THE MORNING AND EVENING SACRIFICE, AND "Now, when the even was come, he sat down with the EDINBURGH: PUBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE-COURT; AND GEO. B. WHITTAKER, LONDON. 1828. 887. PREFACE. THE Work now offered to the public, completes the devotional portion of that series of Treatises, in the composition of which the Author has lately been occupied, and which the public have received with a degree of approbation for which he is sincerely thankful. The three Treatises now published, are meant to be viewed as one series of connected works, and may be classed according to the following arrangement of the separate volumes,namely, "The Morning and Evening Sacrifice," for the daily use of those who delight to offer unto God" the sacrifice of thanksgiving," the "Last Supper," to assist the meditations of those who are preparing to perform the most affecting and so lemn, and, at the same time, the most beautiful of religious services, in a becoming manner,—and the "Farewell to Time," to afford consolation and strength to those who have the awful prospect before them, of leaving this world with all its fleeting though most influential interests, and of entering on the greater and more enduring scenes of that world which is eternal. With respect to the present volume, in particular, it may be only necessary to state, that it is characterized by the following peculiarities :-In the first place, the view offered in it of the meaning of the Sacramental service, appears to the Author to be much simpler and more satisfactory, and, consequently, much more likely to be useful in its effects upon the understandings and hearts of Christians, than any that has yet come under his notice. In the second place, the work consists altogether of a more complete and varied assortment of materials, than is afforded by any other work on the same subject with which the Author that it has been his endeavour to come as near to that standard as the powers of execution which he possesses permit him to attain. He may also add, that he felt a particular wish that some respectablyexecuted memorial should exist of the peculiar manner in which the Sacramental service is performed in the church to which he himself belongs; and he has, accordingly, endeavoured to afford such a memorial, in the "Sacramental Addresses," which form the Fourth Part of the present work, —in which the reader will perceive, that the Author has limited himself to what is more appropriately the Sacramental service,-including the Address preparatory to Communion, and the general Exhortation to all who have communicated, with which the service is always concluded. It would give him great satisfaction to think, that in this part of the work he had suc " ceeded in his aim,-both because he is anxious, that a becoming exhibition should be made of the manner in which this most solemn duty is |