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ADVERTISEMENT.

THE author was long known, both within and beyond the bounds of his own communion, as one of the most powerful of preachers. It is matter of regret that he did not yield to the wishes of numerous friends by using the press more freely. That genuine modesty which attends and crowns high intellectual qualities did much to restrain him from compliance; while his ready plea was found in the number and magnitude of his public engagements.

On a careful examination of the manuscripts he left, his executors wisely concluded that it would be wrong to consign them to obscurity; and a volume was accordingly announced, to be edited by his son, the Rev. W. M. Bunting. Though other arrangements were subsequently made, Mr. Bunting has lent assistance of no common value in the revisal of most of the discourses which compose this series.

It is needless to repeat what has become proverbial in speaking of posthumous works, or to enlarge on the disadvantage of having to reproduce what has been heard with admiration from the pulpit. Circumstances often add impressiveness to the appeals of a speaker. He was a shrewd man, doubtless, who, when surprised by a request from his hearers for the publication of a sermon which had been delivered during a terrific storm, replied, that "if they would contribute the thunder he would give the sermon." Apart from any

remarkable circumstances, it must be acknowledged the power of the voice is one, and that of the much-lauded press is another. One of the early German reformers is portrayed as all instinct with animation: "Vividus vultus, vividi oculi, vivida manus; denique omnia vivida." Nor need we attribute such a sketch to the limner's fancy, while we can recall examples of a truly classic eloquence. But, above all, there is a POWER FROM ON HIGH which accompanies the PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, and gives to this simplest of ordinances an energy for which the wisdom of the world cannot account. So much the more desirable is it to rescue from oblivion words which have been carried to the hearts and consciences of many a listening throng.

It is not for the sake of disarming criticism that allusion is made to one or two facts of the case. These Sermons are not the fruit of mature years. The author's self-devotion to public enterprises, and especially to the cause of Christian missions, too early interrupted everything like prolonged literary exertion; too early, that is to say, for the attainment of such a chaplet as he might have worn had he persisted in that absorbing labor. No apology is made for the freedom sometimes used in the practical application of a text; nor will any be required by those who consider what was the state of biblical science forty years ago, if they find an opinion or an expression which modern scholarship may fairly challenge. The wonder is, rather, that a young divine should have acquired such ripeness of scriptural knowledge, such precision in stating his views, and such discrimination in guarding them from abuse, and from the inroads of neighboring error on the right hand and on the left.

The Sermons are not sent forth without a calm conviction that the system of doctrine to which they conform is clear,

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consistent, and (to use one of the author's terms) full-orbed. It fixes the attention, and keeps it fixed, on those vital doctrines which some of our cotemporaries seem anxious, above all things, to cast into the shade. And it is no slight homage to the creed of this eminent preacher, that, whatever may be the language of adverse schools, the appeals which come from every evangelical pulpit repeat the very idioms in which he had been taught to proclaim salvation through Christ for all mankind.

Among the Discourses contained in this first volume are four which were prepared for missionary anniversaries. To these, as examples of Dr. Bunting's preaching in his meridian strength, it may be well to draw special attention. A few of the others are, confessedly, less finished; but they will represent the author in his pastoral and more familiar style. For two-IX and XVII-the reader is indebted, in the main, (as he may gather from internal evidence,) to the skill of the shorthand writer. In three instances besides, the manuscripts have been collated with all accessible notes and reports of the Sermons as heard from the pulpit. Herein the aim was to seize what was most characteristic of the living preacher, and, as it were, to awaken the echoes of a once-familiar voice which pleads no longer with men. It seemed best to take this laborious method when opportunity served, inasmuch as the authority and pathos of this embassador for Christ often found their highest expression in bursts of appeal and remonstrance which outran the most careful preparation.

If, according to the judgment of Sir James Mackintosh, eloquence results from the combination of "reason, simplicity, and vehemence," Dr. Bunting was a master of that transcendent art. If we may gather from St. Luke's words, inscribed on the preceding title-page, that the business of the Christian

preacher is to "reason" with his audience "out of the Scriptures," the models here preserved are worthy to be studied by those who are called to minister in holy things. In either view, the author will not be dishonored by this memorial. But the design is not to extend his fame, but to give permanence to the warnings, exhortations, and instructions which he was wont to address to his fellow-immortals. May the grace of the HOLY SPIRIT, which descended on multitudes of hearers, be vouchsafed to the readers also! Then will THE TRIUNE GOD be glorified, while those who partake the benefit gratefully acknowledge that his servant lived not in vain.

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William W. L. THORNTON.

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