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To the Right Reverend and Right Honourable NATHANAEL Lord Crewe, Lord Bishop of Durham and Baron of Stene.

My LORD,

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OUR Command, that this Sermon fhould be Publifhed, is as full a Teftimony of the Prevalency of True Zeal and Candour in Your Lordship, as the Publication of it is, of a Readiness in me to Obey Your Commands. For the Warmth of Your Pious Regard to the Greatness of the Subject, made You Overlook the Weakness of the Difcourfe. The very Mention of fo Important an Article, was fufficient to put Your Lordship upon Exercifing and Filling Your Soul, with Your Own Inlarged and Moving Notions of it; infomuch, that You were not at Leifure to Recollect, that the Holy Flame, which You felt in Your Breaft, was of Your Own Raifing. And Hence it easily came to pass, that in the Heat of Thought, Your LordShip Generously Approved of my Difcourfe, which only gave Occafion to Your Own exalted Sentiments, as if it had indeed Supplied You with 'em.

If This had not been Plainly the cafe, Your Lordship's Approbation might have proved a Dangerous Trial of my Humility. And the Reader will eafly Agree with me in This, when I have told him, for his Satisfaction, what I have Lately obferved, with a mixture of Wonder and Delight

my felf, That All the Faculties of Your Noble Mind are ftill as Perfect and Intire, as they can be well Imagin'd to have been, even in thofe Remote Times, when You were, for many years together, Particularly Diftinguifh'd in a Court, which did as fuftly, and as Nicely, and as Conftantly Diftinguifh men of Accurate and Polite UnderStanding, as any Court that the English Nation ever faw. And yet the Senfe of fuch Engaging Favours and Honours, was not Able to Shake Your Lordship, either with Vanity, whilst they were Prefent, or, with Uneafinefs, when they were Paft.

Your Example will be a Lafting Evidence, that 'tis no Impracticable Thing, to Reconcile thofe Powerful Temptations to Indulgence and Eafe, which prefs Hardest upon men of Quality and a State of Affluence, with Strictness and Purity of Life; or, a True Spirit of Difcipline and Government, with all the Endearments of Affability and Good Breeding; or, the Integrity and Simplicity of a Chriftian, with the Arts and Glories of a Court.

Such a Faithful and Wife Conduct as This, in all the Active parts of Life, bath made thofe fucceeding periods of it, Seafons of Refreshment to Your Lordship, which are, Commonly, with Others, the Subject of Complaint. You are now Blessed with all the Soft, and Serene, and Satisfactory Reflections, which Tully afcribes to Cato's Age; and thofe Improved and Inrich'd, to Juch a Degree by full Streams of Confolation Derived from the Gospel, as the Virtuous Heathen could not conceive.

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But, when men have once given up their Hearts, Intirely, to any Thing, their Purfuits of it do feldom Keep any Bounds. Your Lordship cannot Still Forbear to Increase Your Accumulated Stores of Spiritual Delight; ftill making new Way with Eagerness, in the Courfe of Piety, and fill Multiplying Your Numbers of Good Works, which are Already too Great to be eafily Told.

I befeech Your Lordship to forgive my taking this Opportunity of Glancing upon a Few, of the Numerous Reafons I have, for accounting Your Lordship's Patronage an Abundant Honour. And I must beg leave to Add my Humble Thanks, in a Particular manner, for this Great Circumftance, in the Generofity of Your Lordship's Favours to me, that they were Unfought for, as well as Undeferved by,

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SERMON VI.

The Omniscience of God.

ISAMUEL II. 3.

The Lord is a God of Knowledge.

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HIS Divine Attribute, which gives Laws to all the Counsels and Difpenfations of God, is a Main Spring of Religion amongst Men. For our Belief of it is Apt to introduce the Highest Reverence towards our Maker, and the Stricteft Watchfulness over our Selves. And 'tis the Want of this Belief, that strikes off Mens Hopes and Fears, and fets them Loofe from the notions of Duty. For how fhould they Hope to be Rewarded for their Obedience, or, be Afraid of Suffering for their Sins,

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fo long as they do not Apprehend, that any Notice is taken, either of the One, or of the Other.

To this purpose, the Pfalmift reprefents Wicked Men, as Supporting themfelves, under their Sins, by means of this Disbelief, and faying, *The Lord fhall not fee, neither hall the God of Jacob regard it. Thus do they Devise for themfelves a Shelter without Safety, and lay the Foundations of their Hope and Comfort, in Falfhood and Folly. For the Lord is a God of Knowledge.

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In difcourfing on this Subject, I fhall I. Confider the Extent, and Perfection of Knowledge in God, and

II. Draw fome Practical Obfervations from it.

First, Let us confider the Extent and. Perfection of Knowledge in God. And in the First place 'tis obfervable, that his Knowledge does extend it felf to All his Creatures. And the Acknowledgment of This is a Direct Confequence of our Belief that there is a God, and that He is

* Pfal, xciv. 7,

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