The Human Race, and Other Sermons. By the late Rev.
F. W. Robertson. (Kagan Paul and Co.)—As years go by, the value of each production of this eminent man's mind seems to increase rather than diminish. These sermons are less fragmentary than some that have appeared already, so that one wonders why they have been so long• withheld. They were preached at Cheltenham, Oxford, and Brighton. There are two of especial interest on " Spiritual Worship," founded on the same words in John iv., but preached at an interval of three years; and in the sermon which gives its title to the book, there is a beautiful and very characteristic illustration taken from medical life. It is too long to quote, as there is a passage in the one on "Degrees in Glory," which makes very clear what is scarcely perceived by many devout minds, and which we must give, though we hope all our readers who can will provide themselves with this last, and certainly not least, valuable collection of the sermons of Robertson. On p. 29, he says
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"Brethren, the imputed righteousness of Christ gives every man exactly the same title, the same right to enjoy heaven ; but it does not give to every man the same soul for the enjoyment. Each man remains an individual self, not merged and lost in Christ ; an indivi- dual still, with his powers, his character exactly what his time of education on earth made him. The thief who had but an hour or two of Christian life, and the aged saint who has been, disciplined in Christ for seventy yours, stand on exactly the same footing, so far as title is concerned. The Redeemer's merits are the passport for the saint, just as entirely as they are the passport for the penitent. Each has the samwheaven, so far they are equal ; but unless each can enjoy that heaven with the same intensity, so far they are not equal. Let two men listen to the same swell of glorious music, and yet, just because there is a difference in their internal nervous organisation, one shall be only moved and pleased, and the other shall be entranced and thrilled. Let two men gaze on tho same masterpiece of sculpture, or of glorious painting ; one has the perception of the beautiful, cul- tivated by an artist's education, and the other has only the duller associations of a peasant. The same admission has been granted to them both, the same colours are spread out before them, but is their heaven of enjoyment equal F There may be the same heaven for all God's redeemed And yet it is perfectly conceivable
that, there may be a right hand and a left."
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