TO THE CONGREGATION OF BEDFORD EPISCOPAL CHAPEL. It is with feelings of the deepest affection, that I offer this little tribute of gratitude to those, who have gathered round me, and strengthened my hands, during a year of the most trying difficulties. Next to the might of God's Spirit, your prayers and affection have been my mainstay. Already have you proved that they were wrong, who thought the cause of my Master could never thrive in Bedford Chapel. Go on in the same earnest and prayerful course, and God will increase the blessing he has already given in large abundance; the little one-yea, that which was far worse than little-will become a thousand. The following pages have neither novelty nor scholarship to recommend them. They are a very ordinary attempt to lead you for an hour's ramble through those shadowy valleys of types, where our Jewish forefathers in the faith used to find and pluck the "Rose of Sharon," the "Plant of renown," and the "Lily of the valleys." Let us do the same; and I trust you will not feel weary, when we stop, (as we often shall) at some unpromising and retired leaf, which many pass over as unworthy notice; for our object is to find "The Lily," and we know it frequently lies all hidden in its leafy, mossy bed, and requiring great care to discover it. |