Book Description

Excerpt from A General Account of My Life The desirableness of re-publishing so interesting a book as Boston's "Memoirs," is a thing which is self-evident. The advisability at this date of such a proposal may seem doubtful; but when the publisher had considered the facts of the case, he was encouraged to proceed. Although, since Boston's day, many books once famous have vanished in darkness, and many literary reputations have gone under, it is a strange but true circumstance that nothing that Boston wrote has yet become stale or unprofitable. His "Fourfold State," and other works, existing for the most part in worn, second-hand form, are bullets that always find their billets, and a complete set of his works is a valuable book-selling asset. The truth is, a small but important section of the religious world there always is who hold Boston's character and theology in veneration, and there is a wider public, not, it may be, in accord with his religious views, for whom, nevertheless, the man possesses a human and historic interest. The volume of "Memoirs," now re-published, is a book of varied interest. It has undergone publication three times already. The first issue was in the year 1776, and bears the imprint, W. Anderson, Bookseller, Stirling. The next issue was in 1805, imprint, J. Rennison, Berwick; and it was issued again in 1852, as the twelfth volume of the complete set of Boston's works, published by George and Robert King, Aberdeen. The original materials of the work are the two MSS., mentioned in the Author's Address to his Children. By fusion of the two, the first editor, who was probably Boston's son, the Rev. Thomas Boston, of the Relief Church, Oxnam, has made a continuous narrative. The book is a somewhat bulky one, 500 pages or thereby, but it is hoped the price is moderate. Some Notes and Appendices of no essential importance to present day readers, have been omitted. The frontispiece is from a steel plate supplied per favour of Messrs. Collins & Co., publishers, Glasgow, and is presumed to convey a correct likeness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.