Vol. III. (to be published on the 1st of March) will contain the concluding part of

CAVE'S LIVES OF THE APOSTLES;

WITH SELECTIONS FROM THE "LIVES OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS,"

BY THE REV. HENRY STEBBING, M. A.

Vol. IV. (to be published on the 1st of April) will contain

BATES'S SPIRITUAL PERFECTION, UNFOLDED AND ENFORCED; WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY THE REV. JOHN PYE SMITH, D.D.

Vol. V: (to be published on the 1st of May) will consist of

BISHOP HALL'S SELECT THOUGHTS, DEVOUT SOUL, HEAVEN
UPON EARTH, MEDITATIONS ON THE LOVE OF CHRIST,
And other Treatises;

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY THE REV. RICHARD CATTERMOLE, B. d.
The greater part of these beautiful productions are to be purchased only in the
complete editions of Bishop Hall's voluminous and expensive works.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

THERE are certain eras in the history of mankind which require to be contemplated by many and various lights. This is especially the case with those which have derived their importance from giving birth to new moral systems, or from bringing into more conspicuous action the spiritual energies of our race. Political revolutions naturally form remarkable points in the annals of nations, because attended with events to which the tenacity of human sympathy would of itself give a durable importance: but in those changes which have reached the souls of men, a power is found to be at work, the dimmest discovery of which never fails to act with an elevating force on the mind of the discoverer. It is a noble property of the human conscience to be able to recognize the Almighty in creation; but this is so generally the endowment of man, that he is expected, even in his lowest condition, to act according to the light he may thence derive; whereas to behold God in the secret workings of his providence, in the preparations and dispensings of his Spirit, is in the power only of

those whom he has singularly favoured with wisdom and the love of meditation. But in many of those events which compose the bulk of history, he effects his designs by the operation of agents which seem to partake almost as little of his living spirit as the matter which composes the machinery of the universe: and thus, in the study of history, a large portion of it may be read without demanding or eliciting any extraordinary proof of mental vigour; while, on the other hand, every passage which describes the new position into which mankind is put, by an enlargement of light and knowledge, demands, and when fairly contemplated, produces another and a higher state of mind. While however this is the fruit of that nobler class of historical truths, they also require a more copious illustration than others, to be brought within the scope and operation of our understanding. The higher we ascend in the regions of speculation, the firmer should be our supports; a rule the neglect of which has exemplified almost more than anything else, the pride and folly of human reason; for, however otherwise it may appear to superficial minds, it is mainly owing to our negligence or indifference that there is not found in the very loftiest ranges of human thought, in those which it is supposed by the world exist only for wild hypotheses, firm footing for reason, and bright and visible temples of truth,-islands and

continents lying beyond the vast ocean of uncertainty, which are not the less real because but rarely visited, nor the less beautiful because their starry galaxies have not yet been submitted to our calculations. The same remark holds good also in respect to the less speculative part of such inquiries. There is both a greater degree of evidence required, and a greater degree given, for unfolding the moral truths of history; and where this is properly taken advantage of-when the mind, intent on the object of inquiry, gathers around it whatever can emit even the smallest ray of light, and history is examined as a body instinct with spirits which have their immortality within it, and will come forth and manifest themselves at the call of thought rightly spending its preparatary vigils; then the most important eras of our existence, those in which we have been perceptibly carried towards the great beacon-light of humanity, will enable us to observe those changes in their origin which have had the most beneficial influence on our state and nature, and to converse with the just men who, now made perfect, had then to struggle with temptations and difficulties like our own.

But glancing over the wide circle of human history, with the distinct purpose of discovering the periods at which mankind were most forcibly appealed to, and influenced, in their spiritual capacity, it is impossible for us not to find our attention at

once arrested by the singular splendour which marks the birth and growth of Christianity. If we may find a type in creation, of that second great demonstration of divine love, we see the light which at first existed only in its own limitless fountains, and but a few scintillations of which before shone upon the world, then poured into a glorious orb to shed constant beauty and fertility over the universe; for the slightest examination of history shows, that what was before but uncertainly known in morals, thenceforward became fixed in principles; and that the truths which had been made palatable by their mixture with error, then became sufficiently attractive of themselves to secure the attention of the world. In the subsequent conflicts between truth and error, a change is perceptible both in the modes of attack and defence, and in the instruments employed for carrying on the struggle. Error dared not deny the unity of God-truth feared not to assert it as the foundation of all holiness: instead of marshalling the shadowy ranks of mythological powers, and looking for the soul of a deity under each broad shield of the abstract virtues, error itself acknowledged the pure and mighty attributes of Jehovah, only venturing to speak of the variety of his decrees; and truth, instead of appealing to tradition, or the innate notions of the soul, referred at once to rules which had received the sanction of Eternity.