LETTERS

ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS.

BY

THE REV. JAMES CAUGHEY,

OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA.

VOL. II.

SECOND THOUSAND.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY SIMPKIN, MARSHALL AND CO.,

STATIONERS' HALL COURT.

ROBERT PILTER, HUDDERSFIELD.

1845.

210. 6.494.

PREFACE.

PREFACES, there is reason to believe, are not always read; it is not unwise, therefore, to make them as short as possible. They are often, in great part, composed of apologies. People, however, generally choose to read the book, and judge for themselves, independently of what the Author may have alleged in his own excuse.

It is proper, however, to say, that the following Letters were called forth under a variety of circumstances, and penned during the excitement peculiar to great revivals of religion, and amidst frequent interruptions from persons calling to converse upon the affairs of their souls; which may, in some measure, account for the want of finish apparent in the style, as well as for an occasional abruptness of transition from one subject to another.

It is to be hoped, however, that they will appear

to possess, at least, that "uniformity of thought and design, which," to use the words of the elegant Butler, "will always be found in the writings of the same person, when he writes with simplicity and in earnest."

The intelligent reader, doubtless, will perceive various points which might have been enlarged upon to advantage; but this, after all, may not be a serious defect, as it may afford him the agreeable satisfaction of thinking for himself. "A lady once asked Mr. Wesley," said a gentleman to me the other day, 'Sir, what Commentary on the Scriptures would you recommend me to purchase?' Mr. W. replied, 'If you wish another to think for you, buy Matthew Henry's; but if you wish to think for yourself, buy mine.'"

The transcribing of these Letters for the press was engaged in as a relaxation from severer studies, and exhausting pulpit labours; which may be an apology for the delay which has occurred in the appearance of the present volume;-many of those who obtained the first, having expected the second

at the close of last year. I may also add, that I could not conscientiously appropriate the time sacred to the great design of my mission, namely, the conversion of sinners to God, to the purpose of printing; the effects of which, as far as my writings are concerned, are as yet problematical.

I should have inserted the whole of the Letters, containing the remainder of the observations made during my Continental tour of 1843, but for the fear of swelling the volume to a larger size than the first. The Letters alluded to are reserved for the Third Volume.

Having transferred all right in the present edition to my friends, Mr. Joseph Webb, and Mr. Thomas Mallinson, of Huddersfield,-gentlemen well known to many of my readers,-who propose to devote the profits to religious objects, I have no farther interest in it, than the expression of an ardent desire that the work may be the means of promoting that blessed cause, for the advancement of which I have devoted my all.

Since the publication of Volume First, I have had