SABBATH MORNING READINGS ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D.D., MINISTER OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL CHURCH, CROWN COURT, COVENT GARDEN. Yook of Genesis. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & COMPANY. CLEVELAND, OHIO: JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON. 1854. PREFACE. I HAVE been often and earnestly requested to print the necessarily superficial, but natural, and I humbly believe useful, exposition of the Chapter or Scripture Lesson which I give every morning service. On re-commencing the regular reading of God's Holy Word, I have resolved to make the attempt. I do not pretend in such expositions to give learned critical or strictly doctrinal disquisition for the instruction of divines; all I offer is an explanation of what occasionally perplexes the ordinary Christian reader, and a résumé of such elucidations of passages of Scripture as are not generally familiar or accessible. I attempt no fine writing, no learned criticism, no elaborate comments. I submit to the reader simply what seems suggested by, or explanatory of, the passage under review, while I endeavor to obviate difficulties, reconcile what appears contradictory, and impress what is beyond all dispute practical and plain. It is to Scripture Readers, City Missionaries, and plain firesides, and men of business and hard work, that I address myself. If the great acceptance with which they have been listened to in the sanctuary attends them in print, I venture to hope that they will not be without fruit, by the blessing of God. |