THE author of the following discourses has, nearly three years since, retired from his public labours, on account of the infirmities
age, and more especially of the failure of his sight. He had no intention of appearing again before the public; but the urgent solicitations of some of his friends, and a suggestion from several of his brethren in the ministry, that another volume of sermons might be useful, have induced him to give his consent to the present publication.
In making the selection, the great imperfection of his sight has obliged him to be less particular than he could have wished; though the volume is principally composed of sermons which he had revised toward the close of his ministry.
He is sensible that he is just upon the confines of another world; and if these discourses, or any which he has formerly published, may be the means of protracting his usefulness, in any degree, beyond his life, his highest wishes concerning them will be answered.
West Springfield, Dec. 6, 1820.