An Illustrated Monthly Periodical
Volume III. 1878 - 1879.
Published by J. & W. Corrie Johnston "Words Of Grace Offices": Melbourne 1879
"Words Of Grace: An Illustrated Monthly Periodical, Volume III, 1878-1879, is a substantial and historically revealing example of Australian Christian publishing in the colonial era. Published by J. & W. Corrie Johnston through the "Words Of Grace" offices in Melbourne, with offices also listed in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Dunedin, the volume brings together evangelical teaching, missionary intelligence, religious biography, poetry, music and contemporary church news. Its illustrated masthead and stated appeal to "old and young" reflect an ambition to reach readers across generations, combining serious scriptural instruction with accessible stories and pictorial material. Covering a period when religious organisations played a prominent role in education, philanthropy and public debate, it offers a valuable contemporary record of the beliefs, concerns and activities of colonial Christian communities.
Particularly significant is the extensive Australian and regional material, which places the volume firmly within the social and religious history of Australasia. The contents encompass church assemblies, evangelistic meetings, Sunday schools, city and suburban missions, temperance initiatives, coffee palaces, and the activities of the YMCA and YWCA, with reports from several Australian colonies and New Zealand. A notable account discusses Daniel Matthews and the Maloga Mission on the Murray, describing its settlement, educational work, financial difficulties and appeals for support. Other entries concern Aboriginal missions, Point Macleay, missionary work in the Victorian bush, and developments across New Guinea and the Pacific islands. Read in their historical context, these reports preserve evidence both of missionary activity and of the colonial attitudes through which Indigenous peoples and their communities were represented to Christian readers.
The devotional and literary contents are equally varied, bringing together material associated with prominent preachers and religious writers including C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Dr Talmage, Andrew Bonar and W. Corrie Johnston. Subjects range from salvation, forgiveness and practical Christian conduct to biblical interpretation and a substantial sequence concerning the Second Coming. The Rev. A. W. Murray's Martyrs of Polynesia adds a sustained missionary narrative, while biographies, portraits, religious verse, hymn music and a dedicated section for younger readers broaden the volume's appeal. The detailed index records illustrations of biblical scenes, churches, Pacific subjects and Australian life, demonstrating the range of visual material offered alongside the text. Together, these elements show how an illustrated religious periodical could serve simultaneously as a source of instruction, family reading, international missionary news and connection between geographically scattered congregations.
This example is especially attractive in its presentation-style black leather binding, with elaborate gilt borders, ornamental corner designs, a decorative central title panel and a gilt-embellished spine, complemented by gilt page edges. The volume also preserves an interesting moment in the publication's development: its preface and concluding announcement describe the proposed transition to a weekly paper under the title Australasian Christian Times and Illustrated Weekly Words of Grace, accompanied by a specimen page depicting the wreck of the Agnes off Port MacDonnell. An announcement concerning the Australasian Colportage Association further documents plans to circulate Christian books, tracts and periodicals through travelling evangelistic work. Combining a handsome period binding with substantial Australian content and direct evidence of colonial religious publishing practices, this is a compelling volume for collectors of Australian Christian literature, missionary history, illustrated periodicals and nineteenth-century Australiana."
