STEPS TO THE CROSS : Nine Sermons, PREACHED AT S. MARY'S, BIDEFORD, BY THOMAS NORTON HARPER, EVENING LECTURER. LONDON: W. J. CLEAVER, 46, PICCADILLY. MDCCCXLIX. PREFACE. Most of the following Sermons were written without any idea of their eventual publication; nor would they have ever been given to the public of the writer's mere free will. As it is, they are put, though with fear and trembling, into the hands of Christians; though the writer does not anticipate that they will be treated as subjects for mere intellectual criticism, by any whose judgment he values. He has, in fact, availed himself unsparingly of the thoughts of others; yet, without particular acknowledgement. This has arisen, partly from a habit of unconsciously appropriating thoughts which strike him, and the consequent difficulty of ascertaining their local whereabout; partly of set |