results of these special efforts have been unmistakeably apparent, in numbers being brought to the house of God who never entered before, and who have been savingly converted to the faith. The subject chosen for the present year was that which is presented in the following pages. It was thought, and of the propriety of such thought the reader will be able to form a judgment, from a perusal of the following pages that the interesting narrative of the Syrian captain might be made available for the presentation and enforcement of some vital spiritual truths, that, to say the least, are illustrated by it; and it was believed that to the general mind, ever fond of analogies, and to a great extent taught by them, such a mode of instruction would be likely to prove attractive and beneficial. So far as regarded the hearing of the lectures, the hopes and desires cherished were most abundantly realized, in the large numbers that listened to them. And now, with the desire of making them, if possible, more widely useful than the limited range of the pulpit allows, they are printed and sent forth to the world. At first the author thought of re-casting the whole into another form; but the fact that as lectures they had been originally announced, prepared, and delivered, and that as such many who heard them would expect to read them, and the feeble state of his own health, which forbade too much extra mental exertion, deterred him from this step. They therefore appear as discourses delivered; and the hortatory style characteristic of part of all such public exercises is in many places retained; especially at the close of the last two lectures. Earnestly praying that they may be honoured in instructing men how they may effect the removal of the spiritual leprosy from their souls; in chasing away the darkest shadow that can cross the path of sorrowing humanity, and opening up for them broad glades of glorious sunshine, where the smile of the divine favour shall greet them and gladden their souls, the author commends his book to his readers, and asks on them and on it the rich benediction of God. Stoke Newington, May 1st, 1853. NAAMAN; OR, LIFE'S SHADOWS AND SUNSHINE. LECTURE I. THE SHADOW ON EVERY PATH; OR, NAAMAN A GREAT MAN BUT A LEPER. 2 KINGS V. 1, 2. ABOUT five years ago, it was my privilege, in company with some intelligent Christian friends, to visit one of the most glorious regions on the face of the earth - the country of Switzerland, and the northern parts of the kingdom of Sardinia, lying in the immediate neighbourhood of the Savoy Alps. We were one day in the midst of a vast amphitheatre of mountains, the lofty peaks of which were glowing with an indescribably soft and rosy light, as if a thin, transparent firecloud had embraced them; while lower down the rugged rocks were presenting the most fan B tastic and varied appearances, heaped together in a perfectly bewildering confusion; some showing the seams and scars of a thousand winter storms, and others bristling with forests of pines, but all of them clothed with a wild and enchanting beauty. Around us were the fields and gardens of a cultivated Swiss valley, with groves and chalets interspersed; and in the midst of all a narrow river wound its rapid course, revealing its existence by the rows of trees that adorned its banks, and the rich verdure that extended for some distance on either side of the stream. Mont Blanc reared his giant-like and majestic form before us, wearing his glorious coronet of glittering snow, white as a seraph's wing; the body of the mountain girded by belts of glaciers, gaping here and there in dreadful clefts, whose depths no plummet had ever sounded, and where neither sunlight nor summer-wind had ever strayed. The monarch of mountains awed us as we gazed upon him, with his aspect of terrific grandeur; and yet he fascinated and enchained us, attracting every eye with the splendours of "the terrible crystal" that seemed to rest on the bosom of the deep blue and serene sky, and silently kindling in the quick-beating heart a host of sensa |