TO

MRS RAMSAY OF DRYLAW,

THE HON. MRS RAMSAY OF BARNTON,

AND THE

OTHER HERITORS

OF THE

PARISH OF CRAMOND,

THIS

VOLUME OF SERMONS

IS

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.

SINCE the publication of the first Volume of Mr Bonar's Sermons, the Author has been removed from the scene, at once of his useful labours, and of his severe trials. It was after many solicitations that he had been prevailed upon to appear before the Public as an author; but his friends were anxious that the influence of his exertions should not be confined to those who had lived under his ministry, or known him in the more intimate relations of social life. Before his death, Mr Bonar had the satisfaction of knowing that his instructions were extensively diffused, and had been received by the Public with an avidity gratifying both to his personal feelings, and to his earnest wishes that the cause of religion should

should be promoted by the circulation of evangelical writings.

The rapid sale of the first edition of that Volume, and the steady demand that continued to attend the subsequent editions, appeared to the friends of its deceased Author, to be the sure test of its acceptability to the religious Public. And as

there remained several Sermons which Mr Bonar had selected for publication, and which were not included in the first Volume, together with some others which he had corrected, his family were advised, by those on whose opinion they could rely, to consent to the publication of a second. A few additional Sermons, to complete the Volume, have been carefully selected from among his Manuscripts; and there has been prefixed a Memoir of the Author, from the pen of a friend who was intimately acquainted with his character, and with the events of his life. When the Editor reflects on the disadvantages under which some of the Sermons have

thus