PREFACE.

AT the

T the time when the following

Lectures were first begun, the poli-
tical, moral, and religious state of this
kingdom, wore a very unfavourable aspect,
and excited no small degree of uneasiness
and alarm in every serious and reflecting
mind. The enemies of this country were
almost every where triumphant abroad,
and its still more formidable enemies at
home were indefatigably active in their
endeavours to diffuse the poison of dis-
affection, infidelity, and a contempt of
the Holy Scriptures, through every part
of the kingdom, more especially among

the

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from the press; to give some check to
the growing relaxation of public manners ;
to state plainly and forcibly the evidences
of our faith, and the genuine doctrines
of our religion, the true principles of sub-
mission to our lawful governors, the mode
of conduct in every relation of life which
the Gospel prescribes to us; and to vin-
dicate the truth, dignity, and divine au-
thority of the sacred writings. All this,
after much deliberation, I conceived
could in no other way be so effectually
done as by having recourse to those
writings themselves, by going back to the
very fountain of truth and holiness, and
by drawing from that sacred source the
proofs of its own celestial origin, and all
the evangelical virtues springing from
and branching out into the various duties
of civil, social, and domestic life.

The

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