JHEN we open the Sacred Volume, the first aspect in which God is seen to present himself to us, is that of the Creator of the world. In the fulness of that knowledge which has become our heritage since

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He, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son' (Heb. i. 1), very few of us can appreciate the entire force and importance of this disclosure. The doctrine which it teaches is to us so elementary, that it requires some knowledge and some thought to grasp the whole of its significance. Yet it is very important. We know not, indeed, any fact which so distinctly brings out the full extent of our privileges as this-that a doctrine so great, so solemn, so awful in old time; which was clearly known only to the chosen people; and which, if guessed at, or inherited remotely by the thoughtful men of other nations, was set forth only in dark hints, or muttered faintly to a privileged few under the shades of night, with fearful ceremonies, in caverns, and in solitary groves;-that this great ancient secret has become in our days so common a possession, that we scarcely heed its value, any more than we do that of the air, in which, notwithstanding, our life lies.

VOL. I.

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If, by the pains which have been taken to engage the attention without wearying it, the Author has succeeded in awakening the interest of the reader in matters which have been scarcely yet brought, so much as they might be, into the reading of the family circle, he will have much cause to thank God, and to take the courage needful for his perseverance in this interesting field of labour.

LONDON, December 1849.