PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



WHATEVER might be needful by way of intro- 

 duction will be found interspersed with the work ; 

 but in the mean time the Author's appellative given 

 in the title page of this volume is such as to demand 

 some apology. Why does he take the refuge of a 

 common family name, instead of giving his proper 

 designation at once ? In his own defence, he begs 

 honestly to declare he has no liking to that sort 

 of mystery, nor is he wont to use it, never having 

 before given any thing to the public without sending 

 along with it whatever good or ill it might derive 

 from his name. 



The truth is, the following work, though nowise 

 contrary to clerical duty, is nevertheless not strictly 

 clerical; and as nothing can equal the obligation of 

 the Christian ministry, or the awe of its responsi- 

 bility, or its importance to man, the writer trembles 

 at the thought of lessening, by any means or in any 

 degree, either the dignity or the sacredness of his 

 calling ; and as the following pages might more pro- 

 perly have been written by one bred to the science 

 of which they treat, or by some leisurely owner of a 

 retired villa, an inference, not the best matured, may 

 be drawn to the effect that surely the Author can be 

 no faithful labourer in the Lord's vineyard, seeing 



