Of the purpose of the book there is little to be said: reading, it is hoped, will make that plain. Its limitation will certainly become evident then. It is hoped that the work may help many brethren and some sisters, to pursue a little more smoothly and confidently the path of preaching service; that it may set before some embarked already a course which will avoid the rocks the authors themselves have found; and that it may encourage to start some who had not decided they would. The need which called the book forth was the same need as that which led the A.L.S. to contemplate the vast expansion of preaching shortly to be made. The embarrassment of such a project is what it always was: " The labourers are few."

Something should be said about authorship. Many brethren have contributed. Manuscripts of chapter-length, essays on sectional subjects, concise notes, brief scraps of scribble, casual remarks thrown out in conversation: all these have played their part. Indeed, so far as material goes, they have provided nearly all. Yet the book is not a simple collection of diverse productions. It would be unfair to hold the contributors accountable for the use to which their labours have been put, for the compiler has, by their consent, treated their work with the greatest freedom, and done all he could to present a uniform and unified treatment, in appearance a single author's writing. No doubt many of the writers will recognize the remains of what they sent beneath this plain varnish: no doubt a higher critic would have a busman's holiday with the work, and present us, true to form, with a garbled pedigree. But on those matters we do not dwell. The compiler (and this concludes his explanations) can never be sufficiently grateful to the self-effacing specialists who have entrusted their labours to his Jack-of-all-trades mercy without grudge or condition. He knows, from the messages they sent with their documents, that they join him in earnest prayer that the book may help us present the book to those who will read and run, each of us looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

A.D.N.
15th December 1944.