reminds us that it no longer bears the stamp of novelty. It is now a thing of comparative antiquity, which has lost its charm for those whose insatiable cry is still for "some new thing." Age and usefulness, therefore, are not unattended with danger as well as honour. The Penny Magazine of the Useful Knowledge Society supplies a very striking illustration. That once-celebrated miscellany, at the outset, rejoiced in a sale of nearly 200,000 copies; and yet a period of nine short years sufficed to bring it to a close! Rightly to estimate this fact, however, we must take into account not merely its special and extraordinary merits, but its thoroughly secular character, which adapted it, not to a small section of the community, but to a whole people, from the vast majority of whom Christian doctrine would have shut it out. Again, it had no competitor; the land was all its own; and yet, from the first year, its circulation gradually diminished till it expired! The Christian Knowledge Society started its Penny Magazine about the same time, with immense success for a period; and yet a brief space sufficed to finish its course. It is thus shown, that to all such things, at first there attaches a force of novelty, which most materially contributes to their success; and that this force naturally diminishes every hour, till at length it wholly ceases. It follows, therefore, that such publications as are to live and thrive, when the force of novelty has spent itself, must be attended with a counteractive agency; truth must be substituted for novelty, and principle take the place of passion. The proper nutriment of the human soul is Divine truth; that nutriment which is required by all must be popularly presented, and cheaply supplied, and this is done by the CHRISTIAN WITNESS. But even this supply is not enough; the Gospel is distasteful to the human heart, and can only be diffused by means of aggression; left to attraction, it will fail to propagate itself. The conclusion then is obvious: Religious Magazines must be sustained by Religious People as a valuable and an efficient means of diffusing the Gospel. This done, a power will be created stronger far than that of novelty, and lasting as time. To this end, then, it is necessary that individuals, families, and churches, should take the subject into their own hands, and conscientiously make the support and diffusion of the Magazines their own special business. Then will the Periodicals be placed in a true and natural position; and instead of the gradual decay which never fails to follow mere novelty, the circulation will be steady, and not only so, but extend with the increase of the Denomination. The close of the year is the proper time for a special movement. We, therefore, commend the matter to the judgment, love, and zeal of our Friends. They know how to go about it; and we are confident that we shall not be disappointed in our expectation that they will act a part worthy of themselves, and of the great cause of Denominational Progress and Gospel Salvation. JOHN CAMPBELL. |