THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, JOHN COSIN, LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. NOW FIRST COLLECTED. VOLUME THE FOURTH. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. OXFORD: JOHN HENRY PARKER. M DCCC LI. EDITOR'S PREFACE. THIS volume contains, besides the History of Transubstantiation, a collection of letters and papers, of more or less. theological interest, several of which are now published for the first time. It may not be undesirable here to give a brief account of the preservation and collection of these works, of the little that is known of their several histories, and of the occasions on which they were written. I. The History of Transubstantiation was originally composed in the year 1656, i. e. nineteen years before its first publication in 1675, when Cosin was residing at Paris during the troubles of the Rebellion. Dr. Durel's preface to the work, as published, contains some interesting particulars of its history, which are confirmed and explained by the letter of Gilbert Talbot to Cosin, requesting him to write on the subject, and Cosin's reply. These letters are now first printed, pp. 6, 7, from Bp. Cosin's MSS. at Durham: and from them it appears that the work originated in the attempts of Jesuits, and others of the Roman communion, to make proselytes among the loyalists who attended Charles II. in his court abroad, and particularly to subvert the king himself. At first the treatise was circulated only in MS. Two of these MS. copies have been found, and collated with the printed text. One of these is preserved at Chester, in the chapter library, having on it some marginal notes and corrections by another hand in red chalk. Another copy is now |