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HOURS

CHRISTIAN

OF

DEVOTION

HOURS

CHRISTIAN

OF

DEVOTION

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF

A. THOLUCK, D.D.

PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE;
COUNCILLOR OF THE SUPREME CONSISTORY,

PRUSSIA

BY

ROBERT MENZIES, D.D.

SECOND EDITION

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

MDCCCLXXV

All Rights reserved

Fee'd Sept. 24, 1897.

2

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

I'

[NASMUCH as in the case of a devotional work, more than of any other, what is personal to the Author claims consideration, I take leave to communicate the following particulars :— For several years I had, in common with many others, felt the want of a sterling book of devotion- the product of our own times, and judiciously adapted to the prevailing wants; and I was surprised that, among the increasing number of works on the practice of Christianity, there appeared none calculated to be for the age in which we live what those of Thomas à Kempis and of John Arndt were for theirs. It is true that the Church still possesses the treasure bequeathed to her by those and other witnesses for the truth, who were masters of the art of speaking to the heart; and that such sterling works of the olden time will never cease to sustain and foster vital Christianity, as long as the Bible continues to lay the foundation of it. At the same time, however, they do not by any means preclude the necessity of a work originating in the present day. For does not the difference between books of devotion and the Holy Scriptures consist in this, that the latter furnish the prolific seed of all the many and various developments of spiritual life, and consequently provide a fund of spiritual nourishment suited for all ages and all individuals alike; whereas a book of devotion delineates one particular form of it, modified by its own particular age, and by the peculiarities of the individual author? Is there not a connection between the mode in which the religious life is at any time expressed and the then prevailing degree of culture; and in consequence of this, do not different periods claim for a book of devotion a corresponding difference in style? And even, although that point be overlooked, considering that there are at least a few models of excellence in form which continue classical for all ages, has not

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