so inconceivably great was Mary's grief, chimes in another Romish saint, "that were it divided among all men, it would suffice to cause their immediate death."* * "Glories of Mary." P. 408. Surely no saying more strongly descriptive of the life-long anguish of this Jewish maiden could possibly be coined, and none more expressive of the credulity of her clients! LITERATURE: ITS CHARACTERISTICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. BY THE REV. T. WOOD (B). THE term Literature is of very wide signification. Literature is the whole expression of the national mind in writing: "Literature is man written, his thoughts, creations, discoveries, and the varied events of his outer and inner life, transcribed in legible and permanent forms for the study of others. A book is a second incarnation of man's mental self; in it he lives and works, centuries after his former body has crumbled into dust. It is a kind of ark which bears down over the flood of centuries the seeds of the old world in which its author lived. It gives a kind of ubiquity to individual minds. Through it the solitary thinker speaks to distant nations at the same time, makes his lonely voice vibrate through all lands and resound through all times." Of the influences which contribute to our national greatness, including a stable throne, the enjoyment of internal quiet, a population at once peaceful, obedient and industrious, literature is one chief element, and must continue to be increasingly potent, inasmuch as its true mission is to enlighten and give a higher moral tone to the national conscience; and in proportion to the creation and distribution of such a type of literature will be our chances of maintaining in the vigour of per *The words culture and literature are used as correlative terms. petual manhood the operation of those causes which have made England what she is. The channel of national thought,. feeling and action for each generation is scoped out by the literature of the generation which precedes it.. Never was there a period in the history of our country when attention to this matter was more urgent, and when that attention would yield more speedy and abundant results, as а means of guiding and directing the sentiments and cultivating the habits of our youthful population. We are driven by the example of other nations and by the force of public opinion toattach a solemn importance to the mental and moral training of the young, and in that training, literature in all its varied forms must ever play a conspicuous part. It is humiliating that other nations, far behind ourselves in the development: of certain forms of civilization, should have outstripped us in their attention to this particular matter. The causes which have given strength and stability to China, for example, are both pertinent and. instructive. "There can be no doubt that the sea and the mountain barriers by which China is surrounded, the unwarlike character of her neighbours, her isolation from the rest of the world, her vigilant police, the eligibility of all to the trust and dignities of office and her rigid system of official responsibility, have all had their share in the result. But these are insufficient to explain the phenomenon. The most powerful agent beyond all question is the education of her people. "We speak here not so much of the education received in schools, as of that which consists in early, constant, vigorous and efficient training, of the disposition, manners, judgment, and habits, both of thought and action. The sentiments held to be appropriate to man in society are imbibed in infancy, and iterated and re-iterated through the whole of subsequent life. considered be "The manners coming in adults are sedulously taught in childhood. The habits regarded as conducing to individual advancement, social happiness, and national repose, and prosperity are cultivated with the utmost diligence. The greatest pains are taken to acquaint the people with their personal and political duties." Herein they set us an example worthy of imitation. "The sixteen discourses of the Imperial Moralist-Yong-tchingare read twice every moon to the whole empire." It is the testimony of competent authorities that the Literary Institutions of China are the pillars that give stability to her Government. "Her military forces are quite inadequate to hold together her numerous and extensive provinces. Her soldiers, for all the purposes of defence and protection, are little better than dead men, and were they stricken from the roll of the living, the strength and stability of the empire would not be sensibly affected. The greatness and repose of China are chiefly attributable to her peculiar Literary Institutions. Wealth and rank are not without their influence here, as elsewhere, but their relative power is far less than in most other Governments. "As a general rule, learning, while it is an indispensable pre-requisite for all official stations, is sure to command respect, influence and distinction. A way is thus opened whereby every gifted and ambitious youth may rise to the highest dignities in the State-the throne only excepted. And in point of fact the most eminent statesmen (as among ourselves) are usually those who have risen by intellectual efforts. They are at once the philosophers, teachers and rulers of the land. Power, high official rank, is the dazzling prize held out to intellectual superiority. At regularly recurring periods, examinations are held, to which crowds flock from every quarter of the Imperial dominions, none being denied admission to