PREFACE THE occasion of this book is as follows: In May, 1916, at the meetings of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, held in the City Temple, the Rev. Dr. J. D. Jones of Bournemouth made public reference to my ordination in the Church of England, and said he thought some explanation was due from me. The assembly seemed to be of the same opinion. The speaker went on to remark that my secession from Nonconformity had had a disturbing effect upon the minds of some of the younger ministers, as indeed it was somewhat startling that the minister of their leading church should take such a step, involving as it did the necessity of being reordained. This was why, without any wish to embarrass me, he thought that some public statement of my reasons for the change of communion was called for. He concluded in the most courteous and Christian manner by expressing the hope in the name of all present that God's blessing would rest as richly upon my new ministry as upon the old. This direct appeal from a friend and associate of many years' standing could not be ignored, especially as in spirit and language it was so wholly free from any taint of sectarian bitterness or resentment at my action. Being made under such circumstances it was practically an appeal from the entire denomination I had left, to say why I had felt compelled to take such a course after so long a period V 374310 spent within it. Up till that moment I had said nothing in public and very little in private as to the significance of the step. I had asked all and sundry to allow me to maintain this reticence at least for the time being. Our country was at war, and anything more unseemly than a religious wrangle at such a time it would be hard to imagine, even if I had been disposed to face the prospect of such, which I was not. I shall never again be a party to religious strife as long as I live, if I can possibly avoid it. Deter All kinds of attempts have been made to break down my resolve. From the day I resigned the City Temple to the day of Dr. Jones's speech I had been besieged by callers and correspondents who wished to draw me on the subjectsome of them from kindly motives, others not so. mined efforts had been put forth to hector me into making a pronouncement which would have raised the whole Kikuyu issue over again with my personality for the storm center, which I have no doubt was what was wanted. I could not be guilty of such a breach of good taste as to do this when I had barely crossed the threshold of the Church of England, and had I done it, it would have rightly prejudiced me in the eyes of those with whom I was henceforth to be identified in Christian fellowship. So I gently but firmly declined to be rushed in this fashion. In addition many of my more immediate friends and followers pressed me to say, as soon as I felt free to do so, what had influenced me most in coming to the decision to seek orders in the Church of England. Few of them were inclined to find fault with it, but all of them wanted to know how I stood with reference to the ecclesiastical and doctrinal questions involved, |