ADVERTISEMENT.

A BRIEF statement of the reasons of the delay of the publication of this volume, is due to its subscribers. Soon after the decease of Mr. Patterson, a committee was appointed by "The Pastor's Association," (of which he was an esteemed member,) in reference to the publication of his memoir.* Some considerable time after this appointment, Mr. Judson became possessor of the diary and manuscripts of the deceased, preparatory to the commencement of the contemplated work. The hope was then cherished that the memoir would early be prepared for the press. An announcement to this effect was made to the public. Very soon, however, the lamented removal, by death, of this beloved brother, disappointed the expectations which were entertained. Though Mr. Judson had read portions of the memoir to the committee, they were ignorant of his plan of the work, if as yet he had formed any. Under these circumstances, they placed all the papers, as he had left them, in my hands for examination, with a view of ascertaining what progress had been made in the preparation of the work, and whether his labours could be made available in the completion of it without much delay. A careful examination of all the papers was made, but no plan could be discovered. When this result was stated to the committee, they urged me to take all the materials which had been collected and employ them in preparing the work as speedily as possible for publication. Their importunity was not yielded to for some time, in the hope that a more gifted pen might be engaged in this cause; and it was not till this expectation had failed, that the resolve was made to do what I could in preparing a memorial

* This Association is composed, chiefly, of members of the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia. Messrs. Rood, Judson, and Adair, were the Committee appointed; Dr. Carroll was added to it when he became Mr. Patterson's successor in the pastoral office.

of him, who was for many years my venerated Pastor, and whose memory I have reason to cherish with grateful recollections.

Having at length entered upon the work, it was found that the memoir could be prepared sooner, and with more satisfaction to myself, by employing the materials furuished, without any reference to what had been written by Mr. Judson. This has been done.

Since my attention has been directed to the work, several interesting facts and anecdotes respecting Mr. Patterson, have been obtained from ministers and others in the city. These, together with others furnished by myself, have been inserted in the memoir. At times the "want of the requisite data to complete certain portions of the history," to which Dr. Carroll refers in the introduction, occasioned embarrassment. The diary sometimes alludes to a contemplated movement of which there is no subsequent notice; and of a few most interesting scenes and occurrences, there is no record whatever. In these instances, the deficiency has been supplied from authentic sources.

This memoir has been prepared under some disadvantages, arising from the announcement to which allusion has already been made, by which the public was led to expect its speedy appearance; and also from the pressure of my pastoral engagements. My anxiety to gratify this expectation has been so great, and the period allotted for its publication so brief, that the requisite care has not been given which, under other circumstances, would have been bestowed upon it: but, notwithstanding these difficulties, no effort on my part has been spared to render the work useful.

A few typographical mistakes have escaped notice in the examination of the proof sheets; but in view of the above facts, an appeal is made to the candour and indulgence of the reader.

R. A.

Philadelphia, December 20th, 1839.

INTRODUCTION.

THE writer has not consented to pen these introductory paragraphs under the conviction that it is at all necessary to give circulation to the following Memoirs.-The affectionate remembrance of thousands who were personally acquainted with him, the sketch of whose life is here presented, and the deep interest which the Christian community feel in the character and labours of such a minister of the gospel, are ample security for the wide circulation of his biography.

The veneration which I feel for the memory of this eminently devoted servant of Christ, into whose labours I have entered as his successor the sympathy and affection which I cherish toward his amiable and bereaved family, and my attachment to the people who were so long the objects of his pastoral care, all concur to make it a mournfully pleasing employment for me to furnish a few pages introductory to his Memoirs. Occupying the same study where he thought, and prayed, and wept, during life, I feel myself to be surrounded by innumerable, tender, and solemn associations with his departed worth. It would be most grateful to me, were I able to pay a becoming tribute to his many and

various excellences as a Christian and a minister of the gospel. I rejoice, however, to think that his life and labours have rendered such a service from survivors wholly unnecessary.

It will be seen by a perusal of the following work, that he has furnished ample materials for an interesting biography himself. He has mainly written his own life. The record which he has kept of his indefatigable labours in the cause of his Lord, rather than a monotonous history of his own private feelings, forms no inconsiderable portion of the Memoir. A judicious hand has revised this record and added several valuable reflections and interesting anecdotes and incidents collected from surviving friends and acquaintances. Notwithstanding the defects which may attach to it through a want of the requisite data to complete certain portions of the history, yet I rejoice that such a volume is now about to be given to the Christian community.

There has been an objection to the multiplication of religious memoirs. That this objection, in some cases, is well founded, no one can deny. But it is doubtful whether any individual will feel its force in regard to the present work. The subject of this Memoir possessed a character at once so original and unique-was led by the providence of God through years of ministerial labour, and through scenes of ministerial success so full of deep and eternal interest to himself and to others, and his whole life was so completely identified with revivals of religion, that his biography cannot consist of that tame common place of which the reading community have lately complained in works of this kind. The memory of such a man as PATTERSON cannot die. It will live in the hearts of thousands who have been converted to God by his instrumentality. "The memory of the just is blessed."

A poet has said

"There is a loveliness in death,

Which parts not quite with parting breath."

XV

And it is true in a higher sense, that there is a display of the nobler virtues and the more august attributes of regenerated human nature-there is a moral loveliness which survives the dissolution of the body and remains unfading and immortal. Moral character and the influence which it exerts on society cannot be destroyed by death.-These, in the case of the just, heaven, in mercy to a needy world, permits to remain as sacred relics over which the grave has no control. And there is an imperious obligation on the living to preserve and transmit to posterity the memory of all that is precious in the Christian character and benevolent labours of those distinguished individuals who die in the midst of them.

This remark is specially pertinent in the case of a zealous and faithful minister of the gospel so long and so favourably known in the church as was the beloved and revered subject of this memoir.

His memory may be extensively blest to survivors by that superadded power which death gives to the EXAMPLE of the just. While the good man lives, his example is blended in common with that of many others. But death has a peculiar tendency to insulate the example of the just from that of all the living. The great destroyer, whose touch kills the body, only consecrates these traces of the being and character of the soul which are left behind. The example now stands alone, separated from the living agent to which it once pertained. It therefore becomes an object of more easy and distinct contemplation.-It comes to the living also with all the tender and mournful associations of a token