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1922
For the course of lectures I am privileged to deliver at this time, Idesire to take, in some sense as a text, a prayer that came to myattention at the outset of my preparatory work. It is adapted from aprayer by Bishop Hacket who flourished about the middle of theseventeenth century, and is as follows:
Lord, lift us out of Private-mindedness and give us Public souls to work for Thy Kingdom by daily creating that Atmosphere of a happy temper and generous heart which alone can bring the Great Peace.
Each thought in this noble aspiration is curiously applicable to eachone of us in the times in which we fall: the supersession of narrow andselfish and egotistical "private-mindedness" by a vital passion for thewinning of a Kingdom of righteousness consonant with the revealed willof God; the lifting of souls from nervous introspection to a heightwhere they become indeed "public souls"; the accomplishing of theKingdom not by great engines of mechanical power but by the dailyoffices of every individual; the substitution in place of currenthatred, fear and jealous covetousness, of the unhappy temper and"generous heart" which are the only fruitful agencies of accomplishment.Finally, the "Great Peace" as the supreme object of thought and act andaspiration for us, and for all the world, at this time of crisis whichhas culminated through the antithesis of great peace, which is greatwar.
I have tried to keep this prayer of Bishop Hacket's before me during thepreparation of these lectures. I cannot claim that I have succeeded inachieving a "happy temper" in all things, but I honestly claim that Ihave striven earnestly for the "generous heart," even when forced, bywhat seem to me the necessities of the case, to indulge in condemnationor to bring forward subjects which can only be controversial. If the"Great War," and the greater war which preceded, comprehended, andfollowed it, were the result of many and varied errors, it matterslittle whether these were the result of perversity, bad judgment or themost generous impulses. As they resulted in the Great War, so they are adetriment to the Great Peace that must follow, and therefore they mustbe cast away. Consciousness of sin, repentance, and a will to do better,must precede the act of amendment, and we must see where we have erredif we are to forsake our ill ways and make an honest effort to strivefor something better.
For every failure I have made to achieve either a happy temper or agenerous heart, I hereby express my regret, and tender my apologies inadvance.