Introduction
Every minister of the gospel who indulges himself in the use of his pen beyond his weekly preparations for the pulpit, has probably found no small amount of matter unexpected ‘y accumulating upon his hands, which though inappropriate to the services of the Sanctuary, is in his partial judgment too valuable to be thrown away. The writer of this little volume challenges for it nothing more than what it purports to be. — “Fragments from the study of a Pastor.” They are truly parts broken off from the mass — small detached portions, collected by an occasional employment of those leisure hours, and fragments of time which have remained after the more serious duties of the week have been discharged.
The taste of the age is too obviously unfitted for heavy reading and continuous thought. And yet, it has been the wish of the author that these pages should present important truth. And he will feel not a little gratified, if the event should justify the conclusion that religious instruction is here conveyed to some minds to which it might otherwise have no access.
Some of the pieces here presented will be recognized by those who belong to the author’s pastoral charge. The first and third were publicly read, several years ago, at his weekly lecture of a Thursday evening-He was solicited at the time to publish them. They have since been revised, and however imperfect, are, he hopes, better adapted to do good.
The “Inquiring meeting” is substantially founded in fact, so far as it regards the instances of religious impression. With some exceptions, of the reality of which the writer has the most satisfactory evidence, they have all fallen under his own immediate observation. With all their incidents, they may be confided in as a true narrative. The letter to a young clergyman was sug. gested by a correspondence with one of his junior brethren in the ministry, and was subsequently thrown into the form of an address to the students of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, at their semi-annual examination in the Spring of the present year.
The whole is submitted to the public eye with hesitation, yet with some hope that it may be useful. If a single child of God should hereby be refreshed and comforted; if any poor Prodigal should be induced to return to his Father’s house where there is bread enough and to spare; if any of the lambs of the flock that have been driven away should be restored, or any sick healed; these fragments will not have been gathered up in vain.
New York, July 1838.