God.

And numbers of books since then, without pretending to rival them, have caught more or less of their divine spirit.  Human minds replenished with instructions derived from these unparalleled sources have communicated their thoughts to mankind—thoughts of such a character, so morally and religiously superior to anything known in lands unblessed by these gifts of inspiration, as to declare their lineage and descent to be of that divine race of which the ancestors were the first-born children of celestial light.  A precious inheritance of Christian literature has thus descended to modern times, surrounding us with intellectual and spiritual advantages, which many are slow to acknowledge, because unable to estimate.  Yet it is the heirloom of our churches and our families, laid up on the shelves of our libraries, and what is still better, I hope, that its effect upon us mingles with our daily life.

The discovery of printing, in the providence of God, although it cannot add to the immortality of Christian thought in itself, has contributed a new method, first of perpetuating in their original forms all expressions of truth, whether human or Divine, and next, of multiplying such expressions, in the same original form, so as to fill the world with them, and to give to immortal wisdom a sort of visible and palpable ubiquity.  And extremely interesting it is to notice, that the Bible, or the Psalter, was certainly the first book of any considerable size which came forth from the press, whence “we may see in imagination this venerable and splendid volume leading up the crowded myriads of its followers, and imploring, as it were, a blessing on the new art, by dedicating its first fruits to the service of heaven.”  A mighty revolution has, no doubt, been wrought by the invention of printing.  It has not diminished the force of spoken words, it never can supersede the necessity of the living voice as the chief means of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, it never can destroy the enchantment of human eloquence; but it narrows the sphere of instruction from the pulpit, it supersedes the continuance of the ancient practice when preachers at Paul’s Cross took up the questions of the day, and discussed them in their homilies; it hands over to the press, as a more convenient field for discussion, a number of instructive and important topics, whilst it provides for the diffusion of religious knowledge in all sorts of ways, and in all sorts of places, far beyond the reach of any preacher’s, or any missionary’s voice.  At the same time it gathers up in the best form, and perpetuates to the latest age, and circulates to the end of the world, the richest utterances of the Christian ministry.  The voice from the pulpit has lost somewhat of its range of themes; it cannot now announce ecclesiastical and political news, as it did once; but it has a special work still to do, through the human countenance, the human eye, the human lips, as it exhibits well-known truth and inculcates familiar lessons, appealing to the heart and calling forth our sensibilities and sympathies as nothing else can ever do.  And after all the lamentations poured forth by some, and all the taunts flung out by others, the pulpit still remains an unrivalled power—unrivalled in the demand for its exercise, and unrivalled in the supply of its proper spiritual effects, even the conversion and edification of souls.  But the press, although we do not count it a rival, but rather as a helper, in the one great field of Christian instruction, is doing, and will do a work, which all the preachers and speakers in Christendom can never overtake and accomplish.  Its power in the dissemination of the Gospel is surprising beyond what we can imagine, until we come to deeply ponder the subject in our minds; and the obligation resting upon us to employ such power for this sacred purpose is most obvious, most solemn, most pressing.

II.

The books to which St. John particularly refers are books about Christ.

He is thinking chiefly of his own Gospel, and of the other three Gospels to which he intended this to be a supplement; these four evangelical records being, in modern phrase, four historical tracts—tracts such as had never been written before, such as have never been written since.  It is an inexpressible blessing to have the four together, to have them bound within the same covers.  They constitute a perfect unity, a harmonious whole; but the unity must not render us unmindful of the distinct and characteristic impress borne by each.  On dwelling upon the whole, we must be careful to assign its proper individual character to every part.  Four distinct witnesses supply their respective contributions of knowledge respecting our Divine Lord and Master.  Each relates what he knows from his own point of view; each gives his own impression of the manifold life and mission of the world’s Saviour; each leaves in his own monograph the signature of his own habits of thought and of expression; each paints the Divine portrait in his own style.  And most precious is it to the intelligent and devout Christian to have a clear and distinct idea of the main peculiarities of the four, looking at them carefully one by one.  Harmonies of the Gospels have their use; but they are not used as they ought, they are much abused, if they are suffered to soften down the lines of distinction between Matthew and Mark, between Mark and Luke, between Luke and John.  Any attempt made to put together four portraits of one person, painted from different points of view, placed on the canvas in different positions, brought out in different relations of light and shade, so as to destroy what is peculiar to each artist, would be a mischievous process, and would diminish the extent of our knowledge, instead of promoting the correctness of our conceptions.  We value four pictures of a great hero painted by four different masters; we do not wish to blend the memories of them in our minds, so as to merge their varied ideals of one reality; we would not, on any account, sacrifice in any of them a single line of drawing, a single tint of colour.  We should deprecate the endeavour to destroy a touch here, and a stroke there, under pretence of making the pictures exactly alike.  We would infinitely rather have them left unaltered, in all the freshness of their original colouring, than have a single engraving, however carefully and exquisitely executed, which aimed at a harmonious rendering of the four.  We prefer these divine productions as they separately stand, each taken by itself, each a beautiful tractate complete in itself, given from God, through the hands of the human writer, to a single volume, made up of the four, cut into fragments, and patched together under a very fallible, although a very skilful editorship.  The Acts, the Epistles, the Apocalypse, form a second division of divine tracts explanatory of the Gospels—or illustrative of the impressions and effects produced by them upon the hearts and minds of Christ’s earliest followers—or inculcatory of the glorious doctrines of the evangelical revelation in their practical bearings on human characters and consciences—or poetically prophetic of things to come in the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—a Divine hand in them opening a window upon the scenes of futurity, some of which strike the heart with terror, others of which make it leap for joy.

