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LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1879. 



any kind of excess, which seem at present to 

 be the dominant principles in American letters, 

 can only be cultivated at the expense of sponta- 

 neous force and originality. The present move- 

 ment is a true characteristic phase in the na- 

 tional literary development, not a factitious 

 effort to correct national shortcomings upon 

 foreign models. In accurate aesthetic percep- 

 tions and true artistic impulses the bellelettristic 

 writers in America are now distinguished above 

 those of any other nation. An analogous sa- 

 gacity and balance of mind, a self-critical pow- 

 er, and the perception of the true aims of in- 

 vestigation and limits of speculation, charac- 

 terize the scientific workers and authors and 

 the scholars and historians of America. Al- 

 though few publishers can say that it has been 

 a satisfactory year, owing to the peculiar con- 

 dition of the trade, the press has been unusual- 

 ly busy, and the public has consumed a large 

 amount of literature this last year. Judging 

 the state of the national intelligence by the 

 quality of the books provided for its require- 

 ments which meet with the strongest demand, 

 an encouraging elevation of the standard of 

 literary taste is noticeable. A still more satis- 

 factory phenomenon is the lively and wide- 

 spread interest taken in science and in art. 

 Science and the arts have come under the influ- 

 ence of the democratic spirit. Through cheap 

 popular treatises, written in language which is 

 universally understood, and by the auxiliary 

 means of improved processes of pictorial re- 

 production, a knowledge of the elementary 

 principles and leading facts in the sciences, 

 and some acquaintance with the aesthetic pur- 

 poses of art-production and familiarity with 

 the best examples of art, have become a part 

 of popular education. 



In the departments of Religion and Philoso- 

 phy the publications have not been numerous, 

 but include some works of exceptionally high 

 character. Religious literature has certainly 

 fallen off in bulk, compared with other classes 

 of books, of late years; but, when examined in 

 all its aspects, the phenomenon does not prove 

 discouraging to the friends of religion. The 

 volumes of crude sermons, meditations, and 

 rhapsodies, with which the press formerly 

 teemed, are replaced by other popular read- 

 ing, some of it more intellectually edifying. 

 The sectarian controversies on minor dogmas 

 have been silenced by the nobler warfare with 

 anti-theological thought. The scientific assail- 

 ants of religion are confronted by champions 

 of the faith who are quite their equals in men 

 tal culture and dialectical skill. The tone and 

 substance of the religious and popular theo- 

 logical books which now issue from the press 

 betoken an advancement in intellectual compre- 

 hension and refinement in the religious commu- 

 nity. The character of the more serious doctri- 

 nal and exegetical works of the day shows a 

 corresponding elevation of standard in scholar- 

 ship and mental training among professional 

 theologians. The learning of foreign scholars, 



notably the German, has been made use of, but 

 not without subjecting it to the more alert 

 and thorough critical methods of American 

 thought and assimilating it to the national type 

 of mentality. In speculative metaphysics there 

 is no vitality, the theologians and their scien- 

 tific antagonists occupying the whole arena of 

 philosophical literature. Professor George D. 

 Fisher's "Faith and Rationalism " is a temper- 

 ate and philosophical defence of evangelical 

 truths, written with considerable dialectical 

 power (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons). 

 "Practical Theology" is a manual of homi- 

 letics by Professor J. J. van Oosterzee (Boston, 

 Houghton, Osgood & Co.). The late Rev. Dr. 

 Charles Hodge's "Conference Papers" con- 

 tain an able exposition of Christian doctrines. 

 " Society the Redeemed Form of Man " (Hough- 

 ton, Osgood & Co.) is a thoughtful expression 

 of liberal religion by Henry James. A popular 

 book by Professor Swing is "Motives of Life" 

 (Chicago, Jansen, McClurg & Co.). " Studies 

 in the Model Prayer" is an analysis of the 

 Lord's Prayer by the Rev. Dr. George D. Board- 

 man (New York, D. Appleton & Co.). " The 

 Epiphanies of the Risen Lord," by the same au- 

 thor, is an elegant illustrated volume in which 

 the appearances of Christ after the Resurrec- 

 tion are recounted. Dr. G. Uhlhorn's " Con- 

 flict of Christianity with Heathenism " (Charles 

 Scribner's Sons) is a translation of a learned 

 work on the rise of Christianity, vividly pre- 

 senting the forces, intellectual and physical, 

 which combined to crush the infant Church. 

 The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Seiss, in " A Miracle 

 in Stone " (Philadelphia, Porter & Coates), gives 

 a clear and popular account of the Great Pyra- 

 mid of Gizeh, and insists on the miraculous 

 nature of the coincidences detected by Piazzi 

 Smyth and others between its proportions and 

 various astronomical measurements and other 

 physical facts. "Voices from Babylon," by 

 the same author, is a volume of speculations on 

 the fulfillment of prophecy. The American 

 translation of Lange's Commentary on the 

 Bible is completed by the issue of the volume 

 on Numbers and Deuteronomy (Charles Scrib- 

 ner's Sons). A " Commentary on Paul's Epis- 

 tle to the Romans," by Professor W. G. T. 

 Shedd, is published by Charles Scribner's Sons. 

 " The Book of Job : Essays and a Metrical Par- 

 aphrase" (D. Appleton & Co.), by Rossiter 

 "W. Raymond, contains besides the paraphrase 

 thoughtful and scholarly comments and eluci- 

 dations. "Sacred Cities," by the Rev. Dr. 

 John S. Lee, is a popular description of Bibli- 

 cal places, of which a second edition has ap- 

 peared (Cincinnati, Williamson & Cantwell). 

 " Apostolic Fathers and Apologists of the Sec- 

 ond Century," by the Rev. G. A. Jackson, is 

 the first number of a series of " Early Christian 

 Literature Primers" (D. Appleton & Co.). 



The interest felt in the recent developments 

 of Science is as keen in the United Sates as in 

 any country ; but the original investigators in 

 science are yet comparatively few in America, 



