Untitled - Rore Sanctifica

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.*
"
WATCHMAN, what of the night ? Watch
man, what of the v
? night
still of those who have, in
is often asked
their degree, the
office of watchman in the City of GOD.
What signs
are there of any approaching dawn
from this chill night of separation and antagon
ism between those who say to GOD the same
common profession
of faith ? They may be but
bright streaks which one sees here and there ;
yet these may not the less betoken the character
of the coming dawn, and that GOD will send a
gracious rain upon His inheritance, refreshing
it when wearied.
Years seem to do now the work of decennia ;
yet in so mighty a work as the Re-union of
Christendom we cannot measure its approach
by any calculations of human time. Nay, it
* Great pressure of labour has prevented my reading
more than one or two of the following Essays. The pre
fixing then of these remarks, at the wish of the Editor,
only indicates a deep interest in the subject upon which
they treat, not any opinion as to the way in which it is
handled by any one, which mostly I do not know.