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And he persisted in quoting from the Scriptures in support of the charges made against the canons, that the perplexed court resolved to lay the case before the council of Besançon. Meanwhile, Farel preached in the streets, and one day the people around him opened the doors of an hospital chapel, and literally forced him into the pulpit. Surveying his audience from that position, he observed, "As Christ was born in a manger at Bethlehem, so this hospital, this abode of the sick and the poor, is to-day become his birthplace in the town of Neufchatel." And, in the spirit of John Knox, the iconoclast seized some painted and carved images and threw them down, breaking them in pieces. Not unnaturally, the Romanists sought the protection of the civil power. The appeal did not serve their cause. The governor was in a difficulty; the Princess Joan was in Paris otherwise engaged than in troubling about religious disputes, and the people were in earnest. They begged the priests to give up the mass, but "by the mass" they would not. The magistrates were disposed to grant the cathedral to the Reformers, and Farel grew bold when he knew this. Will you not," said he, in preaching to the people, "honour the gospel as much as the other party does the mass? If this superstitious act is performed in the high church, shall not the gospel be preached there also?" The people responded, "To the church, to the church!" and hurrying Farel along, they climbed the steep street of the castle, forced their way past all the canons and priests, opened the gates of the "Church of Our Lady," pushed aside the canons and their followers, and placed the preacher in the pulpit. The gospel, they argued, had, according to the ruling of the magistrates, a right there, and "it appeared to them a very good matter to take down the altars and have preaching there." The whole thing so far was done without any riotous display; no insulting. words were addressed to the priests, and though the people were determined, they were respectful. Farel preached a sermon that told powerfully upon the assembly; the hearts of many were deeply moved, souls were converted, and cries were heard on every hand," We will follow the evangelical religion, both we and our children, and in it we will live and die." Believing that the example of the pious king Josiah should be imitated, they demolished the idols, and to the horror of the Romanists, not one was spared. It was here they got riotous and rude, and the cleansing of the Augean stable was not done without deeds which cannot be approved. The governor was powerless to control the people. The Reformation was installed in the hearts of the people.

Pernicious Literature.

AN OCCASIONAL PAPER OF THE RELIGIOUS TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY OF

SCOTLAND.

T is well known that the Press is very busy in these days, sending forth its

that Satan and his emissaries are employing the Press and the arts of the engraver and photographer to a fearful extent, and with alarming success, to ruin the souls of men. To throw some light on this subject, and to lead to anxious thought and earnest dealing with this gigantic evil is the purpose of this paper. The cheap pernicious literature of the day appears in various forms. Intended especially for Sunday reading, several weekly newspapers are published at a penny, with an immense amount of reading, and giving much prominence and fulness of detail to all trials before the Police and Divorce Courts, and to all cases of licentiousness and crime. There are also dozens of penny and halfpenny magazines and serials issued weekly, and penny novels. Of these publications, the contents, with few exceptions, are highly sensational, and often made up of tales of intrigue, burglary, seduction, murder, and every species of

crime, which the writer invests with a variety of attractions. The criminal appears as a hero to be admired, he outwits the police and escapes with impunity, and lives merrily and in plenty without the drudgery of daily toil. Then the engraver employs his art to picture vividly what the pen has described, and thus greatly augments the mischief wrought by a corrupt press, whose issues are almost always profusely and strikingly illustrated.

These publications are sold in immense quantities not only in London and other large cities, but over the whole country. Their circulation is believed to extend to two or three hundred thousand weekly, and a variety of devices is employed to increase their circulation. Sometimes No. 2 is given gratis with No. 1, and a large picture with the twentieth number. Lotteries are also established in connection with them. Purchasers receive cheques entitling them to a chance of obtaining a watch or pencil-case, or other article, as a prize. And as a penny stamp must be sent in for each registration, and the purchasers are so numerous, the proprietors, while thus increasing their sale, probably suffer no loss by this arrangement.

