PREFACE.

ON the death of my brother, many of his friends expressed a desire for a memorial volume containing a notice of his life and some selections from his MSS. or published articles.

Professor Wilkins, who had known him in Cambridge, as well as in Manchester, kindly undertook to write a biographical sketch.

As various volumes of his sermons and expositions had already appeared, it seemed desirable, in making a selection from his writings, to present something different. During one part of his long illness, while anticipating a partial recovery, he had beguiled the time by planning, in his own mind, a possible volume of essays, to be prepared while waiting for the return of bodily strength. He had even dictated a list of those he had in view. On tracing the titles in MSS. or in magazines, it was found that some were scarcely adapted for the purpose of such a collection unless re-written they were too much in the sermon form. No doubt the author had intended to re-write the whole of his proposed essays, condensing or expanding as occasion demanded, and recasting the form of some of them. Such revision being now impossible, the only way was to exclude those which seemed unsuitable.

The MSS., although not prepared for the press by the author, were so carefully written that they could be used, as they stood, for the present purpose. It was felt that no changes could be attempted except by the omission of certain portions to lighten the essay, or by slight verbal alterations, in accordance with the requirements of this volume. Even as regards omission, the presence of certain marks in the MSS. frequently allowed of this being done in accordance with his own ideas.

The author had not included in his list the first paper in this volume-on Tennyson's "In Memoriam." He had prepared in 1870 a somewhat elaborate series of notes as a Commentary on "In Memoriam," and he had used these in various prelections. He intended at one time to publish this Commentary, but on the appearance of Dean Gatty's volume he hesitated and postponed. The notes referred to seem of too detailed a character to be suitable for any but close students of the poem, and so they have not been included in this volume; his more popular essay, however, on the same subject, is here given. The Commentary may yet appear by itself if this is desired.

These

Nor had the author named the translations of the German lyrics which appear in this volume. were made, for the most part, about the year 1875, when the issue of the first edition of the "Deutsche Lyrik," in the Golden Treasury Series, had directed his attention to them. They were carefully copied into a book kept for the purpose, and my brother had often thought of submitting them in some form to the public, but his desire to improve them, or other reasons, kept him from doing so. It seemed a pity, when this

chance of a miscellaneous collection of papers arose, to deprive his friends of the result of so much care. Although many verses of his own poetry exist in his MSS. or in magazines, it appeared best to limit the selection of poetry to the translations from celebrated German lyrics. The rendering of Heine's pieces into English verse is confessedly difficult, and any serious attempts in this direction are likely to prove interesting.

The selections from the author's printed articles include some of his earliest as well as his latest. The group of essays on the "Imagination" begins with one dated 1858 the same group contains his latest public address, which he used, on an emergency, as an Ordination Charge in 1891.

The portrait prefixed to this volume is from a negative kindly supplied by Mr. Warwick Brookes, Manchester.

For those friends who may have heard or read certain addresses or papers not included in this volume, or who may desire to recall or consult them, the following list has been prepared. It is as complete as it can be made with the materials at hand: it probably omits nothing important, except a few letters of a controversial character, which were published in newspapers and magazines; although some of these were on important questions, they seemed too ephemeral for reference here.

The author's various published volumes are enumerated in the biographical sketch, pp. xxxvii., xxxviii.

2 WOODSIDE PLACE, GLASGOW, August, 1893.

JAMES FINLAYSON, M.D.

LIST OF PAPERS.

66

"The Real and the Ideal," The Christian Spectator, 1858. "The Earth's Future," The Christian Spectator, 1861. "The Conversion of Children"; read at a meeting of the Cambridge Sunday School Union Union Magazine, 1861. "The Athanasian Creed and The Burial Service," The Christian Spectator, 1863. "The Absolution of the Prayer Book," The Christian Spectator, 1863. "On the Use of a Liturgy," The Christian Spectator, 1863. Propriety," The Christian Spectator, 1864. "The Songs of Degrees," The Christian Spectator, 1865. "The Spirit of Cynicism," The Christian World Pulpit, Dec. 6th, 1876. "The Dangers of Sentimentalism," The Christian World Pulpit, Jan. 10th, 1877. "The Worship of the Net," The Christian World Pulpit, March 14th, 1877. "Law, Miracle, and Prayer; a Parable for the Times," The Congregationalist, Feb., 1877, and The Expositor, March, 1877. "The Father's Drawing," The Christian World Pulpit, May 2nd, 1877. "Imputed Righteousness," The Christian World Pulpit, May 30th, 1877. "The Garden of the Soul," The Christian World Pulpit, Aug. 1st, 1877. "The Blunt Axe," The Congregationalist, Oct., 1877. "The Loving Discipline of God," The Christian World Pulpit, April 18th, 1877. "Personal Immortality," The Christian World Pulpit, Jan. 31st, 1877. "Golden Texts," The Congregationalist, Jan. 6th, Feb. 3rd, March 3rd, April 7th, May 5th, June 2nd, 1878. "Christ outside of the Inn," The Homiletic Quarterly, Oct., 1878. "The Irrevocable," The Homiletic Quarterly, Oct., 1878. "The Joy of Harvest and Victory," The Homiletic Quarterly, Oct., 1878. Practical Uses of the Imagination," The Congregationalist, July, 1878. "The Power of Christ's Resurrection," The Homiletic Quarterly, 1879. "The Concealing Power of Light," The Manchester, Salford and District Congregational Magazine, Nov., 1879. "Slippery Places,” The Homiletic Quarterly, April, 1879. "Growth

"The