"THE LETTER KILLETH BUT THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE."-Paul. LONDON: W. KENT & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW; W OLIPHANT AND CO., EDINBURGH; G. GALLIE, GLASGOW ; 1864. Per. 13205.e.17: PREFACE. THIS Volume is the third of the Third Series of the work. The only difference between this and the preceding series, consists in its enlarged size and half-yearly issue. The friends of the "Homilist" will be glad to know that although this is the fourteenth volume, the work was never in greater demand than at present. As the old key-note will still rule the melodies of the "Homilist," and no new specific description is requisite, the thirteen-years-old preface may be again transcribed. "First: The book has no finish. The Editor has not only not the time to give an artistic finish to his productions, but not even the design. Their incompleteness is intentional. He has drawn some marble slabs together, and hewn them roughly, but has left other hands to delineate minute features, and so polish them into beauty. He has dug up from the Biblical mine some precious ore, smelted a little, but left all the smithing to others. He has presented 'germs,' which, if sown in good soil, under a free air and an open sky, will produce fruit that may draw many famishing spirits into the vineyard of the Church. "Secondly: The book has no denominationalism. It has no special reference to our body,' or to our Church.' As denominational strength is not necessarily soul strength, nor denominational religion necessarily the religion of humanity, it is the aim of the 'Homilist' to minister that which universal man requires. It is for man as a citizen of the universe, and not for him as the limb of a sect. "Thirdly: The book has no polemical Theology. The Editor-holding, as he does, with a tenacious grasp, the cardinal doctrines which |