Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by MARY L. WARE, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. ADVERTISEMENT. THIS Volume of the Works of Henry Ware, Jr., D. D., contains thirty-two sermons, nine of which, namely, Sermons III., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XVII., XX., XXI., have been already published. The remainder have been selected from the author's manuscripts. Concerning the feelings of reverence, and even trembling solicitude, with which the devotional remains of a holy man and eminent divine have been, for more than twelve months, examined and studied, with a view to a selection for this volume, it is unnecessary to speak. Any one can easily imagine how he might be affected, if there were piled upon his table, immediately under his eye, within reach of his hand, and subject to his disposal, the whole of the manuscript sermons of a ministry such as Mr. Ware's, -the collected fruits of so many studious and prayerful hours the accumulated harvest of so much spiritual wisdom and experience - the instruments of instruction, regeneration, and comfort to thousands of the living and the dead. The circumstances and principles by which the editor has been guided in making a selection are a* such as can hardly fail to justify the choice he has made. It is a great relief to think that no one, after a thorough and careful perusal of the manuscripts, would be likely to decide differently—except, perhaps, in a very few instances with regard to the sermons to be printed, since they are distinguished by obvious marks of superiority. Some of those not printed— otherwise excellent - are fragmentary; some were written without accuracy, because the author trusted to his distinguished powers of extemporaneous speaking, and his great self-possession at the time of delivery; and some, which would be very useful, contain allusions to persons and events that were of much interest at the time and place of their utterance, but which render them unfit for publication. When all such were culled out of the large mass, those which are inserted in this volume were, without controversy, the best that remained. If, after a perusal of these sermons, any reader should be disappointed, let him think that the same gifted man, who never failed to render his discourses interesting and impressive in the delivery, might have imparted to them, by his own care in the publication, all which they now lack on the printed page: if gratified and benefited, let him be grateful to the sainted instructer, who, being dead, yet speaketh, and to the God who suffers not the influence of his faithful servants to perish. C. R. |