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SERMONS.*

THE death of Mr. Robertson was premature. We speak in the manner of men. His life was long enough for the acquisition of various knowledge, and the formation of a character as commanding as it was Christian in its essential features. His powers matured early, and he essayed no middle flight. Had he lived longer, he would have fused his multifarious acquisitions and accomplishments, blending them with the convictions and aspirations of his Christian heart, and so we should have had as the heritage of the faithful, another example of brilliant genius consecrated to Christ and the Church. As it is, we have abundant evidence of his familiarity not merely with the general learning, but more especially with the several phases of skepticism rife in our time. Nor is there reason to doubt that in heart, he revolted from the results of infidelity in all its phases.

But his head work is not always clear, though we would not insinuate that it is often cloudy. Enough to say, that it is sometimes so. In proof of this, we refer to the sermons on Absolution and the Trinity in particular. That on Absolution is indefensible throughout. Many of the thoughts taken separately are beautiful, but put together as a theory of the office, they become brimful of error. Theologically, then, this sermon is beneath criticism, as without warrant in the Bible, Prayer-Book, or any of the standards of the Church. The substance of its teaching is, that absolution is proffered to individual men in the name of abstract humanity. This is philosophical realism applied to theology without let or hindrance. Phaeton here has the presumption to drive the Sunchariot, and as usual, damages his own reputation, and exposes others to serious danger.

Far less objectionable is the sermon on the Trinity, but still an inadmissible statement of the doctrine. It is not the Trinity of the Apostles' or Nicene, or Athanasian, or any other creed known to Christendom. It approximates indeed to the

*SERMONS PREACHED IN TRINITY CHAPEL, Brighton. By the Rev. F. W. ROBERTSON, Incumbent. 8 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Co,

heresy of Sabellius, for its fundamental position is, that the revelation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is so far from being incredible, we may well believe that in future ages, and other worlds, He will be known by yet other names, and sustain other relations unknown to the Christian in this world. Of course, this is mere modalism, and as such, does not recognize the Christian revelation of God as final; by which we mean, does not confess the distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as substantial and eternal verities, so essential to the faith of a Christian, as to admit neither of addition nor diminution.

These sermons are much read by Unitarians, and as generally admired. We are glad of it. They contain more of truth than they are wont to hear, and can scarcely fail to give many of them an impulse in the right direction. Had Mr. Robertson been an American, it is not improbable that he would have fallen into the error of Unitarianism. If at all, it would have been before the age of reflection had reduced the spirit of doubt and denial to its proper proportions. Once committed to its defense, he might have gone on in it, as many among us do, with no real devotion to its interests, or faith in its fitness to regenerate the soul or reform the life; yet following its doubtful fortunes, partly from the force of habit, and partly from the inconvenience connected with changing one's church relations. Being an Englishman, and becoming early a communicant in the Church, Mr. Robertson was saved from the slough of skepticism, and would infallibly have worked his way into the pure faith of his fathers, had he lived; as in fact in heart and sympathy he did long before his decease. love of the Saviour was ardent, his appreciation of the blessings of the Gospel were high, and his attachment to the Church undoubted. He had an affectionate heart, a fervid fancy, a glowing imagination, and an intellect both vigorous and highly cultivated. No man was more beloved by those who understood him, and few more misrepresented than he, by those who did not. In boyhood, Mr. Robertson was intended for the army, but he became a soldier of the cross. In this character he evinced all the courage of a moral hero, and we are persuaded that length of life would have led to other vir

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tnes equally necessary, and more characteristic of the devout Christian.

Sermons more readable than his can not be found. They interest all, because richly imbued with sentiments, and expressive of emotions which well up in all human hearts when the chords are touched by the hand of genius and of piety. The style is admirable, the thoughts are moving, and the expression unusually forcible and elegant. And singular to say, not one of these sermons was written out, until after delivery, and then only to gratify family friends.

Mr. Robertson was indeed frichly endowed with almost all the gifts and graces that go to make up a perfect man. In many things he reminds us of that other departed son of the Church, and gifted man, the Rev. Wm. Archer Butler. Inferior as a metaphysician, and perhaps as a scholar, he equalled him in devotion to the work of the ministry, and in a desire to do good, while in all matters of art, and æsthetics generally, he probably surpassed him. Professor Butler will long be a favorite with cultivated minds, and ever be regarded as docile a disciple as dutiful a son of the Church.

