THE LISTENER IN OXFORD BY THE AUTHOR OF CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE,' THE LISTENER,' &c. &c. PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE : AND SOLD BY L. AND G. SEELEY, FLEET STREET, LONDON. MDCCCXXXIX. PREFACE. WITH much reluctance this work was undertaken. Controversy has never been "the Listener's" sphere, nor is it now her choice: it is not even her design: for in the composition of the following pages, she has had nothing so little in her mind as to engage in disputation with those writers whose opinions she has denied and endeavoured to expose. They will not read the book. It is not intended for their reading; and it can tell them nothing that they do not know. It seems to be the peculiar character of these "last days," that every device of Satan for the affliction of the Church, is |