Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE

GENERAL BAPTIST

REPOSITORY,

AND

MISSIONARY OBSERVER.

VOL. III.-NEW SERIES.

1841.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER,

23, PATERNOSTER ROW

PREFACE.

THE great design of a religious periodical is the promotion of true godliness. This important end is secured by the record it contains of the lives and actions of the excellent of the earth; by the discussion of the leading doctrines, and the enforcement of the various duties which are inculcated by our holy religion. The opportunities which it affords of suggesting plans of usefulness, of securing a general interchange of thought and feeling, and of enkindling and extending christian union and brotherly affection, are too obvious to be overlooked. A work of this kind also is a medium by which, at a small expense, we may be acquainted with the movements of the Church of Christ, the efforts which are put forth for its advancement, the difficulties and trials through which the different branches of it are called to pass, or the success with which the Great Head of the Church is pleased to crown their labours. Thus the sympathies of christians, though residing in localities remote from each other, are excited, their zeal is provoked, or their gratitude is lifted up to heaven. The invalid at home can perceive the state of the Church, and lift up his prayers to heaven on its behalf. The retired inhabitant of the glen, or the remotest friend can, in imagination, mix himself with the multitude that keep holy day; while the missionary in distant lands, far removed from his brethren, can transport himself into their circle, and enjoy their society, and sympathize with their sorrows and their joys. It presents a happy medium of mutual instruction. Its pages are open to suggestions from every quarter. The aged minister may thus transmit his matured thoughts to his junior brethren without leaving his home; and the active, studious, and enterprising, may throw out their suggestions for the consideration and adoption of others.

Every religious denomination has its periodical. All are sensible of the importance of such a vehicle for the transmission of thought, the correction of error, or the diffusion of intelligence. Every consideration, of a laudable kind, which influence the members of other communities to support, improve, and extned their own magazine, should certainly be admited to operate on

« PreviousContinue »