exact from the

PREFACE

TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

IN sending forth a Second Edition of these Lectures, the Author is but yielding to the public demand which has been created for them-a demand to which he the more readily responds since the subjects of which they treat are not of mere local and transient interest, but appertain to the highest interests, both temporal and eternal, of mankind.

It is gratifying, and a cause for devout thankfulness that, notwithstanding the misrepresentations and indiscriminate opposition which have been endured in the public advocacy of the scriptural truths advanced in this volume,-some, and these not a few, have bestowed upon it a candid and dispassionate investigation, and the result of their reading and reflection has been the cheerful addition of their testimony to its general scriptural integrity.

The readers of the First Edition will perceive that, although the Lectures retain their original popular form, they have undergone a very considerable alteration, so that they cannot, in their present form, be regarded as the Lectures formerly delivered in Lodge Street Chapel. Very much new matter has been added, and much that was not immediately connected with the subjects under consideration has been removed, so that this re-issue might be more strictly what its title professes to be, a treatise on "Life and Death; or the Theology of the Bible in relation to Human Immortality."

Connected with the subjects of these Lectures are the theological inquiries concerning the human soul, and the intermediate state between death and resurrection. To these topics the Author has devoted a separate volume, which is published under the title of "The Generations Gathered and Gathering; or the Scripture Doctrine concerning Man in Death."

Two years have elapsed since the first edition of these Lectures was published. During this interval an increased acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and a clearer understanding of the doctrines here set forth, have enabled me to modify and improve, and in some instances have obliged me to expunge statements which I had previously published. I am free to confess this much because candour demands it, and furthermore I am aware how common it is for

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

ix

unscrupulous opponents to endeavour to excite prejudice against an obnoxious writer by contrasting his more recent opinions with those he may previously have maintained, a course which I amsolicitous here # to repudiate both as unfair in controversy, and adverse to the interests of truth. . The pious and learned Dr. Watts has said: "Though a sentence or two from any man's former writings may be cited, perhaps to confront his later thoughts, yet that is not sufficient to refute them all that it will prove is this, that that man keeps his mind ever open to conviction, and that he is willing and desirous to change a darker for a clearer idea. It will only declare to the world, that he can part with a mistake for the hope of truth, that he dares confess himself a fallible creature, and that his knowledge is capable of improvement. It becomes the All-wise God, and not mortal man, to be unchangeable. It doth not belong to such poor imperfect beings as we are, to remain for ever unmoveable in all the same opinions that we have once indulged, nor to stamp every sentiment with immortality. For a man to be obstinately tenacious of an old mistake, and incorrigibly fond of any obscure phrase or conception, because he has once admitted it, is the shame, and not the glory, of human nature.”

With the same eminent man I may venture unostentatiously to add: "When I apply myself with diligence to make further inquiries into the great

doctrines of the Gospel, I would never make my own former opinions the standard of truth, and the rule by which to determine my future judgment. My work is always to lay the Bible before me, to consult that sacred and infallible guide, and to square and adjust all my sentiments by that certain and unerring rule. It is to this supreme judge of controversies that I pay an unreserved submission, and would derive all further light from this fountain. I thank God that I have learned to retract my former sentiments, and change them, when upon stricter search and review, they appear less agreeable to the Divine standard of faith."*

It may be well to state, to guard against the possibility of misapprehension, that the corrections and additions in the present edition are designed to furnish a more correct and emphatic representation of those ́grand doctrines, of the scriptural truth of which I am more than ever convinced.

May the Great Head of the Church accept this humble endeavour to give currency to long-neglected and perverted truths, and condescend to employ it for the revival of a pure faith in the Church of these last days,—and to Him shall be the glory and praise!

Bristol, April, 1851.

* Preface to "Dissertations relating to the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity," part ii.