Common-place book

Front matter

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Preface

J^J OTHING, peshaps, tends more to complete the felicity of a reader, when he has received mental delight or increased instruction from perusal of the literary labours of another, than to have previously acquired a knowledge of the name at least, and condition in life (if additional particulars of information cannot be attained), of the author of his intellectual gratification. The Work now presented to the publick anew, comes, orphan-like, to seek a patron in the bosom of the candid, a friend in the heart of a Christian, and an acquaintance with the reader in general who may require its services. Fifty years have rolled away, since first, in humble guise, it crept into notice : no name announced the Author; who, good man, it may be supposed, has, in the course of nature, long ere the present re-publication of his sheets, been gathered to his fathers ; and, while we are exhibiting in a new dress the products of his industry and talents, he is himself, we may humbly hope, invested with that new and spotless mantle in which he shall shine through the countless ages of eternity: and as for* his name, which we cannot find below, that he may have exchanged for the new name above, known only to him who has the happiness to inherit the same. The volume evinces the Author's science as a disciple of our Lord ; charity compels us to argue his practical conformity : hence we are warranted in deducing the premises : and we may venture to play the advocate so far for om protegee, as, for the reader's satisfaction, to refer its origin to the pen # of (that most dignified of names and titles) a christian.

* I anticipate an objection here : namely, that as this and works of this nature are compilations, the pen has little to do in the business. I cannot, however, consent to retract the word ; because, as will appear by-and-by, the Author seems to have afforded written copy for the printer*

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But a greater imperfection in the original comes next to be mentioned : namely, that without a word of preface or introduction, we are hurried at once into the presencechamber of the work. The Author might surely have extended the helping hand, and himself have introduced us, or at least have given us some item of our entertainment, some hint of the august personages assembled within and awaiting our arrival : — he might have denned a Common-place Book, and rendered familiar to us his method of analysis and collocation : but no; the burthen of developing the plan has been left to the re-peruser.

But, notwithstanding the lack of preface, an ample title renders some compensation for the defect ; and this page is here transcribed at length, though it was not deemed so convenient to place it again, in detail, in front of the present edition.

U A ScRIPTURE-AcCOUNT OF THE FAITH AND PRACTICE

" of Christians : Consisting of large and nu- €t merous Collections of pertinent Texts of " Scripture, upon the sundry Articles of Reu vealed Religion. — The Texts upon each Ar- " ticlk reduced into distinct sections ; such as " Threatenings and Promises, Rewards, Punish- " ments, Examples, &c. For enforcing the u Practice of Gospel-Righteousness, and re- " straining from Sin by Gospel-Motives : Adu dressed to the Understanding, the Hopes, u and Fears of Christians. — Being an Improveu mint attempted upon every thing of the kind " hitherto published, for assisting the sincere " Enquirer after Truth, to know and comply u with those Terms of Acceptance with God, " which He hath delivered in his own Word. — te Dublin: Printed for the Author, by S.Powell, " in Dame-street, opposite Fownes's -street.

" MDCCLXIII." An octavo volume; containing 492 pages, exclusive of a table of contents and an index.

Such is the title: a ponderous list of errata offended the eye opposite the commencing page of the work ; and yet the expurgatory page, bulky as it is, contained not a hundredth part of the literal and verbal errors and misquotations by which the whole book was deformed.

