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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 … 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. 16) 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.
Good when He gives, supremely good;
Nor less when He denies:
Afflictions, from His sovereign hand,
Are blessings in disguise.
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