fortunate, or the breath of life upon a corpse. From that moment he hears on all sides a concert of celestial harmony; the inspirations of meditation and solitude revive and ferment in his great soul; transported out of himself, and ravished into ecstasy, he sings with a tongue of fire the glories of religion, he reveals the delicacy and beauty of the relations between religion and nature, and in surpassing language he points out to astonished men the mysterious golden chain which connects the heavens and the earth. That man was Chateaubriand."*

The eloquent work here referred to must, we may easily conceive, be productive of good in any age and in any country. Although the peculiar circumstances that prompted its execution and proved so favorable to its first success have passed away, the vast amount of useful information which it embodies will always be consulted with pleasure and advantage by the scholar and the general reader; while the "vesture of beauty and holiness" which it has thrown round the Church cannot fail to be extensively instrumental in awakening a respectful attention to her indisputable claims. One of the saddest evils of our age and country is the spirit of indifferentism which infects all classes of society; and the question, among a vast number, is not what system of Christianity is true, but whether it is worth their while to make any system the subject of their serious inquiry. Such minds, wholly absorbed by the considerations of this world, would recoil from a doctrinal or theological essay with

* Protestantism and Catholicity Compared, &c., p. 71.

almost the same aversion as would be excited by the most nauseous medicine. But deck religious truth in the garb of fancy, attended by the muses, and dispensing blessings on every side, and the most apathetic soul will be arrested by the beauteous spectacle, as the child is attracted and won by the maternal smile. Among unbelievers and sectarians of different complexions, who discard all mysteries, who consult only their reason and feelings as the source and rule of religious belief, who look upon Catholicism as something effete, and unsuited to the enlightenment of the age, this work will be read with the most beneficial results. It will warm into something living, consistent, and intelligible, the cold and dreamy speculations of the rationalist; it will indicate the grand fountain-head whence flow in all their fervor and efficiency those noble sentiments which for the modern philosopher and philanthropist have but a theoretical existence. It will hold up to view the inexhaustible resources of Catholicism, in meeting all the exigencies of society, all the wants of man, and triumphantly vindicate her undoubted claims to superiority over all other systems in advancing the work of true civilization.

It was to establish this truth that Balmes composed his splendid work on the Comparative Influence of Protestantism and Catholicity, and Digby described the Ages of Faith, and the Compitum, or Meeting of the Ways. These productions are of a kindred class with the Genius of Christianity, and the former embraces to a certain extent the same range of subject, having in view to display the internal evidences of Catholicity,

as derived from its beneficial influence upon European civilization. But Chateaubriand was the first to enter the field against the enemies of religion, clad in that effective armor which is peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of modern times. Without pretending in the least to question the necessity or detract from the advantages of theological discussion, we are firmly convinced that the mode of argument adopted by our author is, in general, and independently of the practical character of the age in which we live, the most effectual means of obtaining for the Church that favorable consideration which will result in the recognition of her divine institution. "The foolish man hath said in his heart, there is no God."* The disorder of the heart, arising partly from passion, partly from prejudice, shuts out from the mind the light of truth. Hence, whoever wins the heart to an admiration of the salutary influences which that truth has exerted in every age for the happiness of man, will have gained an essential point, and will find little difficulty in convincing the understanding, or securing a profitable attention to the grave expositions of the theologian and the controversialist.

Such were the considerations that led to the present translation of the Genius of Christianity. The work was presented in an English dress for the first time in England; and the same edition, reprinted in this country in 1815, would have been republished now, if it had not been discovered that the translator had taken unwarrantable liberties with the original, omit

* Psalm xiv. 1.

ting innumerable passages and sometimes whole chapters, excluding sentences and paragraphs of the highest importance, those particularly which gave to the author's argument its peculiar force in favor of Catholicism. Such, in fact, was the number and nature of these omissions, that, with the introduction of occasional notes, they detracted, in a great measure, from the author's purpose, and gave to a latitudinarian Christianity an undue eminence, which he never contemplated. With these important exceptions, and various inaccuracies in rendering the text, the translation of Mr. Shoberl has considerable merit. In preparing the present edition of the work, we have furnished the entire matter of the original production, with the exception of two or three notes in the Appendix, which have been condensed, as being equally acceptable to the reader in that form. Nearly one hundred pages have been supplied which were never before presented to the public in English. In rendering the text, we have examined and compared different French editions; but there is little variation between that of 1854 and its predecessors. Where the sense of the author appeared obscure or erroneous, we have introduced critical and explanatory notes. Those marked S and K have been retained from Mr. Shoberl's translation; those marked T were prepared for this edition. In offering this translation to the public, we take pleasure in stating that we have made a free use of that to which we have alluded, especially in the latter portion of the work. We have also consulted the translation by the Rev. E. O'Donnel, which was issued in Paris in 1854. In that edition, however,

nearly one-half of the original production has been omitted, and the order of the contents has been entirely changed.

In conclusion, we present this work to the public with the hope that it may render the name of its illustrious author more extensively known among us, and may awaken a more general interest in the study of that religion which, as Montesquieu observes, "while it seems only to have in view the felicity of the other life, constitutes the happiness of this."

THE TRANSLATOR.

Pikesville, Md. April, 1856,