THE SCOTTISH CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. NEW SERIES.-VOL. VI. . GLASGOW : JAMES MACLEHOSE, 83 BUCHANAN STREET. PREFACE. THE first year of the Cheapened Magazine has come to a close-not lowered, we hope, in any other quality than that of price. With a circulation double that of preceding years, its sphere of operation for good has been greater than in any former period of its existence as an Organ of the churches. In the enlarged measure of support which the Periodical of the Denomination has secured, there is reason for congratulation; there are grounds of hope. In this age of cheap literature, the Church of Christ should not be slack to employ the Press; and if instead of employing the Press to disseminate scriptural principles and truths, the followers of Christ be found inert in its use even to instruct and fortify themselves, the failure and reproach of the cause of truth is certain, and so far as their conduct is concerned, deserved. Our people have not yet fully learned the true use and value of their own press. Let them not slacken but increase their progress in this work of patriotism and Christian beneficence. Various powerful agencies are in full activity, impregnating the popular, and especially the youthful mind, with principles defective, sensual, and antichristian. A half-hearted, indolent encounter with this pernicious array of worldly talent and anti-spiritual zeal, which the prevailing literature of the day presents, will only turn to our confusion. It is our earnest hope, therefore, that the ensuing year will witness a much more general and intense conviction, that truth expects every man to do his duty. With this volume our own labours are concluded; happily to be succeeded by the editorial superintendence of one, whose place and reputation in the Denomination, and in the religious world, are a guarantee of the ability with which he will perform his task. His varied gifts, added to his former experience of editorial work, supply encouraging prospects for the Magazine under his |