THE CHRISTIAN'S GIFT. JUST PUBLISHED, THE MOST SPLENDID PICTORIAL WORK ON BIBLE HISTORY EVER OFFERED TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. Embellished with Several Hundred New and Fine Engravings. The whole work (two volumes in one), making 700 large octavo pages, elegantly printed, and bound in the most finished style of modern bookmaking, and offered at the low price of $3.00 per copy. SEARS' NEW AND COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE HOLY BIBLE, AS CONTAINED IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO THE FULL ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY: CONTAINING A CLEAR AND COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF EVERY REMARKABLE TRANSACTION RECORDED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES DURING A PERIOD OF UPWARD OF FOUR THOUSAND YEARS. WITH COPIOUS NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY, FORMING AN ILLUSTRATED COMMENTARY OF THE SACRED TEXT. PART I.-THE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. PART II.-THE NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. BY ROBERT SEARS. AIDED BY THE WRITINGS OF OUR MOST CELEBRATED BIBLICAL SCHOLARS, AND OTHER LEARNED PERSONS, WHO HAVE MADE THE SCRIPTURES THEIR STUDY. TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. LITERATURE, profane and sacred, is here united with the arts of printing and engraving, to produce one of the most valuable and interesting works ever issued from the American press. Commentators, lexicographers, oriental travellers, and Biblical critics of the greatest name, have been extensively and carefully consulted in preparing this work. The editor trusts it will be found worthy of the patronage of Christian pastors, instructers, and parents of all denominations; and well calculated, under the Divine blessing, to enlighten the understanding, purify the heart, and promote that KNOWLEDGE by which we may obtain happiness in this world, and eternal salvation in that which is to come. ROBERT SEARS, EDITOR. I Agents, responsible men, are wanted to sell the above work, in every town and village throughout the United States and British North American provinces. For particulars, &c, address (post paid). E. WALKER & CO., 114 Fulton street. New York. A very liberal discount made by the quantity; and circulars supplied in any quantity to Agents. NOTICES AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF SEARS' BIBLE BIOGRAPHY. THE Publisher of "BIBLE BIOGRAPHY" respectfully requests of the Christian Public a careful perusal of the following recommendations. In preparing the present volume, his aim has been to make a book the very best and most useful ever published in modern times - aiming at universal excellence, that it might justly be entitled to universal patronage and support. On examination, it will be found useful, and eminently adapted to interest, instruct, and improve. It is suited to persons of all ages and of every rank, and is equally worthy of a place in the parlor as in the kitchen, among the limited collection of the young, as well as the various and more extended library of the man of reading. We think it would be difficult to select a more appropriate GIFT at the approaching holydays. writings of the most eminent divines that have ever lived are laid under contribution, and passages of eminent beauty are taken from them. If, therefore, variety has charms, or religion is lovely, or eloquence is admired this book wil be read with delight for here is variety without looseness, religion without fanaticism, and eloquence pleading the cause of Gop with man. A few only out of the numerous recommendations the work has already received, will be inserted here: The From the Rev. Charles G. Sommers, A. M., Corresponding Secretary of the American and Foreign Bible Society. MR. ROBERT SEARS- Dear Sir: Your new and beautiful work on the B.OGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE appears to attract the attention of all classes; and is undoubtedly destined to become, if it be not already, one of the most popular works ever issued in this country. The HOLY SCRIPTURES, on account of their antiquity, dignity, and other excellences, far exceed all the writings of the ancients. Indeed, if we consider how many centuries have passed away since they were compiled, and how miraculously they have been preserved to the present times, they plainly appear to have been the peculiar care of Gop himself. We ought also to prize the SCRIPTURES, »s comprising every species of KNOWLEDGE that is useful and entertaining. Would we know whence natural philosophy, with astronomy, and other appendages on it, derive their origin? Examine the books of Genesis, Job, and Ecclesiastes. What writings abound more in ethics or moral precepts than the sacred and sententious Proverbs? What more certain, regular, or pleasing history can we find, than in Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, and