Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, by ADAM, STEVENSON & CO., in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.

HUNTER, ROSE & CO., PRINTERS, ELECTROTY PERS AND BOOKBINDERS. TORONTO.

gift Russell

5-29-33

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

HERE are times in a man's life when it is not graceful to

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withstand external pressure, and when one must risk a reputation for being wise, to secure a reputation for being kind. It is, therefore, that, at the request of many friends, I consent to the publication of these Lectures and Sermons, as a memorial volume.

I have not aimed to alter the form of direct address. I have thought that possibly the perusal of what multitudes have heard, may recall the voice that spoke-when the speaker is far away. Thus not only may the truth remain, but the personal memory linger; not only may the oak be a substantial and helpful thing, but the invisible dryad be remembered too.

I take pleasure in the thought that, although not native to the Dominion, I have learned to identify myself as loyally with its interests as if I were "to the manner born;" and in the separation to which duty calls me, I shall cherish an unceasing attachment to its people and its fortunes still.

When I consider that here is a land which reaps all the benefits of monarchy without the caste and cost of monarchya land where there is no degradation in honest toil, and ample chances for the honest toiler; a land whose educational appli

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ances rival any other, and whose moral principle has not yet been undermined; a land which starts its national existence with a kindling love of freedom, a quickened onset of enquiry, and a reverent love of truth, and of its highest embodiment, Religion-I feel that never country began under fairer auspices, and that if Canada's children be but true to themselves, whatever their political destiny may be, they will establish a stable commonwealth rich in all the virtues which make nations great— mighty in those irresistible moral forces which make any people strong. Esto perpetua! May no Marius ever sit among the ruins of a promise so fair.

W. MORLEY PUNSHON.

TORONTO, May, 1873.