ENDEAVOURS

AFTER THE

CHRISTIAN LIFE:

DISCOURSES,

BY

JAMES MARTINEAU.

"Je sais que Dieu a voulu que les vérités divines entrent du coeur dans
l'esprit et non pas de l'esprit dans le cœur. Et de là vient qu'au lieu qu'ne
parlant des choses humaines, on dit qu'il faut les connaître avant que de les
aimer; les Saints, au contraire, disent, en parlant des choses divines, qu'il faut
les aimer pour les connaître, et qu'on n'entre dans la vérité que par la charité.'
-PASCAL: Pensées.

EIGHTH EDITION.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER.

1885.

BX

9843

13

EU 1885

TO

REV. JOHN HAMILTON THOM,

THIS VOLUME,

THE EXPRESSION OF A HEART

ENLARGED BY HIS FRIENDSHIP

AND OFTEN AIDED BY HIS WISDOM,

IS DEDICATED,

IN MEMORY OF

MANY LABOURS LIGHTENED BY PARTNERSHIP,

PURPOSES INVIGORATED BY SYMPATHY,

AND THE VICISSITUDES OF YEARS

BALANCED BY

CONSTANCY OF AFFECTION.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST SERIES.

In a little work* published seven years ago, the Author of the following Discourses intimated a desire to work out for himself and present to his readers, a distinct answer to the question, What is Christianity?' and the work then put forth was designed as a mere preliminary to another, in which this great inquiry should be prosecuted. The purpose then announced still remains, and the materials for its execution are for the most part prepared. The present volume, however, is not offered as any part of its fulfilment; but rather in temporary apology for its non-fulfilment.

Of his reasons for withholding for a time that promised volume, this is not the proper place to speak at any length. A change in some of his views, and the consciousness of immaturity in others, have

* The Rationale of Religious Enquiry; or the Question stated of Reason, the Bible, and the Church.