Advocate and Family Guardian

[6] The first work of the Society was the establishment of a semimonthly paper, the Advocate of Moral Reform, which should be an exponent of their principles, and an organ of communication with the public.

[7] Still young in years, timid, unused to business beyond the confines of home, the leaders in this work had much to learn in a new sphere of duty, where wisdom, skill, and efficiency were indispensable.

It was designed to be the ally and defender of virtue, and to hold up before the world as their prominent aim, "Remedy if practicable, Prevention by every possible Christian endeavor".

It has drawn the attention of virtuous females to hidden moral evils; it has called into existence about fifty auxiliary associations; induced many a parent to impart instruction to his children upon a subject vastly important, yet hitherto neglected.

When the Advocate denounced writings which "corrupt the taste, seduce the heart through the senses and pollute it through the medium of imagination which they have made wild, restless and uncontrollable," its purpose was to breed wholesomeness of mind.

[9] After the lapse of years, and in view of the enlarging sphere of the Society, disapprobation of its title, even among its friends, was expressed, as calculated to arouse prejudice on the one hand, and on the other, not sufficiently to define its aims.

[7] Communication with the Southern section of the country being interrupted by the civil war, the subscription list became greatly lessened, and other circumstances tended to reduce the circulation of the Advocate.

The most prominent of these was the multiplication of religious periodicals, and especially the journals advocating its peculiar principles, for as "Homes for the Friendless" arose in large U.S. cities, most of them also had a paper to plead its cause.