This collection of tracts forming the New Testament, or New Covenant of man’s redemption, it is the duty of every one of us diligently and devoutly to examine; not simply taking it up by fragments, by little bits, by pieces torn out of their proper places, and without any respect to the connection in which they stand; nor studying it chiefly through the medium of other books, whether paraphrases or commentaries, or through the medium of sermons, lectures, or other modes of oral instruction.  Let the Divine tracts be studied themselves.  Let them not only be read from time to time, chapter by chapter alone, but sometimes let them be read throughout continuously, Gospel by Gospel, Epistle by Epistle, so that an impression, complete and distinct, of each Evangelist’s history and each Apostolic letter, may be left upon the memory.  Above all, let them not be read cursorily, in haste, as one might read a novel, but slowly, patiently, thoughtfully, weighing word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph; and with all this reading and pondering, let there be combined earnest prayer to the great Author of revelation, that he would open the reader’s eyes to see the riches of his own comprehensive word.

But beyond these books or tracts are others, thank God, in abundant numbers, which also relate to Christ.  In our devout gratitude for the supreme gift of Scripture, let us not be unmindful of the subordinate gifts of human literature, imbued more or less with the spirit of Scripture.  We would insist upon the marked difference between the Bible and all other books, between Divine writ and humanly written divinity; yet would we constantly remember that genius and talent employed in the service of the truth are endowments conferred by the Father of lights, and that to think we can exalt the Bible by running down other books, and to imagine that we honour the God of inspiration by depreciating the learning and the thoughtfulness which he has given to his children, is one of those wretchedly ignorant and fanatical mistakes by which well-meaning and pious people do almost as much mischief as the most irreligious enemies of Christianity.  And beyond the limits of Divinity, properly so called, whether doctrinal or practical, there are immense regions of literature capable of being touched and beautified as with new sunshine through the influence of Gospel truth.  Science may thus be improved and hallowed, so as to bear witness—as most assuredly nature ever silently does, whether we notice or not, to a Divine order underlying the constitution of all things, and to a Divine Sovereign, a living, glorious, infinite Person, who is the foundation and the administrator of all that order—so as to bear witness to a reign of law, or rather to the reign of Him who is the Author of nature, and who, through those laws which we are enabled to decipher, is reigning over all time and all worlds.  History, also, may be improved and hallowed, so as to record events in the light of a Divine providence, and to exhibit character in the light of revealed truth, and so as to show, in human judgments of men and things, the justice, the impartiality, and the genial good-will which Christian morality alone can inspire.  Poetry, also, may be improved and hallowed, so as not only to contribute to the service of song in the house of the Lord, but so as to perpetuate the memory of the good, to create ideals of truth, wisdom, and holiness; to bring out those hidden streams of harmony which flow through invisible channels in nature; and to repeat and explain those whisperings of the soul which are confirmatory of the highest truths.  In short, Christianity may set its stamp on all literature, not by printing the Divine name here and there, not by patching upon the pages of a book texts of Scripture irrelevant to the subject in hand; but by the presence of a conscientious, honest, true, devout, and sweet spirit, which cannot fail to make itself felt wherever it exists.

III.

