“ Honoramus eos charitate, non servitute : nec eis templa construimus. Nolunt enim se sic à nobis honorari: quia nosipsos cùm boni sumus, templa summi Dei esse noverunt." AUGUSTINUS, DE VER. RELIG. CAP. LIV. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἄτοπον, ὑπὲς μὲν χρημάτων μὴ ἑτέροις πιστεύειν, ἀλλ' ἀριθμῷ καὶ ψήφῳ τοῦτο ἐπιτρέπειν· ὑπὲρ δὲ πραγμάτων ψηφιζομένους ἁπλῶς τοῖς ἑτέρων παρασύρεσθαι δόξαις· καὶ ταῦτα, ἀκριβῆ ζυγὸν ἁπάντων ἔχοντας καὶ γνώμονα καὶ κανόνα, τῶν Θείων νόμων τὴν ἀπόφασιν; CHRYSOSTOMI HOMIL. XII. 2 COR. ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΗΣΟΝ. ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ, 10'. 4. PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. Ir was remarked by one who did not receive the theological views of Owen, that he was a man "who had sounded the depths of practical religion." Another, who accepted the theology of the great non-conformist, called him "the mountain" from which the writers of subsequent ages have digged. These two remarks combined express the views of the present writer. There are perhaps no theological writings in the English language so rich, full and comprehensive as those of Owen, while yet the principles of religion are never stated as mere theoretic truths, but are so conceived and expressed as to carry in them, and put forth upon the mind that reads them the greatest possible practical force. To the student who takes up the works of this great Author, they are likely at first to prove unattractive. The style is prolix and without the least attempt at ornament. The ideas are not distinct, sharply defined, each occupying a narrow compass of expression and hence falling in rapid succession like coins from the mint, but spread themselves over a wide surface of remark, with innumerable elements springing from the wonderfully prolific mind of the writer, augmenting as they flow and perhaps not reaching a complete development until the whole subject is exhausted and the treatise closed. Yet it is this very quality that gives to the writings of Owen their peculiar value to the diligent student. Let such a student have the patience to spend hours of close study in any one of his theological treatises and he will find his mind filled, enlightened, expanded; his field of vision enlarged to a degree that will attend the productions of no other writer with whom we are acquainted. It is almost impossible that any intelligent student of Owen should write sermons either meagre in thought or of a thin theological consistence. We could not suggest a better corrective of the vicious tendencies of modern religious discourse than the study of this master of scriptural theology. It is hence highly gratifying to know that an American publisher has undertaken to issue these volumes. There ist a fact connected with this publication which is of touching interest in itself, and in its relation to many friends of a sainted herald of the cross. It is that the publisher has been led to this and other efforts to promote the circulation and study of Owen's Works by his intercourse with the late Rev. James Henry Fowles, Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, and now offers them to the church as a tribute to the memory of this man of God whose own mind had drunk deeply at the spring to which readers are now invited. J. HOWARD SMITH, WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NEW YORK. SEPTEMBER, 1860. THIS edition of the WORKS OF OWEN will consist of eight The numbers of the first seven volumes will agree, and the CONTENTS. 2. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ. 3. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ applied to Sinners and "II. 1. On Communion with God. 2. Vindication of the Preceding Discourse. 3. Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity. "III. Discourse on the the Holy Spirit: His Name, Nature, Personality, Dispen- sation, Operations, and Effects-His Work in the Old and New Creation explained, and the Doctrines Vindicated. The Nature and Necessity of Gospel Holiness: the difference between Grace and Morality, or a Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience, and a course of Moral 2. Causes, Ways, and Means, of understanding the Mind of God, as re- vealed in His Word, with assurance therein. And a declaration of the perspicuity of the Scriptures, with the external means of the inter- 3. On the Work of the Holy Spirit, in Prayer: with a brief inquiry into the nature and use of Mental Prayer and Forms. 4. Of the Holy Spirit and His Work, as a Comforter and as the Author of - 3. On the dominion of Sin and Grace. "VIII. The Doctrine of the Saint's Perseverance explained and confirmed. The Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews will probably be published in the |
