MEMOIR OF REV. S. R. SMITH.
By Rev. T. J. Sawyer, D.D. With a splendid Portrait. Pages 432. Price, in plain binding, $1; in full gilt binding, $1.50.
Dr. Sawyer has had an acquaintance with the subject of this Memoir for twenty years; besides, he has in his hands all the papers which Mr. Smith left behind him, copies of letters, &c. The work is made up, to a considerable extent, from those various materials, and may therefore be regarded as in a manner an autobiography. The last words written for the press by Father Ballou relate to this book and the Life Sketches of George H. Clark, hereafter referred to. Mr. Ballou says:
"Having carefully read this Memoir, and by it having been made acquainted with many particulars in the life of a highly-esteemed brother in our ministry, with whom I have, for many years, enjoyed a most cordial and affectionate fellowship, it is a pleasurable duty to recommend the work to the favorable consideration of the whole fraternity of believers in the gospel of a world's salvation.
"The learned writer of the Memoir has taken much pains to bring together much of the writings of his favorite subject, whereby he has rendered the work in a great degree autobiographical, and made his readers acquainted with the strength of mind, temper, spirit and taste, of our departed brother. This work carries us back to the parentage, birth, childhood and youth, of one who has distinguished himself, by the evident aid of divine wisdom, as an able, faithful, and successful minister of the gospel of our Divine Master. And if our young men, who are desirous of making the ministry of divine truth their profession, would carefully read this work, poverty in its more meagre shapes would present no formidable objection. Br. Smith, having successfully grappled with poverty, and won a praise and a name which throw crowns and diadems into the shade, seems now to be looking down on these youth, and pointing them to the path which he has trod, to bid them put their trust in Him by whose aid he has won an unfading crown.
"Br. Sawyer surely deserves the gratitude of our denomination for the justice he has done to the character of our departed brother, and for the encouragement which this Memoir is calculated to give to our brethren who are laboring in our Master's vineyard. And our thanks and patronage should be generously rendered to the publisher of this work, not only for the handsome style in which it appears, but for his laudable devotion to the cause of truth, and his successful labors for its prosperity."
"Great interest has been excited in the denomination by the promise of this book. * * The life of such a man, from the pen of one so highly distinguished and so gifted as Rev. Dr. Sawyer, cannot but awaken a wide-spread and anxious desire for its appearance. It has now been given to the public, and well does it sustain the reputation of all parties concerned in its publication. * * A work of this class has never appeared in the denomination which, for fineness of paper, beauty of print, and neatness of binding, has excelled this. We predict that it will have a very large sale."—Christian Ambassador.
"It will be read with great interest by all."—Trumpet.
"Mr. Sawyer has done well in allowing his hero to tell so much of the story of his times through his own letters and reminiscences."—Christian Inquirer.
"His example is full of encouragement to others, and cannot fail to stimulate thousands, who are drooping, to push on in the career of self-improvement."—Yankee Blade.