these literary probations, except servants, lictors, play-actors and priests. These examinations are designed to elicit and make manifest the 'true talent of the people,' with a view to its ulterior application to affairs of State." The result is a perpetuity of national existence, unparalleled in the world's history. The Chinese Government, then, the purest despotism on earth, is upheld by education combined with her Literary Institutions. How forcible the argument thus derived in favour of this exalted and exalting power! And if it has force as applicable to such a country as China, it applies, a fortiori to civil institutions founded, as ours are, on the principles of freedom, and depending confessedly on the intelligence and virtue of the people for their security, permanence and vigGermany, too, and the United States might be mentioned as examples of this wide-spread culture in its initial stages. But while we look to other nations, and recognise the our. universal influence of literature and culture, we must not forget that no nation has produced so many highly cultivated minds as our own, and in no part of the world has this culture accomplished a more powerful effect upon certain strata of society. The misfortune is, that it has not been more widely diffused. We are now waking up to a sense of this omission. For utilitarian reasons we must follow suit. Self-defence demands it. A graceful, but perhaps not less truthful compliment, was paid some time ago by an observant foreigner to the influence of culture and literature upon our national character: "As a general proof of the practical benefits which have resulted from the English University system, we may point to the English character, to the world-wide reputation of Englishmen for virtue, knowledge, practical benevolence and usefulness. It would be folly indeed to attribute all this result to this or any other single cause. Still we are entitled to name this as one of the most powerful instrumentalities which have created what we mean by British character and influence."" England is distinguished for sterling integrity; she is eminent for wisdom and practical good sense; she has a name among the nations for the love of liberty in union with law. The English people of the upper and middle classes are characterised by sobriety of judgment, a native common sense, and a not unworthy opposition to change, in beautiful contrast with the course of their restless continental neighbours. As a leading cause of these characteristics we refer to the influence of literature and culture. Amid the buoyancy of youth and the excitements of the times that influence * Professor Edwards, Andover, U. S. VOL. VI. FIRST SERIES. is most wholesome. The scholar lives among the great minds of antiquity, shedding upon him a serene and never setting light. His studies conduct him to the profound reflections, and the unchanging truths embodied in the pages which absorb his attention. He is refining his sensibilities and his taste among the wondrous creations of literature, or disciplining his reason in the fields of absolute truth. Again, the English upper class, taken as a body, and many in the middle class, are distinguished not only for an admirable culture, but for manners so simple and graceful, that they seem to be inherited, not acquired; attractive, because they are the expression of a native courtesy and real friendliness. This is not the growth of a day, it is not the patronising complaisance or intolerable assumption of a class that have just risen from obscurity. It is the product of ages of refinement. It is the growth of a civilization more perfect than the world has elsewhere seen. We cannot but attribute it to the influences of literature and culture. These influences may be indirect and imperceptible; but thoughts so beautiful, clothed in forms of such exquisite grace as are found in literature, must form no small element of the culture to which we refer. Through a thousand avenues they enter, and pervade the susceptible hearts of the young. Furthermore, the University system counteracts and neutralizes, in a measure, the great tendency of the English mind to that which is immediately practical and useful: Oxford and Cambridge have cast up mighty barriers against an intensely avaricious spirit. They are public standing monuments to the worth of mind. They are constantly uttering their silent, yet intelligent pro 2 B test against that exclusive spirit | the increased intelligence of the which would test all things by their weight and measure. England is absorbingly commercial and manufacturing. The acquisition of riches -the eager pursuit of material advantages-is her besetting sin. But a liberal education affords some counter-weight, it induces the cultivation of tastes, which throw a charm over the dealings of trade, lighten the heart of the banker, and lead the mechanic and the landowner to cherish enlightened views and perform philanthropic deeds. "It is delightful," says Mr. Talfourd, "to see the influences of classical literature, not fading upwards, but penetrating downwards, and masses of people rejoicing to recognise even from afar the skirts of its glory." Of the value of literature the Rev. Dr. Farrar writes thus, " Books, which are the true reliquaries of the saints, but without imposture;" books, which, with a potent, yet innocent necromancy, enable us to evoke from their dim tombs the spirits of the dead! books, which are the best heart's blood of great men, ' embalmed for a life beyond a life." 999 If then such is the value of literature, and