3 NOVEMBER 1866, Page 19

Henry Holbeach, Student in Life and Philosophy. 2 vols. Second

Edi- tion. (Strahan.)—In this now edition of his interesting work our author introduces some fifty pages of fresh matter. He replies in a friendly way to his critics, and he then proceeds briefly to restate his case, or, in other words, to define the exact position that he occupies with reference to the schools of Hamilton, Mill, and Spencer respectively. The key to his philosophy is to be found in the statement which has been objected to as paradoxical, that he would rather live under a Reign of Terror than accept a Uttipia of mere Social Order, and which he

explains in the present preface as meaning that he does not think that any conceivable climax of human effort can by itself make the world worth living in. In opposition to the Positivists, he cannot help find- ing in the universe an Immanent Will of Perfect Goodness ; in opposition to the philosophy of the unconditioned he considers that there is a logical path up to—though of coarse not round or over—this transcendent ultimate ; and in opposition to Mr. Spencer he is compelled by the necessity of his nature to call this ultimate by the personal name of God. "This opens the door for miracle and prayer ; there is not an atom of the universe known to us on which human free-will may not meet divine free-will ; not an atom which may not be the platform for a miracle, the footstool of a prayer."