Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by G. LANE & P. P. SANDFORD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. PREFACE. In order to give the following sketches a slight aspect of unity, the author has adopted an arrangement which he hopes will not detract in the most scrupulous estimation from the general veracity of the work. Though adapted to the Sunday-School Library, it is chiefly designed for the advanced youth of the church; and the author would not dissemble that, in his ▷ matter and in his style, he has studied to meet the wants of this interesting class. While our denominational literature abounds in standard works for adults, and includes an excellent series for Sunday schools, it is comparatively destitute of such productions as have been furnished to the youth of the Calvinistic portion of the religious community, by Robert Philip, the Messrs. Abbot, &c. The present publication, though of a widely different character, will be acceptable, it is hoped, to the same class of readers. Perhaps its more fragmentary form may serve its object. The author has sought to convey in these sketches important lessons, and to excite an affection for the character and institutions of the church. A few of them have already been extensively circulated in the religious prints. The interest which they have thus excited has encouraged their publication in the present form. |