WE take great pleasure in presenting to the public this superb work, containing the Lectures and original Essays of Alexander Campbell, President of Bethany College and Minister of the Gospel of Christ. They have been carefully revised and prepared for the press, and now, for the first time, put in a form acceptable to all. They have been collected from his periodicals, covering a space of nearly forty years past, and were delivered and read to large and select audiences in different parts of the United States, and have frequently been required by those who have heard them or have known any thing of his intellectual strength and ability.

      No man of the present age has been more frequently before the public, both in his addresses, debates, and writings, than Alexander Campbell; and the impress of his mind he has left on the age, and will leave to future generations.

      No one can read these Lectures and Essays without being struck with the wonderful powers of reasoning he possesses, the ease with which he masters the most recondite subjects, and the boldness and originality with which he contemplates and handles them. He throws new light upon whatever he touches; and, as he thinks profoundly and clearly, he brings within the comprehension of all the weighty matters which he discusses. He has labored zealously and successfully to redeem the world from the authority of great names to the truth of things, and from the fanciful systems of theorists to the established principles of philosophy, morality, and religion. He never substitutes the speculations of men for authenticated facts, nor reasonings for faith, but confines himself [5] within the area of nature, society, and religion in their truest, broadest, and largest extent. His works show that he has been no gleaner in the fields of science or of art, no winnower in the waste and rubbish of ages, but has entered the great harvest-fields of truth and observation and has brought home the riches of his herculean labors.

      This work does not attempt to give the author's views on the subject of the Christian religion at large: these may be found in his numerous publications already before the people, and which have been extensively circulated and read both in Europe and America. His thoughts on collateral themes--literary, educational, philosophic, and moral--are here presented, embracing a wide range of subjects and elaborated in his own masterly and profound manner.

      We think that no private or public library can well afford to dispense with this work. Every one who wishes to know what one of the most original minds and profound thinkers of the age has said and written on subjects of the greatest interest to our race, will avail himself of the reading and study of this volume.

      The distinct themes discussed in the book will be found in its opening pages and a full and copious index, alphabetically arranged, at its close. No pains or expense have been spared by the publishers to get it up in a style and form most acceptable to the reader.

      The portrait is one of the finest, by J. C. Buttre, of New York, from a recent superior photograph, given at our urgent request.

      We commit it to the public in the full confidence that its just merits will be appreciated by it, and that it will take its place along with the standard publications in the English language.

[PLA v-vi]