TO AVISON TERRY, ESQ. OF NEWLAND. MY DEAR SIR, In publishing a volume of even the humblest pretensions, an Author acquires a kind of prescriptive right, to give to the name of a friend, whatever perpetuity may, by the just verdict of the public, be awarded to his own. The púrpose for which I avail myself of this right, by placing your name at the head of the following Treatise, is to gratify my own feelings, by recording, in the best way I can, my sense of obligation for numerous acts of kindness, which I have no power to repay and no disposition to forget. They who are bound by the closest ties of friendship, will not know the extent to which they are here indebted to each other, not merely for many of their comforts, but also for much of their usefulness, till they reach that land of light, where all secrets shall be disclosed, and where the dependence of one link upon another, in the chain of events, shall be intuitively seen. Yet there are incidents in the history of most men, which stand forth too prominently to be, by them at least, lost sight of, or regarded with indifference, while thought and memory retain their seat. And when I state, that, under the providence of God, your friendship and exertions were the principal means of placing me in the post, which I have unworthily filled, during the past sixteen years, in the church of Christ; it will not be denied, that I have reason to reflect with gratitude, though, at the same time, with deep humiliation, on the goodness of him, who inclined you to render me this service. Since the commencement of our more intimate connexion, events of a deeply trying nature have occurred in each of our domestic circles; and the lapse of so many years of our earthly pilgrimage, ought effectually to admonish us of the probable nearness of its close. May we both watch unto prayer, that whenever the Son of Man shall come, we may be found ready! I remain, My Dear Friend, Yours with sincere regard and affection, Hull, Oct. 1, 1838. JOHN KING. |