which he has been indulged. Of this he would not despair. For though some part of the happy impressions produced, may have arisen from the sight of manuscripts, so tinged with age as to recal the memory of those who have been long at rest, or written with a tremulous hand on the eve of a triumphant death; the principal source of emotions which rendered the compilation of the volume a devotional exercise, was the divine sentiments, the holy tempers, the heavenly anticipations, expressed by Mr. Darracott, or his friends. May these be copied into the reader's breast!

If, in addition to the reasons why the Author has written, it be expected that a preface will contain the summary of what the reader may expect to find, this may be told in one word-religion. Risdon Darracott was not a man of the world, whose Memoirs will increase our acquaintance with the history of his country or age: he passed through this world as a pilgrim to a better, and paid no more attention to the affairs of earth than was demanded by his allegiance to heaven. But as religion has a world of its own, he was, in the noblest sense, a citizen of the world.

In a contracted sphere, he possessed an enlarged heart, which took a lively interest in the concerns of the Redeemer's kingdom, wherever it was established, and in

troduced him to acquaintance and correspondence with those whose praise is in all the churches. Doddridge, Whitefield, Her. vey, the late Countess Dowager of Huntingdon, Dr. Gillies of Glasgow, Mr. Walker of Truro, and Joseph Williams of Kidderminster, persons dear to the memory of catholic Christians, were the friends of his bosom; though several of them he never saw, till he met them among disembodied spirits. Those eminent persons have often been exhibited in their own Memoirs, and they were worthy to form distinct pictures; but here, we may still further increase our acquaintance with them, by viewing them in the group of their coadjutors in that noble work to which they consecrated their days.

But, from the different communions to which the correspondents of Darracott belonged, it will be manifest that the zeal of the sectarian, who can see no religion out of his own pale, will not be gratified with this Memoir. Darracott maintained, indeed, with the firmness of a superior mind, that form of christianity which appeared to him most agreeable to its Great Author; but he was too good-tempered for a bigot, and too devotional to be engrossed by any but the vital principles of religion.

Associations of Christians which require a sacrifice of their distinguishing principles,

are equally disgraceful to all the parties concerned; but co-operation among different communions on general principles, to promote the grand objects in which they are all agreed, has peculiar charms. Such associations form the honourable distinction of the present age. This volume, however, exhibits the operation of the same spirit, though upon a smaller scale. We are but perfecting what Darracott and his contemporaries began. As other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours; may it be ours to improve to the utmost, the advantages we derive from their catholic zeal!

There are occasions on which we are peculiarly called to sacrifice to truth, and others on which we should pay our vows to charity. The two are indeed harmonious, like the inhabitants of the heaven from which they descend. For "charity rejoiceth in the truth." But while it is often our sacred duty to contend earnestly for the best form of godliness, it is equally incumbent on all Christians, to seize every opportunity for displaying the power of it unincumbered with the distinctions which arise from the weaknesses of men. That the Memoirs of Risdon Darracott should exhibit Christianity in this pure uncoloured light, will appear unquestionable to every reader of discernment. This conviction in

the mind of the writer, has induced him to pass over one minor occurrence, in which, though Mr. Darracott would have appeared to advantage, his opponents would have been placed in a shade that would displease those who now adopt their views, and whom it was the author's wish not to irritate but to edify.

There are those who expect to find the records of genius or literature, in the memoirs of an eminent minister of religion; but they are here apprized, that Risdon Darracott never aspired to rank among the literati of his age. His papers furnish no fragments of mental project, no correspondence with the candidates for literary fame. To express, in the simplest language, the thoughts which claim nearer affinity to the heart than the head, was all his aim; and solicitous only to fill heaven with the triumphs of the Redeemer, he was satisfied that his own record was on high.

This, however, will but render his Memoirs more generally useful. It must be the lot of by far the greater number of ministers, to imitate those Apostles, who consumed their lives in preaching, and left no written instructions to the church. And he who should here learn to secure an apostle's reward, may cheerfully resign an author's fame.

The second edition of these Memoirs,

which has been unexpectedly demanded, is now presented to the public, with grateful acknowledgments to the Author of all Good, for the improvement and delight which many have declared themselves to have derived from the work. Thus encouraged, the Author has determined to enlarge the biography so far, as to fill the volume without the addition of Mr. Darracott's Scripture Marks of Salvation, which accompanied the first edition of the Memoirs. Those Marks, however, with the Editor's Notes, being equally demanded, are reprinted in a form that will admit of their being bound up with the Life, should any one wish to preserve them in one volume.

The enlargement of the present edition has arisen partly from the insertion of additional information concerning Mr. Darracott and his friends, and partly also from the expansion deemed necessary to place some circumstances, previously glanced at, in a more conspicuous and useful point of light.

The correspondence between Mr. Darracott and his friends, which might have been swelled to a far larger extent, was in the former edition much contracted, in order to keep the volume within the size and price most calculated to promote its circulation.