The Art of Printing.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 16, 2 August 1849, Page 4

The Art of Printing.

To the invention of printing all the grand discoveries in science, and all the valuable contributions of modern ages to literature, may be traced Man worked before, a solitary and unaided student, when lie sought to penelrnto into the mysteries of nature. It was a locked treasure, of which he had no key, and when, by arduous years of study, lie had at length Icarniid to unlock one or two of its many secret fastenings, death came, and it was left to others merely as he found it. The locks cliised again, and the new student found no vantage ground prepared from whence to renew the seaicli. How dillerent is it now : the poorest may avail himself of the labours of previous ages ; even the errors of liis predecessors ore valuable records for him. lie escapes the t"il which they found unfruitful he follows on the track in her already achieved success that still promises higher results; and the world at length reaps the fruits of victories thus won by successive lal ours in the cause. Viewed in this light, we may say, in no exaggerating spirit, that the discovery of Gutenberg contained the germ of all other discoveries. By means of it the trumphs of steam have been achieved—the railroad has united remote cit'cs— the electric telegraph Ims almost annihilated lime and space. But for the facilities which printing a (lends for recording the observations and discoveries made in many countries, and at different periods, and preserving them in an accessible form for I constant reference, ages might elapse with [ fewer discoveries than have been accomplished within a few years: The inllueuce on the political state of the world has been no less great. Newspapers originated in the time of the great civil wars in iingland, and have gone oil with increasing power ever since. The piess has become the great engine of warfare, and all its triumphs are on the side of liberty. The moral and religious state of the world has been no less migl-tily affected by this new power. Where were our Bible, and .Missionary, and Tract Societies, but for the printing press ? The pulpit itself has received new powers frnmthi3 widely prevailing source, and a powerful colleague that can, silently and unnoticed, surpass ii in its instructing and converting influence. •' Go ye forth into all nations, and preach the Gospel to every creature," was the commission intrusted by the departing Saviour to his Apostles; but the commission has received a new form and an increasing power more effectual in its operations because, leas dependent on the agency of man. The Word of .God, translated into all languages, has been freely disseminated through many regions hitherto sunk in darkness and the shadow of death. Its still voice has been listened to where no preacher's voice dftred to be heard.—Memorials of the Dawn of the Reformation in Europe.