Very little needs to be said to introduce these Lectures to the reader. They were delivered in Advent last, at Saint Mary’s, Newington; and there is the same reason for publishing, which there then was for writing and preaching them. I desire to assist, as far as I am able, those who are seeking to clear and define their thoughts, respecting the origin, nature, and power of the Christian Ministry. I have aimed only at plainness and fairness in the statement of the argument; and have adopted that arrangement of the subject, in which, as far as I can judge, it originally came before my own mind.

In the Dedication of this Volume to the Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, I have acknowledged my great obligation to him for the instruction which I hope I have derived from his writings—an acknowledgment which, happily, I am so far from being singular in making, that I suppose every one who has studied them, might make the same statement. But it is right that I should say, that as I have not learned a lesson by rote, but, from the first, thought patiently and freely for myself, so the Public must not consider the Professor answerable for every opinion which I may have expressed. And it may be well also to add, that the general doctrine here set forth is not hastily taken up on any man’s authority; but was maintained by the writer, both in private and public, as many will bear witness, long before he had the happiness and advantage of being acquainted with the works, or characters, of the present leading Divines of the University of Oxford.

St. Peter’s, Walworth, Surrey.