The Tolume now in the reader's hands^ is a continuation of the '^Expository Thoughts on the Gospels," of which two volumes have heen already published.
The general design of the work has been so fully explained in the preface 'to the volume on St Matthew, that it seems needless to say anything further on the subject. I will only remark that I have steadily adhered to the three-fold object, which I proposed to myself, when I first began. I have endea- voured to produce something which may meet the wants of heads of &.milies in conducting &,mily prayers, — of district visitors in reading to the sick and unlearned, — ^and of private students of the Bible who have neither large libraries nor much leisure. These three classes I have constantly kept in view. Their wants have been continually before my eyes. Whatever would be unsuitable to them I have diligently tried to avoid.
In one important respect the present volume will be found to differ from the two which have preceded it. I allude to the explanatory notes which I have appended to each portion of Scripture expounded. These notes are so numerous that some may think they occupy a disproportionate place in the volume. I trust however that the majority of readers will think that they are worth the space which they fill.