25 JANUARY 1879, Page 21

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Hamartia : an Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil. (Elliot Stock.)—A very thoughtful pamphlet, well deserving the attention of all students of the Bible, as well as of all students of their own hearts. Not that we fully agree with the writer. Sin may mean etymologically "missing the mark," but it means both psychologic- ally and morally much more than this. Most marks at which men, aim, they miss—if they miss them at all—involuntarily. Sin—as distinguished from the tendency to sin—is necessarily voluntary; unless it could be avoided by him who falls into it, it is not sin. To our minds, the mistake of the writer is that he makes a great deal too little of the will, and relatively too much of the nature which tempts the will into a wrong choice. But whether the author of this pamphlet himself hits the mark or not, he will certainly aid others in their attempts to understand why they so often miss it.