Custom demands a preface; and though the public is generally uninterested in the reasons which influence an author to appear before its tribunal, yet an introductory notice is usually expected.
This little work was the employment of many a retired moment. In turning over the pages of the sacred volume, the writer was struck with the exact fulfilment in the person of the Messiah, as narrated in the New Testament, of the numerous predictions recorded of him in the Old. These were collected for her personal gratification; and as they accumulated, it occurred, that what had been some little source of pleasure to her own mind, might, by the blessing of God, prove useful to some young persons, who from circumstances,[vi] are debarred access to, or are not inclined to read, works of a more extensive kind.
While the writer has no disposition to despise that criticism which, if impartially administered, is the best safeguard of the press, neither would she timidly shrink from investigation; aware that no partiality of friends can long buoy up an unworthy production.
This is not intended as the language of indifference, but arises from a consciousness of the purity of motive, and the desire to do good, which have actuated her; compared with which, all other considerations are momentary and unsatisfying.