One circumstance relative to the original copy, is difficult

PREFACE. YU to account for ; namely, its singular rarity : — ( (but I trust the reader will excuse me here, if I hasten to obviate a surmise, that scarcity alone constituted, in my estimation, merit sufficient for its being sent again into the world : I rest my motives, I trust, on a nobler basis ; that of offering to my fellow-men what appears to possess higher claims to their regard, and calculated to promote their benefit, to enlarge their understanding, and to reduce within the scope of larger utility the magna charta of the Christian's prerogative, his passport and monitress while tracing the devious paths of mortality. And here I cannot forbear lengthening for a few moments my digression, while I glance at the weathercock-propensity of our too flippant times, when "scarce" or" curious" bears down every other consideration ; not even all-prevailing gold has here the preponderance : merit intrinsic, as our middle-aged poets used to sing respecting Astr&a, has regained her growth of pinion, and decamped with rapid flight into some more congenial region. Again ; I should be very unwilling to add to our already exacervated mass of volumes, were I influenced by motives less irresistible than those just mentioned : we groan, we tremble from head to foot, nay we travail with our burthen ; — and this not as the fabulist writes, Parturiunt monies, nascitur ridiculus mus ; but cxoritur e lepras. Walk round this great metropolis, see our streets crouded with motley groupes of things called books, from the insignificant ballads strung in heaps against the wall, (indicative of the fate they too often merit) ; till, step by step, passing from alley to court, from court to lane, from lane to street, witnessing gradual augmentation of external show, we arrive at length at the levee of haut-ton. And what are the gradations we witness ? Children's mental food suppose we first inspect : can the eye of a reasonable being behold, without blushing for humanity, the dedecorous farrago that is exhibited in attractive heaps to win their attention, to rivet their desires \ Begins not our oppressive weight here ? But even our grown children claim a share in this folly, by calling for new and expensive editions (garnished with pretty pictures forsooth) of A B C perverted. In the higher scale, the useful, the really instructive, the enlightening, the unsophisticated^ religious book : with these though we abound, we complain not of our burthen ; we rejoice in the rich variety, and exult in every accession that is made to our store* The merely curi&us book, too, ou r connoisseur takes pretty good care that it shall not add to our visible oneration : like Midas revivified, he converts with the touch every thing, in the

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book-way I mean, into gold, or its equivalent, (for the pre' cious metal is in our times a rara avis,) and having fixed hit eyes on what he and his competitors are pleased to pronounce l a literary curiosity, what shall deter him from securing to himself the seisin ? Can the sober voice of reason, can the heavy drag upon his purse-strings, counteract the purchase ? No ; by no means : all dissentients are repulsed with indignation, while the means to attain the eagerly-eyed object are yet" supplied ; which having made his own, he conveys to his gazopkylacium, surveys it with rapture, scrutinizes each page from head to foot with self-satisfaction, and then consigns it to its destined station, where perhaps it may be fated to abide in oblivion perennial ; some new attraction, in succession, employing the pursuit and lightening the purse of its possessor. But to sum up in few words the aggregate of our Augaean heap, which we would thank another Hercules to cleanse for us : our masses of obsolete and altogether useless books, idly speculative ; our shoals of wem-out pamphlets ; our droves upon droves of papistical and antipapistical books ; our lots of time-serving things miscalled sermons; insipid political books transcending number ; volumes of poems, so called, oftentimes frothy and seductive, idle at the best ; plays, farces, satires, jests, obscenity , juvenilia literally such, ribaldry, trash, and a host of concomitants hard at their heels : — and yet the revival of these administers but too continually fresh food for our presses : — with such a torrent pouring in upon us from every quarter, the flood-gates of restraint being drawn up ; must we not fain cry out, that here is the very summit and centre of our oppressive superincumbency ? This attempt to cast a second Pelion upon another Ossa may well make us tremble, through impending fate : our ponderous superstructure may do more than, like the Sisyphean stone, threaten ; it may fall, and ingulph us in the tremendous overthrow, and, with our Trinacrian superinjection, scarcely room may be left us to turn heavily around our weary sides, and to breathe out our lamentations and sorrows

to the unpitying winds.) ) Pardon, gentle reader, this

digression ; the affixing a preface to this book was a task, for which I was unprepared, and undertook with reluctance ; and nothing but an earnest desire thdft the motives for my undertaking should not be misconceived, could have induced me to trespass thus long upon your patience. But to return. I was saying, that the original work, from which our Common-place Book has been re-printed, is unaccountably rare ;

