IT has frequently been a subject of complaint, that a
Collection of the best English Divines, from the scarcity of
good editions, and the expense of procuring them, is rarely
met with in the Libraries even of our Clergy, although
these are the sources to which, after the Holy Scriptures,
they must apply for instruction and edification. A few
select volumes of some favorite Authors are perhaps found
on their shelves; but a regular series, exhibiting the pro-
found researches, the luminous expositions, the interesting
criticisms, and the noble eloquence of British Theologians,
falls to the lot of few: indeed our great public repositories
themselves are not unfrequently deficient in so important
a branch of literature. This observation is made from pain-
ful experience, since the Editor has not been able to col-
lect the scattered works of the illustrious Sherlock in
all the Libraries of Cambridge, including the Public
Library itself; nor has it been without extraordinary
pains and difficulty, that his Publisher has completed this
Edition even in our Metropolis. To remedy the defects