ON THE RIGHT USE OF The Early Fathers; TWO SERIES OF LECTURES, DELIVERED IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. BY THE REV. J. J. BLUNT, B.D., LATE MARGARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY. SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED. WITH INDEX. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1858. 110. b. 43. PREFACE. 2 It was stated by Professor Blunt, in the Introductory Lecture on the Study of the Early Fathers,' which he delivered shortly after his election to the Margaret Professorship, that he intended to "take the Fathers successively in their order; submitting to" his hearers "the pith and body of each; some portions of them abridged; but much of them, especially such passages as seem to have a peculiar value and force, literally. .... translated." His Lectures, during the five years which ensued, were in accordance with this announcement; and it was not until he had gone through a considerable number of the Early Fathers in this way, that the Course "On the Right Use" of them, consisting of two Series, was delivered, the first in the October Term of 1845, the second in the October Term of 1846; subsequent to which, additions were made to many of the Lectures, and the Second Series, especially, was considerably enlarged. It may be presumed, therefore, that this Course of Lectures exhibits, in a connected form, the conclusions to which the author intended to lead his hearers by the detailed examination of the Fathers, through which he had conducted them. And that his own conviction of their soundness was wellgrounded at the first, and was never shaken afterwards, may be inferred from these Lectures being, as he tells us, "the results of many years' patient reading and thought,' 1 See "Two Introductory Lectures on the Study of the Early Fathers, with a brief Memoir of the Author." Cambridge, 1856. "3 and from 2 First Introductory Lecture, p. 6. 3 On the Right Use of the Early Fathers, p. 215. |