intendent Powell of Washington, and Col. Francis W. Parker of the Cook County Normal School. It is almost invidious to select for special mention any workers in this field, which has attracted the attention of hundreds of the most devoted and able teachers of the country, but those to whom we have just referred are the ones who would undoubtedly be selected for special mention by their colleagues. The Industrial Education Association has performed and is performing a work of almost gigantic proportions, for in addition to furnishing courses of study and teachers' manuals, and information on all points connected with manual training, the association has wisely seen the demand, which is every-where becoming general, for more thoroughly trained and more scientifically prepared teachers. In answering this demand by founding a College for the Training of Teachers, it has also had an opportunity to incorporate manual training in the curriculum which future teachers should pursue. Five years ago the work which this association is doing could not have been done, because public opinion had not been sufficiently awakened to the necessity for educational reform and progress. When public opinion was finally awakened the means were speedily found to answer its demands, and by sending out trained teachers, and educational publications prepared by the leading writers on their respecttive subjects, this association is now reaching thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of children with its stimulating and invigorating influence. From such cities, too, as New Haven, Philadelphia, Springfield (Mass.), Minneapolis, and others equally deserving, there are going out streams of beneficent influence, the effect of which is easily marked not only in the character of the educational discussions of the day, but in the greater efficiency of the practical work of the schoolroom. It is most auspicious that the teachers of the country are now carrying forward the manual training movement themselves, and they are engaging by the thousand in the task of practically demonstrating to doubters the efficiency and value of manual training as a school subject.

Nicholas Burray Butter

14-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. V.

ART. IV. - CENTENNIAL OF THE METHODIST BOOK

CONCERN.

THE seventeenth day of August, eighteen hundred and eightynine, will close the first one hundred years of the history of the Methodist Book Concern, and bring us face to face with the second century of its work. Standing upon the boundary line which divides these two centennials, it may be profitable for us to review the past, survey the present, and consider the possibilities of the future.

The Church under whose fostering care this new-born child of one hundred years ago has grown to a vigorous manhood will prove an unworthy scholar if she does not learn some profitable lessons from the review of the past which shall guide to even greater results in the years to come.

Although Methodism has largely wrought out its divine mission among the masses, its founder was one of the most distinguished scholars of England, and his leadership in his own and every succeeding age has been the result of his writing rather than of his preaching. As he traversed Great Britain for fifty years, traveling two hundred and fifty thousand miles, or the distance of ten times around the world, preaching as he went forty-two thousand sermons, and awakening into new life the throngs which were attracted by his ministry, he left the Gospel embalmed in type to deepen and conserve the impressions of the evangel.

Nothing which concerns humanity seems to have escaped his attention. He wrote and published during his life over thirty solid volumes, and translated and edited one hundred and twenty more. Besides these books he wrote and scattered tracts like autumn leaves wherever he went. Philosophy, theology-polemic and practical-medicine, poetry, the classics, letters of correspondence, these are the things that remain to mold the ages.

The wide range of subjects which he embodied in books. shows the versatility of his mind and the ripeness of his scholarship. How one man in one life-time could perform such prodigies of labor will ever be regarded as among the mysteries of both nature and grace.

Among the obligations which Mr. Wesley early enforced upon every itinerant whom he sent forth to expound the Methodist doctrines was that of circulating books and tracts. He deemed this work as important as preaching. The new church in America inherited this sentiment from its founder, and has acted upon it ever since its organization. Books and papers hold the attention of the people for six days of the week, while preaching is almost entirely limited to the Sabbath.

An impression has prevailed in some circles that Methodists have not measured up to the average intelligence of the Christian Church at large. This is not now and never was true; but her high standing for intelligence is the result of the literature which the Church has so amply furnished for the people in every period of its history. Methodism has outstripped the other Protestant Churches in the United States by producing a profound conviction that the doctrines she teaches are true.

To the change of sentiment in regard to some of the fundamental principles of Christian doctrine which has taken place throughout the whole of Christendom the world is indebted to the pulpits and literature of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This change has not been brought about by ignorant men. Ministers profound in the knowledge of the Bible and human nature have been the instruments in the practical revolution of creeds brought about within the last century. These were earnest men, who, while preaching with hearts aglow with the fire of Christian love, demanded, and still demand, the press as the great ally in their work. The Methodist Book Concern is the outgrowth of this demand.

