Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

THE

MEASURE OF FAITH,

AND OTHER SERMONS.

PREACHED AT THE CHAPEL-IN-THE-FIELD, NORWICH.

BY

PHILIP COLBORNE.

WITH PREFACE BY THE REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Watson & Hazell, Printers, London and Aylesbury.

PREFACE.

I

HAVE been asked by the author to supply a brief introduction for this volume of Sermons. The ground, both of request and of compliance, is friendship,—arising from associations amidst scenes which have sometimes inspired joy, sometimes sorrow, always love; from the part I took in his Ordination, a few years ago, when blossoms, since set into mellow fruit, hung upon the boughs of his own promise, and his church's hope; and from intercourse with him, only too rare, round dear old hearthstones in my native city, some still bright with holy fires, in spite of the blows of death and the shadows of years.

I expressed compliance with the request before I had seen the volume, because I knew how well my valued friend was qualified to fulfil the task he had undertaken. A perusal of several of the Sermons convinced me, that they deserve a larger audience than it was possible for them to have when orally delivered. For in them, natural gifts, educational advantages, and spiritual life, yield what is most precious to the devout.

Young and old, the untutored and the wise; men like the Greeks who said, "Sir, we would see Jesus," and chastened saints ripe for heaven, who can declare, "I know whom I have believed," may find in what follows some means of help. At any rate I must testify to the great pleasure and edification I have derived from the Sermons on Christian Heroism, the Awe of Redemption, and Waiting and Watching: of the goodly sheaf these are amongst the richest ears.

I will only further record my devout desires for the prosperity of the people to whom the discourses were addressed, and by whom they were found to be useful. Their church is immediately related by local position and spiritual lineage to one of the oldest Independent churches in the land, whose history runs back to the Commonwealth, and gathers round it memories of Bridge, Doddridge, and Newton, -the first its founder, the second its friend, the third its time-honoured pastor. May the strongest faith, the purest love, the noblest endeavours, the meekest humility ever known at the Old Meeting, be revived, with an increase of beauty and strength, at the Chapel-in-the-Field! JOHN STOUGHTON.

Christmas, 1870.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« VorigeDoorgaan »