HIS volume is sent forth by the Christian Board of Publication in response to the request of many people, and especially of the leaders of the Walter Scott Centennial of Evangelism, which is to be observed during 1927. It is a condensation of The Life of Walter Scott by William Baxter. At first the complete republication of this very exhaustive and interesting work was contemplated but it was thought that this would make the book too costly for the wide circulation desirable under any circumstances and especially under the present, and that its size would very much reduce the circle of actual readers. It was decided, therefore, to condense it, which, owing to the clear and orderly manner in which it is written, could be done satisfactorily.

      The original volume was published in 1874 by Bosworth, Chase and Hall, Publishers, Cincinnati, and contained 450 octavo pages. It was not only a life of Scott but carried "sketches of his fellow laborers, William Hayden, Adamson Bentley, John Henry and others." It was easy to eliminate these "lives" though it was done with regret because they are interesting and valuable historically, but the purpose was to make the figure of Scott stand out alone in his personality and teaching.

      William Baxter, who wrote the original biography of Scott, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1820 and was brought to Allegheny City by his parents in 1828. He grew up and joined the Disciples, attended Bethany College, and became a leading preacher, teacher, and an author of considerable standing. His work was done in Pennsylvania, Mississippi, [7] Louisiana, Arkansas, and Ohio. He occupied the Chair of Belles-Lettres in Newton College, Mississippi, and later was president of Arkansas College, Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was the author of a volume of poems, and a regular contributor to the Ladies Repository, Southern Literary Messenger and Millennial Harbinger. He published a volume entitled Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove; or Scenes and Incidents of the War in Arkansas.

      It was not from a mere whim that Baxter decided to write the life of Walter Scott. They had been workers in the same cause across the years, and were somewhat alike in bent of soul. But in any circumstances the romantic, eloquent Scott, who was a burning light, who gave such impetus to the evangelistic life of the Disciples and to religion in general in America, was destined to attract a lovely soul like William Baxter.

      It will be an immeasurable blessing to all and especially to young preachers to make the acquaintance of Walter Scott through this volume and from any other available sources--which, alas, are all too few. The burning spirituality of the man, his unbounded faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, his deathless love for the Bible, his burning and burden to preach and to win souls to Christ, his sacrificial life--his almost pathetically sacrificial life--combine to make the study of his life a fertilizing and quickening experience. He was a kinsman of the "Great Sir Walter" and in some ways stood taller in dream and gift.

      His career is unusually interesting from the time he stood on the bridge and sang to the crowds to help fill the hat of the blind beggar, through the days when he swept through Ohio and Kentucky like a living [8] flame of gospel fire, to the time of the westering sun when he could only carry Bibles about in a basket and sell them to the people on the installment plan (probably the origin of that plan of selling books) until he fell asleep at Mayslick, Kentucky, with the words on his lips: "I have been greatly blessed; it has been my privilege to develop the Kingdom of God. I have been greatly honored."

      It is hoped that thousands and thousands will read this "Life of Elder Walter Scott" for the sheer interest in it, for the inspiration it will give, for the grateful remembrance of a man to whom all of us owe a very great deal, and for lessons on the way to the heart of the Master and on how to light and carry the torch that will make sure the feet of the frail children of earth on their glad journey along the way everlasting.

B. A. ABBOTT. [9]      

[LWSA 7-9]