Excerpt from Practical View of Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians: Contrasted With Real Christianity Few undertakings can be much more difficult than to write any thing in the way of introduction to the following work. It requires no introduction. It is a matter of history. It has been read and admired by one generation, is already in the hands of a second, and will soon pass down to a third. It is this last circumstance, indeed, which may perhaps apologize for an attempt, which must otherwise be exposed to the charge of rashness. The young have a right to ask what were the circumstances of the first publication of such an important volume, what the impression which it left on the minds of men, what its connexion with the general interests of religion, what its place in the moral history of our time. To such inquiries, we shall endeavour, in the present Essay, to furnish a reply. We presume not to do more than to assist the reader who shall, for the first time, take up the work, in forming some judgment upon its merits. Our main object will be to illustrate that great revival of the influence of real Christianity amongst us, which it was the Author's design to promote, and which his work was, in fact, one very considerable means of deepening and extending. That eminent and revered person, now retired from public life, will, we trust, forgive us, if, in the discharge of a duty to the paramount interests of religion generally, we are led to speak with entire freedom of his book, and in a way which, however we may be upon our guard will of necessity betray us into details, which our respect for his delicacy of feeling would otherwise compel us to restrain. A retired statesman, after a long life spent in the eye of his country - his name connected with almost every great question which has agitated the church or state - can scarcely be permitted to claim the privileges of private writers: his work belongs, with his other labours, to the Nation to which he has dedicated it, and becomes a portion of the annals of the times. We shall, first, make such remarks as may give the reader what we consider a Just conception of the merits of the work itself. This will lead us to describe the reception which it met with on its first publication. 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.