HARVARD Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, BY CROCKER & BREWSTER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. C. A. MIRICK, PRINTER. PREFACE. THE writer of the following pages had, for years, hoped to spend his life as a Foreign Missionary; but was not permitted to realize his anticipations. Subsequently, it pleased the Lord to put him out of his "stewardship" as pastor of a beloved people; still the fire would burn upon the altar once consecrated to the work of teaching and spreading the Gospel. And, as the author could not speak with his tongue, he felt inclined to put his musings on paper, the better to give shape and succession to thoughts which would rise in his own mind. When this had been done, he presumed to put them in a little book, that they might also pass before the minds of some others. Whether they shall find any place in the estimation of a critic world, is not the main question. If they induce the reader to feel any more, as Christ felt in regard to the grand object of his mission-if they strengthen the inclinations of any one to go, and do more as He did, than he now does, the object in giving to private thoughts the publicity of a book will be secured. The writer feels less solicitude for the issue of his humble essay, because it has come wholly from the scraps of time, the entire and best portions of which were of little use to the world. If the scraps are employed in reading, as they were in writing, he hopes, that an attentive perusal will occasion no serious loss to the reader; and would only suggest, that the sentiments contained be not dismissed, until impartially compared with that standard, which tests the truth or falsity of all human productions. August, 1844. |