It is proper in this centennial year to place on record something of the early history of the Book Concern as well as a statement of the growth of the institution in later years. Not five years had passed after the formal organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church before the Methodist Book Concern was founded. Previously to that time a few books had been printed in New York and elsewhere by the enterprise of individuals, and some were imported from England. These, however, involved heavy expense, and by no means satisfied the public demand. In 1789 John Dickins was appointed to a charge in Philadelphia, with the additional office of "Book Steward," the name applied to such an office in England. With a capital of

$600, which he loaned for the purpose, he laid the foundations of the superstructure which has grown to such large proportions during the century. Its early history was beset with difficulties of which we can form but little conception at this distance of time. It required the heroism of a Methodist preacher's faith in a divine call, to grapple with these difficulties and overcome them. Experience has shown that a Church should provide the literature for its people. The occasion required men who were profoundly convinced of the necessity of a literature which would build up in Christian faith those who were placed under their charge, and with whom the profits of the business were a secondary matter. Such were Mr. Dickins and his co-laborers.

A room was hired on Fourth Street, and the work was commenced. To found and establish in successful operation a publishing house required no common heroism. The records show that the business was for years in danger of being wrecked by debts. Materials and labor must be paid for without delay. Books were sent out on commission, and the sales were slow and payments slower. It is not a matter of surprise that, notwithstanding the genius and activity of John Dickins, the little "Concern" was $4,500 in debt at his death in September, 1798. Within the nine years of his administration the business had itinerated from place to place, as though it could find no resting-place. In Dr. Phoebus's recent history, we find the following statement in regard to the location of the business:

*

The house was situated at No. 43 Fourth Street. In 1792 the house was on Race Street, No. 182. In 1794 Mr. Dickins removed his stock to No. 44 North Second Street, near Arch; in 1795 to No. 50 North Second Street, where the business was conducted until after Mr. Dickins's death in 1798. The printing was done in separate houses: first by Prichard & Hall, in Market Street; then by Parry & Hall, in Chestnut Street; then by Henry Tuckniss, Church Alley; then by William W. Woodward, Chestnut Street, near Front; and finally, during the continuance of the Concern in Philadelphia, by Solomon W. Conrad, Pewter-Platter Alley, No. 22.

Of Mr. Dickins too much cannot be said in commendation. The Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, who knew him intimately, says:

The whole of his actions, public or private, appeared to be bent upon the glory of God, the honor and promotion of religion, the *Light on Early Methodism, page 262.

good of man, and the punctual discharge of those duties which become a good and faithful servant. Trace him through his temporal business in which he was employed in the world, and we see conscientious rectitude in all his dealings. Find him where you would, employed in whatever business, you discover in him a man professing and practicing religion; not to be thwarted by any consideration from the regular discharge of his duties. I do not believe I ever knew a man to excel him in conscientious rectitude and genuine piety.

A short time before he was prostrated by the fever Mr. Dickins, in a letter to Bishop Asbury, said:

I sit down to write as in the jaws of death. Whether Providence may permit me to see your face again in time I know not. But if not I hope, through abundant mercy, we shall meet in the presence of God. I am an unprofitable servant; but I think my heart condemns me not, and, therefore, I have confidence toward God. So I commit myself and family into the hands of God for life or death.

Upon the death of Mr. Dickins Rev. Ezekiel Cooper was requested by Bishop Asbury and the Philadelphia Conference to take up his work. After an examination into the financial condition he declined the task. For nearly nine months the business was practically suspended. The Baltimore Conference which met in May, 1799, and the Philadelphia Conference which met in June, united with Bishop Asbury in urging upon him the duty of entering upon the work, and he finally with great reluctance consented.

Mr. Cooper furnishes the following record of his election:

During the Conference the brethren proceeded to choose an agent for the Connection, to carry on the book business in the place of our late friend, J. Dickins. The vote, which was taken by ballot, was almost unanimous for myself-but two dissenting votes, and one of them I gave myself. Thus I was the choice of the brethren. But, ah! how I felt in agreeing to the appointment! I submitted to the desire of my brethren with much reluctance, and take it as my cross. I only engage for one year at a time.

And yet in two years this modest man had lifted one half of the indebtedness, and during his short administration the whole of it disappeared! Local difficulties in the church in Philadelphia (there was but one church in the city at that time) complicated the business of the Book Concern, and