Photography is also largely employed now, but with more secrecy, to debase and corrupt the minds of our population. Photographs and stereoscopic slides, both native and foreign, licentious and obscene in the highest degree, are largely and widely circulated. Agents travel from town to town to promote their sale. Female pedlars seek customers among servants and women of the lower orders. Catalogues full of vile details, or disgusting titles, are sent over the country. Specimens of these have been forwarded to the Society for the Suppression of Vice, from members of the universities, heads of families, and chaplains in the army and navy. And the last and most atrocious novelty of this kind is the issue of a circular illustrated with miniature photographs of larger obscenities, which are to be forwarded on application.

Who can calculate the amount of evil that is wrought by these vile productions, sent in shoals over the land by the printer and the artist? They are creating a distaste to all sober and profitable reading, stimulating the worst passions of our nature, familiarising the mind with crime, and inciting to its commission; and they are exercising a most exciting and corrupting influence on the young, both male and female, for whom many of them are specially intended. The danger to our nation from this cause has indeed become so manifest and so formidable, that the editors of the leading newspapers, as well as some well-known philanthropists, have felt constrained to raise an alarm, and call on our legislators, the clergy, and the Christian community, carefully to consider this growing evil, and use every means to check it. The Times, the Pall Mall Gazette, the Star, the Daily News, and other papers, have depicted in the strongest terms the dangers that threaten our country through the debasing influences of a cheap and unprincipled press. The Earl of Shaftesbury has again and again raised his warning voice, and said that he had been amazed and alarmed beyond expression to find such an amount of noxious literature in circulation, and the fatal effects produced by it. The Chaplain of Newgate Prison, who is so familiar with all phases of crime, has expressed his surprise at finding recently among the Newgate prisoners so many lads of refined features, well clothed, well educated, and who seem to have had comfortable homes and religious instruction: and he tells us that, on further enquiry, he discovered that all these lads, without one exception, had been in the habit of reading these cheap periodicals, which are now published for the alleged instruction and amusement of the youth of both sexes. The Chaplain of the Middlesex House of Detention has borne the same testimony. And many instances are on record, in which criminals, who have lost their liberty or their lives on account of their crimes, have acknowledged that it was by this means they were first led astray.

Such are the sad facts regarding our cheap popular literature and its results. The important enquiry remains-What measures can we adopt to counteract and supplant it, and save the people from its soul-destroying influence? For years

the penalties of the law have from time to time been inflicted on some of the more gross offenders. The Society for the Suppression of Vice, availing itself of the powers conferred by Lord Campbell's Act, has repeatedly succeeded in obtaining convictions. And the extent to which the iniquitous traffic has been carried on may be inferred from the fact, that "this Society, since its formation, has been enabled to secure the delivery and destruction of 129,681 obscene prints, 16,220 books illustrated with obscene engravings, five tons of letterpress of the same character in sheets, large quantities of infidel and blasphemous publications, 16,005 sheets of obscene songs, etc.; 5,503 obscene cards, snuffboxes, etc.: 844 engraved copper plates, 428 lithographic stones, 95 wood blocks, 11 printing presses, 28 cwt. of type, including stereotype of several entire works of the grossest immorality." But it is manifest that the law supplies no adequate remedy for this evil, and cannot check or diminish it to any great extent. Much of the exciting and mischievous literature of the day cannot be reached by its enactments, and even when it comes within the scope of legal penalty, it has been found very difficult to obtain convictions. And when the delinquent escapes conviction, or when the term of his punishment expires, he, having found his vile trade so profitable, resumes it with fresh zeal, and increased secrecy and caution. Then the expense of prosecution is so great— each case costing on an average £60-a Society with limited funds is constrained to restrict its operations according to the means at its disposal.

