It must be apparent to anyone glancing through the publishers' lists of the books now being issued, and comparing them with the lists of fifty years ago, that a great decline has taken place in the production of religious books. This decline is observable not only in the old-fashioned religious publications which were looked upon as belonging to the classics, but also in the more modern productions of a like character. These latter sold by their thousands, but the demand for both appears at the present to have nearly passed away, and their sale is now of the most limited description. In an attempt to account for this decline more or less plausible reasons have been adduced, but the most forcible, perhaps, is, that just now there is no religious wave passing over the country, nor are there any great ecclesiastics who have time or who consider it part of their duty to be continually issuing books on purely religious subjects. Add to this the fact that trade frequently runs in cycles, with the effect that the depression in this particular class of literature is just now at its lowest point. When this is so, something often occurs to bring it back again to its normal condition, and this may prove to be the case in the production and sale of religious books. A potent factor in this depression is undoubtedly the growth of independent thought, which was such a marked characteristic in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The influence of Puritanism, which so deeply affected English life, and which in past ages permeated the action and thought of this country, has now nearly spent itself, so the sale of old Puritan books has almost ceased. During that period the noblest characters were moulded from those appearing in the Bible; these are now shaped more by education and culture. Whether this will be to the advantage of the nation, must be left for a future generation to decide. There is much truth in the remark that the literature of a nation largely indicates the disposition of its people; but this observation scarcely applies to the religious side of our national life, for, although there has been a great decline in the issue of religious books, the activity of nearly all sections of the Christian Church during the same period has been most marked. The result of this is the establishment by the various religious denominations of special publishing departments for their own particular class of religious works. They have also weekly and monthly periodicals which circulate amongst their own people and through their own channels; and although these with their books do not in all cases come through the ordinary distributing agencies, and are not always recorded in the return of books issued during the year, yet, even taking all this into account, there is undoubtedly a great decline in the issue of religious works.