not poffibly be done, without transcribing the piece, omitting, in the former, those paffages that were afterwards more copiously or more correctly expreffed in the latter, and inferting here and there a line or two, by way of connection, to prevent those disagreeable chafms which would otherwife have defaced much of its beauty. For the reft, the reader may affure himself, that if (which I cannot doubt) these papers came genuine into my hand, they are now entirely fo, in every sentence, and in every claufe; for, in those very few places, where the fenfe was to me abfolutely unintelligible, and the conftruction incurably ungrammatical, I chose rather to drop fuch imperfect fragments, than, by uncertain additions of my own, to run the risk of imputing to the good Archbishop, what I was not fure he ever wrote. Had thefe fragments contained hints of any thing curious in criticism, hiftory, or controverfy of any kind, I would have published them apart, at the end of the volume : But as they were very few, and, like the reft of his writings, entirely of a devotional and practical nature, I thought it would have been a formality nearly bordering upon impertinence, to have collected and inferted them in fuch a manner. The delight and edification which I have found in the writings of this wonderful man, (for fuch I must deliberately call him), would have been a full equivalent for my pains, feparate from all profpect of that effect which they might have upon others. For, truly I know not that I have ever spent a quarter of an hour in reviewing any of them, but, even amidst that interruption which a critical examination of the copy would naturally give, I have felt fome impreffions which I could with always to retain. I can hardly forbear faying, as a confiderable philosopher and eminent divine, with whom I have the honour of an intimate correfpondence and friendship, faid to me in a letter, long ago, and when my acquaintance with . April 10. 1740. The Reverend Dr Henry Miles, F. R. S. 1 our author's works was but beginning, 66 "There is a spirit in Archbishop Leighton I never met with in "any human writings, nor can I read many lines in "them without being moved." Indeed it would be difficult for me to fay where, but in the facred Oracles, I have ever found fuch heart-affecting leffons of fimplicity and humility, candour and benevolence, exalted piety, without the leaft tincture of enthufiafm, and an entire mortification to every earthly intereft, without any mixture of fplenetic refentment. Nor can I ever fufficiently admire that artless manner in which he lays open, as it were, his whole breast to the reader, and fhews, without feeming to be at all confcious of it himself, all the various graces that can adorn and ennoble the Chriftian, running like fo many veins of precious ore in the rich mine where they grew. And hence, if I mistake not, is that wonderful energy of his difcourfes, obvious as they feem, unadorned as they really are, which I have obferved to be owned by perfons of eminent piety in the moft different ranks, and amidst all the variety of education and capacity that can be imagined. As every eye is ftruck by confummate beauty, though in the plaineft drefs, and as the fight of fuch an object impreffes much more than any laboured defcription of complexion, features or air, or any harangue on the niceft rules of proportion which could come into confideration; fo in the works of this great adept in true Chriftianity, we do not fo much hear of goodnefs, as fee it in its most genuine traces; fee him as a living image of his Divine Mafter, for fuch indeed his writings fhew, I had almoft faid demonftrate, him to have been, by fuch internal characters as furely a bad man could not counterfeit, and no good man can fo much as fufpect. Where the matter is fo remarkably excellent, a wife and pious reader will not be over folicitous about the ftyle; yet I think he will find it, in these compofitions, far above any reasonable contempt or cen fure.. fure. When I confider what the prevailing tafte was a century ago in this refpect, I have often wondered at the many true beauties of expreffion that occur in these pieces, and the general freedom from thofe falfe and fanciful ornaments, if they are to be called ornaments, which occur in contemporary authors. On the whole, the ftyle wonderfully fuits the fentiments; and, however deftitute of the flights of oratory, has fuch a dignity and force mingled with that fimplicity, which is to be fure its chief characterillic; fo that, on the whole, it has often reminded me of that foft and fweet eloquence of Ulyffes, which Homer describes as falling like flakes of fnow; and if I might be allowed to purfue the fimilitude, I could add, like that, it penetrates deep into the mind too, and tends to enrich and fructify it. It is chiefly the practical preacher that fhines in thefe lectures, yet it feems to me, that the judicious expofitor will alfo appear, and appear moft to the moft competent judges. There