And now, looking at the multitude of books existing or coming into existence—such an immense, such an ever-increasing multitude, that we may adopt the hyperbole of the text, and say it seems as if the world could not contain them—what is the use which we ought to make of them?

A taste for literature is a natural instinct in some, and an accomplishment acquired by others; and the duty of creating it if we have it not, and of nurturing it if we have, is plainly recognised in the New Testament.  “Give attendance to reading.”  If the exhortation primarily applies to those who are teachers of their fellow-men, it cannot fail to belong also to others in their measure and degree.  Numerous methods of obtaining knowledge no doubt there are; but many of the forms of knowledge, many of the benefits of knowledge, many of the pleasures of knowledge, can be secured only by means of books.  The person deficient in a taste for reading misses a large amount of benefit and enjoyment familiar to those who are blessed with this endowment—an endowment which, though, as intimated already, in some cases a natural instinct, may in other cases be acquired and won as a studious accomplishment.  Tastes may be formed by study, by attention, by desire, by effort, by practice—tastes of all kinds, and this amongst the rest; and looking at the rich heritage of blessedness which it brings, it must appear, to every one who sufficiently thinks of it, worth the sacrifices of other and inferior things, when such sacrifices are found essential to its attainment and culture.  Upon the young especially I would enforce the duty of which I speak, begging and beseeching them to contrast it with those vain, frivolous, worthless employments, not to mention the very worst, to which fashion and example in the present day invite so many thoughtless crowds.

When I speak of a taste for reading, let me explain myself.  It is sometimes supposed to exist where it does not.  There may be a fondness for certain books, which in no way implies the possession of what we are commending now.  There are fictions in the present day, properly termed sensational, and other kinds of books of a similar description, to the perusal of which many are addicted without any idea of self-improvement, without any love of knowledge whatever, without a single care respecting truth, without an atom of taste, or a scintillation of what can be called intellectual pleasure.  I cannot call that a taste for reading; it is simply a craving after excitement, and may be as sensuous and sensual as are certain desires confessedly vicious; and when it does not reach such a depth as that, it may be a feeling almost as vain, frivolous, and worthless as some other tendencies which never clothe themselves in literary costume.  Where a pure taste and a genuine predilection for reading exist, it will be discriminating, such as all pure tastes, all genuine predilections ever are.  A taste for painting is a taste for good pictures; a taste for music is a taste for good singing and for good instrumental performance; so, likewise, a taste for reading is a taste for what is worth reading.  I have no narrow views as to the class of books which may be perused.  Some persons are qualified and required to take a wider range than others in this respect—to make excursions into fields of thought where it may not be wise for others to follow.  As to this matter, no universal rules can be laid down.  Individual capacities, habits, and callings, must determine the question as to the extent to which inquisitiveness and curiosity should go.  But one law as to the judgment of what we read there is, fixed and unalterable.  Whatever relates to morality and religion must be tested by Divine authority upon such subjects.  The Bible is not intended to teach us science, philosophy, and profane history; but it is intended to teach us what is moral and religious, and, therefore, to it should questions involving these peerless considerations be always brought.  As Christians, taking the Bible for your ride, how can you subscribe to the doctrines of any teacher of divinity or of ethics who contradicts the teaching of the Word of God?  “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”  With care and discrimination should we sift out whatever is false or erroneous in the writings of men.  I do not say that we are not to read what is false or erroneous; for how, until we have read it, can we tell whether any book be discoloured or disfigured with these dark stains? but having candidly and honestly examined the contents of a work, let us judicially, with a pure heart, a clear head, and a firm hand, separate the precious from the vile.  “What is the chaff to the wheat?” saith the Lord.

