Posthumous Works of the REV. Henry B. BASCOM Volume 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1856 Excerpt: ... INTRODUCTION. In introducing to the reading public the Posthumous AVorks of the late Bishop Bascom, some remarks by way of preface will naturally be expected from the editor. To prepare for any literary work of value or importance, an appropriate preface, at once concise and perspicuous, minute and comprehensive, is justly considered a task of difficult performance. But when called upon to prepare for the press, and introduce to the public, the posthumous works of one so eminent and distinguished as the late Bishop Bascom, we must be allowed to invoke a generous indulgence; for we feel deeply impressed with a sense of the delicacy and responsibility of our position. To meet the expectations and secure the approbation of all, even of such as feel a deep interest in the subject, we know to be impossible. A conscious assurance, however, that so far as we have progressed in our labors, we have spared no pains to perform the task assigned us to the best of our ability under the circumstances, while it allows us, with becoming diffidence, to submit to public scrutiny the performance of our work, at the same time leaves us without any disquieting apprehensions as to the result. Our engagement in this labor was not a matter of our own seeking. When first solicited to undertake it by the respected widow of the late Bishop Bascom, we for a time declined, naming several other individuals whom we recommended as more suitable persons; but when the request was still urged upon us, and especially when it had been sanctioned and approved by resolution of the late General Conference, at Columbus, Georgia, we addressed ourself to the task before us without hesitation or delay. It is a remarkable fact, that notwithstanding the great fame of Dr. Bascom as an orator, comparat...