PREFACE. To write a Preface to the Sixteenth Volume of a Periodical Work is no easy task. nually present themselves, The same topics anGratitude for past Favours, and Promises of new and increased Exertions. We have often expressed the one, and repeated the other; and we hope that the continued Favour of the Public may be considered as a proof that our Promises were sincere. With an increasing Circulation, we have witnessed an increasing Opposition. Hosts of Writers, inimical to that Evangelical System which we espouse, and aware of the Influence of a Work perused by so many thousands, have lately appeared; and, among these, not only some of the lowest Class, but a few who have acquired celebrity in the Literary World: but this is so far from discouraging us, that we esteem it an honour; and will bind. the reproach of the Cross as a diadem on our brow. As to the stale Charge against the Gospel, so assiduously revived by our Antagonists, That it is hostile to good Morals, we think it unnecessary to attempt a serious Refutation; for we hope, that among our Readers will be found more than 20,000 living Arguments to repel it, 1 Some of our Correspondents have expressed their wish that the REVIEWING DEPARTMENT of our Magazine should be enlarged ;' but we beg them to recollect the narrow limits within which we are circumscribed. We cannot, indeed, indulge in a full Analysis of the Works we review, but we have the satisfaction to find that our Opinion, though briefly stated, is generally sanctioned by the Public Verdict: those who wish for more extended Accounts, we have the pleasure to refer to the Eclectic Review: -a Work which we are happy to find is gradually rising in the Public Estimation. Some persons complain that our OBITUARIES want Variety, and occupy too large a portion of the Work: but we find this Part of the Magazine peculiarly accept able to a great number of our most serious Readers; and, notwithstanding the extent of this Department, we are under the necessity of omitting many Accounts which are sent us, and of abridging others:a Liberty we must continue to take, especially when the Writers are prolix. Our INTELLIGENCE, Foreign and Domestic, con tinues to accumulate; and we often wish that circumstances would admit a sufficient Enlargement of our Work, to record more fully those events in which the Religious World is most deeply interested: but we select and condense to the best of our power; and trust we may say, without boasting, That no other Publication contains so important a Register of Facts relating to the Kingdom of our GOD and SAVIOUR. On this account, we intreat our POETICAL Correspondents to pardon our delay of so many of their Favours; but we hope to find room for a larger proportion of them in future. On the whole, we have abundant reason to be thankful; and we cannot but rejoice when we reflect, that in a period in which the Liberty of the Press is so grossly abused by many of those ephemeral works, which are made the vehicles of dangerous errors, the instruments of literary abuse, or the panders of vice, there is no Publication, not avowedly religious, which obtains a Circulation equal to that of the Evangelical Magazine. We cannot conclude without adding, That it is our firm resolution, by Divine Assistance, to exert our best endeavours to retain the Approbation of the Public.. |