PREFACE. IT has been well remarked by a dear friend,' that he who ventures to put a volume before the public, must be satisfied to leave the decision of its literary character and worth, whatever they may be, to those whose office it is to deal out praise and censure to raise a work into notice, or to consign it to oblivion: but an author may be allowed to state the object and design of his performance.' My view in the publication of these Sermons is, at once, to meet the wishes of many among my stated hearers, and to make another offering, however small, to the treasury of the Church of God. Being written in very The Rev. Joseph Jones of Newchurch, near Warrington. in quick succession, to answer the requirements of a daily service in the House of Prayer, these discourses advance no claim to depth of thought, originality of plan, or extent of preparatory theological reading. The subjects were chosen, as well suited to a a Course of Lectures, on the evenings of that week, which our Church has commemorated the Passion of her Adorable Head; and on the day, when she bids her members rejoice in his Resurrection. It was my desire, however inadequately it has been fulfilled, to fix the minds of my hearers, upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the blessed centre of all their hopes; and as the point, from which a believer may most fitly contemplate the coming glories of that day, when He who "was once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear, to them who look for Him, the second time, without sin, unto salvation." I have not scrupled to profit by the pages of Hall and Flavel, who have brought these sayings of the Lord before the Christian Church, each in his own peculiar manner, and each with his own peculiar unction and excellence. If the agony of the Cross, and the triumph of the Garden, shall return any echoes of Emmanuel's love to the heart of faith, awakening there, (as the Holy Spirit bears testimony to the unsearchable riches of Christ) a more heavenward flow of the affections, and a more entire devotedness to Him who is "All and in all," my purpose will be fully answered, and my cause of rejoicing will be great indeed. Everton, R. P. B. |