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HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

1866, Vilar. 30

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by

CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY

H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.

ΤΟ

MY FRIENDS

OF THE FIRST PARISH IN PORTLAND,

THIS WORK,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST,

AND INTENDED TO SERVE AS A MEMORIAL OF A LONG

AND HAPPY CONNECTION WITH THEM,

EXTENDING THROUGH NEARLY HALF A CENTURY,

IS VERY RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY

INSCRIBED

BY THEIR PASTOR,

I. NICHOLS.

PREFACE.

MY DEAR AND RESPECTED PARISHIONERS:

UNFITTED, as I have long been, by the state of my health, to select and prepare a volume of my discourses for publication, as you had the kindness to request, I now, agreeably to your wishes, place another memorial at your disposal in its stead. Your distinguished liberality, in offering, in terms so kind and earnest, to pass an edition of the present work through the press, demands my warmest gratitude. I have thought that it inappropriate substitute for the first desired, containing, as it does, so many extended remarks upon topics usually chosen for the pulpit. Much of it has been writ

be no

might be

volume you

ten since I retired from the active duties of

the ministry. I am aware how many and how great are its defects, but I can surely