PREFACE. WHEN an Editor ventures to call the attention of the Public to a volume of Remains, possessing no peculiar claim to originality of thought, or other mark of literary distinction, some apology may reasonably be expected. To plead the strength of filial attachment, naturally anxious to protract to a later period the of a relative endeared by every memory effort of parental tenderness; or even to plead the urgent request of the Author's intimate acquaintance, who, separated for a season from the society of the man they once loved and revered, would hold in their possession some memorial of his departed worth;-however forcible and sufficient such pleas might appear to the immediate circle of intimacy and friendship, they must, in most cases, be deemed in admissible, when, passing the boundary of all minor circles, we address the public at large. The ground, therefore, on which the Editor, in this instance, would rest his apology, is principally the consideration of the Author's, superior and acknowledged excellence of character,—the high tone of piety which distinguished him from his very childhood,-and the evident sameness of holy principle which actuated him in all the several relations, and through the diversified circumstances, of a life sacred to the service of his Redeemer and the best interests of his fellow-men. I have said, his acknowledged excellence of character;—and it affords considerable pleasure to the Editor to know, that he can with confidence appeal to that proportion of the public who had the privilege of his father's acquaintance, in testimony of the extraordinary piety, habitual spirituality of conversation, dignified consistency of deportment, and unreserved devotedness to the cause of God, which, through life, so eminently distinguished him. The neighbourhood in which he so long resided, the villages of the county in which he laboured, his children and servants, with the many respectable characters now living who were educated under his roof, can all testify. that the love of God was the element in which he lived, and that the affectionate overflowings of his heart knew no bounds. Unquestionably he had his infirmities like other men-but how much these were the subject of his secret lamentation and bitter grief, several passages in his Retrospect sufficiently evince. In short, in him was exemplified one of those instances which prove the high attainment in purity and devotion of which the human mind is capable even in this imperfect state, when habitual meditation on the word of God is combined with fervent prayer and patient per severance. Under these impressions, the Editor humbly submits to the candid notice of the Christian Reader the following pages, hoping they may prove the means (if not of amusing the fancy, yet) of promoting in the heart, under the blessing of God, that same spirit of holiness, that confidence in God and devout serenity of mind, which the dear Author was enabled to manifest to the last, when suddenly, like Elijah, he left the chariots of Israel for the Paradise of God! Let us be weaned from all below, WATTS. Islington, April 4, 1814. R. BOWDEN. |