Notes on Genesis. By the late Frederick W. Robertson, M.A.,
of Brighton. (Henry S. King and Co.)—These Notes on Genesis— sketches, more or less full, of lectures on Genesis delivered by Mr. Robertson—will bo welcomed by the many who have read with a pro- found interest those writings of his which have already been given to the world. There is some compensation for what the editor, Mr. Robertson's son, calla " the incomplete and fragmentary character " of these Notes, for, in our opinion, they reveal mote clearly the mind of the writer than do his more finished compositions. Certainly, in these Notes the prophetic force which so distinguished Mr. Robertson is as conspicuous as elsewhere. Few will be able to read this volume with- out having brought before them certain passages out of their own lives, which they will be compelled to reconsider from a fresh point of view. As an interpreter of Scripture also, Mr. Robertson nowhere appears to greater advantage. While not ignoring difficult points, he is always looking for, and never fails to find, that which is profitable and edifying. The Bible was evidently to him a book of life, and it was for the sake of the life in it that ho studied it himself and brought it before the attention of others. One most marked characteristic of Mr. Robertson is also very prominent in this volume,—his somewhat melancholy view of human life and human destiny. The general impression which a book of his leaves on most minds is one of sadness,—by no means of unmixed sad- ness, but of sadness still. In his case, we should reverse a saying of St. Paul's, and speak of him as "rejoicing, but always sorrowful." There was a dominant thought in his mind, the cause of this im- pression of sadness which he gives, the thought of the irremediableness of sin. We quote a very few sentences of this book in which we find it :—" Deeds are irrevocable ; their consequences are knit up with them irrevocably." "Learn how sin adheres to character You are the exact result of all your past sins. There they are in your character. There is not a nerve in your body which is not different in consequence of the sin, from what it would have been, had the sin not been committed. And there is not a feeling, nor a thought, which is not at this moment marked and modified by your guilt. So the past must be for over present with us." "The sin you commit to-day will surely toll upon the structure, constitution, and consequently moral state of all that shall Ilse out of your stock and lineage to the end of time." There is so much of truth, and very solemn truth, in all these utter- ances, that any man may well shrink from saying anything that may weaken their terrible force. And it is only right to acknowledge that Mr. Robertson does bring forward thoughts complementary to these, and perhaps to some extent modifying them. But these are dominant thoughts in his mind, and give the prevalent tone to his teaching. And it seems to us that such teaching undervalues and keeps out of sight the vis medicatrix, it might even be said, of Nature, but should rather be said of Chrtst. We might, if space permitted, dwell at some length on this subject, but will merely say that in His contact with evil in all its forms ; the tone of Christ is surely more hopeful, more cheering; and so also the Christian man's thought about himself is not, "I am the exact result of all my past sins," but, "By the grace of God, I am what I am."
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