By the same Author. Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church. PART I. Abraham to Samuel. With Maps and Plans. $2.50. PART II. The Same. - From Samuel to the Captivity. Each one volume crown 8vo, cloth, new and cheaper edition. $2.50. Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, With an Introduction on the Study of Ecclesiastical History. One volume crown 8vo, cloth, new and cheaper edition. $2.50. Sinai and Palestine. One volume crown 8vo, cloth, new and cheaper edition. $2.50. Sermons Preached before His Royal Highness the During his Tour in ume 12mo, cloth. the East, in the Spring of 1862. One vol- Sent postpaid, on receipt of price. A DD43 •S78 PREFACE. I HAVE prefixed to these Lectures a Sermon preached in Old Greyfriars' Church at the kind invitation of the Rev. Dr. Wallace, Minister of the Parish, on January 7, 1872. It indicates the spirit in which I would wish the subject in the Lectures to be approached, and on that account seemed a not unfitting introduction. I have also wished to retain it as a record of the revival of a custom which had for a considerable period fallen into disuse, but which once was well recognized both in the Church of England and the Church of Scotland. It had long been my intention to avail myself of the liberty of preaching in the sister Church, which the law of both Churches allows, and had only waited till a fitting opportunity occurred. It is sufficient in illustration of this liberty, to refer to the interesting passage at the close of the twentieth edition of Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences of Scottish Life," as regards the practice and feeling at the beginning of this century; to Bishop Ewing's admirable vindication of the principle in the "Sermon on Christmastime," intended to have been preached before the University of Glasgow; and to Principal Tulloch's able essay on the "English and Scottish Churches" in the "Contemporary Review," in December, 1871. That such an event should have taken place without remonstrance or opposition in the Church of Scotland is a decisive proof of the liber ality which, as I have remarked in the closing Lecture, is characteristic of its present condition. The Lectures are printed as nearly as possible in their original state. Some inaccuracies of detail have been corrected, some ambiguities removed, and some passages which had been omitted for the sake of brevity have been retained. I would venture here to repeat what was, in fact, implied throughout the Lectures, that they do not profess to give anything like a complete account of the history of the Scottish Church. Some of its most conspicuous personages, such as John Knox and Andrew Melville; some of its most conspicuous features, such as its system of education and of discipline; some of its most conspicuous events, the General Assembly of 1638, and the Disruption of 1843, - have been passed over, partly as sufficiently well known, partly for other reasons equally obvious. I will add that I have also, on principle, abstained from entering into the details of the several controversies in which the Church of Scotland has been at different times involved. The particular points at issue between the Burghers and the Anti-burghers, between the Secession, the Relief, and the Free Church, between the Moderates and Populars, the Collegers, the Usagers, the Unionists and Anti-unionists, could only have been set forth by a minute investigation and exposition which would have diverted the attention from the general features of interest common to all of these divisions. I have in my first Lecture indicated that the copiousness of the sources of Scottish ecclesiastical history, as well as the excellent modern works on the subject, render any lengthened narrative unnecessary. I do not pretend to more than a superficial knowledge of the vast literature which 1 |