sprung, either directly or indirectly, from Christian minds. Christianity gives a new eye to intellect, a new wing to fancy, a new pulse and stimulus to thinking life.

What then is the duty of all good men in relation to literature? The reply is, To raise Christianity to a predominant influence in literature. This the Apostle did at Ephesus. Such was the effect of his preaching that his hearers, who had in their possession costly books -scrolls containing the mystic symbols and incantations of sorcery and astrology, by which they obtained their livelihood, "brought" them "together, and burned them before all men."

Here we have a specimen of what can and what ought to be done in relation to literature. Our aim should be to make Christianity the presiding genius in all books. We do not say to get all books filled with its characteristic subjects; this is not required, nor would it be expedient; but to get all writers ruled by its spirit, to breathe its divine animus into all the products of the pen, as the sun's heat is in every blade and flower and tree in the landscape, giving a tinge of loveliness and a glow of life to all. How and why are we to aim at it are questions naturally suggested, which we will try briefly to answer. How, then, are we to aim at the Christianization of literature? There are three things which can be done : FIRST,-Patronize only the literature which Christianity sanctions. This implies, of course, that there is a possibility of ascertaining the literature that Christianity would sanction. How is this to be done? Is it by the material of books? We have volumes on all subjects: history, science, language, philosophy, and poetry; books to enlighten, to discipline, and to amuse.

Is the congruity or non-congruity of a book with Christianity to be decided by the subject of which it treats? No; truth is one whether it comes down from the starry dome, up from the stratified earth, back from the revolutions of the past, or out from the abysses of the soul. All truth speaks in one voice, though in different tones, and for one end, that voice is the voice of Godthat end is the weal of man. Is it the mental characteristics of their authors? We have books written by every variety of mind. There is the metaphysical, penetrating into unseen regions, and lifting from depths into which no vulture's eye had pierced the golden elements of truth. There is next the logical, combining these elements according to their rational relations, and bearing them by argument to the judgment; there is the poetic, moulding all into new forms and breathing into all new life, dressing truth in Orient beauty, dipping it in the splendours of the rainbow, and making it speak in the language of flowers and shine in the brightness of stars. these characteristics of mind we find existing in authors, existing separately in every degree, and conjointly in every proportion. He who combines them all to the greatest extent is the true genius. If this be correct, how great was the genius of Jeremy Taylor of whom it was said, "This great prelate had the eloquence of an orator, the fancy of a poet, the acuteness of a school-man, the profoundness of a philosopher

...

All

and the piety of a saint. He had devotion enough for a cloister, learning enough for a university, and wit enough for a college of virtuosi!"

Are we required by Christianity to adopt books written by any particular talent to the exclusion of others? No; it requires every mind to stir up the gift that is in it, and to work in

its own way. If you cannot do one thing in rearing the temple of truth, do another; if you cannot bring the parts into symmetrical adjustment, provide the gold, polish the pillars, ornament the ceiling, fit up with divine furniture the "holy of holies," do something, even if it be hewing of wood and drawing of water.

SECONDLY, Is it to be ascertained by the form in which the book is written prose or poetry? No; has not Christianity adopted both? If, then, we cannot discover the point either by its subjects, the mental characteristics of its authors, or its forms, how are we to find it out? We answer emphatically, by its spirit. There is a spirit in every book which can easily be detected. The face of man does not more clearly express the general dispo

sition of the heart, than do the first few pages of a book develop the spirit of the writer. There is a moral odour emitted from every leaf, which the inner sense, unless sadly perverted, can soon discover. Here, then, is the Christian's test of good literature. The book that hath "not the Spirit of Christ is none of His." What volumes are we called upon by this test to lay aside and reprobate? All trifling books must go. Occasional flashes of wit and humour frequently light up the argument, and give a charm to the page and a zest to the reader; but works in which there is nothing but a studied attempt to excite and to promote laughter, must be repudiated as incompatible with the dignity of our nature and the solemnity of our relations.

THERE are two parties in the Roman Catholic Church, one of whom calls the Rhemish Notes sound and orthodox, the other atrocious and damnable. In 1813, Macnamara, a Cork bookseller, announced the publication of the entire Douay Bible, under the patronage of a large number of prelates and clergy.

