floor, will ere long be fully acknowledged to possess a living historical importance, transcending most of the well-bound Chronicles and Histories which to-day are in the place of honour.
In the last paper of all, "The Poor Man's Gospel," I have pursued the subject in the historical vein characteristic of the whole series, and have striven to show what has ever been the faith of the poor and suffering since the new Revelation men had of God and Duty in Jesus Christ.
The thought with which it concludes, though taken from one of the very earliest of the representatives of the English Agricultural Labourer, exactly harmonises with the one great thought of the "Via Dolorosa," and thus suggests that that thought is a very old one; that it is, in fact, the very soul of the Christian Religion: God revealed to us throughout the ages, suffering in human form.
I thank the Editors of the "Contemporary Review," the "Leisure Hour," and "Golden Hours" for courteously agreeing to the reprint of the articles which appeared in those periodicals. I ought, perhaps, to add, that in some cases these articles have been abbreviated, and that all have been revised. To Dr Whittemore I owe further acknowledgment, since it was under his encouragement that I began the "Walks and Talks" which, more than anything else perhaps, led me into the heart of my subject.
And now, at the very moment that I conclude the work of
