Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

ALL THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FAITH AND PRACTICE
OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN THIS

LATTER DAY.

Benjamin Set

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY,

IN UNION WITH THE CHURCH.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded."

Moses.

*But, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our
God, and the power of his Christ."

Revelation.

THIRD EDITION, CORRECTED AND IMPROVED

UNION VILLAGE, (OHIO.),

B. FISHER AND A. BURNETT, PRINTERS.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

TO THE READER.

IN order to give the Reader some idea of what may be expected from this third edition of the Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing, it may be proper to say something about the former editions, the first of which was printed at Lebanon, Ohio, in the year 1809.

Considering the disadvantages attending the execution of so copious a work, in so new a country, the first edition was well accepted, as containing the sum and substance of all that pertained to the faith and practice of the Church, answerable to the common capacities of all believers, and well adapted to the information of mankind in general. A number of copies were bound and circulated; but through the inattention of the book-binder, a great part remained in the sheets, for several years, till finally, one whole sheet was missing; and with this deficiency, the books had to be finished by another band. This, together with the various stratagems of the enemies of the cross of Christ to prevent the circulation of the books, rendered the first edition quite deficient in answering the demand of the public, or even affording the Believers a competent supply.

The year following, (1809) preparation was made, by the parent society, at New-Lebanon, state of New-York, for a second edition: accordingly, a copy was forwarded to brother Seth Y. Wells, as principal editor, with suitable corrections and improvements, by the authors, the substance of which is pointed out, in the following extract from the Advertisement to the Second Edition." The work 'hath been carefully reviewed, and where any words or sentences were discover'ed that appeared not to convey a clear understanding of the sense,--they have 'either been struck out, or others added, in order to render the sense more plain to the understanding of common capacities. Some verses, not essentially con'nected with the main subject, have been placed in the form of Notes at the bot⚫tom of the pages; a few of less importance have been excluded, and a number *of new notes added. Some of the long chapters, for the sake of convenience, have been divided: this improvement, together with some amendments in the ⚫division of the verses, hath occasioned a variation from the first copy, in the num⚫bers of many of the chapters and of the verses in general; but the true sense of the original is preserved entire. This is to notify the reader that this Second ⚫ edition is corrected and improved by the authors. Done near Lebanon, in the • Miami country, and state of Ohio, 29th of Nov. 1809."

[ocr errors]

Accordingly, the ensuing year (1810) the second edition was printed in the city of Albany, and the work completed, in a manner well deserving the title of Second edition, Corrected and Improved:' But as only between two and three thousand copies were struck, it was but a short time till the necessity of another edition was felt, which, however, hath been postponed till the present period.

Such was the correctness of the second edition, that it was contemplated to copy it, in the present work, entire; but considering, that the work was originally adapted to the infant state of believers, as well as to the state of a dark world, and had, as yet, been improved only in proportion as light had increased; and that the present edition might be the last, under the special oversight of the principal and primary author; from these considerations a variety of little improvements have resulted, which are chiefly summed up in the following particulars:

I. In all quotations from the Holy Scriptures, those words that have been supplied by the translators are put in Italic; and in some cases, the marginal reading, or some other, founded on good authority, is preferred.

« AnteriorContinuar »