Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.- -JOHN viii. 58,

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty.-REVELATION i. 8.

PUBLISHED BY

GLAZIER & Co. Hallowell, Me.; RICHARDSON & LORD, HILLIARD, GRAY & Co.
Boston; O. A. BOORBACH, W. BURGESS, JR. and COLLINS & HANNAY,
New-York; ToWAR &, HOGAN, John Grigg, Philadelphia.

GLAZIER & Co. PRINTERS.

1828.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

1000-

Page 9

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

ISAIAH LIV. 7,9, 9, 10.-For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I
gather thee. a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment; but with everlasting kind-

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

SACRED BIOGRAPHY.

LECTURE I.

ROMANS XV. 4.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

VARIOUS methods have been employed, at different periods and by different persons, to convey useful knowledge to mankind. The knowledge most useful and most important to man, is that of morals and religion. These sciences not only afford the most pleasant and elevating subjects of meditation, but evidently possess a very powerful influence over human happiness, both in the life which now is, and in that which is to come.

The principles of morality and religion have, by some, been delivered in short, plain, and significant sentences; and have been left to produce their effect, by their own weight and evidence. Public teachers have, at other times, taken pains to explain and enforce these principles; have demonstrated their reasonableness and utility; and have exhibited the criminality, the danger, and the misery, of neglecting or transgressing them. The charms and graces of poetry have been employed to set off the native, modest beauties of truth and virtue, and allegory has spread her veil over them, in order to stimulate our ardour in the pursuit, and to heighten our pleasure in the discovery. The penetration of genius, the enchantment of eloquence, and the creative energy of fancy, have successively lent their aid to those gentle guides of human life, those condescending ministers to human comfort.

The historic page, that faithful and true witness, has been unfolded. Ages and generations elapsed and gone, have been made to pass in review; and the lessons of religion and virtue have been forcibly inculcated, by a fair and impartial disclosure of the effects, which the observance or neglect of them have produced on the affairs of men. And the pencil of history has enriched the canvass, not only with men in groups, but selecting distinguished individuals, delineating them in their just proportions, and enlivening them with the colours of nature, has exhibited a collection of striking portraits, for our entertainment and instruction. In contemplating these we seem to expatiate in a vast gallery of family pictures, and take delight in observing and comparing the various features of the extensive kindred, as they resemble or differ from each other; and through the physiognomy piercing into the heart, we find them, though dead, yet speaking and pleasing companions.

The holy scriptures possess an acknowledged superiority over all other writings, in all the different kinds of literary composition; and in none more, than in that species of historical composition which is called BIOGRAPHY, or a delineation of the fortunes, character and conduct of particular persons: and that, whether the historians be themselves the men whom they describe and record; or whether, from proper sources of information, they record the lives and actions of others.

[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »