"He is em

manifest mistrust, of that famous prôneur. He says: ployed, it seems, in writing on Daniel and the Revelations; and his notions on the subject, as far as they were at all intelligible, appeared to be a strange mixture of rationalism and mysticism. Thus, with the rationalists, he pronounced the gift of tongues to have been nothing more than scholarship, or a knowledge of different languages; said that this was the opinion of Erasmus, as may be deduced from his referring to Plato's Timæus on the subject. (Must see to this.)"

Now, when he came to see to it, he unquestionably saw that there was not a word of truth in anything he had been listening to. It was all pretension. He would discover this "opinion of Erasmus" when he discovered that "writing on Daniel and the Apocalypse," and also the reference to Plato's Timæus " at the same time. Indeed, if Plato could have written anything touching an event that took place nearly four hundred years after he was dead, he must have been even a more " divine” man than his most worshipful admirers have ever supposed him to be. We are inclined to think, that if any one, reversing the better method of induction, should set out with the hypothesis that Mr. Coleridge was one of the most remarkable charlatans in British letters and philosophy, he would find a great variety of factsin singular agreement with such a theory.

INTELLIGENCE.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

THE press continues to pour forth a stream of publications of which we must take note, not merely according to their value, but also as we have time to examine them. Of some of the works whose titles we proceed to give, we must hope by and by to offer a more adequate notice.

Messrs. Crosby, Nichols, & Co. have already published the "second thousand of Professor Huntington's volume of "Sermons for the People." These fervent and earnest discourses invite and reward perusal, because of the fresh vigor and glowing heartiness of conviction and purpose which are their marked characteristics. In some points they are open to criticism, which, however, we would not offer hastily. There is now-a-days so much tame and aimless preaching, which, of course, is ineffective, as it ought to be, that we would not abate our high and grateful appreciation of any discourses which quicken the Christian life in cold hearts, by objecting to some phrases, sentences, or even shapings of thought on great doctrinal points, that may not accord with our own taste or convictions.

1856.]

Literary Intelligence.

155

The American Unitarian Association is zealously pursuing its wisely arranged plan of publishing and circulating several series of volumes adapted to the exposition and vindication of a pure Christianity, and to the great objects of Christian growth in character and life. Its last publication is a new edition of Mr. Norton's Statement of Reasons for not believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians concerning the Nature of God and the Person of Christ. This edition contains some additions and corrections which the author left in an interleaved copy of the work, besides some valuable Notes by the scholarly editor, Ezra Abbot, Jr., and the biographical notice of Mr. Norton which appeared in our own pages in 1853. This work of Mr. Norton's has been depreciated and disesteemed, as well as misrepresented, by some professed critics, who have found it easier to deal with it in that manner than to answer its argument. In some minor points his positions may be fairly disputed, but we are firmly persuaded that in his leading assertions, and in the strong and thoroughly reasoned grounds by which they are supported, the work has not been answered, and cannot be invalidated.

Messrs. Little, Brown, & Co. continue their highly popular series of the British Poets, and of the British Essayists, in the same size and form, and find in their wide circulation an adequate motive for carrying on the enterprise to the promised completion. Three volumes, containing The Rambler, make the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth of the series of the Essayists, and the Poems of Shakespeare, in one volume, and those of Robert Herrick, in two volumes, extend the series of the Poets.

Messrs. Gould and Lincoln publish, in a translation from the German of Biernatzki by Mrs. George P. Marsh, a tale of humble life on the coast of Schleswig, under the title of "The Hallig, or the Sheepfold in the Waters." The physical circumstances and the social usages of the life portrayed in the volume give it a charm to jaded readers. The interest of the story is strong and natural, but its theology, in the main true, in some points questionable, is designed by the author to convey its great moral.

Messrs. Ticknor and Fields have published in a neat form Lectures by the late Professor E. T. Channing, read in the course of his duty before successive Senior Classes at Harvard for a long series of years. R. H. Dana, Jr. offers us, in his editorial capacity, an excellent and grateful Biographical Notice of the Professor. We hope that as many more classes of students will improve the opportunity put within their reach by these Lectures, of receiving the mature wisdom of this master of a chaste English style.

The same publishers have issued a new edition of Allston's beautiful Italian tale of "Monaldi."

Messrs. Phillips, Sampson, & Co. have published a new Memoir of the Character and Labors of that devoted Missionary, Adoniram Judson, by Mrs. H. C. Conant. The first and very appropriate title of the volume is "The Earnest Man." Dr. Wayland's Memoir of Judson, of which we spoke in high commendation, and extracts from which we transferred to our pages, has found a very extensive circulation, and the readers of it have craved still another memorial of a faithful Christian laborer. Mrs. Conant's book is worthy of its subject.

The same publishers have issued "The New Age, or the Life and Adventures of Robert Dexter Romaine, written by himself." The reader must peruse this charming volume in the full faith that it is a veritable record of actual, personal experiences, and he will find it delightful occupation for summer hours.