And further, it is manifest that in our reading we should have respect to the nurture of our spiritual life.  Secular instruction and mental improvement are proper ends to be sought by us all; but that which constitutes pre-eminently the welfare of our souls ought to receive our most serious and conscientious attention.  To strengthen within us Christian faith, hope, and love—to bring ourselves into closer union with our blessed Saviour—to devote ourselves more thoroughly to his service and glory, ought to be the first and chief design of every one.  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  But as to the course of reading to be adopted for these high and incomparable ends, it is difficult and even impossible to lay down rules; because, as men’s minds are so differently constituted, as dispositions are so differently formed, the class of books adapted to promote the welfare of some may not be suited to the needs of another.  Biography, perhaps, most stimulates one person; psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, perhaps, most inspire another; plain, practical addresses to the heart and conscience may, perhaps, better stir and animate a third.  Let each consult his own peculiarities, and choose accordingly what he shall read for his spiritual edification.  We are quite sure that to mark out the same course of religious reading for all kinds of people is labour lost; it betrays great ignorance of human nature, of the wonderful varieties of spiritual life, and of the diversified exigencies and wants of different minds.  What any one finds most helpful to himself, he is very apt to think will be found equally helpful to another; but this may prove a serious mistake, and may lead to injury where benefit was designed.  Then, beyond stimulus and inspiration, there is needful for the healthful development of Christianity in human experience, character, and conduct, a plain, simple, solid acquaintance with the things of God—an acquaintance to be sought in a proper direction, in quarters, perhaps, where there is little to regale the fancy or gratify the taste, but much to feed the soul with knowledge and understanding.  Surely no Christian man, no Christian woman, can neglect to consult in these ways the wants of spiritual life.  Individuals who never ask in reference to what they read, “Will this be beneficial or injurious to my highest interests?” are culpably negligent and careless, and are running immense risks.  They are in danger far greater than that of persons who, with delicate constitutions, set at defiance medical caution and advice, and are determined to eat and drink whatever they please.  And before quitting this point, let me add that it is of the last importance we should apply to ourselves conscientiously, and in the sight of God, what we learn from the stores of Christian practical literature.  For, whilst recreation and amusement may be wisely sought at times from other departments of reading, recreation and amusement are not the objects to be sought in the reading of strictly religious books: far higher objects come before us there—even the purification of our thoughts, the lifting our affections upwards to the supreme Author of all Good, and the fastening of our hearts on Christ, the only name given under heaven whereby we can be saved; and to secure these objects a different frame of mind must be maintained from that in which we indulge when we take up a volume simply to relieve a jaded mind or to while away an idle hour.

IV.

If one use of the many books in the world be our own edification, another use to be made of them is the spiritual welfare of others.

Although it follows as a necessary consequence that if Christian literature be available for the first of these purposes it is available also for the second, we find it very difficult to impress some minds with a due conviction of the value and importance of such instrumentality in promoting the highest interests of our fellow-men.  There are many whom it is hard enough to inspire with zeal for the direct conversion of their friends and neighbours by means of circulating religious tracts; but there are more whom it is still harder to convince that spiritual benefit may be indirectly communicated to large classes of society by purifying the streams of general literature, and by promoting the issue and circulation of good books of various descriptions.  Yet the former kind of zeal—zeal in circulating tracts for strictly religious ends—is supported no less by facts than by sound reasoning.  A good man, Richard Knill, used to say in his own simple, emphatic, earnest style, “One tract may save a soul.”  That simple saying he was wont to establish and illustrate by incidents which had occurred under his own notice; and incidents full of this evidential force, and fraught with heart-stirring influence, are accumulating every year.  And as to zeal in the second direction, a conviction of the good which may be effected by the circulation and diffusion of works upon instructive and interesting subjects, imbued with a Christian tone and spirit, is deepened by a consideration of the present state of the world, with all its mental activity and inquisitiveness; the habit of reading now on the increase in all circles; and the instances frequently occurring, through the means just indicated, of the removal of prejudice, and the commenced preparation for something better in certain minds athirst for knowledge.  I am perfectly sure, and my confidence is the result of long reflection and experience, that Christians have not yet paid one tithe of the attention which it deserves to this pressing claim of the present day.  A great deal of money now injudiciously but benevolently frittered away with the hope of some immediate brilliant spiritual results, would, I am satisfied, be invested far more wisely, and, in the end, with a deeper and wider return of advantage, if devoted to the less imposing object of leavening our current literature more and more with the sentiments and principles of genuine Christianity.

