།་་་

THE PATH ON EARTH

ΤΟ

THE GATE OF HEAVEN:

Essays of Counsel and Encouragement

FOR THE

CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE PRESENT DAY.

BY THE

REV. FREDERICK ARNOLD,

OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

JAMES HOGG & SON, YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN.

141. K. 278.

not shrinking, however, from the use of that literary and philosophical language with which, at the present lay, men discuss subjects of religious and ethical importance. He cannot but feel how inadequate must be his treatment of so large a subject, and his work has been written with the abiding sense of this inadequacy and unworthiness, and yet with the constant prayer that this foolishness of preaching may be blessed to himself and to the hearts and minds of his readers.

Substantially, much of the present book represents a large part of the Author's pulpit teaching. This section of the work, however, has been altered or revised, or completely re-written. The writer felt that compositions designed for the eye must necessarily and essentially differ from those intended for the pulpit, and knew that the Essay would permit a greater freedom of speech and a larger amount of illustration than would be befitting to the sermon. He has chiefly sought to be practical—always glad to turn aside from matters of difficulty and doubt to what Jeremy Taylor, in the Golden Grove, speaks of as credenda, agenda, postulanda-things to be believed, to be done, to be prayed for. In disputa

tion "there is nothing certain, nothing noble," says the holy Bishop, whose practical works must always lead the van in this province of sacred literature; "but he that follows the work of God-that is, labours to gain souls, not to a sect or subdivision, but to the Christian religion, that is, to the faith and obedience of the Lord Jesus-hath a promise to be assisted and rewarded; and all those that go to heaven are the purchase of such undertakings, the fruit of such culture and labours; for it is only a holy life that leads us there. . . . Theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge."