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OF THE LATE

MRS. SUSAN HUNTINGTON,

OF

BOSTON, MASS.

CONSISTING PRINCIPALLY OF

EXTRACTS FROM HER JOURNAL AND LETTERS;

WITH THE

SERMON OCCASIONED BY HER DEATH.

BY BENJAMIN B. WISNER,

PASTOR OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH IN BOSTON.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER & BREWSTER,
No. 50, CORNHILL.

PUBLIC LIBRARY

170302

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1900.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit:
District Clerk's Office:

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the ninth day of March, A. D. 1826, in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Crocker Brewster, of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

Memoirs of the late Mrs. Susan Huntington of Boston, Mass., consisting princi pally of Extracts from her Journal and Letters, with the Sermon occasioned by her death. By Benjamin B. Wisner, Pastor of the Old South Church in Boston." In Conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies, of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, intitled, "An act supplementary to an act, intitled, An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing,engraving and etching historical, and other prints."

JNO. W. DAVIS,

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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; "Conversing 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 favorably, will you undertake the selection, and the preparation of the volume?"-The work now presented to the public owes its origin to this communication.

Various causes have contributed to produce the delay which has attended the publication. Of the letters which had been addressed by Mrs. Huntington to her numerous correspondents, which were regarded as an important part of the materials for the work, there were none of which any copies had been preserved by the writer. They were to be collected from different, and in some instances from distant, parts of the country; and they were not all received till several months after their transmission was requested. And when transmitted, they were accompanied with such instructions in regard to their preservation, that there was no alternative but to disregard those instructions, or transcribe all the passages from the letters, as well as from the Journal, which it should be deemed expedient to publish. The latter method of proceeding was, of course, adopted. The members of the congregation to whom Mrs. Huntington sustained so peculiar and interesting a relation-knowing, as they do, how numerous and constantly recurring are the official duties of the compiler,-will not, in view of these facts, attribute to him any unnecessary delay.

The work is at length completed, and is, with diffidence, committed to the consideration of friendship, the candour of the public, and the blessing of 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,

Boston, May, 1826.

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