And now we are brought face to face with the Religious Tract Society and its very powerful claims upon our sympathy and support.  It has been in existence upwards of seventy years, and is one of those vigorous institutions which struck their earliest roots into the Christian mind of England when our fathers were terrified by the storms of the French Revolution.  Those institutions were not the seedlings of a fanatical panic; rather did they arise as healthy offshoots from God’s Tree of Life, to be planted by the hands of disinterested charity and cheerful hope.  It was a movement of Christian philanthropy, taking a specific form, but instinct with large-hearted and manifold zeal; for out of the early conferences of its friends sprung the idea of the British and Foreign Bible Society; and it was in the committee-room of the Tract Society that the memorable words were uttered, “Bibles for Wales”—“Why not for the world?”  The Tract Society may be regarded, if not as the mother, yet as the nurse of the Bible Society.  The elder breathes the unsectarian temper, the Catholic spirit so pre-eminently manifested by the younger; and, like it, it aims only at bringing souls into the all-comprehensive flock of the one all-sufficient Redeemer.  It eschews controversy on controversial questions, and throws its energies into a great crusade against infidelity, falsehood, sin.  “Controversy at times,” it was remarked in the report for 1869, “may arise, or local circumstances may exist which tend to divide sections of Christians one from another; but should not this tendency be resisted in presence of the weightier controversies which the whole Church in all parts is called to wage against ignorance and error—against superstition and unbelief—against the practical godlessness of the pleasure-seekers and mammon-lovers amongst all classes?”  This last is the only controversy in which the Tract Society engages; and it may be expected, therefore, to rally to itself all those who deem the spread of the truth of higher importance than similarity of opinion on the politico-ecclesiastical questions which are disturbing European society.  And this the Committee have no doubt that it will do.  The Society’s motto is—“Christ Jesus, and Him crucified,”—the only Saviour of the lost, the only and the all-sufficient Prophet, Priest, and King of his Church.  To bring every thought of both young and old, rich and poor, scholar and teacher, into subjection to Him, is its one object.  And it therefore claims the prayers and the support of all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth.

The object of the Society is twofold—embracing both the purposes which I have just been enforcing:—The conversion of souls, sought by direct and appropriate means; and the general benefit of all classes of society, by a supply of works in general literature purified by the presiding power of Christian truth, righteousness, love, and wisdom.

The first object was originally the only one, and has ever been the chief; and the good done by the religious tracts which the Society has circulated, nobody can calculate.  Who can tell the blessings conveyed in “The Dairyman’s Daughter” and “The Young Cottager,” tracts which, though old, can never be out of date—tracts which have been very rarely equalled, and, I believe, never surpassed?  Others less striking have been the instruments of vast usefulness.  The annual circulation from the London depot, I see, is 41,044,772; the total of issues, including those which are from foreign societies, connected with this, 49,000,000.  The total circulation of tracts for seventy-one years reaches the enormous amount of nearly 1,335,000,000.  It would seem, looking at these almost incredible numbers, as if the world could not contain so many books written of Him; and yet how many, many millions of the men and women in the world know nothing of Him, and have never yet been reached by any of these publications!  What shoals have been and still are coming forth on the other side, full of infidelity and superstition and vice!  So that, after all, the work of this Society is not half done.

The second object—the hallowing of literature with a Christian spirit—has increasingly occupied the attention of the Society of late years, but never, in the slightest degree, to the neglect of the first.  The catalogue of its published books includes, besides solid divinity, lively histories, pleasant biographies, sparkling fictions, religious, moral, and descriptive poetry.  Old works are brought out in modern dress under the care of competent editors; works entirely new are issued under the sanction of the Committee, which renders itself responsible for their contents.  The pencil of the artist, the burin of the engraver, are employed in the illustration and adornment of many of the publications; and in an artistic as well as literary respect, “The Leisure Hour” and the “Sunday at Home” stand deservedly high amongst our popular periodicals.  They are making way amongst the intelligent and the tasteful, conciliating prejudice, producing favourable impressions of Christian truth, and guiding the young into right paths.

The prophet Ezekiel stood in the court of the Temple at Jerusalem, and watched the flow of waters issuing “from under the threshold of the house eastward,” and descending the slope of Zion into the Valley of Jehoshaphat; he watched and followed the man with the measuring line in his hand through the waters, which were first ancle and then knee deep, and which, as they proceeded along the limestone gorge, rose up to the loins, and then became waters to swim in—a river which could not be passed over.  When it reached the Dead Sea it healed the waters of it, and where it came everything lived.  Then the prophet saw, in vision, groves, orchards, gardens, rising on each side of this river.  Such is the Old Testament type of the Gospel of Christianity.  It may be applied to all forms of its influence and action.  We venture to employ it as a figure of what this Society is doing.  It issues fertilizing, life-giving, and healing streams, because it is filling the world with books written about the many things which Jesus did, and is doing, and will do for the sons of men.  “And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”

ABSTRACT OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST REPORT
OF THE
RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1870.

