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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by JAMES B. Dow, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM A. HALL & CO.

AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE.

If any person dislike the old-fashioned doctrine of the proper divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, let him not purchase the ensuing little work, unless he purchase with a desire to read what has been written by one who likes that doctrine. It is a book to be bought and read by those who delight in that “great mystery of godliness, — God manifest in the flesh.” Let such purchase and peruse it; it will pay them for their money and for their time. Its author is an eminent Christian, a sacred poet, and a man of no ordinary powers of mind. Yet his book is not an argument, nor a collection of arguments, upon the subjects of which it treats. It is rather a book of exercises in the highest branch of Christian learning. It shows a beautiful, a great, and good mind, breathing out its desires after the object of its supreme love; searching itself

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constantly, to see whether its affection be sincere, strong, and always in action; confiding and obedient as a little child in the hands of its parent; and seeking incessantly to ripen in Christian experience, and to grow towards the strength and loveliness of “the perfect man, — towards the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

Its author takes it for granted, that there are texts enough in the Bible, argumentatively handled, to demonstrate the doctrine that there is one God, existing as revealed in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and, assuming this position, does not hesitate to use, in reference to Christ, a multitude of other texts, not usually brought forward in severe argument on this subject. In fact, he finds Christ every where the great subject of the Bible. Clearly revealed, in numerous texts, as God our Saviour, he sees him shining, with a half-suppressed but still glorious light, through numerous others. His great doctrine clearly established in his own mind by the former, he does not scruple to use it as a key to unock the true sense, and unfold the rich

AMERICAN PREFACE.

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treasures, of the latter. All his meditations are rich in thought and spiritual feeling, and many of them specimens of exquisite beauty and finished perfection in this species of composition. The poetry, with which every one closes, has caught the full spirit of our best sacred lyrics. Many of these pieces would make rich additions to our collections of hymns; and all of them would have done, had they been composed in measures proper for psalmody.

On the whole, this American reprint of the English edition must, we think, be hailed with peculiar satisfaction by all who love the religion of the Bible and of the closet, and who, at the same time, can say, 6 We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and Eternal Life."

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SEVERAL authors have written copiously, and some learnedly, on the names and titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The present volume does not pretend to vie with the writings of a Dyer, a Serle, or a Goode. It takes its own ground, and only offers its humble aid to the plain Christian, who may be inclined to afford it a place in his library, and occasionally to refresh his mind with a few simple and devotional reflections on the glory of that Saviour whose " name is as ointment poured forth.” May he, by his Holy Spirit, fulfil his promise to the Church, in the experience both of the reader and the writer: “MY PEOPLE SHALL KNOW MY NAME."

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