Excerpt from Practical Sermons: To Be Read in Families and Social Meetings Several years have elapsed since the author promised to a few friends, that, if life and health should be continued, he would endeavour to prepare a volume of sermons on practical subjects, to be circulated by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Incessant occupation in professional duties, occasioned the postponement of the fulfilment of this promise from time to time; until recently, when he was informed that the Board of Publication were desirous to put such a volume into circulation; especially for the benefit of families who were deprived of the opportunity of attending on the preaching of the gospel. At first it occurred to him, that for the purposes of the Board, such a volume had better be composed of a collection of sermons contributed by different ministers of our church. But upon reflection, he was persuaded that it would be found difficult to get the proper persons to furnish discourses on the topics which might be prescribed. And he has observed, that when the sermons of several persons are included in the same volume, there is a disposition in many readers to make invidious comparisons between the authors; and while some discourses are highly valued, others are neglected. Upon the whole, it seems best that every author should make his own book; and to obtain a desirable variety, more volumes of sermons than one should be put into circulation. The author being aware that books of sermons are not in as much demand as publications of another kind, would not have consented that the Board of Publication should run the risk of an edition of this volume; but this objection was obviated by the generous proposal of the friends referred to above, to bear the whole expense of stereotyping the work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.