PREFACE.

T

HE following difcourfes were preached in the united Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter, in the City of Philadelphia, of which the author was appointed affiftant minister in the year 1759, and to the rectorship of which he was elected in the year 1775.

The reader will find in them no display of genius or of erudition. To the former, the authour hath no claim: of the latter, he contents himself with as much as is competent to the discharge of his paftoral duty. His divinity, he trusts, is that of the BIBLE: to no other Standard of Truth can he venture to appeal. Senfible, however, of his own fallibility,

a 4

fallibility, he wishes not to obtrude his peculiar fentiments; nor to have them received any further, than they carry with them that only fair title to reception, a conviction of their truth and ufefulness. From his own Heart he hath written to the Hearts of others; and if any of his readers find not THERE the Ground of his doctrines, they are, surely, at liberty to pass them by, if they do it with Chriftian Candour, and to leave it to time and their own reflections, to difcover that Ground or not,

UNIVERSAL BENEVOLENCE he confiders as the SUBLIME of religion; the true TASTE for which, can only be derived from the Fountain of INFINITE Love, by inward and spiritual communications. The mind, that is poffeffed of this true Taste, whatever its peculiarity of opinion may be, cannot be very

far from the Kingdom of God.”—

"GOD

"GOD is LOVE; and he that dwelleth "in Love, dwelleth in GOD, and GOD " in him." One tranfgreffion of the great Law of Love, even in the minutest instance, must appear more heinous in the Sight of the GOD OF LOVE, than a thousand errors in matters of doctrine or opinion.

If the reader peruses these volumes under the influence of such fentiments, it is not likely, that he will be offended with any fingularities of diction, or any inelegant and colloquial expreffions he may now and then meet with. Much less will his cenfure be incurred by the constant use of SCRIPTURAL Ideas, and SCRIPTURAL Language, in preference to what are called MORAL and PHILOSOPHICAL. Deviations from the Simplicity of EVANGELICAL TRUTH, have too often been occafioned by deviations from the Simplicity of EVANGELICAL LANGUAGE. A Chriftian

ought

ought never to be "afhamed of the "GOSPEL OF CHRIST, which is the "Power of GOD unto Salvation," but fhould always fpeak of Christian Truths by Christian Names.

The revifal and correction of thefe difcourfes have relieved the authour's mind from much of that anxiety and dejection, which a long abfence from his family and his churches had occafioned. And he is now happy in the thought, that these volumes will ere long reach his native country, and revive the memory of his labours of love among a people, with whom he enjoyed a reciprocation of kindness and affection, which for eighteen years had known no abatement or interruption.

He most gratefully acknowledges the kind and honourable reception he hath met with fince his arrival in England; the chearfulness and generofity with

which persons of all ranks have honoured his publication; and the affectionate zeal of his friends, relations, and connexions, in undertaking and completeing his subscription, without giving him the trouble of folliciting a fingle name.

To his moft ingenious and worthy Friend and Countryman, BENJAMIN WEST, Efq. History Painter to his Majefty, he is happy to acknowledge himself indebted for the elegant designs, taken from two of his moft capital paintings, which are placed as frontispieces to these volumes.

To his dear and valuable friend, the Authour of the late accurate and elegant Tranflation of THOMAS à KEMPIS, he is fincerely thankful for his kind and chearful advice and affiftance, in conducting the whole publication, to which the authour's inexperience in printing, as well as his frequent and neceffary ab

fence