In a volume published by Redfield, New York, Mr. Evert A. Duyckinck has made the best possible use of all the publications by and about the late Rev. Sydney Smith. He has extracted the "Wit and Wisdom" of that humorous divine's Sermons, Essays, Review Articles, Letters, and Table-Talk, and given us a Memoir and Notes of his own. The plan was a most judicious one, and it has been most felicitously executed.

“The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations," is the title of a new story, in two volumes, by the author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," published by D. Appleton & Co., New York. The well-deserved popularity of the author in many circles of readers not always interested in the same class of books, will attract them as it does ourselves to this work, with pleasing anticipations of interest and profit from its perusal.

The same publishers have reprinted, from the third London edition, a volume on the Rise and Progress of the English Constitution, by E. S. Creasy. The book is full of instruction presented in a condensed form, and perfectly reliable upon that unwritten but actual basis of government, the English Constitution, which lives not by Articles, but by Principles.

"The Philosophy of the Weather, and a Guide to its Changes," is the title of another work issued by the same firm, from the pen of Mr. T. B. Butler. This volume is highly instructive, and contains a vast deal of information upon a topic which concerns us all. The author does not pretend to be wise beyond the bounds of common sense and science, but he is wise within them, and so can afford to dispense with the sciolism and quackery of prophetic claims, and confine himself within his own bounds of fair induction.

Messrs. Derby and Jackson, of New York, publish "The Adventures of Gerard, the Lion-Killer; comprising a History of his Ten Years' Campaign among the Wild Animals of Northern Africa. Translated from the French by Charles E. Whitehead,". -a book of wild life for man as well as beasts, and wonderfully illustrating some of the traits common to both those classes of the creatures of God.

The same firm issue "Gabriel Vane, his Fortune and his Friends, by Jeremy Loud," a pleasantly written tale, suited to a milder taste in readers.

Messrs. G. P. Putnam & Co., of New York, have undertaken to publish, under the general title of "The Modern Story-Teller, or The Best Stories of the Best Authors," a series of volumes whose contents shall answer to that description. The design is a happy one, and is admirably carried out in the first volume, which is now before us. The editor, following the popular testimony, which is distinct and accordant enough to guide a judicious and independent mind, has made an excellent selection with which to inaugurate his undertaking.

THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER

AND

RELIGIOUS MISCELLANY.

SEPTEMBER, 1856.

ART. I.-THE WRITTEN WORD AND THE CHRISTIAN CONSCIOUSNESS.

[An Address delivered before the Ministerial Conference in Bedford Street Chapel, May 28, 1856. By REV. OLIVER STEARNS.]

Ir is an interesting thought, which has a direct bearing on our duties and studies, as Christian ministers, that there is a continued reciprocal influence of the Written Word and the Christian Consciousness. The interpretation of the written word is variable. It depends in part on grammar and lexicon; and the mind may be imperfectly trained or furnished; therefore the intellectual perception is not infallible. It depends more on the moral affinity and spiritual position of the interpreter; therefore the spiritual perception is not infallible. Thus the interpretation of the written word must be modified by the student's growth in information and in the spiritual life. Interpretation deduces doctrine or opinion from the sacred history; faith puts it to practical test in life and the world; experiment shows wherein is its power or its defect, its truth or its error, and leads to a re-interpretation of the letter, and a remoulding by thought, in new forms, of the subject-matter of faith. There is no termination to this process but with the cessation of mental and moral activity.

VOL. LX. 4TH S. VOL. XXVI. NO. II.

14

What occurs to the individual student and believer may be represented, for the purposes of the scholar, as taking place in the experience of the Christian body in the ages and realms of Christendom, regarded as one student mind and one believing heart; only in the case of the general Christian mind we must give more prominence to history, both secular and Christian, as an element of the experimental test. Providence has never deserted the Christian brain and heart. In despite of their most erratic working, God has, through their operation, been leading the advanced portion of humanity to more just apprehensions of his character and will. The divine instruction of the human family did not close with. Christ's last earthly words, nor when the lips of Apostles were stilled in death, or the last Evangelist laid down his pen. The Spirit, which dwelt in Jesus and spoke by him as Christ, has been always with the Church, teaching it out of his words. Providence teaches it by events. The Truth comes to it through the thought and experience of disciples of every generation. Thus life reacts through thought upon the interpretation of the sacred history, and occasions a remoulding of doctrine. Doctrine modified returns to the crucial test of lives and minds ever new. Through all, God is with the Christian mind, never leaving it for a generation, never for a thought. And there is no termination to this process of divine instruction, save with the life of Christianity upon the earth, that is, with the earthly life of the human race; perhaps it may be said, no termination save with the life of God in immortal souls.

It is this reciprocal action of the interpretation of the written word and what, for the want of any better single term, I shall call the Christian consciousness, which I propose to illustrate. I hope, also, to indicate, incidentally, some bearings of the fact on the questions and duties which engage us. And we find illustration of the fact within the first quarter of a century after the crucifixion. Nay, such illustration forces itself upon us at the very time of the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, before the word by the Messiah was written. The mighty efflux of God's power through these events, fused, in part, the hard Jewish mind of the eleven and their sympathizers, and left their faith free to run into