The Channing centenary in America, Great Britain, and Ireland : a report of meetings held in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of William Ellery Channing, with an account of the building and consecration of the Channing Memorial Church

Front matter

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

Preface To The Second Edition

Since the first publication of this volume, the beautiful Channing Memorial Church has been completed and consecrated at Newport, R.I. It has seemed appropriate that a brief but complete history of that enterprise should be prepared and published in connection with this memorial volume. The chapter on " The Channing Memorial Church," with the heliotype view of the edifice, has accordingly been added to the first edition of the book.

R. N. B.

New York, March. 1882.

Preface

The width and depth of public interest in the Channing Centenary surpassed the expectation of even Dr. Channing's most faithful disciples and ardent friends. As the anniversary day drew nigh, news came of careful arrangements for the appropriate celebration of the occasion in many of the chief cities and towns not only of America, but also of Great Britain and Ireland, Holland, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, and other European countries. After the event, the notices of the press revealed the unusual comprehensiveness and catholicity in the plan and spirit of many of the meetings, the high quality of many of the memorial addresses, and a striking array of names of well-known writers and speakers who had taken part in the proceedings. Seldom before, it seemed, had so many noted and worthy men, of widely divergent religious opinions, joined their voices in a chorus of praise at once so hearty, so generous, so discriminating.

To preserve and present in a form convenient for students, whether of Dr. Channing's life, character, and teachings, or of the present tendencies of liberal religious thought, this somewhat remarkable body of testimony, is the purpose of this volume. It contains reports, more or less complete, of the principal memorial meetings held in America, Great Britain, and Ireland. To have attempted more than this would have involved largely increased expense and more labor of all sorts than the editor could well give to the work. On the other hand, a book made up exclusively of selections from the more interesting addresses would not have served to indicate either the extent or the popular character of the interest in the occasion.

R. N. E.

New York, May, 1881.