PREFACE. T HE intention of the following Work is to supply the ignorant, and those who wish to instruct them, with a plain and simple summary of the faith and duty of a Christian; unmixed with controversy, and level to the capacitics of those who have not had the advantage of a learned education. If it shall be found to contain nothing new, I beg leave to observe that I consider. that circumstance as its greatest merit. Some late experiments give us too much reason to dread novelty in Philosophy and Politics, and it is still more to be dreaded in Religion. If this Volume contain any doctrine which is not to be proved from Scripture, and was not believed by the Primitive Church, I shall be the first to condemn it, when pointed out to me; for Christianity, like its Great Author, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Having had the happiness of being born and educated in the bosom of the Church of England, to which I am most firmly attached, I think it necessary to disclaim all connexion with those who seek out new paths, and presume to find fault with the method of instruction usually employed in our Church. I have always considered the privilege of joining in our excellent Liturgy, and receiving the instructions of a regularly-ordained Ministry, as an inestimable blessing. I am fully persuaded, that, taken as a body, the Clergy of the Church of England are not inferior in abilities, in Christian knowledge, or in morals, to any of their opponents; and that those who attend the public service of our Church with an humble wish to receive in struction, will seldom be disappointed. I never heard a sermon from which I did not learn something; and I wish that those who find it otherwise would remember, that half an hour which affords neither information nor amusement, may be well spent by the greatest and wisest men, in setting an example of that respectful attention which is due to the place, and to the office at least, if not to the abilities, of the Preacher. If these Discourses have any merit, it is, that they contain in a narrow compass the instruction which I have myself received from some of the best Writers and Preachers of our Church; and I venture to offer them to the Public, because I have often been at a loss to find sermons for family reading, written in so plain a style that the unlearned might from thence obtain useful practical instruction, on Christian principles, suited to their situation and habits of life. I do not write for fame, but in the humble hope of being useful to a very respectable class of my |