ADDRESS

TO THE

ENGLISH READER.

THE following work, as the title-page imports, is the production of a Minister of the Gospel, resident in the United States. Prior to the appearance of some extracts from the American edition in Chambers' Edinburgh Journal (No. 25), few of the reading public on this side of the Atlantic were familiar with the unpretending little volume thus quoted. The extracts there cited, together with the eulogistic tenor of the remarks by which they were accompanied, have, however, caused very numerous inquiries for the work in question; to meet which, the present edition has been undertaken, and is now presented to the public in a form, and at a price, which, it is confidently hoped, will render it accessible to all.

Among which of the numerous sects and parties into which the religious world is at present divided, the author may be classed, I have no means of de- · termining; but that his Christianity is of the true Catholic and comprehensive spirit, the work will present abundant evidence. His illustrations of the

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ADDRESS TO THE ENGLISH READER.

beauty, sublimity, and above all, the proved efficacy of the Divine precept, "Overcome evil with good,"

are collected from the most diverse sources, but blend and harmonize in the most perfect correspondency of result. Many of the anecdotes, more especially those which refer to American individuals and institutions, will be new to the English reader, and the residue will be found to have lost nothing of their interest by repetition. But to enlarge upon the merits of a work, the aim of which is simply and solely to enforce the precept just now quoted, would be perfectly superfluous: "old men and maidens, young men and children," Dives and Lazarus, the ruler and the ruled, may derive equal profit from its perusal; while the absence of sectarian prejudice, and the earnest, but tolerant and kindly tone which pervades its pages, will commend it to more general favour than a work of higher pretensions, written in a spirit of narrow dogmatism or pedantic assumption.

In conclusion, I have only to express my sincere hope, that, under the blessing of God, the circulation of this little work, which I have ventured to reprint, may tend to awaken men's minds to a sense of the inappreciable value and importance of our Saviour's commandment, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."

JOHN WASHbourn.

Islington, October, 1844.

NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In presenting to the public a second edition of "The Law of Kindness," I gladly embrace the opportunity of acknowledging the great success which has attended its republication. The fact that two thousand copies have been called for, coupled with the almost unanimous opinion of the press in its favour, is sufficiently decisive of the merits of the book.

During the short interval which has elapsed since the publication of the first edition, I have endeavoured to supply such additional "illustrations," as the desultory reading of a few hours (after the daily cares and anxieties of a life devoted to the active pursuits of business) has placed at my command. I have likewise appended a Supplementary Chapter upon a topic which has engrossed and still continues to engross a considerable share of public attention; while the receipt of a more recent and improved edition of the work from the United States, has enabled me to incorporate with this issue the latest additions and revisions of the author.

Thus extended and improved, I am induced to hope and believe the present edition will be found not less worthy of public patronage and favour than that which preceded it.

Islington, August, 1845.

J. W.

TO THE

AMERICAN EDITION.

IN preparing the Second Edition of this humble work for the press, the Author still thinks that no apology is needed for the manner in which it is written, or for its want of originality. The style of its composition is, without doubt, defective in many respects-but the author has endeavoured to avoid imperfection as far as possible. Its want of originality is compensated by the fact, that fresh and vigorous instances of the power of kindness, taken from real life, are its most influential illustrations, and are better calculated to convince men of its real strength to overcome evil, than any system of abstract reasoning whatever. The Author would be wanting in justice to the public and to himself, if he failed to express his gratitude for the favourable notice which has been extended to his production, for the kind reviews which it has received, and for those exhibitions of its faults in style and arrangement, which, he hopes, have been profitable to him. And if but one individual shall be induced, by the perusal of these illustrations, to exchange the law of revenge for the law of love, the author will consider it an ample reward for his labours.

GEO. W. MONTGOMERY.

Auburn.