do not receive this Bread because we are one, but " we are one bread and one body, because we are partakers of this one Bread." What bread then is this? What, but the true Bread which came down from heaven? Let us conclude with the words of Hooker: (Catena, p. 35.)

"Is there anything more expedite, clear and easy, than that as CHRIST is termed our Life, because through Him we obtain life [i.e. by His indwelling] so the parts of this Sacrament are His Body and Blood, for that they are so to us who receiving them receive that by them which they are termed? The Bread and Cup are His Body and Blood, because they are causes instrumental upon the receipt whereof the participation of His Body and Blood ensueth. For that which produceth any1 certain effect is not vainly nor improperly said to be that very effect whereunto it tendeth. Every cause is in the effect which groweth from it. Our souls and bodies quickened to eternal life are effects, the cause whereof is the Person of CHRIST. So that His Body and Blood are in that very subject whereunto they minister life, not only by effect or operation, even as the influence of the heavens is in plants, beasts, men, and in everything which they quicken, but also by a far more divine and mystical union which maketh us one with Him, even as He and the FATHER are One."

Such are the words of Hooker, and what are they but our LORD's own words? (S. John vi. 57,)

"As the living FATHER hath sent Me, and I live by the FATHER: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me."

THE CIRCULATION OF BOOKS, AND BOOK
DEPOSITORIES.

THAT we have not yet solved the acknowledged difficulty of circulating desirable books in our country parishes, is allowed on all hands. The various plans which have been attempted have, more or less, failed from different causes, till our clergy have returned to the old course of making their own studies the parish depôt, and disseminating thence, through their own hands or those of district visitors, the books which they desire to bring to the notice of their people; and without doubt this must always be one chief means of circulating desirable publications in a parish. The objections to it are, first, the expense which must fall chiefly on the clergyman, and which, in populous districts, where the supply must be large, would

1 Observe here that the whole force of this argument depends upon the effect being certain by virtue of the efficient cause, and therefore not contingent upon the character of the recipient, in which case the effect would be uncertain, and the elements would in fact cease to be the instrumental cause, and would be only the occasion of the result.

necessarily be very heavy: and secondly, the fact that gift books are not valued as they ought to be; while should the parson, in order to obviate this objection, sell them to his people, he immediately involves himself in endless trouble, and very commonly in many disagreeable scenes with defaulters. Every one knows the misery of letting a poor man incur a debt to him; the excuses for non-payment; the cringing look; the avoidance of his creditor ; the absence from church; how one longs to cancel the debt, and yet feels that this would be hardly right; how at last, too often, one consents to ignore it, and forget all about it, to the too common demoralization of the poor debtor.

It

The book-hawking system which has been adopted in some dioceses is also open to many grave objections, and in particular, carries with it an appearance of unreality which is fatal to its success. was on this account that the proposed establishment of it was rejected lately by a portion of the diocese of Rochester. It was felt that to entrust a colporteur with a selection of tracts and books of all shades of opinion, which he was to disseminate in accordance with the particular bias of the clergy of the parish, was a painful as well as a startling method of overcoming the differences which exist in our communion, and placed the subscriber to the hawkingfund in the position of persons who had no convictions of their own, and who thought that all opinions which are found within the pale of the Church were equally good and true. This was looking upon the system in the most liberal light; whereas practically the selection of books would be found to be the work of some religious clique who would impress their own view upon the whole stock of their agent. Besides this, it is not by the visits, periodical or otherwise, of a hawker that the want to which we have alluded can be supplied. Taken, as it were, by surprise, without time to select, very likely without money to spend, and probably regarding the book-agent as of the same tribe as the Jew pedlar who annually beguiles simple minds with treasures produced from the brass-bound velveteen-covered box at his back-the cottager will not care to purchase any of the books offered him in this manner. They may have "plenty of good reading" in them, but he does not want them then; he cannot afford to buy them at that moment, and the clergyman sends him tracts occasionally, and so he needs no more. And when we remember that in the diocese wherein the system was first tried, the books consisted of a selection from those on the list of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, we cannot help sympathizing with the repugnance which the villager may exhibit at having such dry, uninteresting, dead-level reading forced on his acceptance. There is some vigour and energy, however false may be the doctrine, in one of "Ryle's tracts," or the ranting productions of dissenters, but the vapid, well-weeded, books of the S.P.C.K. provoke no feeling but weariness and disgust.

Lord Lyttelton's argument1 is, that the collection of books in the Society's catalogue is sufficiently approved by all parties in the country to make any selection from it free from the anticipated danger of parading before the inhabitants of adjoining parishes the differences of their respective ministers. This is perhaps true; but it would be a doubtful advantage obtained by the sacrifice of all definitiveness, and, as we must think, of all utility. Of course it is sad that differences should exist, but it would indeed be a miserable thing to attempt to conceal or ignore them by confining oneself to the distribution of books whose only merit (if merit it be) is entire indistinctness.

