PREFACE

“I believe in the ... communion of saints.”

SURELY if additional proof of its reality were needed, it might be found in the universal oneness of experimental Christianity in all ages and in all lands. The experiences of Thomas á Kempis, of Tauler and of Madame Guyon, of John Woolman and Hester Ann Rogers, how marvellously they agree, and how perfectly they harmonize! And Nicholas Herman, of Lorraine, whose letters and converse are here given, testifies to the same truth! In communion with Rome, a lay brother among the Carmelites, for several years a soldier, in an irreligious age, amid a sceptical people, yet in him the practice of the presence of GOD was as much a reality as the “watch” of the early Friends, and the “holy seed” in him and others was the “stock” (Isa. vi. 13) from which grew the household and evangelistic piety of the eighteenth century, of Epworth and of Moorfields.

“When unadorned, adorned the most” is the line which deters from any interpolations or interpretations other than the few “contents” headings which are given. May the “Christ in you” be the “hope of glory” to all who read.