if such has been the power of literature and culture, especially among the upper classes of society, how important it is that the fertilizing and elevating influence should permeate and leaven as far as possible the whole of the community! It is a fine expression of Miss Edgeworth's, in speaking of the mind of one of her heroines, "that the stream of literature had passed over it was apparent only from its fertility." Ought we not to strive to make this fertility as universal as possible? To provide a healthy and ennobling popular literature, to meet young, is a growing and imperative necessity. Numerous pens are catering to supply this necessity; but are not many of their productions written, seemingly, merely to please? instruction is of very small account. But while we avoid one extreme, let us not run into another. In literature monotony and stagnation become intolerable. Much of the religious literature of the day is too conventional and stereotyped. There is plenty of brain but not enough heart; sufficient logic, but not enough poetry; it is strong in argument, but lacking in imagination. It wants a quicker pulse, a warmer glow and a fuller passion. Literature to be read by the young must be made a winsome and an attractive thing. Ideas which have been buried in the idiom of the past must be moulded into new forms; a new life must be breathed into them, and a new voice given to awaken attention and win sympathy. At no period of its history had Methodism, as a branch of the Church of Christ, so favourable an opportunity of making its influence felt upon the young through the medium of literature. They will read books of some kind, and those books will have a marvellous power for good or evil upon their minds; and this power of the press is growing every day, and that because the reading power and taste of the young are increasing. Schools are everywhere being multiplied, and the means of popular education are being rapidly diffused over the land. Ten years hence and few men or women will be found in the country who have not acquired the art of reading. "What the people read will be most effective in the formation of their character; that which breathes into us the most thought and senti ment will exercise upon us the most plastic power. As the soft wax receives the figure of the seal, the heart of the young will receive the impress of the literature they read. As the breath of heaven bears the seeds of autumn to spots where they will germinate and grow, the press often scatters pernicious ideas of life and duty over the masses where they find a genial soil, and will Eyield a plentiful harvest of evil for years to come." Before we proceed further, perhaps it would not be amiss to glance at the origin of the art which has wielded such a mighty influence upon society, and the duty of all good men in relation to it. The origin of literature is not of yesterday. It is no new thing in the world, says Dr. Thomas.* Its history dates almost as far back as the first earnest soul. When we consider the susceptibilities of impression, the powers of reflection, the social and religious sympathies which belong to our common nature, in connection with circumstances which mark our terrestrial life,―circumstances ever potently tending to startle the thoughts, heave the emotions and rouse the imagination, -we are disposed to give to literature a very early date, and to hold the belief that man, at the very outset of his conscious history, commenced a record of himself. that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" This impassioned utterance may be fairly regarded as the irrepressible desire of the human soul under the exciting circumstances of its earthly life to register its history. * See a very able Homily on the Influence of the Ministry on Literature, part of which we incorporate, "Homilist," Vol. II. The invention of printing by a humble mechanic of Strasburg, gave to letters at once a new impulse and a new epoch. It has widened and enriched literature a thousandfold. The first book that issued from the press was The Book. Literature is a natural development. It starts from two of the innate principles in man-the impartive and the receptive tendencies: a strong disposition at once to communicate thoughts and to receive them. Who is not conscious of the constant working of these correlative powers within him? They are the bonds of society; they bind men together by the ties of mutual obligation; they prompt and enable the noble and the pure to breathe their sentiments and spirit into the age in which they live, and thus lift it toward their own ideal. These mental proclivities, deep in the common heart of all, are the well-spring of literature; they make the author and the reader too. The one furnishes the producer, and the other the consumer, in the great mart of letters. Again, Christianity is transmitted through literature. The communications of Heaven to the fathers and to the prophets, the biography of Jesus and the thoughts of the Apostles-these world-renovating and saving forces would never have reached us but for the pen. Hence, no command did the world's Saviour in His final Apocalypse repeat with more frequency or earnestness than, "Write." Moreover, Moreover, Christianity stimulates the literary propensities. It has historically proved itself the mental awakener-the archangel's trump to summon dead minds from their graves. Most of the great authors were trained under its influence. The choicest flowers that adorn, and the finest fruits that enrich, the fields of literature have |