Judges? How free from sophistry are the HOLY SCRIPTURES, and how solid are all the arguments used in them! Geometry is displayed in the building of the Tabernacle, and the working in metals and wood was known long before the building of Solomon's Temple; in short, all manner of learning, arts, and sciences, is comprehended within those sacred pages. They are so exactly disposed, that they are a magazine, accommodated to all places, times, and persons: so that St. Basil justly calls them a Pharmacopeia, furnished with medicines for all uses and necessities. From hence, in times of peace and religion, the learned acquired wisdom and eloquence; in times of heresy, they furnished the orthodox with stability in the faith, and assisted them in the subversion of error From hence, in prosperity, we learn humility and modesty; in adversity, magnanimity and patience. In danger, it as us with an honest zeal; and finally, if abuses insinuate themselves into discipline, and corrupt our morals, nothing but the rule of God's word can restore religion to its pristine state and dignity; for that alone should be the standard of our thoughts, and guide of our actions. These reflections have arisen in my mind after a careful and serious perusal of your new and elegant work on SACRED BIOGRAPHY. It leads the mind of the reader, whether he be grave or gay, direct to the SCRIPTURES. All helps to arrive at their true meaning ought to be valued and encouraged. But the humble follower of the SAVIOUR will need no other recommendation to the diligent performance of this duty than that commanded by CHRIST himself-" Search the Scriptures." And in obedience to this precept, the apostles and fathers of the Christian Church made it their great concern to exhort all men to the study of them. The Old Testament is indeed a system of every kind of knowledge useful for the conduct of human life; and from wh ch the philosophers and legislators of all ages drew the best of their observations, and the authors of both canon and civil law have from thence derived their most useful institutions. But the excellency of SACRED HISTORY will more evidently appear if we compare it with the accounts of the best and most ancient heathen writers. How obscure and trifling are their stories of Deucalion's flood, of Prometheus, and Hercules, and their general notions of the existence of the world from eternity! In short, all profae history is filled with obscurity and fables, before the Olympiads, which were their first certain era, and which did not commence till many centuries after the time of Moses. And, indeed, if we pay just deference to it, we shall find it the best guide in the common daily transactions of life. There only we have the true account of the rise and fall of the most early kingdoms of the world; and by their example, either in prosper ty or adversity, learn to be wise and happy. If we compare the Greek and Roman historians with the Sacred History, we shall find the latter to abound with the more illustrious examples of heroic virtue. Rome may boast of her Torquatos and Brutus, who, in a more brutal than generous bravery, sacrificed their sons to the public good; but who would not rather admire the obedience of pious Abraham, who had devoted his beloved Isane a victim to the will of God? Historians and pcets may applaud the courage of the Horatii and others, who, in defence of their country, slew their enemies in single combat; but how short do they come of the heroic David, who, though but a stripling, encountered and slew the gigantic Goliath, and by his death procured an easy victory over the Philistines! Alexander's virtue is worthy of praise, who, when he had conquered Darius, would not allow himself the pleasure of surveying his beautiful captives, lest he should be tempted to desire; but what is this to the continence of Joseph, who fled from the actual solicitations of his lascivious mistress into a loathsome dungeon? They may talk of the fortitude and success of their warlike heroes-their Caesar, Pompey, Hannibal, Scipio, and Alexander; but how much more illustrious the examples of Moses, Joshua, Samson, Gideon. David, and Saul, who, inspired with more than human courage, with a handful of mea, trampled on their numerous enemies,--and to facilitate whose conquests, the very elements conspired, and fought on their side! The time would fail me to go more fully into this subject. In the work before me I find a particular delineation of all the principal personages recorded in the Sacred Records. Who will not delight to read the stories of Moses, Samuel, Ruth, Job- and, above all, the life, death, and sufferings of the REDEEMER himself? The volume must, from its intrinsic excellence-independent of its pictorial embellishments-prove a rich treat to all lovers of Bible History and will be eminently useful in creating and cherishing a taste for the study of the SACRED ORACLES. Yours, truly, : CHARLES G. SOMMERS. |