haste, and almost clandestinely, in the church of the monastery of Scillières. The Academy was forbidden to pronounce his eulogy, and the theaters were prohibited from playing his pieces.

ART. VI.-FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON.

Life and Letters of Frederick W. Robertson, M. A., Incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, 1847-53. Edited by STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M. A., late Chaplain to the Embassy at Berlin. In two volumes. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1865.

SOME men owe their chief distinction to the circumstances with which they happen to be connected. Others owe little to externals, and interest us mainly by the history of their interior life, by what they thought and felt, the development of their moral and intellectual power. There is no doubt that every truly superior mind has an inward history, which, if it could be distinctly portrayed, would prove worthy of attention and study. These volumes are pre-eminently a mental history, which chains our attention by laying bare the growth, conflicts, and thinkings of a gifted and impassioned soul. It is frequently said that the organized associations which occupy every department of human activity, and other features of this age, are unfavorable to the development of individuality of character. The most laudable efforts of the solitary artisan are eclipsed and superseded by the result of the combined skill and industry of different countries and generations. The single-handed valor of the bravest of the brave no longer turns the tide of battle. Whatever field of investigation we select, we discover the footprints of previous explorers, till learning has become mainly a knowledge of what others have thought and done, rather than reading new pages from the book of nature for ourselves. Yet, at intervals, as if to give evidence of undiminished vigor, nature gives to the world a man of character so sharply outlined, and so unmistakably independent, that the admiration of those who are borne along by his influence, and the opposition of those who are alarmed at his disregard for canonized prejudices, alike point him out

as a leader among men, one who has sufficient innate strength of soul to swim against the prevailing tides and currents of the time. Such a man stands out before us in this biography.

Whatever differences of opinion may exist respecting the soundness of his theological teaching, there can be no question that Frederick W. Robertson possessed mental gifts which lifted him out of the ranks of ordinary men. Such intensity of feeling and vivid imagination has seldom been found in union with such clearness of intellect and power of sustained thought on abstruse subjects. In him are blended the inental subtlety of the philosopher, the spiritual vision of the poet, and the stern decision of the earnest practical worker. Though during his life his name was quite unknown on this side of the Atlantic, and comparatively so in England, yet no sermons of our day have awakened so deep and extensive an interest as the fragmentary discourses of this Brighton curate, whose life was so sorely lacerated with the thorns and briers of the wilderness, and who died with an oppressive feeling of failure and disappointment, shrouding like a dark shadow his worn and bleeding heart. They have stirred the hearts of thousands, both in England and America, with their burning and electric eloquence, and have probably been preached by many who have scarcely grasped their theological standpoint, or apprehended their logical tendencies. This extensive popularity of the sermons was naturally followed by a wish to know something of the author. To gratify this wish the present "Life and Letters" are given to the public. Like most recent biographies, the work consists mainly of selections from private correspondence. It is generally conceded that from no other source can we gain so true a conception of the character of a man. This method, however, may be overdone. Either from modesty or slothfulness, modern biographers frequently keep too much in the background. If the writer of a life be really qualified for the task he undertakes, by a special acquaintance with the subject of his work, he is surely under obligations to give the advantage of his superior knowledge to his readers, and, by a judicious condensation, to save them the labor of wading through piles of prosy correspondence for the sake of a very little additional knowledge.

Mr.

These remarks do not apply to the work before us. Robertson has been fortunate in his biographer. The letters, though fragmentary and unconnected, help us to understand a man who is certainly worth knowing. The light they reflect upon the inner life and theologic opinions of their gifted author, constitutes the main value of this biography. They possess a rare freshness and attraction, and give us clear glimpses into his soul's life. Every sentence throbs with life and feeling; and bears an unmistakable impress of sincerity, earnestness, and independence. The portions of the work supplied by the pen of Mr. Brooke, though little more than the frame in which these fragments are set, evince superior mental grasp and culture, and a deep and appreciative admiration of Robertson's character and teaching. External events are properly only regarded in their influence on the development of his character. And although doubtless Mr. Brooke's warm admiration of the teaching and character of Robertson has led him to see everything in the most favorable light, we thankfully acknowledge the fearless candor with which he gives us letters that some would think reveal too much weakness and petulance to be published. We want to see such a man for ourselves. And we have in these volumes, taken in connection with his published sermons, the means of forming a tolerably correct estimate of the man, and of his position as a theologian.

