The following biography has been prepared at the suggestion of the friends of the deceased, and with an earnest desire to do good by its publication. If it shall meet with a favorable reception, and the publisher shall find the sale of it profitable, then the widow and children of the deceased will be allowed a suitable remuneration for the copyright. Since the sum which the widow will receive for the copyright depends upon the sale of the book, we hope that a generous public will give it a cordial reception.
The author has no interest whatever in the proceeds of the sale; these are, in part at least, to accrue to Mr. Childs' family, for whose benefit, so far as a pecuniary consideration is concerned, it has been prepared. But the main object has been to do good, by laying before the public the life of one of the holiest men that has ever lived.
In the preparation of this work, the author has, in some instances, been at a loss for material to supply certain connecting links in the chain of events making up the life of the subject of this memoir; but he has done the best he could with the materials in hand, and has chosen rather to present certain portions of his life in a disjointed manner, than to supply the connection from the imagination, or from unsatisfactory sources of information.
The author takes this occasion to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mrs. E. B. Early, of Lynchburg, Virginia, wife of the Rev. John Early, D. D., for her kindness in collecting material for the biography, and in arranging Mr. Childs' correspondence for publication.
The book has been prepared under the pressure of bodily afflictions, and amid frequent interruptions from various causes; but, as the great object of the author has been to do good, and not to gain celebrity in authorship, it is now submitted to the public without any other concern than that which arises from the desire that it may prove successful in the mission on which it is sent.
The Author Norfolk, Virginia, April 1, 1852
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