IN presenting this work to the American public, the publishers believe that they are rendering an important service to the religious community at large, and to theological students in particular. The first edition was published at Edinburgh in 1834, and has already obtained a very extensive circulation in Britain. An estimate may be formed of the value of these Lectures, from the fact of their having received the highest praise of some of the most distinguished theological scholars in Scotland and England; and though expressing in the most decided manner the views of the particular denomination with which their author was connected, (the Presbyterian,) the catholic spirit with which these opinions are maintained, the candour with which others are stated, and the ability with which the common Christianity is illustrated and defended, may be learned from the fact of their being warmly recommended by the leading periodicals of nearly all the Protestant denominations of Britain.
The Lectures of which this work is composed were read by their author to the students attending the Theological Seminary of the United Associate Church, in which he was Professor of Systematic Divinity. They were not prepared for the press; nor is it known that he ever entertained any design of publishing them. The following extract from one of the author's unpublished introductory addresses to his students will give a correct idea of his aim in drawing them up. "You come to this place to hear such an explanation of the doctrines of religion as will furnish you with materials of reflection, and assistance in your private inquiries. Of one thing it may be proper to admonish you; that you are not to expect to be entertained with things which may be properly called new. To some of you, indeed, many things may be new in this sense, that you have not heard them before; but in general, the subjects to which your attention is directed, are truths as old as the Bible, which have been topics of discussion from chairs and pulpits from the first ages of our religion. It cannot be supposed that, in a field which has been so often and so carefully surveyed, there is any thing left to be gathered by the persons who shall walk over it again. Our purpose is gained if we are able to impart to the rising race the knowledge which was imparted to ourselves by our predecessors: and the utmost at which we could reasonably aim is to suggest some small matter which has been overlooked; to propose a new argument, or a better statement of an old argument; or, it may be, to throw some light upon a portion of the Scriptures not yet fully understood. In human sciences, discoveries may be made by superior penetration, and more patient inquiry; and their advanced state in the present age is a proof of the success of modern philosophers in the investigation of the secrets of nature. Discoveries might have been made in religion while revelation was in progress, and its light was increasing like that of the morning; but as seventeen centuries have elapsed since it was completed, and during this long interval it has engaged the attention of the wise, the learned, and the pious, there is every probability that we have been anticipated in all our views."
The Edinburgh edition was published under the superintendence of a son of the author, Andrew Coventry Dick, Esq. The present edition is an exact reprint of the former, and in the course of publication has been under the supervision of one who was formerly a pupil of Dr. Dick, and heard a considerable portion of them read.
