XVI GENERAL PREFACE.
appended at the foot of the pages, in regard to any statements or aUusions that general readers might fail to understand. The editor, however, has been anxious not to overlay the text in any instance with a parade of authorities and references, seeking in his duties to be under the influence of the sentiment, — Prodesse quam con- spici.
To promote facility of reference to the various productions of our author, they have been arranged in three divisions, — Doctrinal, Practical, and Controversial, and in each of these divisions the works have been given, as far as possible, according to the years in which they were published. It woidd be vain to attempt rigid j^reci- sion and accuracy in any such arrangement that might be adopted. There are treatises which are at once doctrinal and practical in their nature. Some advantages would have accrued had the chronological order been followed, and had the works been inserted in this edition altogether according to the date of their original publication. But much confusion and irregularity would have been the result, and treatises, among which an obvious affinity existed in their subject and design, would not have been included in the same volume.
A comjilete index will be given in the last volume, embracing the Greek and Hebrew words quoted from Scripture, the texts explained, and the subjects discussed by our author.
It only remains for the editor to express his obligations to the Rev. John Edmondston of Ashkirk, whose aid has been invaluable, especially in the department of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew quo- tations; to the Rev. John Cunningham, LL.D., who kindly under- took the research and inquiries that were found necessary in London ; and to the custodiers of the different public libraries in Edinburgh, through whose courtesy free access was gianted to them, in order to prosecute the business of collation.
The best thanks of the publishers are due to the Rev. Andrew Thomson, for the Memoir of Owen which graces this edition of his works; and to the trustees of the Lancashire Independent Col- lege, for the use of a portrait which belongs to the library of the college, and from which the portrait at the beginning of this volume has been engraved. The engraving is a very truthful representation of the countenance of Owen, according to the original painting from which it has been taken, and which, on the whole, has been pre- ferred to any other likeness of him, as more in harmony "with the depth and dignity of his character.
There are some important publications of Owen which were not
GENERAL PREFACE. XVII
included in Mr Russell's edition. The Exercitations on the Sahhath do not appear in it, as they belonged to the preliminary dissertations prefixed to the Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews. They were issued separately by our author, in order to diffuse sound views on the obhgation of the Sabbath, among a wider circle of readers than his ponderous commentary was likely to overtake. Dr Wright restored them to their proper place in the introduction to the com- mentary. The " Theologoumena," &c., also was not comprehended in the edition of 1826, In order to render this edition quite complete, the publishers contemplate a separate arrangement, by which sub- scribers, should a demand exist for it, will be supplied with the " Theologoumena," and any other productions of our author not included in the previous volumes of this edition. There is a pro- bability, also, from a desire already expressed for it, that the Expo- sition of the Epistle to the Hebrews — the noblest monument of Owen's learning — will be published uniform with this edition of his works.
With these statements and explanations, the public must be left to judge of the merits and value of this edition of Owen's works. The editor may be permitted to express his own sense of the impor- tance of the charge with which he has been intrusted, and his ardent desire that the volumes issued under his superintendence may prove, in elegance and correctness, worthy of the precious treatises contained in them, and a befitting monument to the name and memoiy of Owen. He was called by a sudden and urgent application to under- take these editorial labours, involving an expenditure of time and an amount of care and research beyond his own anticipation, and such as few are in circumstances to appreciate. No Christian man in his position could divest himself of solemn feeling, under the reflection that this pu})lication, from the wide circulation already insured to it, must exert a mighty influence in giiiding the minds of men, and moulding their habits of thought and action, — a feeling relieved only by the consideration that the principles of Owen were a close and faithful transcript of the Gospel of Christ, and that multitudes have already ripened for glory in meditation ujDon his pages. Should these volumes prove conducive to the same result, and perhaps on a wider scale, from the increased circulation now given to religious treatises of such sterling excellence, any amount of editorial care and labour ^vill not be misspent. The labour has even already been its own reward; nor was it a mean ambition, to have one's name linked, by a connection hov/ever humble, with the great Nonconformist,
XVIII GENERAL PREFACE.
whose writings in defence of toleration, and in rebuke of tyranny,