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FOR THE MORE CONVENIENT ATTAINMENT OF A KNOWLEDGE OF
THE INSPIRED WRITERS.

FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES.

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy, iii. 15.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY THOMAS B. WAIT AND COMPANY,
COURT-STREET.

WE NEW YORK PUBLIC

LIBRARY

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:

BE it remembered, That on the sixteenth day of June, in the thirty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, Thomas B. Wait and Company, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Sacred Extracts from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, for the more convenient attainment of a knowledge of the Inspired Writers. For the use of schools and families. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy iii. 15."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Lenfuing, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, dur ing the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act intitled, "An act supplementary to an act, intitled, an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprie. tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Historical and other Prints."

WILLIAM S. SHAW,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

FROM THE PREFACE

TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.

To the many Compilations published for the use of Schools, it seemed expedient that a Selection should be added from the BIBLE. And with respect to the propriety of selecting, where all is presumed to be excellent, it will not surely be denied by the judicious and impartial, that some parts of Holy Scripture are better adapted than others, to the perusal of readers in the puerile age.

It appears that the practice of initiating young people in reading by the New and Old Testament, which was once universal, is rather on the decline; and one reason of it may be, a disapprobation of reading them, WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION, at a time when the understanding is immature.

But while the New and Old Testament have lost ground in Schools, many trifling and uninteresting Books have supplied their place; books which impress ideas but feebly, and which, if they are remembered, furnish the mind with little more than lumber. Even histories of Jesus Christ and of the Bible, conveyed in the language of a poor writer, tend to debase subjects, which, in the sacred text, appear with an air of native majesty.

It is desirable that the more important matter of Holy Writ should make an early impression, and be remembered for life; and it is therefore right to let it be read, as in the days of our forefathers, during the course of early education, when all that is received is likely to be long retained. A sample once relished by the learner, may invite him in due time to feast upon the

whole.

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