DEDICATION,

nearly bordering upon Fruition, that ere long you are to rejoin the once faithful Partner of your Joys and Griefs, in an eternal, an infeparable Union; fuch an Union as the Perfec tion of that better State, where the Spirits of the Juft refide, will admir of; an Union of purified Souls in the Service and Enjoyment of their God, Glorious Hopes! animated by these let us hold on and hold out to the End, in a patient enduring of Afflic→ tions; in à calm filial Submission to the Will and Pleafure of our Father in Heaven; whofe Right to difpofe of all our Interefts, both perfonal an₫ relative, none can difpute; whose Power none can controul; and whose Goodness none can arraign. Such a

Temper

vi DEDICATION. Temper, or Difpofition of Mind, as I have here hinted at, is at once, greatly ornamental to the Profeffion of Chrif tianity, and highly honourable to our holy Religion itself. And, give me Leave to say it, fuch is the Ornament, Madam, of your Profeffion, and fuck is the Honour which you have done, and are still doing, to the Faith of Fefus. Forgive me, Madam, that I make these Strictures in your Character fo publick. I only do it with a View to encourage others in their Attempts to regulate their Paffions, and bring them under the Government of Reason and Religion, upon the fame afflictive Trials that you have met with. This is one great End which I hope to answer by prefixing this Addrefs

2

DEDICATION. vii

Addrefs to the following Difcourse,
Another End which I have in View,
is, to exprefs an affectionate and re-
fpectful enfe of your repeated Civi-
lities. As to the following Discourse
itself, though your Candour, Madam,
may not require an Apology for it,
the World may,
If fo, I have only
this to offer, that nothing having ap-
peared as a Teftimony of publick
Respect to the Memory of fo great
and good a Man as the Reverend
Mr. BOURN, fome of his Friends
were defirous to preserve something
of his Character, and the few Mi-
nutes of his Life which they had
heard in a Sermon preached foon after
his Death. At their Request it is now
made publick, and humbly submitted

to

viii

DEDICATION.

to their Candour, and to the Candour
of all those into whofe Hands it may
now fall.
It was not preached at the
Request of any Perfon, but dictated
purely by a Sense of what I thought
was owing from myfelf to the Me-
mory of my worthy Collegue, as well
as to his Family and the Churches
of Chrift, whereof he had the Overfight.
My Heart's Defire and Prayer to
"God for them is, that they may be

faved."

I am, amidst the best Wishes for your
beft Interefts, both temporal and fpiri-
tual, personal and relative, MADAM,
Your affectionate Friend
and obliged humble Servant,

S. BLYTH.

2 TIM. iv. 7, 8.

I have fought a good Fight, I have finished my Courfe, I bave kept the Faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteoufnefs, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day.

I

This with the fincereft fympathetic Concern for the Interefts of Religion in general, and the religious Interefts of this Society in particular; a Concern dictated both by Duty, Intereft, and Affection, that I now enter upon this mourn Service, as it is facred to the Memory and the Merits of your lately honoured Friend and faith al Minister in Chrift Jefus, whofe indefatigable Labours of Love and Zeal for your better, your immortal Parts, you have long been reaping the happy Fruits of; but whofe Face, alas! you muft now fee, and whofe Voice, alas! you must now hear no more. His "Silver Cord is loofed, his Golden Bowl is broken, his Duft is returned into the Bofom of its Parent Earth, and his Spirit to God, who gave it."

As of the nobleft Pile of Building, when the Pillars fail, we may fay the whole Superftructure is in Danger; fo of that beautiful Fabrick, Religion, when those who have long

B

been,