PREFACE. THE Index at the end of this volume will show that during the present year the readers of The Baptist Magazine have been indebted for instruction contained in its columns to some of the most able and judicious among the teachers of our churches. It is proper to state also that in departments in which it is not customary to publish the name of the writer, essential service has been rendered by our brethren Godwin, Cramp, Dyer, Aldis, Steane, Tomkins, and Doctors Cox and Murch. Anticipating the continuance of aid from these and other competent brethren, the Editor entertains a cheering expectation that, in proportion as the sale of the Magazine extends, it will promote the best interests of the Baptist churches, and conduce to the spread of truth and righteousness, in this and in distant lands. The Editor has recently resigned a pastoral charge which he had sustained many years, in the country, and removed to the metropolis. He hopes that his residence in this central and influential city, where necessarily a large proportion of the most important public business is transacted, will facilitate his acquisition of interesting information, and enable him to carry into effect several improvements which he contemplates. He begs leave, however, to remind his brethren at a distance that, for provincial intelligence, he must be dependent upon the spontaneous aid of residents in different parts of the empire. London, November 25, 1839. |