proof of his charitable nature, and compassion for the poor, than his uncommon and large donations in one only h parish; and of his piety to God, (although this was sufficiently evident in all his writings and the whole conduct of his life,) his constant frequenting the offices of the church is a sufficient testimonial. For as long as his health would any way suffer him, he so religiously observed the hours set apart for the divine worship of the church, that the sun was not more constant to its diurnal and nocturnal revolutions. But old age growing sensibly upon him, and death approaching, which neither the most admirable endowments of mind, nor the most eminent piety can put off, this excellent man, who had been so great a benefactor to the present age, had also a generous regard to posterity. And as he left his immense learning in his books to the ages to come, so he disposed of that fortune which his extensive liberality had left him, in such a manner, that it should for ever contribute to the study of learning and the promotion of piety.

All this being done, as if he had been born entirely for the benefit of others, this most excellent person departed this life; and while his sacred relics are deposited among the tombs of the most illustrious, his name will ever live and flourish in the memory of the learned and the virtuous.

h Islip, in Oxfordshire.

d

THE

CHIEF HEADS OF THE SERMONS.

VOL. I.

SERMON I.

THE WAYS OF WISDOM ARE WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS.
PROV. iii. 17.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness. Page 3.

Some objections against this truth are removed, 3. and the duty of repentance represented under a mixture of sweetness, 11.

The excellencies of the pleasure of wisdom are enumerated:

I. As it is the pleasure of the mind, 13. in reference, 1. to speculation, 13. on the account of the greatness, 14. and newness of the objects, 16. 2. To practice, 17.

II. As it never satiates and wearies, 18. The comparison of other pleasures with it; such as that of an epicure, 19. that of ambition, 21. that of friendship and conversation, 22.

III. As it is in nobody's power, but only in his that has it, 23. which property and perpetuity is not to be found in worldly enjoyments, 24.

A consequence is drawn against the absurd austerities of the Romish profession, 25.

A short description of the religious pleasure, 27.

SERMON II.

OF THE CREATION OF MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

GENESIS i. 27.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. P. 28.

"The several false opinions of the heathen philosophers concerning the original of the world, 31.

The image of God in man considered, 32.

I. Wherein it does not consist, adequately and formally; not in power and dominion, as the Socinians erroneously assert, 33.

II. Wherein it does consist: 1. In the universal rectitude of all the faculties of the soul, 35, viz. of his understanding, 35. both speculative, 36. and practical, 38. Of his will, 40. Concerning the freedom of it, 41. Of his passions, 42: love, 43. hatred, 44. anger, 45. joy, 45. sorrow, 46. hope, 46. fear, 47. 2. In those characters of majesty that God imprinted upon his body, 48.

The consideration of the irreparable loss sustained in the fall of our first parents, 50. and of the excellency of Christian religion, designed by God to repair the breaches of our humanity, 52.

SERMON III.

INTEREST DEPOSED, AND TRUTH RESTORED.

MATTHEW X. 33.

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. P. 56.

The occasion of those words inquired into, 56. and their explication, by being compared with other parallel scriptures, 58. and some observations deduced from them, 59. The explication of them, by shewing,

I. How many ways Christ and his truths may be denied, 60. 1. By an heretical judgment, 61. 2. By oral expressions, 63. 3. By our actions, 64.

What denial is intended by these words, 66.

II. The causes inducing men to deny Christ in his truths, 67. 1. The seeming absurdity of many truths, 67. 2. Their unprofitableness, 69. 3. Their apparent danger, 71.

III. How far a man may consult his safety in time of persecution, without denying Christ, 73. 1. By withdrawing his person, 73. 2. By concealing his judgment, 73. When those ways of securing ourselves are not lawful, 74.

IV. What is meant by Christ's denial of us, 76. with reference, 1. To the action itself, 76. 2. To its circumstances, 78.

V. How many uses may be drawn from the words, 80. 1. An exhortation chiefly to persons in authority, to defend Christ in his truth, 80. and in his members, 81. 2. An information, to shew us the danger as well as baseness of denying Christ, 83.

SERMON IV.

RELIGION THE BEST REASON OF STATE.

I KINGS Xiii. 33, 34.

After this thing king Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. P. 85.

Jeroboam's history and practice, 85. Some observations from it, 89. An explication of the words high places, 90. and consecration, 91.

The sense of the words drawn into two propositions, 91. I. The means to strengthen or to ruin the civil power, is either to establish or destroy the right worship of God, 91. Of which proposition the truth is proved by all records of divine and profane history, 92. and the reason is drawn from the judicial proceeding of God; and from the dependence of the principles of government upon religion, 92.

From which may be inferred, 1. The pestilential design of disjoining the civil and ecclesiastical interest, 99. 2. The danger of any thing that may make even the true religion suspected to be false, 101.

II. The way to destroy religion is to embase the dispensers of it, 103. which is done, 1. By divesting them of all temporal privileges and advantages, 103. 2. By admitting unworthy persons to this function, 108. By which