The object of the Religious Tract Society, like that of the public ministry of the Word, is to impress the contents of the sacred volume—its doctrines, its precepts, its promises, its prospects—separately, or in varied combinations, upon the consciences and affections of men according to their spiritual needs.  In pursuing this object, it strives to imitate the Divine book itself, and to teach, not by doctrine only, but by history, biography, poetry, parable; and to tinge its information or instruction, as to the events of every-day life, with the spirit of pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father—disinterested benevolence and personal holiness.

There have been issued, during the year, THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE new publications, of which ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE were Tracts.  The Books include a revised Quarto Paragraph New Testament, and two Parts of the Old; a historic Survey of the Papacy; a Grammar and Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, and many of a general character adapted for both adults and youth; and amongst the Periodicals, a new one entitled “The True Catholic.”

FOREIGN OPERATIONS.

EUROPE

FRANCE.

To the Paris Tract Society, the Committee have voted £100 to reduce the price of the Almanach des Bons Conseils, £120 towards the free circulation of 100,000 tracts, including a monthly grant to the agents of the Home Missionary Society, and £300 for the publication of various tracts monthly in editions of 10,000 each.

To Toulouse, £300 has been given; and to M. Puaux, £100.

Grants have also been made to the Strasbourg Society of £10; to M. Jenkins, of Morlaix, for Breton publications, £19 10s. 5d.; and to Pastor Maillard, of La Mothe, £20, for the publication of a Hymn Book.

BELGIUM AND HOLLAND.

The Committee have furnished the Belgian Evangelical Society with the means for publishing an edition of 3,000 of a new translation of the Rev. Newman Hall’s “Come to Jesus,” and 5,000 each of eleven Flemish tracts.  They have also continued their subsidies to the Flemish Christian monthly periodical, and, for a period of the year, to the French Chrétien Belge.

Rotterdam.—M. Herklotts has issued from the auxiliary—Tracts, 57,181; Books, 1,747; Handbills, 13,050; total, 71,978.  The “Sinner’s Friend” has been reprinted, and 7,050 copies issued.

Amsterdam.—During the past year, a Workmen’s Exhibition was held in this city, and the Committee sent to Pastor Adama v. Scheltema £10 in English tracts, £10 in foreign, and £10 in Dutch tracts.  A handsome kiosk was erected for their reception.  They were wisely distributed and well received.

SWITZERLAND.

Grants voted to Switzerland, £146 14s.

RUSSIA.

St. Petersburg.—Twenty-three new tracts have been printed—121,000 copies—at a cost of £80 to the Society.  They are chiefly translations from English tracts, and all contain the Gospel of our Lord.

The sales, including nearly 8,000 German tracts and books, have reached during the past year 115,823 copies.  The gratuitous circulation has been, in addition, 2,600 tracts.

At Riga, M. Loeswitz still pursues his tract publication in the German, Lettish, Esthonian, and Polish languages.  His scheme involved the printing of 90,000 tracts and books in these tongues at a cost of over £300, towards which the Committee contributed £100.

SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

The Stockholm Missionary Union, of which the Rev. Mr. Wiberg is Secretary, has issued sixteen new tracts, in editions of 10,000 each, at a cost of £44, towards which the Committee have voted £20.

The gratuitous circulation during the year amounts to 80,000, by the hands of sixteen agents employed in various parts of the kingdom.

Through the Rev. J. Storjohann, the Norwegian Chaplain to the Port of London, the Committee have printed six tracts in Norse, amounting to 15,500 copies.

GERMANY.

Hamburg.—The Lower Saxony Tract Society has received the usual grant of £350.  It has printed during the year 870,000 publications, and circulated by sale and gift 1,060,000.

Mr. Oncken’s circulation for the year ending March 31, 1870, was 1,030,306.  The grants made to him have been £300 for tract printing, £100 for the purchase of tracts from other German Societies, and £13 for Spanish and Russian tracts.

The Bremen Society, conducted by Dr. Jacobi, has received £85, principally for German versions of the Society’s English tracts.

The miscellaneous grants are two of £20 each to Mr. Lehmann, of Berlin, one of whose distributors has been imprisoned for giving away a tract under prohibited circumstances; £30 to Dr. Adelberg, of Erlangen; £10 to Pastor Tretzel, Nüremberg; £20 to Nassau; £30 to Baden; and £20 English books for the daughter of the late Dr. Fliedner, at Hilden.

HUNGARY.

The sums expended in this field amount to £460:—35,000 copies of tracts in Hungarian have been printed, and 13,000 in Slavonian.

ITALY.

