Preface

The following Letters, it is presumed, need no confirmation of their authenticity, nor any recommendation of their invaluable contents, to those who knew and esteemed their late excellent Author. The manner and style, almost peculiar to himself, of making Christ the All in All, in the glory of his person, the efficacy of his blood and righteousness, and the fullness of his salvation, proclaim aloud that these were written by no other than Mr. Romaine: they prove also, to a demonstration, that Jesus was his darling theme, in his closet as well as his pulpit, in his private correspondence as in his public discourses; nor, indeed, was this holy man of God ever in his element, but when he was making mention of his Divine Master’s name and righteousness only, of which it might be literally said he knew no end.

The Editor pledges himself to the public that these letters are faithfully printed from the originals in the handwriting of their venerable Author; and he flatters himself he is bringing glory to his adorable Lord, as well as rendering an essential service to the Church, by preserving iv PREFACE.

this invaluable treasure from oblivion, which God in his providence hath thus put into his hands, he trusts, for this very purpose, and is not to be found in any other publication. Nor will his prayers be wanting, that every reader of this precious collection may, by the Divine blessing, reap the greatest benefit from its perusal, and have cause to glorify the Great Head of the Church, who had so abundantly blessed this incomparable minister’s labors in his life, for accompanying with the unction of the Spirit these his posthumous letters, by which, though dead, he yet speaketh.

Finally, he humbly hopes that, as the deceased blessed Author of these epistles had treated the religious world frequently with various other Treatises and Sermons, the novelty of this little work, sanctioned too by its own intrinsic excellence, will still render it doubly acceptable to the Church of God; especially as everything is omitted of a personal nature, respecting the friend to whom these letters were immediately addressed; and what is here published is presumed to be of equal concern to every other individual believer.

For their service, therefore, and with this view, is this mite humbly cast into the Lord’s treasury, by a willing, though unworthy, servant of Christ.

THE EDITOR.