PREFACE. IX io much so indeed, that I am half-inclined to conjecture that mine is a solitary copy ; as I have never met with a second, though for some years past I have extended nfy enquiries for it in every direction throughout the metropolis among the booksellers, and have sought for tidings of it in the circle of my literary friends : in the number of whom, I include a Reverend Gentleman, who has recently returned from hig travels through Ireland, to whom, as the original owes its origin to Dublin, I applied with some confidence of gaining information ; but in vain : the book was entirely unknown to him ; though he has visited nearly every town in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Neither does it appear to me (to argue from the premises) that the Work has ever been re-printed in London prior to our present edition. How to develope the mystery attached to the manifest scarcity of the Dublin copy, is really superior to my utmost endeavours. Had the Work in question been a mere pamphlet or insignificant treatise (insignificant, I mean, in point of quantity,) no wonder might have been excited, at its having become rare and even unknown : but the reverse is the case here : the book is neither a small one, nor the contents short in quantity, nor the subject-matter frivolous and uninteresting, but, contrariwise, universally important to all classes and ranks of men in civil and social life. What clue, then, remains to unwind to aid our farther researches in this matter ? I know of none. The book passed to me on the death of my Father in the year 180<2 ; but how it came into his possession, 1 really cannot declare : it was in boards merely, and, I believe, the leaves uncut. It is probable that but few impressions were originally taken : and may I hazard the hypothesis, that the Author was his own printer ? I mean that, with a laudable zeal, he might have laid by a part of his pittance, and purchased a small stock of printing-materials, and executed the work with his own hands, for the mere purpose of disseminating it amongst his friends, and the people committed to his pastoral charge (if such were his station in life.) Many similar examples of public-spirited ness and unbiassed generosity stand on record ; resulting from want of public patronage from that quarter whence it ought to have been widely extended. I do not say, that it is my settled opinion that this was actually the way in which the original found its entrance into the world ; an impenetrable veil conceals the truth ; and I must leave it to others to draw their own conclusions.

But it is time now to turn from a subject which seem*

PREFACE.

very unlikely to reward our researches with the information which we are in quest of. And, to make way for what is to he premised respecting the Volume now anew presented to the publick, it may not be amiss to begin with the definition of a Common-place Book. It is " a sort of register or orderly collection of things worthy to be noted, and retained in the course of a person's reading ; and so disposed, as that, amongst a multiplicity of subjects, anyone may be easily found." — This seems equally applicable to the written or printed book. So, in this Work, by turning to the subjoined index, the reader will find reference to the page or pages in which, at one view, he will have all the texts of Scripture relative to any particular doctrine or subject, arranged together in the order in which they lie in the sacred books themselves ; and by this mean he will be enabled more readily to compare Scripture with Scripture, to his profit and satisfaction. Herein we have a promise, and its fulfilment subjoined: here we have a denunciation, and witness the impending threat descending upon the head of the offender. Here we from afar listen to the yet-sounding voice of prophecy : we again direct our attention through intermediate ages, and we find the predicting affirmation verified by a correspondent issue of circumstance. Here we have facts established in the mouths of many witnesses ; here variety of expression aids the uninformed and candid inquirer after truth. Here, in a word, the Christian has a key to unlock the great a re anum of his prerogatives and immunities, and as he walks by the way, may read therein, or little or much, as the case may require : whether he desire to be furnished with information, assurance, or consolation, he can easily turn to that subject, whence he deems it most probable that he shall be enabled to acquire the same.