The books printed at the Typographia Claudiana, at the cost of the Society, during the past year amounted to 40,500 copies.

Grants voted to Italy, £819 4s.

SPAIN.

From November, 1868, to February, 1870, 1,500,000 tracts have been printed at Madrid, at a cost of £1,490.

“Tracts are a mighty power rightly used, but tracts can be wasted and the tract brought into contempt.  The rule we desire to see carried out in Spain is, tracts given to all who purchase Gospels; an assortment to purchasers of Bibles and Testaments, given to those who can read, or who have sons or children who can read for them.”

TURKEY.

The works printed during the past year at the cost of the Committee by the American Missionaries in Constantinople, who have received the usual grant of £300, have amounted to 13,000 copies in Arabo-Turkish; 8,000 in Armenian; 3,000 in Armeno-Turkish; and 6,000 in Bulgarian.

ASIATIC OPERATIONS.

INDIA.

The report from India speaks of movement and progress both in printing and circulation.

Madras writes:—“The past year records the largest number of distinct publications that have ever been published in any one year.  The average number of new publications has only been seven: this year seventy-seven distinct publications have been issued, sixty-four of which are new tracts and books.  The printing is about the average.”

From Bombay, Mr. Bowen says:—“Our circulation is much in advance of what it ever was.  Our financial condition is good.”

From Colombo Mr. Murdoch says:—“The subscriptions are somewhat in advance of the preceding year; but the most encouraging feature is the great increase, amounting to 45 per cent. beyond former sales.”

The amount of paper granted to the various printing presses during the past year has been considerably increased, being 3,062 reams; while 754,110 books and tracts have been printed during the year by the various Indian Auxiliaries.

CHINA.

The total grants during the year have amounted to £247.  Returns of publications printed not received in time for the Report.

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

The grants of tracts and Sunday-school libraries made to this part of the field amount to £546.

WEST INDIES, ETC.

Including Jamaica, Antigua, Turk’s Island, Demerara, Cuba, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, have received grants to the amount of £169.

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, TASMANIA.

The grants during the year to our brethren in these distant parts of the globe were as follows:—

Adelaide, £35 14s.; Goulburn, £5; Hobart Town, £13; Melbourne, £10; Victoria—Miscellaneous, £22; Sydney, £104 10s.; Launceston, £6; Queensland, £7 15s.; Miscellaneous, £10; Total, £204.

AFRICA.

The grants made to this continent amount to £73.

FUNDS.

The benevolent receipts, including legacies, amount to £15,479; but as £500 of this sum is by the will of the testator, Mr. William Hollins, directed to be kept distinct, the dividends upon it have alone been available, thus reducing the amount to £14,979.

The grants for the year, including money, paper, and publications, have amounted to £17,223, making the excess of grants over the receipts £2,244.

CIRCULATION.

The total circulation for the year is about forty-one millions of publications from the Home Depository; and about eight millions more from Foreign Depôts.

PRIVILEGES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

All Subscribers to the Parent Society are allowed a discount of 25 per cent. on all their purchases; while the Subscription itself is appropriated to the Society’s Grants at Home and Abroad.

DEPOSITORIES: 56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD;
164, PICCADILLY; AND 31 WESTERN ROAD, BRIGHTON.

SOCIETY’S PERIODICALS.

THE TRUE CATHOLIC.

Published in the Interests of Scriptural Truth.  One Penny, Monthly.

THE COTTAGER AND ARTIZAN.

A Monthly Periodical for the Labouring Classes.  In large type, with fine Illustrations.  Price One Penny.

The Volume for 1869, with cover printed in oil colours, 1s. 6d.

NEW SERIES OF
THE TRACT MAGAZINE.

Monthly, price One Penny.  For Loan Circulation and Family Reading.  Volume for 1869, 1s. 6d., with coloured Frontispiece and Engravings.

THE CHILD’S COMPANION AND JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR.

Published Monthly, price One Penny.  Printed in small quarto size, and embellished with large tinted and other Engravings by the best English and Foreign Artists.

The Volume for 1869, 1s. 6d., fancy cover; 2s. extra cloth, gilt.

THE LEISURE HOUR.

A Family Journal of Instruction and Recreation.  Coloured and Wood Engravings.  Weekly, One Penny; Monthly Parts, Sixpence.

THE SUNDAY AT HOME.

A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading.  Coloured and Wood Engravings.  Weekly, One Penny; Monthly Parts, Sixpence.

