INTRODUCTION.

The following discourses were delivered in Boston, at Hollis-Street Church, on successive Sunday evenings, and repeated at King's Chapel on Monday afternoons, during the winter of 1871-72, in response to an invitation of the Executive Committee of the American Unitarian Association, whose purpose was thus declared in the letter of invitation:—

"It is not proposed that the course shall be a merely popular one, to awaken the indifferent and interest them in familiar religious truths; but rather to meet the need of thoughtful people perplexed amid materialistic and sceptical tendencies of the time. Nor is it desired simply to retrace in controversial method the beaten paths of sectarian or theological debate; but rather, in the interest of a free and enlightened Christianity, to present freshly the positive affirmations of faith."

The several discourses were prepared independently, without conference or concerted plan; and for their statements and opinions the responsibility rests solely with their respective authors.

[CONTENTS.]

	PAGE
Introduction	[v]
Break between Modern Thought and Ancient Faith and Worship	[3]
By Henry W. Bellows.
A True Theology the Basis of Human Progress	[35]
By James Freeman Clarke.
The Rise and Decline of the Romish Church	[61]
By Athanase Coquerel, Fils.
Selfhood and Sacrifice	[101]
By Orville Dewey.
The Relation of Jesus to the Present Age	[129]
By Charles Carroll Everett.
The Mythical Element in the New Testament	[157]
By Frederic Henry Hedge.
The Place of Mind in Nature and Intuition in Man	[179]
By James Martineau.
The Relations of Ethics and Theology	[209]
By Andrew P. Peabody.
Christianity: What it is not, and what it is	[231]
By G. Vance Smith.
The Aim and Hope of Jesus	[273]
By Oliver Stearns.