xu PREFACE. 



who merits no reward, while the absence of such fame 

 acutely increases the suflferings of a deserving gentleman 

 who had dared to brave the thorns which proverbially 

 beset the pathway of desert to the recognition of society. 



Against the facts declared in the present pages those who 

 are interested to uphold existing foolish and cruel customs 

 will probably urge their ^^ favorite jphrasey To conceal its 

 hollowness and to render acceptable its wholesale condem- 

 nation, it may be ushered in by an appearance of candor: 

 thus, "Oh! the book is very pretty — nice reading — very 

 humane — a little weak — rather overdone — too philanthrop- 

 ical, and wholly ^unpractical! It teaches nothing which 

 experience could adopt or which the thorough horseman 

 can do more than laugh at. Entirely mvpracticair 



How long are men to be subjugated by mere verbal as- 

 sertion ? All this world has to boast of — all mighty truths, 

 all great inventions — have originally had to struggle against 

 this '''■ practicaV bugbear, which ignorance sets up to frighten 

 its fellows from those doctrines which aim at the ameliora- 

 tion of mankind. Recently it delayed the realization of 

 railways. It has long opposed all social improvement j and 

 as this is written it is being advanced as a barrier to Prac- 

 tical Christianity itself! Those who can regard the in- 

 struction of the Creator as too fine for the creature of his 

 creation, may readily condemn all human promptings! 



To deprive this phrase of its abuse and destroy its mys- 

 terious signification, let the reader quietly ask himself what 

 is really meant by a thing, a book, or a doctrine being 

 '^^ practical^ If the word bears any construction, it ob- 

 viously must imply that which can be used, or a lesson 

 which is capable of being illustrated by performance. The 



