PREFACE. THESE Sermons, having been mostly written in the course of the last three years, during the great American conflict of freedom against slavery, are necessarily frequent in allusions to this war. Surrounded with those whose sons, brothers, and friends were fighting and falling on so many bloody fields, this dark background is seen behind the figures in each discourse. I suppose that repetition of ideas and thoughts may be sometimes noticed by the reader. Such repetition is a defect in works of pure theory or intellectual science; but, in practical and spiritual works, we need, as in music, frequent variations on the same themes. It only remains to say, that these Sermons are affectionately inscribed to the Church of the Disciples, in whose service they have all been preached. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. MAY 19, 1864. |
