'The time is come when religious bodies will be estimated by the good they do, when creeds are to be less and less the test of a Christian, and when they who labour most effectually for their fellow-beings will be acknowledged to give the best proof of having found the truth.'-W. E. CHANNING. THE VERITIES OF RELIGION Twelve Sermons BY J. HAMILTON THOM, R. A. ARMSTRONG, B.A., J. ESTLIN CARPENTER, M.A., J. EDWIN ODGERS, M.A., London PHILIP GREEN, 5, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1894 PREFACE THE Sermons contained in this volume were preached by ministers known as Unitarians, and formed the 'Essex Hall Pulpit' for 1894. The discourses, however, are not controversial or doctrinal, but purposely deal with simple experiences of the religious life. The thoughts and sentiments of the preachers are naturally coloured by their theological opinions, and there is an absence of what may be called orthodox' phraseology: the emphasis is laid upon those abiding realities of the spiritual life which are found among people professing the most varied creeds. At present, though the ecclesiastic and the sacerdotalist dislike and denounce it, there is a wide-spread desire among many thoughtful men and women to obtain rest and inspiration in a common, unsectarian Christianity which cares for character rather than creed, and which welcomes with gladness the wider revelations of God's truth and goodness which the thought of modern times has made possible. The object of this unpretending volume is to help forward the cause of this free and unsectarian Christianity,-to minister, by hymn and prayer and sermon, to the spiritual side of human nature; to make plain those verities of religion which lie deeprooted in the mind, heart, and soul of man. I regret to add that the voices of two of the preachers will be heard on this earth no more: the Rev. John Dendy, B.A., died at Newport, Isle of Wight, March 31, 1894; the Rev. John Hamilton Thom died at Liverpool, September 2, 1894. W. COPELAND BOWIE. London, November, 1894. |