To Bis Grace the Duke of Argyll. ETC., ETC., ETC. MY LORD, The permission which 1 have received to issue this Work under the auspices of your Grace, I deeply appreciate, implying, as it does, that not only a distinguished friend to literature, but one who has himself achieved high and enduring repute in its most ennobling and honourable paths, approves of the manner in which I have endeavoured to illustrate in the following pages the spiritual treasure-trove which the mine of Holy Writ offers to the diligent and sincere searcher. Ignorance and the pride of infidelity unhappily render the Bible a sealed book to many; a territory unexplored, although abounding in every good thing which the awakened heart can crave; a guide unheeded, although it points to Heaven, whence Consolation emanates and where Promise is perfected. Entitled by its divine authority to their reverence, and commanding by its wondrous wisdom their admiration, this holy Book has long been valued by the good and great as the brightest revelation ever made by Mercy to the world. It is a fountain of living waters, upspringing amid the desert of life, restoring health to the sick, and throwing its refreshing dew over "the heavy-laden." The verses which I have selected, and arranged under their distinct classifications, especially exemplify the cheering assurances that enrich the pages of Scripture, and the blessed and well-founded hopes which the Christian is permitted to encourage. The collective form in which they appear (I believe for the first time), strikingly shows how affluent the Bible is in consolatory resources, and I would fain wish that the tendency of this little volume may be to induce some more frequently to consult the Book of Life. The labour, productive of so happy a result, would have not been utterly vain. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your Grace's most Humble Obedient Servant, WILLIAM GASPEY. Preface. "Search the Scriptures" was one of the golden precepts uttered by our blessed Redeemer during His pilgrimage in the world which he came to save from the condemnation of Sin: for the removal or clearing up of doubt, to which unbelief is kin, proceed to the Fountain of Truth; for the acquisition of riches which neither fade, nor take to themselves wings and flee away, delve in that quarry of inexhaustible wealth-the Bible. It is impossible to open even casually the volume of Holy Writ without some passage of cheerful import meeting the eye, without alighting on solace for the mourner, or ground for that hope, the radiance of which no earthly tribulation can obscure to the Christian believer. And these assurances are no ordinary ones, substantiated only by human authority-their validity it were blasphemous to question, for God himself bears witness to their truth. To collect and classify in a form which will admit of instant reference such portions of Scripture as impart Consolation, and breathe Promise, is the object of this work, omitting only those texts which have an exclusive application to the descendants of Abraham, or to elucidate the meaning of which, commentary is necessity. No verses illustrating the subjectmatter of the title, and susceptible of general reference, have been consciously withheld from this collection, which prefers no higher claims to notice than its simplicity of plan and easiness of comprehension. As one of the humblest of those who have wished to find the joyous messages from Heaven to earth recognised as household words throughout the length and breadth of the land, the compiler would be gratified to learn that his offering had induced a few to seek that treasury of Holiness from which it is drawn. Worldly perception may be dimmed by the pursuit of pleasure or the thirst of gain, but when Grace clears the vision, instead of grasping at these shadows, the awakened penitent holds the substance of the Bible. "Like a distant star," writes the Rev. Dr. Cumming, "the Gospel grows in lustre, in beauty, and in purity, the nearer |