It is satisfactory to know that, within the last few years, a large addition has been made to the number of cheap periodicals and serials of a wholesome and edifying kind. Some dozens of these are now to be had, written in the most attractive style, varied and interesting in their contents, illustrated with superior and suitable engravings, and adapted to all classes and ages of readers. So that if we can succeed in introducing these into families, direct their attention to them, and commend them to their perusal, we may hope to see injurious publications to a considerable extent supplanted. Much has no doubt been done with this view by the Pure Literature Society, and other Associations, by Book-agencies, by Colporteurs, and by spontaneous individual effort in many localities. But how much remains to be done, and how much more would be done, if the Christian Church were duly impressed with the deadly influences of a cor-rupt press on the minds and hearts of our people. It is not only sowing tares; it is scattering poison among the community, and it is training and multiplying criminals to an alarming extent. And how to deal most effectually with this evil is one of the most important and urgent inquiries that can occupy the thoughts of the Christian philanthropist at the present time.

About sixteen years ago, this question was very anxiously and prayerfully considered by the Directors of the Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland, when it was discovered by them that vast quantities of pernicious literature were in circulation among the working classes. And it was resolved as an antidote to employ a few pious men as Colporteurs by way of experiment, to go from house to house with a variety of the best and cheapest religious publications, to show them to the people, and use every legitimate means to induce them to buy them. This agency soon became popular and successful beyond all expectation. From year to year the Society's Colporteurs increased in number, and now about 170 are employed, who are spread over all the counties of Scotland and the north of England.*

The labours of Colporteurs are specially fitted to counteract and supplant injurious literature, which is often bought by the people, not from preference, but because none better is thrown in their way. It is amongst the masses who read little, if at all, and where reading is usually confined to what is secular or injurious, that the visits of the Colporteur are chiefly made. He calls on every family that will admit him, leaves a tract, exhibits the varied and attractive

Our own Society at the Tabernacle is small indeed, and we do not know how to make it stronger, but we would gla lly see it merged in some larger effort, and only wish some efficient person were moved to set on foot a great Colportage Society for England.-C. H. S.

contents of his pack, seeks to interest them in his stock, and very often succeeds in inducing them to commence their dealings with him by buying some little religious periodical, which is in most cases read and valued. From month to month his visits are repeated and become ever more welcome. The interest in literature increases through his district. Subscribers for periodicals multiply til they are numbered by hundreds. The habit of reading is formed, and a taste for profitable reading. A demand for books as well as for small publications is created, and the Colporteur does not labour long in his district till the sale of pure literature has become tenfold greater than it was before, and chiefly among those who rarely frequented the shop of the bookseller. By such an agency the ground is preoccupied, where noxious literature has not yet found access. If it has, the Colporteur systematically and perseveringly employs the means most fitted to supersede it, and which have often succeeded in excluding bad publications from families which formerly received them. Indeed, the whole tendency of the agency is to raise the people above low and vicious tastes, and to promote their intelligence, morality, and spiritual improvement. For the Colporteur not only supplies them with wholesome literature, but by his prayers, his friendly intercourse, his profitable conversation, and his Christian example, exercises continuously an edifying and elevating influence on the families of his district, and is a valuable auxiliary both to minister and missionary.

There are still many parts of Scotland not yet occupied by Colporteurs, and the assistance of Christian brethren is earnestly invited, that the Directors of the Society may be enabled to go forward and possess them; and, whenever thirty pounds a-year are guaranteed, they undertake to maintain an agency in any district that may be selected. Our own Society acts upon the same plan. There is certainly no evangelical work on which this sum can be more profitably spent, and how easily might it be raised, if a few friends interested in the spiritual welfare of a locality would co-operate for this purpose.

On Teaching Temperance in Elementary Schools,

IF

BY W. R. SELWAY, ESQ., SCIENTIFIC LECTURER TO THE PASTORS'

COLLEGE.

