Robertson's personal Appearance-Is he to be judged from his Letters or his Sermons ?-His passionate Heart and inquiring Intellect-Necessity of Self-expression-The Work of his Life -Results of his preaching; of his Labour among the Working Men-Results of his Life and Teaching; as a Clergyman; as the Uniter of Parties; as the fearless Speaker; as the prudent Christian; as the individual Thinker-Accused of Latitudinari- anism and Faithlessness to the Church of England-The un- exampled Circulation of his Sermons-Recognition of the Value of his Work since his Death-Subscription at his Funeral Interest of Mr. Robertson in Social Questions-Sermon preached in Mr. Drew's Church to Working Men-He is accused with Mr. Maurice and Professor Kingsley of Socialistic Opinions-His Answer-The 'Record' Newspaper reasserts the Charge after his Death-Letters of Mr. Maurice on the Subject-Letters of Mr. Robertson on Professor Kingsley's Sermon-Letter from Mr. Drew containing Extracts from Mr. Robertson's Letters on the same Subject-Declining Health-Lectures on the Epistles to the URING the first six months of this year, 1851, no first broke the monotony of the life of Mr. Robertson. There are, how- His interest in social questions continued to increase His correspondence proves that he studied and endeavoured to refute the views of Louis Blanc. In March he spoke at a meeting held to provide lodging-houses for the poor. On Whit Sunday he preached a sermon on the social and religious aspects of the Great Exhibition. In June he was asked by Mr. Drew, of St. John's Church, Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, to preach one of a series of sermons addressed to working men. He consented, and chose as his subject the story of Nabal and David. The sermon, which is published under the title of 'The Message of the Church to Men of Wealth,' vol. i. 'Sermons,' is an embodiment of his views on the subject of the rights of property and the rights of labour. It brought him into an undesired notoriety. The public protest of Mr. Drew, after Mr. Kingsley's sermon, in which the former repudiated before his congregation the teaching of the latter, naturally attracted the notice of the press; and Mr. Robertson was involved with Mr. Maurice, Mr. Kingsley, and Mr. Drew in a general accusation of socialistic opinions. The cause of the accusation is an amusing instance of the danger of propinquity. It happened at that time that Mr. Maurice and Mr. Kingsley were prominent persons in a movement called Christian Socialism, and the office where their business was transacted chanced to be opposite to St. John's Church. The series of sermons in the church, and the work in the office, were at once connected by some wiseacres of the press, and the report arose that both Mr. Robertson and Mr. Drew were involved in a movement with which,' to use Mr. Drew's words, they were never at any time, directly or indirectly, connected.' Mr. Robertson was attacked by 1 IIe continued the subject afterwards at Brighton. Vol. ii. Ser. i. one of the papers, and accused of preaching democratic principles. He answered that the expression, democratic principles,' was too vague to deal with; that the only passage in his sermon which bore upon the subject of democracy was a distinction drawn between the reverence to authority which is declared in Scripture to be a duty, and the slavish reverence to wealth and rank which is confounded with that duty, and in Scripture nowhere declared to be a duty that if by democratic principles was meant Socialism-Socialism was not only not advocated, but distinctly opposed in his sermon. : Very soon after his death, the 'Record' newspaper reasserted the charge of socialistic opinions; and a correspondence, of which the following letters from Mr. Maurice form a part, was published in the columns of that paper. These letters appeared on January 12, 1854 :— No. I. June 26, 1851. My dear Mr. Robertson, - I fear very much that I have allowed myself to forget the painful position into which I have been the means of bringing you. It has disturbed me much, since I saw you last night, to reflect that we may have weakened your influence, and added to some people's hard thoughts of you, by bringing you into connection with us and our unpopularity. I felt much ashamed of the vanity and injustice of any proposition about printing our sermons together, which only occurred to me at the moment, and which I perceived afterwards would be doing injustice to you. I can only ask you to forgive me for having tempted you to engage in the work, which I certainly never supposed would end as it has done. I think, if you do not object, that I will write a quiet letter to the 'Daily News,' fully admitting their right to say |
