principal cause has been my removal to my present parish. The work was begun in a little quiet parish of 800 people. It has been resumed in a widely-scattered parish of 1400 people, requiring almost the whole of my attention.
Even now, in sending forth the first volume of the Expository Thoughts on St. John," I dare not promise anything certain as to the time when the work will be completed. I have the will to finish it, but I find it almost impossible to secure the necessary leisure. What absolute need there is of entire freedom from distraction and interruption in writing a Commentary, none know but those who have attempted it. What endless petty interruptions a clergyman must submit to in a poor rural parish of 1400 people, where there is no resident land- lord, and no layman who has leisure, and where many things must necessarily hinge on the clergyman, no one can know unless he has filled the position.
If the great Head of the Church intends me to finish this work, I believe that He will make my way plain, and remove all obstacles. But my readers must kindly make allowances for my altered position. There are but twelve hours in the day. I cannot create time. It is not one of the primary duties of a parochial clergy- man's ofl&ce to write Commentaries. If therefore the work does not go on so fast as they could wish, they must have the goodness to consider my position, and to believe that there is a cause.