of Fifty Years. BY REV. CHARLES HOLLAND, M.A. Oxon., 'Have not I written that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth?' GODLEIAN LIBRAR 2-APR. 91 OXFORD INTRODUCTION. My object in publishing the following addresses is, chiefly, that I may leave behind me some permanent record of the truths I have been permitted to preach and teach to a flock to which I have ministered more than thirty years. They contain the substance of my sermons (though not the identical ones) which I have delivered from notes during that period, and during the preceding twenty years of my ministry in other places. It would almost seem unnecessary to publish thoughts on subjects which have been so much better treated by innumerable writers before me. But I am inclined to think that a confirmation in writing of what people have heard from the pulpit has a special interest, and produces a permanent effect, which would not result from other persons' writings, though they may be superior in every respect. By a perusal of these simple essays, I hope the memory of many will be refreshed. The voice so often reiterating these warnings and lessons of comfort, which must before a great while be hushed by death, will seem to come back to some who were wont to listen to it with more or less attention. I, being dead, shall yet speak to them or to their children. I have also had in view that these short expositions may be sometimes profitably used at family worship. Moreover, there will be found in the treatment of some of the subjects, I hope, a plain refutation of errors which are spreading among us, and are not unlikely to continue to do so. My belief is, that there is not a single error prevailing among us but what has long been anticipated by the Sacred writers. Consequently, no great learning and no deep argumentative reasoning are required to put people on their guard against false teachings. We are many times warned that false teachers would abound in the latter days. Such false teachings began even in the Apostles' times. The errors, as against truth, of the present day are only those which have sprung and developed from the roots of errors in their days. Consequently, our Lord's teaching and the Apostles' writings, all in corroboration of the Old Testament writings, are sufficient testimony as to what is Truth and what is contrary to Truth. Our Lord's words surely hold good as they did in His day: 'Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.' And so wrote His Apostles: 'Try the spirits, whether they be of God. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.' I can only hope that I have not darkened counsel by the way I have handled these things, and that, in spite of all imperfections, it may |