Whilst proceeding with the work, which was delivered in parts at the houses of two thousand five hundred subscribers, he failed, and a relative of the printer engaged Mr. Coyne, an eminent Dublin bookseller, to complete the five hundred copies given him as security. This was agreed to, on the understanding that the Rev. P. A. Walsh, who had been deputed by Dr. Troy, to revise and correct the publication, should continue his labours. On the com

pletion of the five hundred copies, which were published under the approbation of Dr. Troy alone, the attention of the "British Critic," and the "Courier" was drawn to them, and great indignation was expressed.

Dr. Troy immediately issued a disclaimer, affirming that he had never approved of the work; and now having for the first time seen it and considered the Notes, "I not only," he said, " do not sanction them, but solemnly declare that I utterly reject them generally, as harsh and irritating in expression, some of them as false and absurd in reasoning, and many of them as uncharitable in sentiment."

Meantime, Macnamara, having returned to Cork, with the aid of the bishops that had already sanc

tioned his former part of the work, and some fresh ones, began to publish the remainder, and to commence a fresh edition for other subscribers. In this edition the Text and Notes of the Old Testament are mostly Dr. Challoner's, the New has the Rhemish Notes in all their original harshness, but some cancels were prepared to be pasted over the parts most strongly objected to by the "British Critic." These cancels were given to subscribers, to be used or not as they thought proper! This was in 1818, and Dr. Troy's name is again found amongst the patrons. It was certainly a most extraordinary piece of audacity on the part of the publisher, if the names of nearly all the prelates and leading clergy of Ireland were given as sanctioning a Work about which they were quite ignorant, and which was systematically distributed close to their residences.

We have now seen quite sufficient to convince us that there is no ground for Catholics to speak of the "new Bibles," brought out from time to time by Protestants, as if their own Douay Version had not passed through a number of alterations; and as little for Protestants to speak of the Douay Bible as the only Roman Catholic Version. There is, however, this very important distinction, that, whereas the different Protestant Bibles have culminated in our present Authorised Version, which has held its place in popular esteem for more than two centuries, and been the basis of scores of translations, so that England has become, through its means, a centre of Evangelical light, all the English Roman Catholic Bibles on the other hand, have been unauthorised, the Vulgate, a book for the very few, and a Translation itself, being regarded as the standard Text.

It was not to be expected, of

course, that voluntary criticisms and expositions coming from all quarters should receive sanction, and it is no matter of surprise that Dr. Doyle should say in 1825, before a Committee of the House of Lords, "The Notes carry, in our Editions of the Bible, no weight, for we do not know the writers of many of them. If we find them clear enough in explanation of doctrine, we leave them there; but, whenever we find anything exceptionable, we put it out." The more reasonable expectation, however, that some Text, having sanction given it from head-quarters, should be issued has never yet been satisfied, and this sketch must now be brought to a close by detailing some recent efforts to supply the deficiency.

In 1825, Dr. Murray, Titular Archbishop of Dublin, sanctioned the publication of an octavo Bible, which was prepared under his direction. In the Old Testament, Dr. Troy's Bible of 1816 was mainly followed, the New Testament being Dr. Challoner's. It was stereotyped, and a re-issue came out in the year of Catholic Emancipation, 1829, bearing an Approbation by twentyfour bishops as well as Dr. Murray, in which the following is found: "This new Edition we, by our authority, approve. And we declare that the same may be used with great spiritual profit by the faithful, provided it be read with due reverence and the proper dispositions.”

The name of the well-known Dr. Lingard is the next that comes before us, as a translator of the Four Gospels. We have met with one thoroughly independent production, that of Dr. Geddes, and now another furnishes us with evidence similar to that which it afforded. Dr. Lingard's services, however, to the Roman Hierarchy, especially in the compilation of his History, put

him on a different footing, and made it impossible for him to be treated with anything but respect. The cold way in which his contribution to a better understanding of the Scriptures was received is nevertheless significant, and must have made him feel that he was intruding on ground where he was not welcome.

It was, doubtless, dissatisfaction with the existing translations that led him to undertake such a work, and the bent of his criticism is shown in general by his following the Greek Text rather than the Vulgate. In several important passages he favours the distinctively Protestant rendering, giving his reasons clearly in the Notes. Thus, for example, the vexed word which had commonly been translated "do penance," is given by him as in our Version, "repent." He, however, avoids rather than courts controversy, and speaks of the dogmas of his Church with modesty and good

sense.

There was no Approbation or even Dedication inserted, and his book came into the world entirely on its own merits. Received coldly therefore by the Heads of the Church, it was not likely to have any considerable circulation, and was soon quietly buried with meagre civilities. In one of the Catholic reviews upon it, it is said, "The impression on the reader's mind, after having perused this Edition, must be that Christianity never depended for its code or evidences upon the compilation of these documents (the Gospels!)."

