Transcribed from the 1831 C. J. G. and F. Rivington edition by David Price, [email protected]
_VICAR OF BOLTON_, _AND PREBENDARY OF CHESTER_.
LONDON: C. J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH YARD.
TO THE CONGREGATION OF THE PARISH CHURCH OF BOLTON, THESE SERMONS ARE INSCRIBED AND DEDICATED, WITH AFFECTIONATE REGARD, BY THEIR PASTOR AND FRIEND,
THE author has been repeatedly urged to print a volume of his Parochial Sermons; and perhaps he owes some apology to those friends, whose kind advice, on this head, has been for years neglected. He was apprehensive, that the interest, excited by his discourses from the pulpit, would not be adequately revived by their appearance in print; or at most, that they would be impressive only upon those who had heard them: and he moreover thought, that the christian world was already provided with more than a sufficiency of such publications. However, whether these opinions be well founded or not, he has been at length prevailed upon to defer to the wishes and judgment of others.
It is almost needless to observe, that the Sermons were written without any, the most distant, view to publication; they pretend to nothing, but the simple and earnest inculcation of christian principle and practice; and as this is the author’s sole object, so does he pour forth his humble prayer, that what, by God’s help, he has planted and watered, may, by God’s blessing, be increased to the glory of His own great name, and the edification of His Church.
SERMON I. AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST AND ARISE FROM THE DEAD.
EPHESIANS v. 14.—Wherefore He saith, Page 1 Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
[Preached January 10th, 1830, 1st Epiph., { vii} and at Chester Cathedral, August 1st, in the same year.] SERMON II. THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST. EPHESIANS iii. 8.—The unsearchable riches of Christ. 20
[Preached January 9th, 1831, 1st Epiph.] SERMON III. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FLOOD. GENESIS vi. 7.—It repented the Lord, that He had made man 38 upon the earth and it grieved Him at His heart; and the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.
[Preached February 6th, 1825, Sexag.] SERMON IV. THE PRESERVATION FROM THE FLOOD. GENESIS vi. 8.—Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 56