is a fort of criticifm on the Sacred Writings, which none but an eminently good man can attain to; and if I am at all capable of judging concerning it, it remarkably reigns here. We find, indeed, little of that laborious fifting of words and fyllables, in which fome have worn out fo much time and pains, if not to no purpose at all, (for I will not affert that), at leaft to purposes very low and inconfiderable, when compared with thofe which our author purfues and attains. The reader will, I think, find great light poured on many very difficult paffages, efpecially in the Firft Epiftle of Peter, in a very mafterly manner, and often by a few weighty words. But thefe hints are generally very fhort; for the good author appears to have lopped off every thing as fuperfluous, which did not immediately tend to make his readers better, or rather to have had a heart fo entirely poffeffed with this defire, that nothing else ever offered itself to his view. Whatever * Και έπεσε νιφάδεσσιν εοικότα χέμερησιν. IL. iii. 222. Whatever of an ornamental kind is to be found in thefe practical parts of the work, which certainly conftitute more than fix fevenths of the whole, appears to have been quite unlaboured and unfought: But it conduces much to our entertainment, and I hope in its confequence to our improvement, that the author had naturally a very fine imagination; the confequence of which is, that his works abound with a charming variety of beautiful figures, fpringing up moft naturally from his fubjects, and fo adding fome graces of novelty to thoughts in themselves most obvious and common. On the whole, I cannot but hope that God will be pleased to blefs the publication of thefe pieces, in thefe circumftances, as an occafion of reviving a fense of religion, and promoting the intereft of true Christianity. It has appeared to me a memorable event, that when the extreme modesty of Archbishop. Leighton had been inexorable to all the entreaties of his many friends, to print fomething during his life, fo many of his precious remains fhould with fuch folicitude be gleaned up after his death, and some of them more than threefcore years after it; and that they fhould be read with fuch high efteem and delight, as it is plain many of them have been, by perfons of the moft different denominations throughout Great Britain. I am very fenfible of it as an honour done to me in the courfe of Divine Providence, that the task I have here executed fhould fo very unexpectedly be devolved upon me. I have no property at all in the work, nor the least secular intereft in its fuccefs: What I have done, was entirely the result of love to the author's memory, and of concern for the public good: But I fhall be gloriously rewarded, if the la bour I have bestowed upon it be the occafion of promoting thofe great ends which animated the difcourfes and actions of this holy man, who has now dwelt fo long among the bleffed inhabitants of that world after which he fo ardently afpired while yet among mortals. mortals. And let me be permitted to add, that I have some secret hope this publication, in these circumstances, may, among other good effects, promote that spirit of catholicifm for which our author was so remarkable, and extend it among various denominations of Christians, in the Northern and Southern parts of our island. If the fincereft language or actions can exprefs the difpofition of the heart, it will here be apparent, that a diversity of judgment, with regard to epifcopacy, and several forms both of difcipline and worship connected with it, have produced in my mind no alienation, no indifference towards Archbishop LEIGHTON, nor prevented my delighting in his works, and profiting by them. In this refpect I truft my brethren in Scotland will, for their own fake, and that of religion in general, fhew the like candour. On the other fide, as I have obferved, with great pleasure and thankfulness, how much many of the established clergy in this part of Britain are advancing in moderation towards their diffenting brethren, I am fully affured they will not like these excellent pieces the worse for having paffed through my hand. It is truly my grief, that any thing should divide me from the fulleft communion. with those to whom I am united in bonds of as tender affection as I bear to any of my fellow Chriftians. And it is my daily prayer, that God will, by his gentle, but powerful, influence on our minds, mutually difpofe us more and more for fuch a further union, as may moft effectually confolidate the Proteftant. cause, establish the throne of our gracious Sovereign, remove the scandals our divifions have occafioned, and strengthen our hands in those efforts, by which we are attempting, and might then I hope more fuccessfully attempt, the fervice of our common Chritianity. In the mean time, I defire moft fincerely to blefs God for any advances that are made towards and I cannot forbear to illuftrate and confirm my thoughts on this head, by inferting the elegant words |