"The substance of the volume ... was delivered in the form of lectures ... to the members of the South London Branch of the Church of England Young Men's Society for Promoting Misssions at Home and Abroad ... Though a third edition, and a fourth publication, it is a new book, with a new ... title. It was first published in a series of lectures in the Pulpit; then in a small volume; and has been since entirely rewritten and greatly enlarged."