Preface

During the two years which have elapsed since Father Faber s death, the question has been frequently asked, whether any manuscripts had been left by him for publication. Although no com pleted works were found among his papers, it has been thought advisable that a selection should be made from them, and published in continuation of the works which have already appeared. The extensive circulation to which his writings have attained in England, and still more upon the continent, seemed to warrant the hope that the publication of such of his manuscripts as would admit of it would be welcome to those who have

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found in his former works a source of spiritual profit.

The contents of these volumes have consequently been selected from a large mass of miscellaneous papers. It is not however without some diffidence that the results of the selection are now published, as they consist entirely of notes, which in their present form were not meant to be made public. They have been left for the most part in the unfinished state in which they were found: as it has been thought better to let them appear incomplete than to give them another form by alterations which might expose the Author s meaning to misinterpretation. They will be judged, not by themselves alone in their fragmentary character, but in connection with the many complete and finished volumes which were pub lished in the Author s lifetime.

The notes are of two kinds, those

PREFACE. k which were made by the Author in preparation for his sermons or lectures, and those which contain materials for works intended for publication. With regard to the latter, it was his custom to cast in several forms, each advancing a step nearer to completion, the works which he proposed to publish, and to keep them by him, sometimes for years, before he sent them to the press. The notes of the treatises on the Holy Ghost and Calvary, which are included in the present volume, were prepared six years before his death, but, with the exception of a few pages of Calvary (p. 253), no further progress w r as made. If they do not present the attractions of a finished work, they give at least the outlines of it, and the form in which he meant to treat it.

The arrangement of subjects which was adopted by the author in his volume of Hymns has been followed as nearly as

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was practicable. Of the seven Parts which make up the whole Collection, three are published in this volume: the first, treating of God, His Attributes, and the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; the second, of the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, including the Mysteries of the Passion; and the third, of our Blessed Lady and the Saints. The second volume will contain the fourth and fifth parts, relating to the Church, the Sacraments, Controversy, and the Spiritual Life, together with the sixth, which is of a miscellaneous character, concluding with the seventh, which treats of the Four Last Things and Purgatory.

A column has been added to the table of contents, for the purpose of giving, when it could be ascertained, the date of each sermon. With a few exceptions, they were all preached in the Church of the Oratory, at King William Street,

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Strand, from 1849 to 1853, and at Brompton after that date.

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It is in contemplation to add a Memoir of the Author, and also such of his lesser writings as have not been hitherto pub lished in a permanent form.

It only remains to say a few words concerning the object of the present work. It is intended to serve as a collection, wherein may be found considerations in a short form upon the chief Mysteries of the Faith and the Spiritual Life, and from which religious communities and those engaged in missionary labour may draw materials for meditation and instruction. To many it will be interesting as an illustration of the methods of thought and work which were habitual with Father Faber: and it is believed that those who heard his sermons with pleasure and profit, will be glad to have some record of them, however imperfect, while those

PREFACE.

whose privilege it was to live within the circle of his love will rejoice that his words should not be lost, but should continue the work of increasing upon earth the love and honour of Almighty God, our Blessed Lady, and the Saints, which he strove so successfully to promote.

JOHN E. BOWDEN.