PREFACE. THE Sermons contained in the present volume, and published by the kind permission of the authors, were preached at Great St Mary's Church, on the Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent, 1864. Very many of those who heard them expressed a wish that they might appear in a permanent form; and an additional reason for their publication seemed to exist, in their being a sort of first fruits of the restoration of the church, now at length actually carried out after so many difficulties and delays. The church was closed for service on the Wednesday after Easter, 1863, and was re-opened on the Purification, 1864, so that the present course of sermons followed almost immediately on its re-opening. I can only express a hope that many who were not present while they were delivered, may derive as much advantage from reading them as those who heard them, and that in these days of danger and strife, the voice of truth may be considered to have gone forth with no uncertain sound from that church, where, in past times, so many of the greatest theologians our country has produced have delivered their testimony, and which is once more not utterly unworthy of being the church of the University and the principal church of the town of Cambridge. H. R. L. 4, ST PETER'S TERRACE, CAMBRIDGE. Ascension Day, 1864. |