The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, December 1882: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific CircleChautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Religion
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, December 1882: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
A glance at the list of the Chautauqua text books, as they are found
in the advertising pages of THE CHAUTAUQUAN, will suggest somewhat
the extent and character of this feature. It will be seen that this
literature is being published and sold by some of the best publishing
houses in the country, and that writers and authors of high reputation
have given their talent to meet this want. Let even the disinterested
reader examine this list. They are _sui generis_. Wide in their range
as the scope of the C. L. S. C. course, simple and attractive in the
manner of treating the various subjects, yet philosophical and thorough
in the best sense. They are the books that thousands, scattered here
and there, thirsting for knowledge, have felt the need of without
knowing they were attainable, and which were unattainable till this
demand became focalized by the organization of the C. L. S. C. This new
literature is therefore filling a wider sphere than the organization
which called it into existence. Upon the table of many a professional
man, and in many a home where there is not a desire to pursue a full
course of study, these books find their way, by reason of the very
peculiarities aimed at in their preparation. We do not speak here of
the effect that such books is destined to exercise upon the writers
of text-books for the schools and academies and colleges, nor of the
quickening effect upon publishers to furnish a wide and varied range
of books on all these and other subjects to meet the increased demand
arising from mental appetites awakened by this course, nor do we
venture to prophesy the dimensions to which this literary influence
will grow. Mr. Bayard Taylor says that the literary bloom of the
eighteenth century in Germany was largely indebted to the popular
guilds of the “mastersingers” of preceding centuries. A great popular
educational movement like the C. L. S. C. cannot fail to have a large
influence on the popular literature of the future.
The Prospect for a Revival of Spiritual Religion.
There is evidently great need of a revival of spiritual religion in all
the churches of the land. The fact that most of the great Christian
bodies are increasing very slowly in membership, and that some of them,
according to their own statistics for the past year, have suffered an
actual loss, is evidence that the Church at large is not blessed with
the vitality and spiritual power she ought to have. Another significant
fact is, that the non-church-going element in both city and country is
rapidly on the increase, so that it is estimated that from one-fourth
to one-half of the population of the country, seldom, if ever, attend
religious services. Indeed we are personally acquainted in communities,
and that outside of cities, too, in which the steady church-going
element does not comprise more than one-eighth of the population. In
view of these things we are led to inquire what are the prospects for
the much-needed revival of spiritual religion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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