THE LIVING GOD.

H. L. W.

WORCESTER, DEC. 12, 1860

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

It was only after the consideration of many months, and after much
self-examination as to my motives, and after much earnest prayer, that I
came to the conclusion to write this work. I have not taken one single
step in the Lord's service concerning which I have prayed so much. My
great dislike to increasing the number of religious books would, in
itself, have been sufficient to have kept me forever from it, had I not
cherished the hope of being instrumental in this way to lead some of my
brethren to value the Holy Scriptures more, and to judge by the standard
of the Word of God the principles on which they act. But that which
weighed more with me than anything, was, that I have reason to believe,
from what I have seen among the children of God, that many of their
trials arise either from want of confidence in the Lord as it regards
temporal things, or from carrying on their business in an unscriptural
way. On account, therefore, of the remarkable way in which the Lord has
dealt with me as to temporal things, I feel that I am a debtor to the
church of Christ, and that I ought, for the benefit of my poorer
brethren especially, to make known the way in which I have been led. In
addition to this, I know that to many souls the Lord has blessed what I
have told them about the way in which he has led me, and therefore it
seemed a duty to use such means, whereby others also, with whom I could
not possibly converse, might be benefited. That which induced me finally
to determine to write this Narrative was, that if the Lord should permit
the book to sell, I might, by the profits arising from the sale, be
enabled in a greater degree to help the poor brethren and sisters among
whom I labor;--a matter which, just at that time, weighed much on my
mind. I therefore began to write. But after three days I was obliged to
lay the work aside on account of my other pressing engagements.
Subsequently, I was laid aside on account of an abscess; and being
unable, for many weeks, to walk about as usual, though able to work at
home, I had time for writing. When the manuscript was nearly completed I
gave it to a brother to look over, that I might have his judgment; and
the Lord so refreshed his spirit through it, that he offered to advance
the means for having it printed, with the understanding that if the book
should not sell he would never consider me his debt