Sermons

"Profiteor, me sedulo pro modo gratiæ et benignitatis qua Deus erga me usus est, operam dedisse, ut cum in concionibus, tum etiam in scriptis, pure ac caste Verbum ipsius prædicarem, et fideliter sacram ipsius Scripturam interpretarer. Testor etiam ac profiteor, me in contentionibus et disputationibus omnibus, quæ mihi cum hostibus Evangelii habenda fuerunt, nullis præstigiis, nullis malis artibus et sophisticis, usum esse; sed candide ac sincere in veritate propugnanda versatum esse. Verum, hei mihi! Studium illud meum et zelus (si hoc nomine dignus est) adeo remissus et languidus fuit, ut innumera mihi ad munus meum præclare fungendum defuisse fateor."

Extract from the Will of Calvin.

ODLE

ANTHONY PICKARD, PRINTER, LEEDS.

DEDICATION.

TO THE REV. HENRY FORSTER BURDER, D.D.,

PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

ST. THOMAS' SQUARE, HACKNEY,

AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN HIGHBURY COLLEGE.

DEAR AND HONOURED SIR,

Be pleased to accept the Dedication of this Volume. Of the Revered Tutors, who presided over my Ministerial Education, You alone survive. Upon Simpson and Hooper, long since the grave has closed. They are beyond the reach of any earthly meed. My Veneration and Affection will always cherish their memory and embalm their worth. I cannot, however, but remember that Your Faculty was that which my state of mind and pupilage peculiarly needed, nor have I language to convey my sense of the unwearying patience and masterly clearness with which you constantly exercised it.

In the Retrospect of those Youthful years and Academic scenes, I not only feel my obligations to you equally for personal kindness and official zeal,-as I did not then, alas, appreciate them!--but I fear that my desultory habits and wayward dispositions must often have caused you suspense and pain. I present, therefore, these Sermons to you as a token of contrition not less than as an offering of thankfulness.

May your life be greatly prolonged,—your usefulness be constantly multiplied,—and your heart be increasingly comforted, amidst the growth of years, by those holy truths which through life you have so strenuously maintained and so fully exhibited!

Believe me,

In the bonds of devoted Respect and Gratitude,

Yours most faithfully,

RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON.

Leeds, November, 1845.

ADVERTISEMENT.

A former Volume of Sermons having been received with much favour, especially by the Author's honoured brethren in the Christian Ministry,—he has been encouraged to prepare a Second. The Publication has been delayed by causes which he could not control. He had intended a Series of Discourses, of which the Fifth and Sixth are the commencement, on 1 Tim. iii. 16. He afterwards judged that the space they would occupy would be disproportionate. One or two expressions may be found in them suggesting the original design. He may, also, add, that the Tenth was printed some years since in a Scottish Magazine; and that the last was only allowed a separate impression on the avowed reserve of right to include it in this Volume.

The First Volume has for many years been out of print. He is flattered by knowing that it is in not infrequent request. He hopes shortly to find time to revise and republish it.