falling like flakes of snow; and if I might be allowed to pursue the similitude, 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 shines in. these lectures, yet it seems to me, that the judicious expositor will also appear, and appear most to the most competent judges. There is a sort of criticism 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 sifting of words and syllables, in which some have worn out so much time and pains, if not to no purpose at all, (for I will not assert that,) at least to purposes very low and inconsiderable, when compared with those which our author pursues and attains. The reader will, I think, find great light poured on many very difficult passages, especially in the First Epistle of Peter, in a very masterly manner, and often by a few weighty words. But these hints are generally very short; for the good author appears to have lopped off every thing as su, perfluous, which did not immediately tend to make his readers better, or rather to have had a heart so entirely possessed with this desire, that nothing else ever offered itself to his view. Whatever of an ornamental kind is to be found in these practical parts of the work, which certainly constitute more than sixsevenths of the whole, appears to have been quite unlaboured and unsought: but it conduces much to our entertainment, and I hope in its consequence to our improvement, that the author had naturally a very fine imagination; the consequence of which is, that his works abound with a charming variety of beautiful figures, springing up most naturally from his subjects, and so adding some graces of novelty to thoughts in themselves most obvious and common.

On the whole, I cannot but hope that God will be pleased to bless the publication of these pieces, in these circumstances, as an occasion of reviving a sense of

religion, and promoting the interest 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 something during his life, so many of his precious remains should with such solicitude be gleaned up after his death, and some of them more than threescore years after it; and that they should be read with such high esteem and delight, as it is plain many of them have been, by persons of the most different denominations throughout Great Britain. I am very sensible of it as an honour done to me in the course of Divine Providence, that the task I have here executed should so very unexpectedly be devolved upon me. I have no property at all in the work, nor the least secular interest in its success: What I have done, was entirely the result of love to the author's memory, and of concern for the public good: But I shall be gloriously rewarded, if the labour I have bestowed upon it be the occasion of promoting those great ends which animated the discourses and actions of this holy man, who has now dwelt so long among the blessed inhabitants of that world after which he so ardently aspired while yet among 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 catholicism 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 sincerest language or actions can express the disposition of the heart, it will here be apparent, that a diversity of judgment, with regard to episcopacy, and several forms both of discipline 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 respect I trust my brethren in Scotland will, for their own sake, and that of religion in general, shew the like

candour. On the other side, as I have observed, with great pleasure and thankfulness, how much many of the established clergy in this part of Britain are advancing in moderation towards their dissenting brethren, I am fully assured they will not like these excellent pieces the worse for having passed through my hand. It is truly my grief, that any thing should divide me from the fullest communion with those to whom I am united in bonds of as tender affection as I bear to any of my fellow Christians. And it is my daily prayer, that God will, by his gentle, but powerful, influence on our minds, mutually dispose us more and more for such a further union, as may most effectually consolidate the Protestant cause, establish the throne of our gracious Sovereign, remove the scandals our divisions have occasioned, and strengthen our hands in those efforts, by which we are attempting, and might then I hope more successfully attempt, the service of our cominon Christianity. In the mean time, I desire most sincerely to bless God for any advances that are made towards it; and I cannot forbear to illustrate and confirm my thoughts on this head, by inserting the elegant words of a most worthy member of the Church of England, well known in the learned world, as I have lately had the honour of receiving them from his own pen. I conceal his name, and therefore hope it is no violation of the laws of friendship, to insert at large a passage from a familiar letter, which, if it warms my reader's breast as it did mine, will not be only an entertainment, but a blessing to many, and which is as suitable a conclusion of this preface, as if it had been written in that view. "I am glad," says he, "that Christianity "begins to be so well understood and taught by so

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many men of parts and learning in all sects, the "fruits of which appear in a candour and charity un"known to all ages of the church, except the primi❝tive, I had almost said the apostolic age. Does not "this give you a prospect, though perhaps still very distant, of the completion of the famous prophecy

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"that speaks of the lion and the lamb lying down toge "ther in the kingdom of the Messiah? Lions there "have been hitherto in all churches, but too many "fierce, greedy, and blood-thirsty lions, though often "disguised like lambs: And some lambs there have "been, simple enough to think it expedient for the "flock, to assume the habit and terror of lions: But "I hope they now begin to undeceive themselves, "and to consider Christianity as intending to bring "back the world to that state of innocence which it "enjoyed before the fall, when, in one and the same "Paradise, (to use the words of Milton,)

-Frisking play'd

All beasts of th' earth, since wild, and of all chase 'In wood or wilderness, forest or den :

Sporting the lion ramp'd, and in his paw

Dandled the kid.

"To attain to this happy state," continues this amiable writer, "all Christians should unite their endea"vours, and instead of looking out for, and insisting upon, points of difference and distinction, seek for "those only in which they do or may agree. They "may at least sow the seeds of peace and unity, though they should not live to reap the fruits of it in this "world. Blessed are the peace-makers, says the Prince "of Peace, for they shall be called the children of "God:-An appellation infinitely more honourable "than that of a pastor, bishop, archbishop, patriarch, "cardinal or pope, and attended with a recompence infinitely surpassing the richest revenues of the "highest ecclesiastical dignity." I join my hearty wishes and prayers with those of my much esteemed friend, that we may all more and more deserve this character, and attain to its reward.

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P. DODDRIDGE.

NORTHAMPTON,

April 26, 1748. S

LIFE OF

ROBERT LEIGHTON,

ARCHBISHOP OF GLASGOW,

D.D.

THIS truly good and great Man was the eldest son of Alexander Leighton, a Scotsman, D.D. who wrote two books for which he was called in question: the first was entitled "The Looking-glass of Holy War,' for which he was made to suffer. But the book that chiefly brought upon him the wrath of Bishop Laud, and the high commission court, was his Zion's Plea, or Appeal to the Parliament,' for which he was condemned in the Star-chamber to have his ears cut and his nose slit, and suffered a cruel imprisonment the space of Eleven years.

Robert, the subject of this memoir, had remarkable dispositions of seriousness from his youth. His father sent him to have his education in Scotland, where he made considerable proficiency in the learned languages, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, above his fellow students: For Burnet says, 'He had the greatest command of the purest Latin that ever he knew in any man.' His "Prælectiones Theologieæ❞ are a full confirmation of this testimony. He had so great a quickness of parts and vivacity of apprehension, that he made very great progress in his philosophical and Theological works. But that which excelled all the rest was,' says Burnet, he was possest with the highest and noblest sense of divine things that could be any man. He had a contempt both of wealth and reputation, and seemed to have the lowest thoughts of himself possible, wishing that all others should think as meanly of him as he did himself. He bore all sorts of ill usage and reproach like a man that took pleasure in it. He had so subdued the natural heat of his temper, that there was seldom seen in him any sign of passion: and he kept himself in such a constant recollection, that he was never or seldom guilty of speaking an idle word. There was a visible tendency in all he said, to raise his own mind, and all he conversed with, to serious reflections. He seemed to be in a perpetual meditation; and though

seen in