RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES OF THE MEMOIRS. THE following note from the Reverend Dr. GORDON, Minister of the New North Church, Edinburgh, relative to the First Edition, of which the sheets were sent him when passing through the press, was received by Mr. WAUGH, one of the Publishers, with permission to insert it. MY DEAR SIR, Edinburgh, October 29, 1827. I think you will render an important service to the Christian world, by the republication of the Memoir and Letters of Mrs. Huntington. The Volume appears to me to be a very valuable one, and, if I am not greatly mistaken, will soon occupy a high place among works of Christian Biography. I am, My Dear Sir, Your's faithfully, ROBERT GORDON. The Reverend Dr. MUIR, Minister of the New Grey Friars Church, Edinburgh, has also sent him, for the purpose of insertion in the Second Edition, the fol lowing statement regarding this work, of which, at the time of the First being transmitted to him in the course of printing, he had expressed the most favourable opinion. An application for the Subscriber's name, in approval of these Memoirs, having been renewed on their coming to the Second Edition, he feels unable again to decline the request; though he has still the same reason for withholding it-his conviction how little the success of the Work can possibly be promoted by such a testimony as his. He has read these pages with deep interest. The character they illustrate shows well, he thinks, what the principles of Christianity are fitted to produce. These principles are here to be seen in much of their genuine exemplification. They are especially cast under the action of those strong tests which the bitterness of domestic sorrow produces. They sustain the trial, and appear coming pure and bright out of it. No unnatural force of mind under affliction is exhibited. The sufferer is often overwhelmed. But, after all, resignation and meekness and decision in the sphere of active duty, are as conspicuous as the tenderness of that sensibility which the quick ordeal has at once melted and refined. WILLIAM MUIR. Edinburgh, April 9, 1828. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDINBURGH EDITION. THE Volume from which the present work is printed, I lately received from America, from the Rev. S. Edwards Dwight, who, in a letter that accompanied it, remarked, that he thought it one of the productions of the American press that would admit of republication in this country. When I observed its size, my feelings at first were such as, I believe, many experienced when the Life of the late Rev. Thomas Scott, author of the Commentary, was put into their hands,-surely there is too much of it in an age when so many valuable publications are pressing upon our attention. But as in reading that volume, there was, very generally, felt a regret when it was finished, instead of its being considered too long; so the interest of the present Volume so increased on the perusal, as to produce a similar feeling, when the series of the very interesting and spirit-stirring letters of the excellent subject of it came to a close. The following is the account given of the origin of this publication, by the Rev. Mr. Wisner, Mrs. Huntington's pastor, who preached the ser mon on her death, inserted in the conclusion: "A few days after the delivery of the sermon which makes a part of this volume, a much esteemed member of the church under the pastoral care of the compiler, addressed to him a note which contained the following sentences; Con-. versing with some friends upon the subject of your discourse, delivered the last Sabbath, upon the death of our lamented Mrs. Huntington, it was concluded to consult you upon the expediency of giving to the public some of the productions of her pen, which are said to be valuable; connecting with them your sermon. How does the plan strike you? If favourably, will you undertake the selection, and the preparation of the volume ?? The following work owes its origin to this communication. It is, with diffidence, committed to the consideration of friendship, the candour of the public, and the blessing of the Almighty God. If it shall be the means of recommending the religion of the Gospel to any individual, or of promoting the consolation and growth in grace of a single follower of Christ, the labour bestowed upon it will not have been in vain." 1 ན སྠཽ རྨཱ At first I thought of abridging this work, and giving a selection of Mrs. Huntington's letters, with an abstract of her history. On looking, however, for parts of the publication, which could be omitted without diminishing the interest of the whole, it was extremely difficult to discover what should be left out. For this purpose, I had marked some letters in which Mrs. Huntington introduces some more common topics, as the appearance of the country through which she pass |