WHOLE WORKS OF ROBERT LEIGHTON, D.D., ARCHBISHOP OF GLASGOW. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, BY JOHN NORMAN PEARSON, M. A., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. Οὕτω θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων θείων καὶ εὐδαιμόνων βίος, ἀπαλλαγὴ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τῇδε, βίος, ἀνήδονος τῶν NOTICE. HAVING determined to issue the most perfect edition which could possibly be com piled of the works of Archbishop LEIGHTON, it became an object of solicitude to procure the best European copies of his writings. Two editions, one published in London, in 1835, and the other at Edinburgh, in 1840, were designated as the most approved standard compilations. Upon a careful examination, however, it was discovered that the London work comprised materials which were not inserted in the Edinburgh edition, and that the latter included some articles not found in the English copy. That this American reprint, therefore, might not be defective, it was resolved to combine the whole which was found in both series. This volume, therefore, is the only copy which contains the entire literary remains of the renowned author. But it was also perceived that both of the British editions exhibited a great defect. Neither of them possessed any reference at all to the subjects which the learned theologian had discussed; so that the reader was utterly at a loss to ascertain in what part of the two volumes he must look for the illustration of either of the multifarious topics which the writer had imbodied in his commentaries, exhortations, lectures, meditations, sermons, and other expository discussions. This deficiency applied not only to the texts of Scripture, but also to the themes; thus leaving the student in complete perplexity, and depriving the reader of all that benefit which arises from the prompt acquisition of the knowledge that might be attained: giving him useless labor in research, and often wasting his time and toil for utter disappointment. To remedy that defect, and to facilitate the utility and edification comprised in this most important collection of theological disquisitions, and to render the work complete, two indexes have been prepared expressly for this edition. The first is a table of the texts of Scripture which are introduced, either as themes, or as corroborative proofs, which latter use of them often is equivalent to a comment. The second is a comprehensive and minute catalogue of all the principal subjects which are imbodied in the whole series of Archbishop Leighton's works. The Publisher was induced thus to enhance the value of this edition, by the eminent rank which the Exposition of the First Epistle of Peter has attained-of which it has been pronounced, that an expository work upon any portion of the sacred volume can not be named, which, for exalted devotion, and richness of evangelical sentiment equals the annotations of Leighton. Moreover, the pre-eminence of the author himself requires that his works should be presented to the American public in the most complete form practicable. His matchless superiority over all his ecclesiastical contemporaries in Scotland, is known to all persons conversant with the history of the stormy period during which he resided in that part of Britain; of which the Memoirs prefixed, and the Appendix, display ample and convincing proof. Mr. Pearson's narrative, and the addenda by Mr. Aikman, present to us a charming biographical portraiture; with illustrations of the perilous times during which the Archbishop lived, that enhance both the interest and value of the volume. NEW YORK, June 13, 1844. |