ciently sustained his effort. Without lay helpers what can an American bishop do? And where innumerable works for developing and sustaining Christianity in the Republic ought to be set on foot vigorously and without delay, how good it is that there are not wanting some to lend the eloquence of their practical beneficence to the appeals of their fathers in God! May you and your husband, even in this life, enjoy great recompense in seeing the rich results which are sure to spring from your good works. In the better life to come, what blessed promises of God's Word assure you, through the Redeemer's merits, of rewards unspeakable and full of glory! PREFACE. HE foundation of the "HOBART GUILD," and THE therewith of the "BALDWIN LECTURES," in the University of Michigan, has directed the attention of the Church to a new and wise policy with reference to our State schools and colleges. The instrument which fully expounds this movement will be found in another page of this book.1 We owe these foundations to the enlightened wisdom and foresight of the Right Reverend prelate, who, with such great advantage to the Church at large, now presides over the Diocese of Michigan. But he would hardly forgive me should I neglect to add, that in the munificence of Governor Baldwin and his accomplished wife he has found that sort of encouragement and help without which the ablest and most zealous bishop is impotent to effect what his heart and head may prompt him to propose as due alike to the Republic and to the Church of Christ. 1 See "Deed of Trust," p. 299. This book would have been more promptly issued from the press, had not many important practical questions demanded prudent delays in a publication designed to be the first of a series. Such a series must be uniform in size and appearance; and what should be the form and cost? The choice of a publisher to whom, probably, many future volumes must be intrusted in the progress of the successive annual courses, and many subordinate considerations, were also to be decided. It was our deliberate conclusion, that a judicious medium between cost and cheapness must be accepted to secure the widest possible circulation for the series; and we trust the "makeup" of this book will be regarded as justifying a conclusion of great practical importance. A Western University, it was also thought, should not look eastward for a publishing house, while the great book business and admirable publishing facilities of Chicago invited us to the great midland metropolis. Those who listened to the Lectures last autumn will find a rearrangement of some of the lectures, and some transpositions of material. This grows out of the fact, that, in the arrangement of the course, the more important matters were grouped, less logically, with reference to the evenings of the week most free from other work in the University, and hence most likely to secure the larger audiences. I have also taken the liberty, even at the sacrifice of material which seemed on the whole less important, to enlarge upon some points which I was forced to slight in oral lecturing. In this I was partly guided by kind inquiries and suggestions of friends who attended the entire course. I must be allowed to express my sense of obligation to the President and Professors of the University, who afforded me so much encouragement, and by whose influence, no doubt, I was able to secure, for so many evenings, one of the largest, and, including the youth whom I considered so interesting a class in themselves, one of the most intelligent and inspiring auditories, which it was ever my happiness to address. LEACOTE, RHINEBECK-ON-HUDSON, A. C. C. |