[Illustration: GEORGE HERBERT MILTON YOUNG COWPER MONTGOMERY HEBER _Engraved by P. P. Becker._ London, Groombridge and Sons.] A CYCLOPÆDIA OF SACRED POETICAL QUOTATIONS; CONSISTING OF CHOICE PASSAGES FROM THE SACRED POETRY OF ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES, CLASSIFIED AND ARRANGED, FOR FACILITY OF REFERENCE, UNDER SUBJECT HEADINGS; ILLUSTRATED BY STRIKING PASSAGES FROM SCRIPTURE, AND FORMING ALTOGETHER A COMPLETE BOOK OF DEVOTIONAL POETRY. EDITED BY H. G. ADAMS. EDITOR OF THE “CYCLOPÆDIA OF POETICAL QUOTATIONS,” ETC. NEW EDITION. “A verse may find him who a sermon flies, And turn delight into a sacrifice.”--HERBERT. ALEX. GARDNER, PAISLEY; AND PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. PREFACE. The favour with which our former compilation--the “Cyclopædia of Poetical Quotations”--was received, and the numerous calls which we had for an extension of the plan of that work, induced us to determine on the issue of this companion volume, which, although exactly similar in size and price, and method of arrangement, yet possesses a decidedly distinctive feature in the _sacred_ character of all the pieces included. We have endeavoured to make it one of the most complete collections of RELIGIOUS POETRY ever offered to the public; and cannot doubt that, as such, it will be acceptable to a very large class of readers. As the matter in this volume had to be arranged under a far less number of distinct headings than that of the work above named, there was space for the introduction of longer pieces, and thus many of the most beautiful specimens of devotional poetry, which are to be found in the literature of this and other nations, are given with little or no curtailment. Although there is much poetry of a religious character scattered through the former volume, yet--inasmuch as it is presumed that most persons who possess the one will also desire to have the other--none of the pieces which may there be found are admitted into this compilation, except in some cases where it was felt that by re-uniting the portions there arranged under several headings, so complete and beautiful a whole could be presented, that its insertion here was almost rendered necessary.