Page:Poems Shipton.djvu/9

 undefined

desire of my heart for nearly twenty years has been to see my poems in large type, that I may administer to the old, and sick, and feeble. Through a friend and brother in Christ whom I have never seen, but whom my heart takes worship of, that desire through the faithfulness of the Lord is now granted. Written, as they have been, to cheer and soothe my own heart, out of the fulness of the consolation granted me they have reached others, and will be sung by others in distant lands. This edition, prepared for America, and chartered with many a prayer, I commit to Him who gave me songs in the night, and taught me to sing them. To how many on the other side of the Atlantic would I ask to remember me, and in prayer for a blessing on these pages, testify of the goodness offered to the now silent singer!