The popularity of his sermons, and the manner in which his views are spoken of by many who claim an adherence to the standard theology of the Reformation, as well as the fact of his being in some sense a representative man, illustrating a tendency to freer thought and greater latitude of opinion in theology, warrant us calling the attention of the readers of this journal to a brief review of his mental history, as here indicated, and of the relation of his theology to the Bible, and to those central truths which constitute the creed of evangelical Protestants.

Frederick W. Robertson was born in 1816. He was the son of a British officer, who still survives him. He owed much to the careful education and watchfulness of his parents. Even in childhood, there seems. to have been nothing in external nature that did not give him pleasure and awaken a vivid interest.

He excelled in manly games and athletic exercises, and yet joined to this a love of reading and quiet remarkable for one of his age. His progress in his studies early evinced superior mental capacity. Enthusiastic admiration of a military life was early developed, and continued singularly strong to the end of his life. "I was rocked and cradled," he writes, "to the roar of artillery, and the very name of such things sounds to me like home. A review, suggesting the conception of a real battle, impresses me to tears. I cannot see a regiment maneuver, nor artillery in motion, without a choking sensation." Application was made in his behalf to the authorities, and his name placed on the list, as a candidate for a place in a cavalry regiment in India. He began to study for this prospective sphere with ardent enthusiasm. It was long before the desired appointment was conferred, and in the mean time his friends began to urge him to enter the ministry. This caused him many mental struggles and deep perplexity. But at length, after the military appointment was obtained, mainly in deference to the wishes of his father, he decided for the ministry, and went to Oxford to study for orders. Here he was brought into direct contact with the Tractarian controversy; and, though rejecting the teaching of the High-Church leaders of that movement, he cherished a warm admiration for many of the men of that party, which was strengthened rather than diminished by the lapse of years. His Oxford life was chiefly distinguished by its exemplary character, and by his deep sense of the responsi bilities of the sacred office, to which he looked forward. He was ordained in 1840, and was successively curate of Winchester and Cheltenham, which latter place he left in 1846, through causes that changed his whole future life.

During these early years of his ministry, although observant minds recognized evidences of superiority, he had not yet developed that remarkable intellectual power which arrested such general attention afterward at Brighton. The ascetic severity with which he observed the duties of religion during this period, reminds us of the struggles of John Wesley before he clearly apprehended the doctrine of justification by faith. The issue, however, was widely different. Mr. Robertson had entered the ministry, a decided adherent of the Evangelical

Calvinistic party in the National Church, and for some years maintained the tenets of that section.

The following quotations from his correspondence show his theological position during this period:

I believe there is at this time a determined attack made by Satan and his instruments to subvert that cardinal doctrine of our best hopes, justification by faith alone; and how far he has already succeeded let many a college in Oxford testify. It is the doctrine which, more than any other, we find our own hearts continually turning aside from and surrendering. Anything but Christ the Virgin, the Church, the Sacraments, a new set of resolutions-any or all of these will the heart embrace as a means to holiness or acceptance, rather than God's way.

Again, speaking of a conversation with a professed Liberal at Geneva, he says:

My chief point was, to prove the death of Christ not merely a demonstration of God's willingness to pardon, on repentance and obedience, but an actual substitution of suffering; and that salvation is a thing finished for those who believe, not a commencement of a state in which salvation may be gained; insisting especially on Hebrews x, 14. . . . I admit that want of assurance is the mark of very low attainments in grace.

And at a still later date he writes:

I quite agree with you about the Calvinistic doctrines. I think we ought to preach them in the proportion in which they are found in Scripture, connected always with election unto holiness.

But these positions were very soon to be abandoned forever. As we pursue his history, we find him explicitly renouncing these views, and taking up a position of stern antagonism to the "Evangelicals," which at times was distinguished by an intense bitterness and aversion, that must be regretted as a weakness, partly resulting from his sensitive nervous organization.

During the later years of his stay at Cheltenham he began seriously to doubt the soundness of the views he had hitherto entertained. These doubts gradually grew upon him, until his soul was steeped in perplexity, and the creed of his youth seemed to drift from his grasp, like a wreck swept before the relentless waves of fate.

In the latter part of 1846, on account of the failure of his health, he went again to the continent, where he remained