Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 00.2. Preface

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 00.2. Preface

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Preface

The desire of the Editor of The Greater Men and Women of the Bible is to make the preaching of the present day accurate and attractive. It must attract the attention and win the heart of hearers, otherwise it makes little or no impression. One of the surest ways of securing attractiveness is a restrained use of illustrations. Touch the imagination and the heart is almost won. The illustrations in this series of books are fresh, being for the most part taken from books that have been published quite recently. And they are carefully chosen so as to make the point clear and telling.

But present-day preaching must also be accurate. The Men and Women of the Bible are often chosen as subjects for popular lectures, and sometimes little attention is paid to the truth of the lecture if only it is popular. In these volumes the most authoritative books have been consulted and used, so that the statements contained in them may be relied upon with confidence. Criticism is kept subordinate to construction, as it should always be in the pulpit, but the work of the critic is not forgotten any more thac that of the discoverer.