We are pleased to announce a new contributing writer for The Counsel of Chalcedon. He is Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer, (1818-1902), one of the three most important Presbyterian ministers of the Nineteenth Century, along with Dr. James H. Thornwell and Dr. Robert L. Dabney. He was one of the greatest preachers of the first twenty centuries of the Christian era. For a third of his life he was the devoted and dearly beloved pastor of First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, Louisiana. Studying his life and his sermons has been one of the two or three most important times in my life. As one has written: "His outstanding work was that of a preacher speaking with an eloquence that has been rarely equaled the glorious gospel of the blessed God" It will be an honor to meet him someday in heaven.

Rev. Palmer's sermons will appear frequently in the pages of our magazine, with only minor editing. Thousands, from all over the nation, flocked to hear this man preach. The common man, from all walks of life, loved him. The entire nation mourned at his death. Because we are not as literate as his generation, it will take time and effort to read his sermons; but it will be well worth it. I earnestly pray the Rev. Palmer's life and preaching will affect you as it has me. "He being dead yet speaketh." (JCM III)