F an apology were needed for bringing before an Education Section of the Social Science Congress the subject of the teaching of temperance in elementary and other schools, it would be found in the circumstance that the duty of the schoolmaster is now, fortunately, regarded as being something more than is comprised in imparting instruction in the art of writing, the structure of language, or in the power of arithmetical computation,

The teacher who most fully meets the requirements of the day, is one who not only possesses the requisite moral force, but actually exerts it in training his or her pupils in those habits of thought and correct action, which may enable the child to more fitly take its place in the social scheme, and in after days to discharge the duties of life with benefit to itself as well as to those with whom it may be brought into contact ;—these correct habits not only comprising truth-speaking, and acting, and what are usually known as moral duties, but a due regard to the laws affecting the physical welfare of the body, and those sanitary arrangements which lie within the reach of every enlightened citizen, and upon the due observance of which so much of the health of mankind depends.

It will also, doubtless, be admitted that an important part of school-training should be to throw around the young the shield of warning, both by precept

*Read at the Social Science Congress held at Leeds, 9th October, 1871.

and example, against everything which is either in itself an evil, or which, being innocent, may under some circumstances become the parent or fruitful source of mischief and crime.

The intelligent teacher of children will have no difficulty in discovering amid the social customs by which he is surrounded, very much that it would be most desirable the men and women of the future should be taught to avoid and warned against encouraging; knowing, as teachers so well do, indeed, as every reflecting person knows, that the habits and impressions formed or received in early life, are almost indelibly stamped upon the mind; to be eradicated in after life with great difficulty, even if they can then be removed, or overcome at the expense of great mental pain and anxiety.

This country of ours is at this time suffering from an evil which may be truly characterised as appalling-the fearfully prolific parent of much poverty, physical degeneration and suffering, pauperism, immorality and crime; an evil which, although terribly influencing mind and morals, is purely physical in its origin, and is entirely within human control. The source of by far the greater proportion of this evil, if we may rely upon the entirely disinterested evidence of judges upon the bench, magistrates, coroners, medical men whose labours lie mostly among the poor, city and other missionaries, members of Boards of Guardians, indeed, of all who mingle much with the masses of the people, is to be found in the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors-a practice which, although it may not be in itself condemned as immoral, yet, from the physical nature of the intoxicant, is sure to have a greater and more injurious effect upon the nervous organisation of some than it may have upon others.

The evils arising from intemperance, which itself follows the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors, have become so apparent and so sad as to excite the commiseration of all thoughtful well-wishers of the people; and statesmen, as well as divines and philanthropists, are awaking to the necessity of enacting laws, and of providing, if possible, safeguards ro restrain or prevent the continuance of the ravages of this habit.

It would appear that one of the safest and wisest courses in relation to this matter would be to prevent the habit of using these drinks from being formed (which it is certain could easily be done), by training the young of both sexes to abstain from them; nor do we see that any valid objection can be raised to this course, as whatever opinions may be held as to the advisability, or otherwise, of persons in adult age relinquishing their use, who may have for many years been accustomed to them, and with whom the habit may have become second nature; there are, it is believed, very few who will not readily admit that children would, from every point of view, be at least as healthy and well without these drinks as with them.

The testimony of eminent medical practitioners to the opinion, that to persons in health the use of intoxicating liquors is altogether unnecessary, is borne out not only by large numbers who have, after arriving at years of maturity, given up the habits of a lifetime; but by multitudes of persons of both sexes, who have never been supplied with them as beverages, and who have grown up from the cradle to adult age, continuing with perfect health and safety the custom of abstinence in which they have been reared.

The opinion of those best qualified to form a correct opinion upon a question of dietetics has been, therefore, so far confirmed by an experience extending over so wide an area, as well as such a lengthened period of time, as to dispel any fear which might he entertained as to the perfect safety to the health of children of rejecting the drinks in question; indeed, a teacher who should make enquiries, as he ought, in order fully to appreciate the importance of the subject, would not fail to discover that total abstinence has now been so extensively practised, and for so great a number of years, that the statistics of life assurance show (other things being equal) the human body to enjoy greater immunity from sickness, and to have a longer average duration of life, when it is not subject to the influence of intoxicating liquors.

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