PREFACE. NEXT to the reiterated labours of the Lexicographer, is the tramelled drudgery of the Translator. Others not unfrequently arrive at celebrity by rapid marches, while he must patiently scan his way with a frigid indifference whether he shall ever emerge from obscurity. His only stimulating hope is, that he may have the privilege either of adjusting the defensive armour of Truth, or of withdrawing the curtain from departed worth, or of adding to the pleasures and improvements of mankind. A mixture of these, together with the wish and approbation of the Venerable Dignitary with whose name this Work is adorned, were the incitements to the present undertaking. Indeed the sanction of such a competent judge, without any other exciting cause, would have been a sufficient stimulation. The undertaking has not been without proportionate labour; but the import ance of the employment furnished an antidote against complaint. των πόνων πωλεσιν ἥμιν παντ' ἄγαθα θεοι. IT would be disingenuous not to acknowledge the advantage derived from Holland's Translation; but it should be kept in mind, that it is a Translation of a Translation of quotations. The present is translated from the original Greek, as quoted by Bishop Bull from the Fathers. On one occasion I have differed from Bishop Bull's Latin version. On another a conjectural rendering has been sanctioned by classical authority. To save the reader the trouble of reference, chronological dates and an explanatory Appendix have been added. Persuaded that the peculiar doctrine which this Work vindicates, is as essential to the hidden and spiritual life of the Christian, as the great luminary of day is to the production of those variegated teints which ornament vegetative nature; any farther apology for its republication would be oscillating between Truth and Error. THOMAS RANKIN. Huggate Rectory, June 21, 1825. CONTENTS, MEMOIR OF BISHOP BULL. Page III. From his Promotion till his Death IV. His manner of performing Public, Family, and Private TRANSLATION. CHAP. I.-Testimonies of the Primitive Fathers, produced to prove, that the article of the Divinity of our Saviour must be believed, and is absolutely necessary to Sal- CHAP. II. Of those who in the first century, opposed the |