Robertson will become more widely known, have a larger circle of admirers, and not fail to do much good. Butler popularizes Platonism, and baptizes all philosophy into the faith of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Robertson makes current literature, and the latest results of science tributary to religion, and by the force of his genius transmutes the base metals of earth into the gold of the sanctuary. It is true, that after the process of transmutation, some base elements still appear, but not enough, we think, in the whole mass, to cause its condemnation as fit only for the fire.

On the contrary, escaping the notice of ordinary observers, it is easily separated in the alembic of thoughtful minds, and then becomes refined gold, as pure as before it was attractive.

We may add, that Mr. Robertson left the materials for sev eral Lectures also, which have been republished in this country by Ticknor, in a style uniform with the Sermons. It is high praise to say of them, as we can, that they sustain the reputa tion of the preacher.

METAPHYSICS.*

Nascitur non fit, is indisputably true of the poet, but only partly so of the philosopher. He must be both born and made; born with the philosophical faculty answering to the "fine frenzy" of the poet, and made, by mastering the thoughts of his predecessors, or he will infallibly be mastered by them. A man who affecting original thinking in metaphysics disregards what others have already thought, may pass for profound with those as ignorant as himself, but there is no danger that the delusion will become general. It is only among the blind that the one-eyed is voted a sceptre for his sharpness of vision. This fact explains both the origin and end of many theory which scarcely lives long enough to see the light. It equally accounts for the perennial pleasure imparted by a few authors.

As guides in philosophy, Plato and Aristotle among the ancients, Des Cartes, Leibnitz, Hume, Kant, and Cousin, among the moderns, will flourish forever. And the reason is, that each had a genius for metaphysics, and each made the conclusions of his predecessors the starting-point of his own speculations. Sir William Hamilton belongs to this noble. order both by right of birth and by virtue of his great attainments. He had the philosophical faculty and he had a perfect knowledge of the history of philosophy. It was this combination which made him the ablest metaphysician using the English tongue since Hume. Less subtle and skeptical than Hume, his knowledge was as superior as his love of paradox was less. Differing, toto cœlo, from Hume in matters of religious faith, he delighted to recognize and to eulogize his matchless acumen as a metaphysician. Reid and Stewart have been the great lights of accredited Scottish philosophy. Of these two, Reid was the more original thinker, Stewart the more elegant writer and general reader.

Sir William Hamilton surpasses them both in each particular. He is a greater philosopher than Reid, and if less pol

* LECTURES ON METAPHYSICS. By Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON, Bart., Prof. of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1859.

ished in his diction, is far more learned than Stewart, and has a superior style for the subjects of which they both treat. He enjoys also the advantage of following these great men, and not them alone. He succeeds and profits by the speculations of the English Locke, the French Des Cartes and Malebranche, the German Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and is the contemporary admirer and friend of the brilliant Cousin, to whom he dedicated his annotated edition of Reid, in terms honorable to both. It is now thirty years since he became as favorably as generally known to scholars by his article on Cousin in the Edinburgh Review, which, we believe, was the occasion of his elevation to the chair of Metaphysics and Logic in the University of Edinburgh. This was soon followed by other articles equally able, on Perception and on Logic. Since then, he has edited an edition of Reid with annotations as valuable as the original text. These notes exhibit, as might be expected, substantially the same views as are now more fully expounded in the volume announced at the head of this article.

The earlier part of this volume is devoted to an earnest and able plea in behalf of metaphysical studies, a theme so interesting and important, that we propose to make it the subject of a special article in a future number of the REVIEW.

We omit here, also, an analysis of the Psychological portions of the work, merely premising that retaining the now generally received divisions and distributions of the several mental faculties, its development and discussion of them, will be found as satisfactory as any thing in the language. Consciousness and perception are the principal topics in this division of the work, and it is needless to say, they are learnedly and luminously expounded. Referring our readers to the volume itself for particular knowledge of each point, we especially commend to their consideration the chapters (thirty-eighth, thirtyninth, and fortieth) relating to the regulative faculty and the laws which condition its application, with special reference to causality. It is in this part of the work that we find the fundamental feature of Sir William Hamilton's philosophy. In his own words: "The supreme law of thought is what is called

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