unpublished than thus arranged, filled in, and edited. It may be so.
After all, it is the Commentary which matters. And in this none can fail to recognise the unalloyed expression of the author's mind and heart; a last, clear word of consolation, strong and unfaltering, from one who through many years had ever, in the intervals of official work, turned with loving joy to the task of the interpretation of this Epistle.
In conclusion I desire to make grateful acknowledgment to those who in one way or another have helped me to make this book less imperfect than otherwise it would have been and less unworthy of him whose name it bears. More particularly I am indebted to the Rev. Professor T. K. Abbott, Litt.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, for kind permission to use a note ( v. inf. p. 194) from his Commentary on the Epistle; to the Rev. J. Llewelyn Davies, D.D., Vicar of Kirkby Lonsdale, and sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, for a most courteous letter cordially assenting to the incorporation in this edition of the Epistle of some paragraphs from his own Introduction; to the Rev. J. H. Moulton, Lit.D., late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and now Tutor of Didsbury College, Manchester, for assistance in verifying a reference to the works of the late Dr Dale; to H. M. Chadwick, Esq., M.A., Fellow and Librarian of Clare College, Cambridge, for facilities, kindly accorded me, of access to and use of books from the College Library, as well as for advice regarding early English versions; to the Rev. J. O. F. Murray, D.D., Warden of St Augustine's College, Canterbury, formerly Fellow and Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for valuable aid and counsel in several points of detail; to the Rev. Arthur Westcott, M.A., Rector of Crayke, for information regarding papers left by the Bishop; to the Rev. F. B. Westcott, M.A., Head Master of Sherborne School and Hon. Canon of Salisbury, for his prolonged forbearance and patience with the slowness of my handiwork; to my relative, the Rev. H. Brereton Jones, M.A., Senior Curate of St Giles-in-the-Fields, for his kindness and extreme care in reading great part of the proofs; and, not least, to the officials of the Pitt Press for the unfailing courtesy with which they have met my requests and fulfilled their part in the printing of the book.
And last of all there is one to whom my purposed word of thanks can never now be rendered.
After long delays, due largely to causes explained above, though partly to pressure of other work, I had at length, in the early autumn of last year, fully determined that nothing should prevent the immediate completion of the book with a view to its publication at latest by the day of the Feast of St John the Evangelist. So I proposed. But the Angel of Death forbade.
For in the meantime the gentle hand, which not long since had copied out for me with a mother's wonted care two passages from Ruskin now printed in the Appendix, had ceased to write; and the beloved voice, which had so often made kindly enquiry as to the progress of the work, had been stilled for ever. And so it befell that other and sadder thoughts and duties intervened, disabling me from these, and compelling me to relinquish for a while the task of final revision.
Now that I have been enabled to resume and in a manner finish this work of editing, I can but trust that, notwithstanding the many faults by which (as I am deeply conscious) it is marred, it may yet, by the mercy of God, not wholly fail of the end to which it has been directed, that of presenting, clearly and truthfully, the total ascertainable result of Bishop Westcott's meditation on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians.
J. M. S.
ASCENSION DAY, 1906.