READINGS FOR SUNDAY EVENINGS. EDINBURGH: PUBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT ; AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON. MDCCCXXXIII. 266. PREFACE. EVERY one at the head of a family has felt the difficulty of selecting discourses fit to be read on Sunday evenings. Numberless as the sermons are which have been published, and admirable for the moral and religious instruction which they contain, there are few of them fit for such a purpose. Composed for a large audience and capacities more advanced, they are often adorned with passages of eloquence, which, though splendid and attractive in church, are unsuited to the quietness of the domestic circle. They are, besides, generally more diffuse, their parts less clearly connected, their transitions less easily followed, and the lesson which they are intended to convey less plain and less directly told than is required for a family audience. The Editor of this little work had been accustomed to prepare for a large family of different ages such readings as seemed adapted to their comprehension. For this purpose, he was careful to select the best sermons; and of those to take only such parts as seemed well calculated for conveying, in a short compass, some useful or striking precepts. He has not, in any passage, used his own language : but he has, without scruple, cut off superfluities, and endeavoured to bring the argument out so clearly, and within limits so narrow, as to make the conclusion quite plain to the understanding of young persons. In this way, a short discourse, aided by a more distinct arrangement, instead of lulling to sleep or wearying out the youthful hearers, was found to rouse and excite their attention to the end. There is another advantage connected with this plan of selection and abbreviation which must not be overlooked. A volume of sermons composed by one author presents only the views of an individual on the great doctrines of religion and morality, exhibited perhaps through the medium of a peculiar system of theology; whereas, in the present compilation, are brought forward the sentiments of many distinguished divines on some of the most important articles of the Christian faith. In performing his task, the Editor has made it his study to choose such compositions as combine in the highest degree soundness of principle with elegance and precision of language. It has been suggested to him, that the lessons thus prepared might be useful to other parents; and in that hope they are given to the public. |