THE

SACRED

SKETCH BOOK;

CONTAINING

SELECTIONS

FROM

EMINENT RELIGIOUS WRITERS

IN

BRITAIN AND AMERICA.

BY J. F. WINKS.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL.

LEICESTER: PRINTED AND SOLD BY J. F. WINKS.

PREFACE.

"OF making many books there is no end," said a wise man of ancient days; and those who make, print, and publish them, hope there never will be! But if this could be said when all books were written with the fingers, how much more now, when they are printed, and printed by steam too! Still there remains the consideration of quality. Quantity we have, even abundance. But many books are bad, or indifferent, or doubtful. Really good books are not yet too plentiful. More there are, certainly, than there were formerly: but population increases; facilities for learning to read, too, have been multiplied; and hence an enormous appetite for information has been created, which

"Grows by what it feeds upon."

The Compiler of this collection has been at much pains to extract, from our best writers, the choicest of their compositions. He is quite confident that nothing morally deleterious will be found in these pages, that the subjects are calculated to promote a sound and healthful feeling, and that the Young, especially, will be instructed by these selections, to entertain a still higher regard for the Holy Volume-cherish a deep reverence for the Most High-and love, with increased ardour, their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.