PREFACE. THE following Discourses, now most respectfully submitted to the public eye, owe their appearance in their present form to the very kind and obliging request of some members of the congregation before which they were delivered. It is very sensibly acknowledged, how greatly they have been overrated, and also that some apology is due for the most unfinished state in which they are sent into the world. A desire that they should pass through the press as nearly possible the same sermons which were preached from the pulpit, must plead that apology. The author is well aware how little claim they possess to originality of sentiment. The object contemplated in their composition, was a simple statement of divine truth, consistent with what he believes to be the received doctrines of the Church of England, and the confirmation of his hearers, as well in their attachment to that Church, as in the holiness of life which it inculcates upon all its members. Should any one who reveres such names as Leighton and Hall, Hervey and Romaine, Marshall and Serle, favour these pages with his notice, he will at once discover the sources from which their most interesting features have been drawn: neither will the obligations under which the writer lies to the works of some of those great men who adorned the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, fail of being very apparent. He very much regrets that in quoting several passages which will be found in the volume, he has been unable to refer to the authors from whom they have been taken. They were quoted from memory, and therefore, it is to be feared, may not be in all respects correctly given. A volume so imperfect begs for much indulgence. Such, however, as it is, may the God of all grace bless the truth which it contains, to all who may look into it, and overrule all its sinful errors to their good, and to His own glory! CONTENTS. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us, |