Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/10

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vi
EDITOR'S PREFACE

and uneven shape of parts of the work, and for the occasional want of proportion between the various sections. However, as the Master of Balliol has pointed out, the informal and discursive character of the Lectures on Religion and other subjects, "if it takes from their authority as expressions of the author's mind, and from their value as scientific treatises, has some compensating advantages if we regard them as a means of education in philosophy; for," he continues—and his words specially apply to the present set of Lectures—"in this point of view their very artlessness gives them something of the same stimulating, suggestive power which is attained by the consummate art of the Platonic Dialogues."

The following translation was originally undertaken by Miss J. Burdon Sanderson, who at the time of her death had reached the end of the first volume of the German edition (Vols. I., and II. 1-122, of the English edition); but the rendering had by no means received her final revision. This portion the Editor has carefully revised, and in many parts considerably altered, though in substance it remains as Miss Sanderson left it. The rest of the translation, with the exception of two small parts, is entirely the work of the Editor. A translation of the first three Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God, by R. B. Haldane, M.P., Q.C., was kindly placed by him at the Editor's disposal, and this, with a few minor alterations which were necessary, mainly in order to preserve uniformity of terminology, has been printed as it stood in Mr. Haldane's MS. He has also to thank Miss E. Haldane, the translator of Hegel's "Lectures on the History of Philosophy," for sending a rough draft translation of the section on "The Religion of Beauty," which he has consulted and in part used. He has further to acknowledge the help derived from the letters of the different correspondents who supplied Miss Sanderson with various notes and suggestions, which were of