PREFACE.

N writing my late book, Christianity in the United

States from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time,* much material came into my hands which could not be appropriately introduced into that volume, but which is of value to American citizens.

Valuable articles in the editorial and other columns of the Christian Union, in May, June, and July, 1888, have rendered much aid to the author.

The recent agitation of the Catholic school contest, in Boston and elsewhere, prompted me to enter into the discussion, for the benefit of my own congregation, and also for the public at large. The result is this little book, which I hope will help to an understanding of the questions involved; questions soon more fully to engross public attention.

The discussion, it is hoped, will commend itself to all as candid and fair, if not as sharp and severe as

* Phillips & Hunt, 805 Broadway, New York city. 800 pages, 8vo,

1888.