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LONDON: HOULSTON AND SONS. GLASGOW: DAVID ROBERTSON.

MDCCCLXXVIII.

MURRAY AND GIBP, EDINBURGH,

PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

PREFACE.

THE present may be called the age of periodicals. In standing in certain booksellers' shops about the beginning of any month, one is almost bewildered with the number and variety of the journals that are offered for sale. Even the requirements of infancy are not neglected; and the child of a year old, as well as the patriarch of seventy, may find something in which to be interested. The skill of the novelist and the art of the limner are called into diligent requisition, and, by appeals to the eye and the imagination, interest is sought to be excited. In this respect how wonderfully things have changed since The United Presbyterian Magazine was commenced!

It is to be expected that new influences will produce new effects, and that what at one time was deemed satisfactory in a magazine may cease to be approved; and the question of considering the situation may become imperative, for not only is excellence but adaptation to be aimed at.

This, in the conduct of the Magazine, will, as heretofore, be taken into account. At the same time it will not lead to any radical change. It has never been our object to supply our readers with sensational tales or pictorial illustrations, and we cannot see that it lies within our province to do so. The adaptation which we would seek lies in the presentation of truth, important in itself, and having a special bearing on our own Church, in such a way as to interest and instruct. There are three classes besides the general reader whose sympathy and co-operation we earnestly desire to maintain and increase these are our ministers, elders, and Sabbath-school teachers. These may be said to be the most important factors in the work and life of the Church. And what they seriously and unanimously take up must prosper. Papers specially bearing on the work of the Christian minister and elder have from time to time appeared in our pages, and will continue to do so. During the coming year, a series designed to be of interest and use to Sabbath-school teachers will appear monthly, whilst the word for the Home' will also continue to be spoken.

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