A Biographical Sketch of John Williamson Nevin

One of the most important works that has ever been published is the biography of JOHN WILLIAMSON NEVIN, written by his disciple and co-worker, THEODORE APPEL. It is the work of a ripe scholar and master of the great subject undertaken by him, and well has he performed his task. It is a work which required arduous painstaking and labor, though from first to last a labor of love, the final result being a magnificent monument to the memory of the grandest and noblest historical personage of the present age.
All persons who take a real interest in the truth as it is in Jesus, and have made sufficient progress in Christian knowledge to grasp and appropriate the profound thoughts of Dr. Nevin, should by all means possess a copy of Dr. Appel’s book. And this, no matter to what denomination they may belong. Dr. Nevin was far above denomination or Church party, a Catholic in the broadest and best sense, who knew only the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and no other. All persons who can rise to that plane of Apostolic Christianity, or have the mind and wish to do so, would be greatly benefited by reading Dr. Appel’s great work.
Then why this little book on the same subject? Answer: Just because it is a little book, intended for people who will never read the great and large one of Dr. Appel. This alone is the humble author’s reason for writing it. He would rejoice exceedingly if the large work would find its way into every intelligent Christian household; but knowing that such will not be the case, he offers to the general public this little book, with the humble consciousness of its extreme littleness as compared with the greatness of its subject. It is written for people who, after reading it, it is hoped, will want the other book. May the blessing of God rest upon this earnest, honest, though imperfect, design of the author.