Excerpt from The Seasons of the Church, What They Teach, Vol. 1: A Series of Sermons on the Different Times and Occasions of the Christian Year In undertaking a series of Sermons on the Seasons of the Church, I am quite aware that I am entering upon ground which has been in some measure pre-occupied by the two very excellent serials published by Mr. Parker, the Tracts and the Sermons for the Christian Seasons. It is necessary, therefore, in order to justify my undertaking, that I show in what respect my conception of it differs from that of my predecessors. Perhaps the easiest way of conveying my impression to others, will be to state how the idea occurred first to my self. On sending in my contribution to the "Sermons for the Christian Seasons," the editor expressed a wish that each sermon should form a subject complete in itself, disconnected with, and independent of any other. I altered my sermons to suit his requirements; but as, at the same time, I could not fail to see that the Church has exhibited in its Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, a serial and systematic arrangement of doctrines, and that this arrangement is precisely the same in all the Western Churches, evincing thereby a distinct and evident design, it seemed that a scheme professing to be "Sermons for the Christian Seasons," which did not work out, and that fully, the connection of those seasons, must needs be imperfect, how ever excellent its component parts, because the actual teaching of the Church was a connected system of divinity, while this was, in a great measure, unconnected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.