effort; as it is intended, should this appeal be responded to, to publish in the fourth or fifth volume of the series, a list of all subscribers to the amount of five shillings and upwards. The humblest of the admirers of John Bunyan (and who is not of the number?) will surely spare at least one shilling towards a Monument to the Author of the Pilgrim's Progress. He needs indeed "No storied urn or animated bust," while every year witnesses the appreciation of his labours in large and successive editions of his writings. But he deserves no less the worthiest that can be given, who "though dead yet speaketh;" whose Pilgrim has been the instructor of multitudes, and their guide to "the glorious liberty of the children of God;" and who freely sacrificed his liberty, and, if needs had been, his life, for the great cause of truth and liberty of conscience. Surely this is not the time when such works should be forgotten. Children and Sunday Schools should be made parties in this tribute to the memory of one to whom they owe so much, in emulation of the example of their parents and teachers, that all may testify their acknowledgment of his worth. All subscriptions and letters must be addressed, post-paid, to Mr Joseph Philip, at the Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, London. Subscriptions, from one shilling to five shillings, can be forwarded in postage stamps-above that sum by post-office order I desire you will place as a subscription to the BUNYAN MONUMENT, from, Yours truly, Name, Address, Date, To Mr Joseph Philip, Congregational Library, Blomfield Street, Finsbury Square, London. On the 2d of March, 1846, will be published, No. I. of NELSON'S TRACTS FOR THE PEOPLE, WITH Illustrative Engravings. PROSPECTUS. THE facilities which are now offered for the diffusion of knowledge, place the present age beyond comparison in advance of all that have preceded it. Thirty years since, things remained in this country very much as they had been three centuries before. The people, indeed, as contributors to the power, the wealth, or the safety of the nation, were all-important; but as sharers in the extending blessings that science and art and Divine knowledge were liberally offering, they were unknown: and when the printingpress began, at length, its regenerating work, it was only to minister enlarged enjoyment to the privileged few. Nor did the utmost foresight of philanthropy dream of its blessings becoming the daily sustenance of the labouring millions. How to realize the amplest measure of good was then the only problem to be solved; how to realize that good for the largest number, is now the nobler aim of enlightened policy. Cheapness has become the life of every popular enterprize; and Penny Magazines, Penny Encyclopædias, and cheap Periodical Literature in evry form, are only now developing the real power of the printing-press for the enlightenment of mankind. Simple as the Cheap System may now appear, it is, in fact, among the greatest and best of modern discoveries-an engine in the hands of the Christian Philanthropist for the regeneration of the world. Yet it must not be overlooked, that the more this great system extends its powers within the sphere of the poor man, the more will the value of his penny increase. It is not enough that he shall have twenty or thirty pages of passable reading for his money, he justly demands that his cheap literature shall be the very best that can be supplied. To meet this demand is the object contemplated in the publication of the TRACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. [OVER. It is not to be questioned that the prodigious facility afforded in the present day for the diffusion of Literature among all classes of the community, may become a mighty instrument for evil as well as for good. Nay the fact is notorious, that a very large portion of popular Literature has heretofore been made either the vehicle of a reckless scepticism; or, at the best, has designedly excluded from its pages all allusion to the noblest objects of human knowledge; toward which, when rightly directed, all others must minister. Nor can it be doubted that the wide field of POPULAR CHRISTIAN LITERATURE, under the sanctifying light of Religion ;-Christian Science, Christian Biography, and Christian Narrative ;-offers a more fertile source for furnishing THE PEOPLE with interesting (and instructive reading than any one that has yet been attempted. THE TRACTS FOR THE PEOPLE will be enriched by contributions from some of the first living Christian Authors. The following selection from the subjects, to appear early in the series, may serve to convey some idea of the matter of the Tracts: TAHITI AND ITS MISSIONARIES. THE BIBLE IN PERU. THE DAWNING OF THE REFORMATION; OR THE EDWARD THE SIXTH. THE PILGRIM FATHERS. THE FIRST READING OF THE BIBLE; A TALE OF Each Tract, PRICE ONE PENNY, will contain 32 pages, beautifully printed in foolscap 8vo, with an illustrative engraving. The First will appear on the 2d of March; the Second on the 1st of April; and after that time the issue will be Weekly. The Work will also be issued in Monthly Parts, with an elegant Wrapper, price FIVEPENCE; and in Volumes, each containing two Monthly Parts, handsomely bound, price ONE SHILLING. PUBLISHED BY THOMAS NELSON, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, AND SOLD BY EVERY BOOKSELLER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. |