BY THE SAME AUTHOR. RECENTLY PUBLISHED, CROWN OCTAVO, PRICE 3s. PERSONALITY: THE BEGINNING AND END OF METAPHYSICS, AND A NECESSARY ASSUMPTION IN ALL POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY. SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "This is a little book, but it contains more sound philosophy than many pretentious treatises. In an admirably lucid way the author scatters to the winds the baseless assumptions of the sense philosophy."-British Quarterly Review. "The author is evidently an independent thinker of no mean order, and his wide range of quotation from philosophical writers of different schools shows that he is quite at home in the thoughts and opinions of others on the great theme he has undertaken to discuss. Both these requisites were necessary, and the wonder is that an author who must have felt he possessed them should have deemed it desirable to withhold his name. Whether this be from modesty or otherwise, he certainly walks with firm step over the ground held by the greatest thinkers, treating with the conscious dignity of independent thought the opinions of the ancient philosophers, and making himself no less at his ease in the presence of Kant, Hegel, Hume, the two Mills, Bain, Spencer, Lewes, Hamilton, Martineau, Huxley, Tyndall, and Comte.' -The Inquirer. "It is not often that we have to complain of the brevity of a sermon or of a treatise on philosophy, but in the case of a little book of the latter kind, recently published anonymously, we have found the arguments so cogent, the style so clear, and the matter at issue so important, that we heartily wish that the writer had allowed himself room for the fuller treatment of his subject. We confidently refer our readers to this well-reasoned volume." -Modern Review. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE He knows, "The outcome of a powerful and cultured mind. moreover, how to express his thoughts in clear, vigorous, direct language, pregnant with earnestness and feeling."-Scotsman. "We decidedly recommend them to persons perplexed by the speculations of modern science."-Spectator. "This is a remarkable volume of sermons. Though it consists of only about 250 pages, it contains an amount of thought and learning, expressed in language singularly clear, vigorous, terse, and pointed, which might have been expanded into a bulky folio."-Glasgow Mail. "What, more sermons !' we exclaimed, when we found this volume on our table. 'Surely humanity is already over-supplied with that article !' And so we sat down to the task of reading with more expectation of weariness than of interest. We had not read far, however, before we found ourselves under the influence of a rich, beautiful, elevated mind, with clear intellect, large sympathies, and deep spirituality of tone. If sermons like these can be produced, why then, let sermons multiply. They are very different, indeed, from sermons in general. They are all exceedingly brief, very full of thought, very close, powerful, and consistent in reasoning, compact, succinct, and clear in style, very practical in their moral aim, and toned throughout with generous feeling and manly piety. To our thinking these sermons are some of the very best produced in this country within the last hundred years,-the best adapted to revive a religious spirit, and to counteract the atheistical tendencies of the age, without ignoring for a moment the discoveries of modern science and the universality of law, and without obtruding any merely scholastic or church-made dogmas to rudely silence or rebuke any natural doubt or rational inquiry. The name of the author does not appear on the title-page. We have not the slightest idea who he is, or to what section of the Church he belongs. It is certainly not a narrow Church, but broad, liberal, and free. Come, let us reason together,' is the request and invitation of the volume: it contains no orthodox command to be silent and obey."-The Inquirer. "These sermons are everything which sermons ought not to be." -English Independent. |