POSTHUMOUS LETTERS OF THE LATE Rev. W. HUNTINGTON, S.S. MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, GRAY'S INN LANE. "He, being dead, yet speaketh." Heb. xi. 4. B TO THE CONGREGATION AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, GRAY'S INN LANE. THE first idea of publishing the Epistolary Correspondence of our dear and invaluable Pastor was suggested to me by a friend, who also proposed that the profits arising therefrom should be dedicated to some laudable purpose, such as the relief of the poor members of the household of faith, or otherwise, as circumstances might require; with this view, and that nothing valuable from the pen of the deceased might be lost or hidden, I was induced to solicit his friends to favour me with their letters for that purpose; to which request they have in general kindly acquiesced; and, as I am in possession of many valuable epistles, evidently written under the Holy Spirit's influence, I have no doubt but a blessing will attend the perusal of them. It is our intention to publish these Letters in Numbers, in order to make the purchase more easy, and bring them sooner to light. They will, however, be so arranged as to bind in volumes afterwards. Some were written more than twenty years ago; by which it will be clearly seen that our Prophet then held the same great truths of the gospel which he constantly and invariably maintained to the last. He lived and died in the same faith, and was a bright example to the church of God who survive him. Having been requested to give some relation of what passed during the last illness of so eminent a servant of Christ, the two introductory letters are inserted with that view; which, though of a private nature, as they contain a concise account of what dropped from his lips during that short period, will, I hope, be fully satisfactory. I firmly believe what is now in hand to be pleasing in God's sight-my conscience bearing me witness to the truth I assert. And I also believe that it would have been approved of by our departed friend, as the welfare of the church always lay near his heart. In this confidence I subscribe myself 20 July, 1813. A poor Mourner in Zion, E. SANDERSON. P. S. Many, I understand, have blamed me for not hanging the pulpit in black. It would certainly have been congenial to my feelings so to have done, but for the express injunctions of our good friend to the contrary. In his will he has particularly mentioned that he would have "no funeral sermon; no funeral ode; no pulpit hung in black." And, as heretofore I have strictly adhered to his desires, so I hope never to deviate from what I believe to have been his will. |