Theoriginal copy, as already remarked, abounded with errors; and the numbers would almost exceed belief. As a corrector for the press by profession, I from time to time (prior to entertaining any idea of a re-publication) perused the book with my pen in my hand, and amended such inaccuracies as more immediately obtruded themselves upon the sight: taking up my Bible, I then resumed the task, and made the copy sufficiently correct to put into the printer's hands, that it might appear in a new garb, before the eyes of a candid and enlightened publick. The original errata were of four complexions ; I. literal; 2. verbal; 5. false references to the cited books and chapters of the Scripture ; and, 4. misquotations, or, rather, substitutions of equivalent terms for the identical expressions used in the sacred volume* The

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Author, apparently, quoted much hy memory, and committed his recollected passages to paper; and when he chose to copy his extracts from the Bible itself, he seems to have used one of antient date ; an ancestorial relick, probably, which he loved for the sake of those to whom it had belonged. I will candidly own, that I have been many times, during my task of expurgation, more than half persuaded to relinquish all hopes of ever being enabled to present a new edition to the world of this well-meant, but ill-executed work : though, really, so much was I pleased, so much profited by the perusal and re-perusal thereof, that, being encouraged by the advances of the worthy gentleman, who, highly to his honour, took upon himself the charge of printing the same, I persevered, and, as [ hope, have transcended my difficulties, and am enabled to offer at least an improved and tolerably accurate impression of a scarce. and really useful book, which, though blemished with harmless typographical mistakes, ' shines in originality, exhibits the labours of a well-disposed fellow-man, and enjoys perfect exemption from errors of a serious nature, by which the heart and judgement of the peruser might be perverted and misled, and the passages of the sacred Volume, torn from their connexion, misapplied to gratify an idle fancy or a weak speculation.

In a work of this nature, it is obviously to be expected that a multiplication of citations in repetition would be requisite : often, in the same sentence, two points of doctrine are so closely connected, that (" what God hath joined together, let no. man put asunder") it was impracticable oftentimes to part the sentence ; but the whole passage is retained, though only a portion of it comes immediately under the head treated of: thus, to remedy the recurrence of citations as much as possible, references are given, forward or backward, in the course of the work, to places where such and such passages are cited at length. For example; if the reader will take the pains to look at page 80. § 44. he will find the text cited : " God will save the humble person." Salvation there is the prominent subject under consideration; the humble person is secondary : humility forms a subsequent section in the book : which is here referred to in such a manner that it will be easily found, in this edition ; though, in the original, this reference was imperfect. At the end of the citation, I have set a character ( % ) antiently used to mark a paragraph ; and after that : See Promises to the humble ; Chap. XVII. § 36. This section of the seventeenth chapter will be found near the bottom of the page 339. and con-

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tinued in page 340. of this edition: and thus where-ever similar references occur, the chapter and section are annexed : the page itself could not be indicated, when the direction was forward, because such page could not be ascertained ; the new edition not following the order of paging observed in the old one : but, by inspecting the head of each page, the chapter will be always perceived, and the sections follow each other in continuity. In preparing my copy for the press, the annexing the chapter and section to such prospective or reflective references created no small additional trouble : for the Author had entirely omitted them, and his words of reference and the things referred to did not always agree well together : and besides this, they followed abruptly upon the text cited, and seemed to form a part of it. To avoid this ill appearance and inconvenience, the beforementioned character (^f) has been introduced, and the doctrines else-where explained are printed in italics, and the chapter and section uniformly inserted. For the sake of retaining this harmony betwixt one part of the work and another, I did not choose to alter the division of the chapters and sections, and the arrangement of the doctrines, assumed hy the Author : (for, in so doing, the book would no longer have been his, and I might have claimed the compilation :) no ; I leave what there is of originality as a right to him to whom it belonged. But I have little doubt, that every reader will, with me, object to the vast disproportion in the length of the respective chapters ; each Commandment, for instance, should have occupied a separate chapter; and, again, the assigning a distinct head to the nearly synonymous terms lead and guide, fyc. seems unnecessary, and borders a little upon the province of a Concordance, rather than of a Common-place Book. But I shall not assume to myself the farther task of a critick : I presume not to offer the Work as a perfect one; it is laid before the world, as useful and profitable, and such as may furnish even to the wellinstructed some additional information. Yet, had I modelled a performance like this, I should have proceeded on a plan radically different from the present: and as the field of competition still lies open, I have, at the solicitation of several literary friends, undertaken for the sacred histories, what our Author has accomplished for the doctrines ; namely, to give them a common-place arrangement : thus exhibiting practice harmonizing with precept. The spare-page at the end of the index contains the intended title.