Side by side with the close of this quotation may be placed the following mild statement by the Rev. Daniel Curve. He says, "Of all the false, malevolent charges preferred against our holy religion, there is none more opposed to truth, to facts and to general practice, than that of attempting, in the remotest

manner, to depreciate the Divine Word, or to debar our people from its invaluable possession." This is extracted from the Introduction to a pocket New Testament published in Belfast in 1839, which was followed shortly afterwards by a pocket Bible. Dr. Denvir, Bishop of Down and Connor, gave it his approbation, and several editions of it have been published.

In 1846, a stereotyped Edition of the New Testament, from Dr. Murray's Bible of 1825, was brought out by a bookseller in Tuam, which was approved by Dr. McHale, Archbishop of Tuam, and has been generally called by his name.

He

says, in the Approbation, that his chief aim in sending out the Book is to neutralize the poison of counterfeit Protestant productions, and closes thus:

"Aware of the manifest dangers to faith and morals that are found in corrupt Versions of the Bible.... We have not ceased to deplore this great evil, and to labour for its correction.

"JOHN, Archbp. of Tuam, "St. Jarlath's, Tuam. "Feast of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, 1846."

In

It is pleasant to be able to connect the name of Father Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, with the Bible-history of this period. 1847, an impression taken from the stereo-plates of the Bible sanctioned by Dr. Murray in 1825, contained a letter from him, in which he says, "I humbly, but most earnestly entreat all the members of the various Total Abstinence Societies, who, I trust, by being members of Societies which have produced order, peace and tranquillity, are prepared to read the Holy Scriptures with 'due reverence and the proper dispositions,' thus to join wisdom to temperance."

In America, Bishop Kenrick is well known in connection with Roman Catholic translation, and his work may serve as a specimen of the tone and style we should look for from such a country. He was Bishop of Philadelphia, and in a general Introduction to the Four Gospels, which were published first, he says, "I "I have not laboured to give a controversial character to the Notes, although occasionally I may have referred to the doctrines connected with the passages in question. The frequent perusal of this portion of the Inspired Writings cannot be too strongly recommended to the faithful." There is not accordingly, Dr. Cotton being witness, a single uncharitable sentiment, nor a harsh expression towards those of another Communion. Shortly afterwards, the remainder of the New Testament was published, the translation being executed on the same principles as the former part, except that he adheres more closely to the Rhemish Testament. In the Introduction he names and refutes the objections which had been raised against his former volume, and shows great liberality of sentiment. His rendering of the address of our Lord to His mother, "Woman, what hast Woman, what hast thou to do with Me!" which had offended many Catholics, he justifies, saying that in a supernatural matter, such as the performance of miracles, she had no right of control or interference. The Rhemish Testament, though literal, had not been English, "What is to Me and to thee!" and Dr. Kenrick was prepared to go much further than clearing an obscurity: "In adopting occasionally," he says, "the words and phrases of the Protestant Versions, I have followed the example of others who have from time to time revised the Rhemish Translation. It is not to be regretted that, whilst

we point to errors which need correction, we acknowledge excellencies which we are free to imitate, thus diminishing the asperity of censure by the tribute which we willingly render to literary merit." A notice of the different MSS. and versions follows the Introduction, and there is a separate Introduction to each Epistle and Book, the whole being admirably executed.

It behoves us to rejoice in the circulation of the Catholic Scriptures in the English language thus, because, upon the whole, as we have seen in these papers, in spite of a Romish leaven, the words of God have become intelligible to those who have too long listened to man's. In the midst of idolatry, the Law of Jehovah has been brought down from the Mount, and the idolatry can no longer be a tolerated necessity. Such ignorance as that of the Italian priest who thought that Moses was one of the Christian Fathers, or that of the Spanish monk who knew so little of Samson, that he was made to believe that he had killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a Spanish friar, we are not likely to hear any more of. Such an answer as that of St. Teresa, who said to a young_lady who had spoken of bringing a Bible into the nunnery, "We do not care neither for you nor for your Bible: we are poor ignorant creatures that know nothing but to spin and to obey." Surely such an answer is no longer possible! We may at all events agree with Bernard, in the opinion already quoted in reference to the Rhemish Testament, that, by the fact of publishing the Bible in the Vernacular, wholesome doctrines are affirmed, whatever the Notes may be, and however, here and there, the Text may be manipulated. And the great quarrel we all have with the Church of Rome is not that, in