4 January, 1892. From the Library of THOMAS HILL, D. D COPYRIGHT, 1881, BY SELAH HOWELL AND OTIS O. WRIGHT. PREFACE. Austin Craig was doubtless what Horace Mann once styled him-"a religious genius." His whole nature ran to thinking, and his thought was essentially spiritual. The Bible was to him the great textbook of life-divine and human-and all that he knew, and all that he was, were concentrated in him in finding out God's meaning. He possessed great intuitive powers, and was susceptible of the highest inspiration; and, accordingly, his best thoughts were spontaneous. Writing was a dreaded task, but he delighted to talk; and, when in his usually happy mood, would sit by the hour with the Holy Scriptures on his knees, and let the great living thoughts pour forth like an overflowing fountain. We were sometimes careful not to suggest any topic of interest, unless we had ample time to wait for the con clusion. written! How much we have wished that he had But there is comparatively little left of his work, save as it is recorded in the hearts of the few who knew him. At the suggestion of friends I have undertaken the selection of a few of his most characteristic thoughts, preserved in lecture-notes, taken during a four years' course of study at the Christian Biblical Institute. The verbatim reports, from which these selections are made, contain the essential thoughts of his lectures; or, as Dr. Craig would have called them, "nest eggs." His method was unique. He believed that theology had been too much "cut and dried;" and (partially from necessity, perhaps) he combined the whole curriculum in one chair, so that his lectures were at once doctrinal, devotional, homiletical, and practical. Therefore, many of these excerpts are not necessarily connected, nor logical to each other, but simply suggestive. His lectures being principally expository in form, the subject matter reported, in many cases, was necessarily brief. The editors are conscious that out of the abundance of material at their command others might have se |