SERMON XXIII.

On the Curse pronounced against the Serpent; including the First Promise of a Saviour, made to our first Parents. By the Reverend Francis Cummins, D. D. Minister of a Presbyterian Church in Green County, Georgia. Genesis, iii. 15.-" And I will put 66 enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed "and her seed; it (he) shall bruise thy head; and thou shalt "bruise his heel."

SERMON XXIV.

.. 356

On Buying, and not Selling the Truth. By the same. Proverbs, xviii. 23.-"Buy the truth, and sell it not."

SERMON XXV.

. 377

On the Analogy between the Dispensations of Grace by the Gospel, and a Royal Marriage Feast. By the Reverend Richard Furman, D. D. Minister of the Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Matthew, xxii. 9.—“Go ye, therefore, into the high"ways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the Marriage." 395

THE Editor thinks it proper here to state, that, for a reason, of which, it is presumed, every reflecting reader will approve, the names of the authors of the several Sermons which this volume contains, are inserted only in the preceding table of contents. To attach them to each Sermon, was judged to be too conspicuous a display of authorship. It may not be inexpedient further to mention, that the notes inserted at the bottom of pages 168, 169, 190, and 322, were written by the authors of the several Sermons to which they are respectively attached. All the other notes were written by the Editor.

PREFACE.

WHOEVER undertakes to provide entertainment or instruction for the public, incurs a responsibility, proportionate to the importance of those subjects, on which he proposes either to entertain or instruct. This is equally true, whether what he offers be presented as the result of his own reflections, or as a selection from the works of others. Of the latter description, is the work herein offered to the public, as has been announced in the title page; and as the subjects on which this volume treats, are of the utmost importance, and have relation to an object of no less magnitude than the salvation of souls, the Editor is free to acknowledge, that his solicitude for the favourable reception of his book, is fully as great as it would have been, were he himself, not the compiler, but the author of the following volume.

It is believed, and perhaps not on slight grounds, that such a collection of Sermons as is here presented, will, by those for whose benefit it is chiefly intended, be read with more interest, than a volume of the same size would be, containing the productions of any one author; unless that author had already acquired considerable celebrity. Some of the considerations which support this opinion will here be briefly stated.

B

Every author has a style peculiar to himself. Two authors, whose productions, in point of style, are in all respects alike, are rarely to be met with. Novelty is generally pleasing; and with the exception already noticed, the taste for novelty is, perhaps, in general, more likely to be gratified by a judicious compilation, than by the performances of a single author. It often happens, that the same words, which convey a sentiment, very clearly, to the mind of one reader, are viewed by another as dark, obscure, or unintelligible; whilst the sentiment thus expressed, if clothed in different language, might appear to both, to be more forcibly delivered. Hence, the diversity of language which a good compilation embraces, will, it is apprehended, prove better suited to the various tastes, apprehensions, and capacities of miscellaneous readers, than that uniformity of style which is to be expected from a work, all prepared by the same hand. Moreover, as this volume will, in all probability, be principally read by the inhabitants of the Southern States, it may be fairly presumed, that this book will rarely be opened by any one, who will not find in it, the production of some Minister, with whom he is personally acquainted, and for whom, perhaps, he feels a personal

attachment.

To the Editor of this volume, and doubtless also to the authors of the Sermons it contains, it is a matter of little concern, what may be said of its contents, by those who may choose to make them a subject of mere critical remark. The great objects the writers had in view, were, in the exercise of their Ministerial office, to instruct and persuade their hearers, to accept of salvation through

Jesus Christ, on the terms proposed in the Gospel; and to build up, in their most holy faith, those who had accepted of this salvation; and the Editor, in collecting the matter contained in this work, and presenting it to the public, was influenced by a desire to promote the same great objects; not by furnishing Sermons professedly better adapted to this end, by their own intrinsic excellence, than those already published; but by supplying the Southern people with a volume of discourses, calculated to interest and benefit them, from the considerations already suggested.

It is due to the authors of these Sermons to state, that, in general, they were written, not for the press, but in the ordinary course of weekly preparation for the pulpit; and, in addition to the statement of this fact, the Editor takes the freedom to remark, that, although there is reason to believe, that, had they been originally designed for the press, their style and composition would be more likely to fulfil the expectations of those who attach special importance to the nicest critical correctness; yet, it is very questionable, whether, in such a form, they would prove more acceptable to plain Christians, or more useful, than in the form in which they now appear.

In selecting from the manuscripts to which the Editor had access, it has been his aim, to contribute to the edification of his readers, by inserting only such discourses as he thought would generally be read, with pleasure and profit, by devout christians of every denomination; and, by carefully excluding every thing, which could have a tendency to give umbrage to any lover of Evangelical