WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING.
Charles City, Iowa.
Please give a short account of the life and writings of Dr. Channing.
Mrs. R. W. May.
Answer.—The great apostle of Unitarianism, as he has been called, was born at Newport, R. I., April 7, 1780, and in his 15th year entered Harvard University. In 1798, on his graduation day, he delivered an oration that captivated the whole audience, and foretold his future fame as an orator and writer. While teaching in Richmond, Va., he became impressed with the evils of slavery, and deemed the surest cure for all such abuses to be the spread of Christianity. Returning to Harvard, he began his theological studies, acting at the same time as regent of the university. In 1803 he assumed the pastorate of Federal Street Church, Boston, and at once became known as an eloquent and brilliant orator, as well as an efficient minister. His finest oration, perhaps, is the one delivered upon the fall of Napoleon, in 1814, and entitled “The Goodness of God in Delivering the Christian World from Military Despotism.” In 1820 he received the title of Doctor of Divinity from Harvard. Two years later, while visiting in Europe, he met Coleridge, who said of him, “He has the love of wisdom and the wisdom of love.” His “Remarks Upon the Life and Character of Napoleon Bonaparte,” which appeared in 1828, did much to spread his fame throughout the civilized world. His greatest theological work is, probably, the “Evidences of Christianity.” An earnest minister of the Unitarian Church, he was always a sincerely devout Christian. A friend of the anti-slavery and temperance movements, when they had but few, his last public speech was in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies. His death occurred in 1842, and his body was laid in the cemetery of Mount Auburn.
SIR WILLIAM WALLACE.
Postville, Iowa.
1. Please give a sketch of Sir William Wallace, the Scottish patriot. 2. In what year was the Crimean war.
Maud Murlin.