PREFATORY NOTICE, AND SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. The following Treatise, which bymany spiritual christians has been considered the best of Dr. Owen's works, is here divided into chapters, with heads indicating the subject of each, and showing at a glance in the Table of Contents the author's train of thought ; nu- merous repetitions in announcing his subdivisions are also omitted, and obsolete terms and phrases, in many cases, exchanged for others. It is recorded in reference to the origin of this work, that a young man, who afterwards became a minister ofChrist, being under reli- gious impressions, came to Dr. Owen for counsel. In the course of conversation the Doctor asked, " Pray, in what manner do you think to go toGod ?" "Through the Mediator, sir," said theyoung man. To which Dr. Owen replied, " That is easily said ; but it is another thing to go to God through the Mediator, than what many who use the expression are aware of. I myself preached some years when I had but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God. through Christ, until the Lord was pleasedto visit me with sore affliction, by which I was brought to the mouth of the grave, and underwhich my soul was oppressedwith horror and darkness. But God graciously relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130: 4, ' There is Forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared,' from whence I received special instruction, peace, and com- fort in drawing near to God through the Mediator; and I preached thereuponimmediately after my recovery." None who seriously and prayerfully read this Treatise will fail to discover the grounds and the appropriateness of the above appeal to an inquiring youth ; the rich sources from which-the author has drawn Divine instruction, and itsadaptation to the wants of every perishingsoul. The great Owen was born at Stadham, Oxfordshire, England, in the year 1616, and died at Ealing, August 24, 1683, aged 67. He was contemporary with Bunyan, Baxter and Flavel, and shared in the bitter opposition they encountered for their non - conformity. His father being a clergyman, he received an early education, and at twelve was admitted a student of Queen's College, Oxford, where he graduated with honor, and continued the pursuit of study till the age of twenty-one, when new laws and regulations were im- posed on the University byArchbishop Laud, to which he could not Forgiveness.
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