our sin or our helplessness. I am quite sure of being understood by each mind, through its own experience, when I say, that on this and some other spiritual truths, there is, as it were, a sort of double consciousness in our moral nature,- an exterior belief in the doctrine, and an interior state of feeling, within which its light never radiates and constructed of elements altogether foreign, one sphere of formal though indefinite acknowledgment, and another sphere of totally independent sentiment and action; and these two spheres, through that dimness in which every mind without energy passes its life, actually co-existing, the one prominent and the other in the back-ground of consciousness, so that they are never confronted in staring inconsistency. Is it not true, that every specific doctrine of revelation is held in co-existence with a contrasted mass of unchristianized sentiment which virtually neutralizes it, so that whilst the article of faith is not formally displaced from the mind, it is yet seen, when seen at all, through an impure medium, in that sort of indistinctness which neither forces attention nor reveals too glaringly the incongruities of conscience, through those vapors of alien feeling which the soul should struggle through and scatter, to gaze upon the mountain truth in all the majesty of its magnitude, and in all the beauty of its clear outline, to keep it free from the obscuration of unharmonized thought, standing out to the eye a well-defined and towering guide, with God's own light upon its summit, as it looks heavenwards? Is not the doctrine of the essential alliance between virtue and happiness held in co-existence with a prevailing pursuit of happiness through ten thousand other channels that can claim no such spiritual affinity; the doctrine of mortality and immortality held in co existence with many favorite habitudes which mortality shall interrupt, and immortality everlastingly repudiate, and so lodged in some dim and retired chamber of the mind, apart from the busy throng of thoughts that crowd its middle passages; the doctrine of Providence held in co-existence with wills that consult only themselves, with plans not studious of God's purpose, that they may accord with and be woven into his designs,—with hearts that thrill in their religious restlessness of fearful expectancy, as though their fate rolled upon the turn of chance, and not upon the stable omnipotence of all-wise Love?" — pp. 36, 37. "The Christian Teacher" is edited, as we understand, by the Rev. J. R. Beard, of Manchester. Each number consists of from sixty to seventy pages, octavo, handsomely printed; the price for the year, or for twelve numbers, is four dollars and a half. Several copies have been received by James Munroe and Co., 134 Washington Street in this city; and we hope and trust that they will be extensively circulated here, and do something to promote a better understanding, and a greater intimacy, between us and our Unitarian friends in England. Why is it that we see so little of their other publications? memory of Edward Evanson.—If we have done injustice to the Mr. Evanson, in our article on Mr. Cheever, (Vol. XV. page 187,) by classing him with Gibbon, Hume, and other skeptics and unbe lievers, we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of correcting the error, by inserting the following vindication of his character as a believer in Christianity, taken from a letter addressed to us by Mr. William Alexander, of Great Yarmouth, England. "Mr. Evanson was the justly honored and highly estimated friend of my younger days; and I unhesitatingly assert, that during a long, useful, and happy life, - and till life's last hour, - he was a decided, consistent, and entirely unwavering believer in Divine Revelation, and on all opportune occasions, whether with orthodox professors, skeptics, or decided unbelievers, a most powerful advocate of the genuine Christian doctrine. Indeed, as has been said on another occasion, the sincere love of truth and laborious discharge of duty, which distinguish many Unitarians, most eminently distinguished him.' "The late intelligent and ingenuous Mr. Joyce, (preceptor to the present Marquis of Lansdowne,) in his Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. Evanson,' which appeared in 'The Monthly Magazine' of December, 1805, says, 'Notwithstandingthe apparent liberties which this gentleman took with the Scriptures, no man living was a firmer believer in the divine mission of Christ. Every step in his researches seems to have added stability to his former convictions of the truth and high importance of the Christian religion.' "It is generally, in England, and ought to be universally known, that Mr. Evanson resigned, from conscientious scruples, two livings in the established church; thus making sacrifice of his worldly interest to his Christian duty. And this was not only giving up his preferments, but likewise those reasonable expectations of advancement, which, in one of his uncommon talents, were assuredly well founded. "Before I had the benefit, or enjoyed the pleasure of his personal acquaintance, I well recollect having heard the justly beloved and venerated Theophilus Lindsey speak of Mr. Evanson in the kindest manner, and in terms of glowing commendation, as a sincere and pious Christian. I speak also from my own knowledge, after a long acquaintance with both these Christian worthies. "The advantages of a free and confidential intercourse in early life with such men, I now (at the age of seventy-two) perceive can never be adequately appreciated; and therefore, deeply feeling my obligations, I should consider myself both unjust and ungrateful, were I not, boldly and at once, to request you, gentlemen, to afford space for this very inadequate testimony to the character of one so highly estimated, and who possessed so much intellectual and sterling moral worth as the late Mr. Evanson. "Without a particle of unkindly feeling towards your correspondent, notwithstanding his manifest inadvertence, I would, from a simple desire to set him right, recommend his immediate perusal of Mr. Evanson's Letter to the Bishop of Worcester,' 'which,' says Mr. Lindsey, 'deserves nothing less than the serious consideration of the whole Christian world, whilst it shows the rare abilities and strong method of reasoning of the writer." " As the subscription list of the Christian Examiner has, owing to several causes, considerably diminished during the last two or three years, the Society of gentlemen under whose auspices it has been conducted, have deemed it necessary to make increased efforts to obtain the necessary support for the work. With this view they have determined that the next volume shall commence a NEW SERIES, in which they will study to introduce a greater variety of topics than hitherto, and to give, in the same space, a greater amount of religious and literary information. Individuals to whom the Examiner has been indebted for a large share of its reputation, but who have not of late been able to contribute much to its pages, have promised to renew their aid, and make its success an object of their attention and solicitude. The editorial responsibility will devolve, for the present, on the last of the undersigned. FRANCIS W. P. GREENWOOD. INDEX. A. Abbott, Jacob, his Young Christian, - Abgarus and Jesus Christ, correspon- Alexander, William, his vindication Davison, Francis, his poetry quoted, Depravity, human, belief of Unitari- Various Subjects, reviewed, 389. trine of, continued from last vol- - - - - di- its supposed effects to be natu- N. S. VOL. XIII. NO. III. Editors of the Christian Examiner, Grimké, Thomas Smith, his edition H. Happiness of the Blessed, Bishop Hebrew Grammar, Seixas's, noticed, Hegesippus, mentioned by Eusebius, Herbert, George, lines from his Tem- Election, Unitarian doctrine of, 286. Evanson, Edward, vindication of him - Herder, John Godfrey, his place - - - - - is removes to Weimar, 203 — pub- I. Ignatius, of Antioch, 302. J. Jenyns, Soame, anecdote of, 17. in Hannah More's Life, 11 et seq. K. Kant, his friendship for Herder, 188. |