ROWLAND GIBSON HAZARD. 316 



mously. It attracted the attention of Dr. Channing, who urged him 

 to write a critical review of Edwards on the Will. For many years 

 he pondered the problems of the will. In 1864 he published the book 

 entitled "Freedom of Mind in "Willing; or every Being that wills a 

 Creative First Cause." It consists of two parts, the first setting forth 

 his arguments for affirming the freedom of the will, and the second 

 part being an answer to Edwards. He took the ground that all cau- 

 sation proceeds from the exercise of will, and that man is really a 

 creative cause. During his visit to Europe, in 1864, Mr. Hazard met 

 John Stuart Mill, and had much friendly discussion with him. From 

 this grew his " Letters to Mill on Causation and on Freedom of the 

 Mind in Willing " (1869). In 1883 he published his volume, " Man a 

 Creative First Cause," which is a careful restatement and vindication 

 of his philosophic ideas. It contains also a most interesting defence 

 of the pursuit of metaphysical studies. 



His philosophic writings recorded the unaided conclusions of his 

 own mind. He read other philosophers but little. His mind was 

 remarkably self-reliant and sure in its processes. He wrote with 

 great vigor and clearness. It cannot be doubted that he would have 

 been as eminent in mathematics, or perhaps in political economy, as he 

 became in philosophy, had he given as much time to them as he did 

 to philosophic thought. The high value of his philosophic writing has 

 been widely recognized by the leading masters of philosophy here and 

 in Great Britain. He presents in his life the rare example of a man 

 crowded with a heavier pressure of business cares than most even of 

 our active Americans carry, who yet found time, while travelling in 

 stage-coaches, by rail, or on horseback, to produce works requiring 

 the most abstract and concentrated thought on the profoundest themes 

 which can engage the human mind. 



He was a most attractive host, fond of congenial companions, and 

 gifted in pleasant conversational discussions of the great subjects on 

 which he has written. He enjoyed greatly the society of children ; 

 his heart was ever open with hospitality and charity to the needy, and 

 he would spare no pains or expense to vindicate the humblest and 

 poorest of his neighbors against wrong. 



A complete edition of his works, edited by his granddaughter, Caro- 

 line Hazard, was published by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. in 1889, 



Mr. Hazard married Caroline Newbold of Bloomsdale, Pa., Sep- 

 tember 25, 1828. He died at his home in Peace Dale, June 24, 1888, 

 twenty years after the decease of his wife. He left two sons, Rowland 

 Hazard and John Newbold Hazard. 



