Eyre, John [editor]. The Evangelical Magazine for 1797. London: T. Chapman, 1797. First Edition.
Full leather, red leather spine title, bindings is scuffed and worn yet intact, tight. 20.3 x 13.5 cm (8 x 5 1/4 inches); we have treated the binding with an archival leather preservative. 571 pp. including an index and a publisher's catalogue of theological books. Defective: lacks the general title page for the volume, and three plates; includes the Preface. Then the 12 issues for the year, which appear to have been tied together before they were bound. Includes the following plates: Rev. George Lambert; Rev. Thomas Best; Rev. Alexander Waugh; Rev. John Mead Ray; Mrs. Blanche Jefferies, Aged about 117; Rev. John Love, A.M., Secretary to the Missionary Society; William Shrubsole, Late Minister of the Gospel at Sheerness; Rev. George Jerment; Revd. John Reynolds. Some of the plates are torn without loss, scribbled upon, pricked. Good.
This periodical began in 1793 and some form of it continued until 1904. It was aimed at Calvinists within the evangelical movement in Great Britain and was supported by both churchmen and independents. It strongly supported evangelism and revivals, as well as giving thoughtful articles in theology, biography, missionary society reports, book reviews, &c.
It was founded and edited in the early years by the Rev. John Eyre (1754-1803), an evangelical Anglican minister. He studied at Trevecca College and was a minister connected with the work of the Countess of Huntingdon. Although he ministered among the Dissenters he desired to enter the Anglican ministry, and was matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1778. While serving the parish at Homerton he opened a school at Well Street, Hackney. Among his pupils were Robert Aspland and Daniel Wilson. In addition to his efforts in establishing and editing The Evangelical Magazine, Eyre was one of the founders of the London Missionary Society, encouraged the establishment of the dissenting academy at Idle, and had a hand in the founding of the Hackney Theological College, which opened in 1803. His funeral sermon was preached by Rowland Hill.