PARAGRAPH BIBLE, with Emendations.—The Holy Bible, according to the Authorized Versions, in Paragraphs and Sections, with Emendations of the Text; also Maps, Chronological Tables, and Marginal References.  Royal 4to, large type.  Part I., Genesis to Deuteronomy, 6s.  Part II., Joshua to Esther, 8s.; together in boards, 16s.  Part V., The Gospels, 4s.  Part VI., The Epistles, 4s. 6d.  The New Testament, complete in one vol., 10s. 6d., boards.

This important work, upon which several eminent scholars have been engaged, has been in course of preparation for many years.  The aim has been to give to English readers the benefit of all such emendations of the text as are valuable, and have the sanction of the best authorities, while avoiding such as are either doubtful or trivial.

THE ANNOTATED PARAGRAPH BIBLE.—The Old and New Testaments, according to the Authorized Versions, arranged in Paragraphs and Parallelisms, with Explanatory Notes, Prefaces, and New Selection of References.  Maps and Engravings.  Super-royal 8vo.  Old Testament, 14s. boards; New Testament, 7s.  Complete in one vol., 20s., boards.  (For other styles and prices, see Catalogue.)

TRACTS PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. [i]

FIRST SERIES—consisting of doctrinal statements, appeals to the heart and conscience, refutations of Romanism and infidelity, addresses to various classes and ages, etc.  About 800 sorts, at the rate of 400 pages for One Shilling.

SECOND SERIES, principally intended for sale by hawkers and other itinerant vendors.  Also suited for general distribution.  140 sorts, each consisting of 8 pages, sold at 2s. 4d. per 100.

BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES are of a larger size, each containing 24 pages, and consist of memoirs of eminent Christians.

NARRATIVE SERIES—containing true narratives and sketches of character, specially suited for loan circulation.  About 240 sorts, sold at the rate of 400 pages for One Shilling.

EVERY WEEK.—A new Tract is published every Wednesday in the Year, entitled “Every Week,” designed for systematic or occasional distribution among all classes.  Each consists of four pages, with illustrations or ornamental headings, and is sold at 1s. per 100.  178 are issued.  Also in Sixpenny Packets.

TRACTS in Large Type, a considerable variety, suited to the aged and those who can read but little.  Sold at the rate of 400 pages for One Shilling.

WAYSIDE BOOKS, in packets, suited for general distribution, and for inclosure in letters.  Price 6d. per Packet.

THE SEPARATE SERIES, for circulation among the fallen, etc., 28 in number.

BOOK TRACTS, in neat covers, and Envelope Series, for circulation amongst the higher classes, through letters, etc.

CHILDREN’S TRACTS, 192 in number, printed in 32mo, with engravings, and sold at 6d. per 100.

HANDBILLS, illustrated, at 10d. per 100, and without illustrations at 6d. per 100.

Catalogues of the Society’s Publications.

1.  General Catalogue of Books—

Containing numerous valuable Works—Biblical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology—Devotional and Experimental—Anti-Romanist—Anti-Infidel—Biographical—Domestic Life—For Soldiers and Sailors—For the Afflicted and Bereaved—For the Aged—Sermons, etc.  Also a large variety of Books for the Young, suited to all ranks of society, bound in various styles, and at prices ranging from One Farthing to Ten Shillings; Picture Cards, etc.

2.  A Classified Catalogue of Books—

Arranged according as the Works are designed for Adults or the Young.

3.  Catalogue of Tracts, Handbills, Sermons, etc.

4.  Catalogue of Foreign Books and Tracts—

French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Modern Greek, etc.

A Copy of any of the above may be had on application at the Depositories.

FOOTNOTES.

[i]  In the printed pamphlet this section comes before the title page.—DP.

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Table of Contents

- CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

- CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

- I.

- II.

- III.

- IV.

- ABSTRACT OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST REPORT OF THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1870.

- FOREIGN OPERATIONS.

- EUROPE

- SWITZERLAND.

- RUSSIA.

- SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

- GERMANY.

- HUNGARY.

- ITALY.

- SPAIN.

- TURKEY.

- ASIATIC OPERATIONS.

- BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

- WEST INDIES, ETC.

- AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, TASMANIA.

- AFRICA.

- FUNDS.

- CIRCULATION.

- PRIVILEGES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

- SOCIETY’S PERIODICALS.

- TRACTS PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. [i]

- Catalogues of the Society’s Publications.

- FOOTNOTES.

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE