ark; and God knows how sincerely I have endeavoured it. Doubtless our main errand to the world is peace; and woe be to us if we do it not." To the discharge of this paramount duty of a Christian minister were especially devoted those numerous treatises-some of them among the most valuable of his writings-which were composed by him in the interval between his retirement to his cottage at Higham, and his death. Amid the uproar of contending factions, by turns usurping the pulpit and monopolizing the press, the "still voice" of reason and religious contemplation, which issued from that obscure seclusion, continued to "find fit audience." That publications breathing so pure and tranquil a spirit, were received by so many with a fervent welcome, was a pledge that the heart of the distracted nation was yet sound. It proved that there was yet a remnant left in the land-the "elect, for whose sake the evil days should be shortened"-who loved mankind and feared God; men distinguished alike from the crazy fanatic, the profligate among the royalists, and the selfish hypocrites whom present interest attached equally to any side, or to all by turns. It is to such that, in times of public commotion and disorder, nations owe their deliverance; and, whatever may have been the case in periods of convulsion in countries less happily constituted than our own, in England we need never despair that the proportion of "righ

teous men" required to conciliate heaven for the common salvation, will be found. To be able to

form the wish for such, is, as far as for this end is required, to be of the number.

We

The writings of Bishop Hall have maintained, nearly down to our own times, (perhaps it may be said, they still retain,) a more extensive popularity than those of almost any other of the great divines of an age abounding in examples of consummate theological learning and ability. have no difficulty in accounting for this. Though replete with erudition, these works are familiar in style; and while they possess much of the warmth and interest which belong to the produce of individual thought, they likewise present the truth and the reality, which only the acute observer of mankind can impart to his delineations. It is also to be in part attributed to another quality of his style, besides that which we have termed its familiarity. Notwithstanding his occasional use of terms now obsolete, this author has more of a modern air than any of his contemporaries. This is chiefly owing to the brevity of his periods. That broad and massive structure of sentences, which is not more characteristic of our writers of the highest genius, from the Reformation to the Revolution, than it is true to the nature of our language, and in harmony with the massive vigour of genuine English mind, Hall was among the first to discard; and to intro

duce instead the modern laconic period, by breaking up his diction into fragments of more attractive brilliancy, and greater convenience for ordinary capacities. Upon the whole, we cannot better sum up the general claims of this admirable Sacred Classic to the reader's esteem, than by adopting the description given of him by his contemporary, Fuller, that he was "our English Seneca, dexterous at controversy, not unhappy at comments, very good at characters, better in sermons, best of all in meditations and contemplations." It is in the last, and, according to this testimony, his best character as an author, that Bishop Hall is introduced to the reader in the present volume.

It yet remains the duty of the editor to add a few words, in regard to the following selection. In giving the preference, on this occasion, to the minor pieces of this admired writer, he had several reasons for his choice. The first and most obvious was their convenient length; a second was the greater novelty of most of these pieces for the general reader, the greater individual importance of the author's more elaborate treatises having diverted attention from his shorter "tractates," as he calls them; and these again were confirmed by the equal but more varied excellence of the latter, rendering them, when methodically arranged, even more likely to prove lastingly profitable. For the contents of the

volume have neither been thrown together at random, nor are they placed in what, but for higher considerations, would have been a very appropriate order, viz. that of the dates of their original publication. It is believed they will be found to accord with the natural succession of the sentiments and needs of the Christian, in such a manner that he may, at every step in their perusal, derive that assistance from them which he will require in the corresponding 'period of his course; while the whole together may be regarded as a manual of practical theology.

Thus, in "Heaven on Earth" will be found set forth, with great power and brevity, the importance and the method of a religious life. In the "Christian," the principles before adduced are fully exemplified in a characteristic pattern for imitation. We now rise by natural degrees to contemplate and pursue those pious thoughts and reflections, which accompany the Christian mind in its maturer growth; and these are supplied in the third tract, "The Devout Soul." The "Select Thoughts" lays open a wider sphere for the believer's walk and converse with God, in the midst of his duties in the world. Proceeding now to compositions of a loftier devotional character, we are taught to utter the praises of the Redeemer in the "Meditation on the Love of Christ," which we may regard as a sacred Hymn, celebrating the redemption. Lastly,

the whole series is appropriately closed with some pathetic effusions of piety and love to God, suggested by the prospect of death and the assured hope of immortality, in "The Soul's Farewell to Earth."

The numerous works of Bishop Hall appeared singly, at intervals, during a period of almost sixty years. The greater part of them were collected into three volumes folio, and published in his life-time, viz. Vol. I. in 1617, and again in 1624; Vol. II. in 1633; Vol. III. in 1634; a fourth volume, in 4to., entitled, "The Shaking of the Olive Tree,” was added after the author's death, in 1660, and a fifth, containing "Divers Treatises," in folio, in 1662. The only modern edition was published in 1808, by the Rev. Josiah Pratt, B.D., in ten vols. 8vo. From this edition the present editor has, in great part, adopted the divisions into paragraphs, and occasionally some improvements upon the old copies in the arrangement of the sections; but the volume now before the reader has not been given to the public without a careful collation of all the known editions of the treatises it contains, and the use of the editor's best judgment in every department of his duty.

London, April 14th, 1834.

R. C.