VAGE MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. IN offering to the public an uniform edition of the Works of the late Mr. Abraham Booth, it may be expected that, in compliance with general custom, it should be accompanied with some account of their estimable author. His writings, indeed, where known, stand in no need of panegyric to recommend them to the regard of any who have a cordial attachment to divine truth; and of his personal history there is little to be told with which his cotemporaries are not already acquainted. But in collecting his numerous productions into one body,* which is now first done, it must not be forgotten, that they are assuming a form in which they are destined to descend to future times, when all that relates to him will be perused with avidity; and the publishers have the satisfaction of * It may be proper to state in this place, that the present edition comprises all that Mr. Booth published during his life time, except his controversial treatises on the subject of Baptism; viz. his Pædobaptism Examined on the Principles, Concessions, and Reasonings of the Pædobaptists,' 2 vols. 12mo.; and his Defence of Pædobaptism Examined,' in 1 vol. 12mo. These two publications, however excellent in themselves, and important to their author's reputation as a writer, are of such extent, that, to have annexed them to the present edition, would, by increasing it to at least double the number of volumes, have prevented many from purchasing it, into whose hands it will now come. b |