PREFACE. THE following Poems were written in past years, and many of them in early youth. The new version of a few Psalms, and the Hymns which follow them were composed for the use of a country church and school, where they have been sung for some years, with others which were selected for the same purpose, but they were never intended for publication. That they are now published is owing to the suggestion of a valued friend who wished to have some copies of them for distribution, and by whose kind approval the other Poems, which are chiefly on sacred subjects, are added to complete the small volume. May that blessing attend it which alone makes the feeblest effort to prosper, and without which the most powerful fails of its reward. "The coarsest reed that trembles in the marsh, If Heav'n select it for its instrument, May shed celestial music on the breeze |