A

MEMOIR

OF THE

REV. JOHN H. RICE, D.D.

78

First Professor of Christian Theology in Union Theological Seminary, Virginia.

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by William Maxwell, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

PREFACE.

In preparing the following pages for the press, I have honestly endeavoured to give a fair and faithful account, as far as it goes, of the eminent and excellent man whose memoir I have undertaken to write; and I cannot but flatter myself that I have pursued my object with some success. I am sensible, indeed, and freely acknowledge, that my own share of the work is very imperfect, and by no means what I could have wished to make it. But this is but a small part of the book, and by far the larger portion of it will be found to consist of letters of the deceased himself, which, I am confident, will be read with great interest by all who can appreciate the truly christian character which they display. There are many persons, too, I know, not only in our own state, but in all parts of the country, who will be able to associate, by remembrance, the voice, and look, and whole manner of the man whom they so justly admired and loved, with these effusions of his pen; and such will, of course, enjoy them still more.

The letters, it will be seen, are many of them entirely narrative, giving the most authentic and minute accounts of the various movements of the writer, at different periods of his life, particularly after his removal to Richmond, and during his arduous and persevering labours in establishing the Union Theological Seminary; and all with a freshness of manner, and an interest of feeling, which no one but the actor himself could have put into a history of such things. Others are purely pastoral, addressed to different members of his flock on a variety of occasions, and well calculated to interest the sympathies of christian hearts. Others, again, are merely friendly; but almost as various as the persons whom he addressed, and exhibiting his own amiable and affectionate spirit in the most happy manner. And all contain thoughts, and sentiments, and remarks upon many subjects, which evince superior wisdom, and deserve, as I trust they will receive, the serious attention of all reflecting minds. I may add, that although they were almost always written in great haste, and on the spur of the occasion, and without copying, (for I have had to thank the persons to whom they were sent, or their friends, for the originals, which they have lent me for this service,) they are generally well written, and some of them very pleasing specimens of this kind of writing.