Granted then, as we think it must be granted, that the books circulated must be such as the parish priest approves of, from whatever source they are derived, and granted also that neither the clergyman's private collection nor the book-hawking system, answer the proposed end; there is still the parochial lending library, which, it seems, may be generally introduced without any of the objections before stated attaching to it. The expense is generally defrayed by subscription, or the collection is made by voluntary contributions of books, and the clergy always have the necessary control over the admission of works to circulation. These are two great points; but even this system, excellent as it is, is not what is alone wanted. It offers no facilities for obtaining books, and in this respect is inferior to the others before mentioned. What is wanted in our parishes is some plan by which people may not only see and read books, but, if they wish it, obtain them for their own without trouble. A poor man may like a book, may desire to purchase it, but unless it be easily attainable, he will not put himself out of the way in order to possess it; he certainly will not take the trouble to order it at the bookseller's shop in his market town, when perhaps he has to walk three or four miles to get there, and will probably make a mistake in the title, and will certainly meet with blunders and delays innumerable on the part of the bookseller. Every one who has had experience of country booksellers will not need to be reminded of their stupidity, want of spirit, ignorance, and the tedious delays which they make their unwary customers suffer. Waiting for the parcel from town, which is always expected, but never arrives when it is wanted, is one of the usual miseries of employing a country bookseller. And then their stock-what a wretched exhibition it is! Can a poor man obtain anything worth reading from the majority of them? Beside a miscellaneous collection of inferior stationery, mixed with other articles not strictly belonging to this department, such as tea, lady's work, children's shoes, etc., there will be found perhaps a few books-Scott's Bible, Barnes' notes, a dissenting hymn book, one of Dr. Cumming's works, a few green novels, and Cassell's Family Paper; these will be the publications 1 See the Guardian of January 3, 1855.

generally met with, varied at times with a shelf of S.P.C.K. books in a corner, or a similar row of those of the Religious Tract Society. Our cottager will find little to tempt his literary appetite here, and nothing which would improve his faith and practice even if he could afford to buy the whole stock. Of course it is different in our larger towns, where, the demand being greater, and the booksellers more intelligent, the supply of useful and interesting publications is often very good, and the advice of the clergy as to the stock kept in hand is often asked and acted upon. And this leads us to the plan which we think will be found most useful in country parishes.

Retaining then the existing parochial libraries and any other machinery which has been found by experience to be useful for the circulation of desirable works, we would add a bookseller's shop-a Church book depository. Let some person of quickness and ability be chosen to manage it, either the schoolmaster or schoolmistress, or the parish clerk, or the keeper of the village shop, if interested in the matter, and let him be made to understand that he is not to look for any great gain in the business, but that he will have no responsibility, and will derive a certain profit from all that he sells; and having found a suitable room, open the shop. A small amount, say £5. or £10., will be required to start with, but afterwards the business will support itself. Even if the London booksellers do not allow their usual per centage, to what they would look upon as a private concern, yet the publishers whose works would chiefly be required, have agreed to supply twenty-five shillings' worth of their publications for £1., which would permit the manager to receive two pence in the shilling for what he sells, and leave enough to pay for carriage and other incidental expenses. The stock of books must of course be selected by the clergy, and different parishes would require different works; but we may give a few hints for their selection which perhaps may be useful.

In the first place, there would be Bibles and Prayer Books, the former always containing the Apocrypha, the latter omitting the metrical version of the Psalms, and, if possible, the State services. These would be procured from the S. P. C. K. From the same source may be obtained any of the non-religious works contained in the catalogue. If a Hymnal is used in the parish, a good supply of these should always be kept. We would recommend also that the cheap Church Periodicals, (the Penny Post, Children's Magazine, Monthly Packet, Churchman's Companion, and Church of the People, which we hear is about again to return to its original management), should always be ready on the first of the month, and the people earnestly invited to take them in. Of devotional works we would not have too great a selection. The poor do not like to change their prayers

1 This would of course refer to those parishes only where the metrical version is not used. It would be good to accustom the young to the use of entire Bibles, and of Prayer Books without interpolation and unauthorised additions.

62 THE CIRCULATION OF BOOKS, AND BOOK DEPOSITORIES.

and meditations, and are far better satisfied if they can supply a worn out book with a new one of the same, than with any work to which they are unaccustomed. We remember a poor old woman refusing with many thanks, a devotional book we brought her, saying that she had one, which was all she wanted; and, pulling from under her pillow an old copy of the Imitation of CHRIST, she added, "There, sir, if you could give me a new one of this, I should be obliged to you; but they don't write such books as this now-adays."

Mr. Heygate's Manual will be found most generally useful, and some of the numbers of the Churchman's Library. It would be well also to have some of the volumes which have had most circu

lation in the Parochial Library. Many who have read them cursorily, might wish to possess them, and they ought to be afforded every facility for obtaining works of permanent interest combined with sound teaching. The catalogue also of the principal Church Publishers ought always to be at hand, together with specimens of the tracts issued by them, which would save the clergy much trouble, and enable them to order with certainty what they required.

Such a Depository as the above might not perhaps be necessary in every little village, but certainly there is need for some such plan. within very narrow circles. Probably it might be adopted in Rural Deaneries first, and from them offshoots might arise in other spots. One good central Depôt in each Rural Deanery would be of most manifest utility; and with this well established, neighbouring places might be supplied or new Depositories formed. Nor do we think it improbable that some of the London Church Publishers would send parcels of books occasionally, on the condition of their being returned if not sold within a certain time. In this way, such a variety and choice would be offered to the country clergy and their people, as never yet have gladdened their eyes in their remote homes.

By thus combining parochial libraries and local depositories, we think that every necessary facility will be afforded for the circulation and purchase of useful books, and a literature fitted to the wants of the people be brought to the doors of the poorest among us.