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