With all its defects and its recommendations (the former obviated and the latter augmented as much as possible) I solicit

PREFACE. Xlll for this revived Work the patronage and candid approval of a British publick : a liberal people, who emulously exert themselves to disseminate far and wide, abroad and at home, the Book of books: and may not a humble attempt to render more easy of perusal the sacred deposit expect a gracious reception? Yes; I anticipate this result: and may He who fave the word, and has preserved it inviolate to our times, id it God-speed ; and then my wishes shall realize their utmost accomplishment, and my labours be amply rewarded !

Often have I lamented, that, in all our recent editions of the Bible, the good old fashion of preparing the way for the perusal by a godly preface or exhortation, has been laid aside ; while the flimsy dedication to king James the First still retains its place : the dedication certainly served its purpose in its day, but has now grown somewhat obsolete ; and not a thousandth part of the readers of the sacred Writings ever turn an eye towards it, nor can understand the reason of its being placed there. I do not desire, however, that this dedication should be thrown by ; I only wish that the preface which accompanied it into the world, had likewise retained its footing : this is denominated the Translator? Preface, and for depth of argument, profound learning, for zeal and piety, cannot, I think, be surpassed : it originally stood before the large folio Bible printed by Barker in 16 11, in black-letter ; and was afterwards several times re-printed in succeeding quarto editions, till 1649; after which period, we begin to lose sight of it, and at last it has disappeared altogether. Now, as the observations contained in this preface are alike important and worthy of meditation in taking up for perusal a Common-place Book to the Scriptures, I have gleaned a few scraps from this fertile field of instruction, and adapted them to this place. The Translators launch out in praise of the holy Scriptures in the following words :

" What piety without truth ? What truth (what saving truth) "without the word of God? What word of God (whereof we " may be sure) without the Scripture ? The Scriptures we arc * commanded to search ; John v. 39 ; Isa. viii. 20. They are " commended that searched and studied them; Acts xvii. 11. & "viii. 2S, 29. They are reproved that were unskilful in them, or " slow to believe them; Matt. xxii. 29; Luke xxiv. 25. They can ** make us wise unto salvation; 2 Tim. hi. 15. If we be ignorant, " they will instruct us ; if out of the way, they will bring us home ; " if out of order, they will reform us ; if in heaviness, comfort us ;

" if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. Whatsoever is in the

** Scriptures, believe me, saith St. Augustine, u high and divine; there

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** is verily truth, and a doctrine most jit for the refreshing and renew- " ing of men's minds, and truly so tempered, that every one may draw " thence that which is sufficient for him, if he come to draw with a " devout and pious mind, as true religion requireth. Thus St. " Augustine. And St, Hierome : Ama Scripturas, fy amabit tt " Sapientia : (that is,) Love the Scriptures, and Wisdom will love " thee. And St. Cyrill against Julian ; Even boys that are bred up " in the Scriptures, become most religious. But why mention we " three or four uses of the Scripture ; whereas whatsoever is to be " believed or practised, or hoped for, is contained in them ? Or " three or four sentences of the fathers ; since whosoever is worthy " the name of a father, from Christ's time downward, hath like- " wise written not only of the riches, but also of the perfection of *' the Scriptures ? We omit to multiply citations, because we will

