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I listened one day to rather a dull speech in which the orator urged that we forget all this business of doctrine and theology, and go out to help our fellowmen. At the end of it, a college president approached me and said:

“The students walk across our campus delighting in the flowers and shrubs which beautify the grounds. Few of them ever realize how the gardeners toil day after day, digging and planting, and weeding and watering. But if the underground work were neglected, there would be no flowers to admire.”

True enough. The fruits of Christian living are beautiful to behold, but if the stability of the Faith were not maintained, the fruits would soon wither away.

This book presumes to do a little digging among the roots and to uncover some of the whys and wherefores of the Christian convictions which blossom more or less luxuriantly in the garden of the Lord. My readers may determine whether the writer is much of a gardener, but at least he knows that flowers do not just happen, and he believes that many of those who look to Christ would like to join him in this bit of spade work.

Suggestions have come both to the publisher and myself that the Outline books should be combined and issued in one volume. This has not seemed advisable to either of us. Instead, we are producing this résumé of Christian doctrine in which is incorporated some of the material already published in the Outlines—notably the chapters on the Holy Scriptures, Prayer, and the Sacraments. Most of the book is entirely new.

May God nourish the seed sown in these pages and give such increase as shall please Him.

F. E. W.

The Epiphany, 1939.