CONDUCTED BY AN R LIBRAR Boston : PRINTED BY LINCOLN & EDMANDS, NO. 53, CORNHILL. Sold by Caleb Bingham, No. 44, Cornhill, of whom may be had the first, second and third volumes of this 1808. ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. THE Editors of the Panoplist gladly embrace the opportunity, which the close of the third volume affords, to express their gratitude for the liberal patronage, by which the Christian community has continued to encourage and support this publication. Their hopes in this respect have been abundantly outdone. With humble satisfaction they reflect on the labour they have been called to perform, and the sacrifices of time, health, and ease, which they have found it necessary to make in this arduous work; especially, as they have reason to think that the Panoplist has been both acceptable and useful. it have really contributed to the defence of the truth, to the edification of the churches, and to the spread and influence of pure, practical godliness; they have their best reward. Compared with this, what would be the breath of popular applause, or the accumulation of wealth? If For a long time it has been a subject of grief, that Christians have so little regard to the great evangelical principles, in which they all agree; that, on the other hand, they have raised to an undue importance those questions on which they differ; and that they have, in so many instances, cherished and manifested a spirit exceedingly distant from the meekness and gentleness of Christ. To the Editors these have appeared great evils. To counteract them has been their constant aim no less, than to expose the errors of infidelity, and the delusion and impiety of modern catholicism. From the evident effects of the Panoplist, they have the comfort to believe that their labour has not been in vain. These considerations, together with a respectable accession to their list of correspondents, and other new advantages, excite them to proceed, with increasing zeal, in the same work, not doubting but they shall receive the same generous aid from the public. As the Editors are making new arrangements for publishing the Panoplist, and will, at the commencement of the fourth year, begin a New Series of numbers, it will be of special importance, that all arrearages for the three first volumes be settled. Subscribers and agents will, we presume, give a speedy attention to this subject. And now, what remains, but for the Editors to suggest their pleasing belief that, even in these dark and perilous times, God is carrying on his own work, and fulfilling his precious promises to Zion. Better days are at hand. The church will soon shine forth in millennial beauty and glory. And that desirable event will take place through the united and earnest labours and prayers of believers. Happy are they who, by the defence of the truth and the light of a holy example, are contributing to the instruction and reformation of mankind, and are thus hastening on the universal reign of IMMANUEL. |