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not misrepresenting the meaning of an author, and by ascertaining the sense of the Scriptures on the subject in dispute. It was with this view that these Lectures were prepared; and the chief design of preparing them will be answered, if they shall lead the advocates of error to pause, and reflect upon their mutual extravagancies and contradictions; if they shall lead the vicious. and the thoughtless to reformation and repentance; if they shall dispose the heart of any man to the love of virtue, peace, unity, and truth; if they shall convince any man of the alarming progress of religious error, and invite new champions to reform our corrupted manners, and to " contend earnestly for the faith delivered to the "saints."

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With this faith, as it is delivered in the holy Scriptures, it does not appear possible to reconcile either the heresies of the Socinian, the perversions of the Calvinist, the apostasies of the Romanist, the divisions of the Dissenter, or any of the love of pleasure and form of godliness which distinguish a frivolous, luxurious, and very presuming age. But it is consistent with the earnest

ness of contending for this faith, to uphold the edifying influence of a Church, which, whatever be her blemishes and defects, founds her professions of faith, her moral and political maxims, and her forms of ecclesiastical polity, on the authority of apostolical precedents and apostolical precepts.

The purpose of the pious founder of these Lectures was the establishment of true, and the suppression of erroneous doctrine. May it appear that these ends have not been overlooked in the present series, and that nothing hath been said to the prejudice of the truth in love! May the errors which have been exhibited only attract the notice of my younger brethren, that they may avoid them; and may it confirm their faith to know, that their origin and progress are but the fulfilment of prophecy! May they be dissuaded from the weakness and credulity of believing every spirit," and encouraged to a manly examination of "the

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spirits, whether they are of God"! May they be preserved from "damnable here

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sies," and love "the Lord who bought "them"! May they walk in the straight paths, and avoid all perverted doctrines!

May they shun every apostasy, and not

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depart" from the purity of a scriptural faith! May they be "approved" in resisting the heresies which shall arise; and may they unite the "form" with "the power" of godliness, and not suffer the love of pleasure to weaken the love of God! When they have had patience to " prove all things," may they have stedfastness to "hold fast "that which is good;" and learn so to "speak the truth in love, that they may in "all things grow up into him who is the head, even Christ!"

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"Now the God of peace, that brought "again from the dead our Lord Jesus, "that great Shepherd of the sheep, through "the blood of the everlasting covenant, "make you perfect in every good work to "do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen"."

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P Heb. xiii. 21, 22.

Lately published by the same Author:

Cursory Remarks on the proposed Measure of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for British India, and on other General Suggestions for the Conversion of the Natives, 1s.

A Survey of the Platform of the Christian Church exhibited in the Scriptures, applied to its actual Circumstances and Condition, with Suggestions for its Consolidation and Enlargement, comprising the Substance of an Essay on the Divine Origin and Succession of the Christian Priesthood; on its Necessity as a Divine Appointment, and on the Relation which it bears to the Jewish Priesthood; to which was adjudged a Premium of Fifty Pounds by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Church Union in the Diocese of St. David's. 5s.

The Doctrine of Regeneration, as identified with Baptism, and distinct from Renovation, investigated, in an Essay on Baptism as an Ordinance of Christ, as his appointed Means of Regeneration from Original Sin, and as such a Means of Grace necessary to Salvation, and on the Difference between Baptismal Regeneration, and the subsequent Renewals of the Holy Spirit; to which was adjudged a Premium of Fifty Pounds by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Church Union in the Diocese of St. David's. 3s.

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