The happy thought of this volume was suggested by the incidental reading of this fact, in the life of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS: He was one day engaged in his usual study of the New Testament, (a practice he kept up daily throughout life, even amid the most urgent State duties,) when being particularly impressed by some words of Jesus, he conceived the idea of abstracting all his words from the body of the sacred text, that he might see them in their unity and wholeness. He immediately procured a suitable blank book, and beginning with the first Gospel, wrote down every word of Christ, as given by each of the Evangelists. This most precious _excerpta_ he continued to read and devoutly study with great profit and comfort. If the publisher had done nothing else but carry out this idea, he would have performed a good service, for many devout students of the Word of God; but he has done much more and I doubt not, by a very simple method, will become the instrument of good to thousands. The several things aimed at and accomplished, in the plan of the book, are these FIRST. A complete harmony of the several Evangelistic narratives, in a consecutive chronological order, thus presenting in one view a complete and perfect picture of our Saviour's life and ministry. Every word of each Gospel is given, (except that which is embraced in the two opening chapters,) but in continued and unbroken flow, and not in the fragmentary and disjointed order of chapter and verse, as found in the ordinary form. SECOND. The words spoken by Jesus himself are raised out of the page, in relief, by means of larger type; so that if the reader is desirous, he can peruse at a single sitting all the words of the Master left on record, in the order of their utterance, and apart from the words of others, without the labor of selecting. THIRD. While the main intent is to present the Gospels in a harmonious arrangement, and especially to give prominence to the divine speaker himself, the author has furnished two preliminary and a concluding chapter of real interest and value, in the first of which, by a judicious collocation of passages from the Old and New Testaments, he traces Christ as he appeared in Creation and Providence, as set forth by the Prophets and Apostles. In the second he sketches a brief account of his childhood with appropriate reflections, and in the concluding chapter ending the volume, he gives his words uttered after the ascension, as found in the Epistles and the book of Revelation. FOURTH. Accompanying the volume, is a geographical and historical chart, ingeniously contrived to illustrate the general idea of the book. This chart is entitled "The Walks of Jesus; a Pictorial Chart of the Antediluvian and Patriarchal Periods, and of the Holy Land; for Sunday Schools and Families." It is published in neat and attractive form, and of various sizes, and cannot fail to be a useful accompaniment of Bible study.