" not weary the reader. The Scriptures, then, being acknow-

" ledged to be so full and so perfect ; how can we excuse ourselves ** of negligence, if we do not study them of curiosity, if we be not " content with them ? Men talk much of the philosophers-stone, " that it turneth copper into gold ; of cornucopia, that it had all " things necessary for food in it ; of panacea the herb, that it " was good for all diseases ; of catholicon the drug, that it is ** instead of all purges ; of Vulcan's armour, that it was an armour " of proof against all thrusts and all blows ; &c. &c. Well; that " which they falsely or vainly attributed N to these things for bodily " good, we may justly and with full measure ascribe unto the Scrip- ** ture, for spiritual. It is not only an armour, but also a whole " armoury of weapons, both offensive and defensive ; whereby we " may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight. It is not a herb, " but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring " forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and *' the leaves for medicine. It is not a pot of manna, or a cruse of " oil, which were for memory only, or for a meal's meat or two ; " but, as it were, a shower of heavenly bread sufficient for a whole ■* host, be it never so great; and, as it were, a whole cellar full of ** oil-vessels, whereby all our necessities may be provided for, and " our debts discharged. In a word, it is a panary of wholesome *' food, against fenowed traditions ; a physician's shop (St. Basill " calleth it) of preservatives, against poisoned heresies ; a pandect " of profitable laws, against rebellious spirits ; a treasury of most il costly jewels, against beggarly rudiments; finally, a fountain " of most pure water springing up unto everlasting life. And " what marvel ? The original thereof being from heaven, not " from earth ; the author being God, not man ; the inditer the " Holy Spirit, not the wit of the Apostles or Prophets; the pen- " men such as were sanctified from the womb, and endued with a ** principal portion of God's Spirit; the matter, verity, piety, "purity, uprightness; the form, God's word, God's testimony, «* God's oracles, the word of truth, the word of salvation, &c. ; the " effects, light of understanding, stableness of persuasion, repent- " ance from dead works, newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the " Holy Ghost; lastly, the end and reward of the study thereof,

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•* fellowship with the saints, participation of the heavenly nature, " fruition of an inheritance immortal, undefiled, and that never " shall fade away. Happy is the man that delighteth in the " Scripture; and thrice-happy he that meditateth in it day and " night !"

The venerable panegyrists then conclude their commendations, and demonstrations of the utility of the holy Books, with the subjoined exhortation:

" It remaineth, gentle reader, that we commend thee to God, " and to the Spirit of his grace, which is able to build farther than " we can ask or Jthink. He removeth the scales from our eyes, " the veil from our hearts ; opening our wits, that we may underu stand his word, enlarging our hearts, yea correcting our afifee- " tions, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea that •' we may love it to the end. Ye are brought unto fountains *' of living water which ye digged not : do not cast earth into " them with (he Philistines ; neither prefer broken pits before " them with the wicked Jews. Others have laboured, and u you may enter into their labours. Oh ! receive not so great " things in vain ! Oh ! despise not so great salvation ! Be not " like swine to tread under foot so precious things ; neither yet f like dogs to tear and abuse holy things, Say not to our Saviour •* with the Gergesenes, Depart out of our coasts ; neither yet u with Esau, sell your birth-right for a mess of pottage. If light " be come into the world, love not darkness more than light: u if food, if clothing be offered, go not naked, starve not yourselves. " Remember the advice of Nazianzene ; It is a grievous thing to " neglect a great fair, and to seek to make markets afterwards :— " also the encouragement of St. Chrysostome ; It is altogether imu possible, that he that is sober (and watchful) should at any time be " neglected : — lastly, the admonition and menacing of St. Augustine ; " They that despise God's will inviting them, shall feel God's will " taking vengeance on them. It is a fearful thing to fall into the " hands of the living God : but a blessed thing it is, (and will bring " us to everlasting blessedness in the end,) when Go© speaketh unto " us, to hearken ; when he setteth his word before us, to read it ; " when he stretcheth out his hand and calleth, to answer, Here am " I, here are we, to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care " and conscience in us to know him and serve him, that we may " be acknowledged of him at the appearing of our Lord Jesu* " Christ ! To whom, with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and " thanksgiving : Amen!"