The present volume contains nineteen Discourses; the remainder of those preached on Easter-day, on our Lord’s Resurrection, and the whole series preached on Whit-Sunday, on the Sending of the Holy Ghost.
Of those on the Resurrection, the first four were preached before King James I. at Whitehall, between the years 1620 and 1623, both inclusive; and the last was only prepared for delivery on Easter-day 1624, but was never actually preached.
With respect to the subject-matter of these Sermons little need be said. The first three are occupied with a consideration of the great love and devotion displayed by St. Mary Magdalene, at the tomb of her Divine Master; together with a particular examination of the probable grounds which induced our blessed Saviour to repress her ardent zeal, and through her to inculcate upon us the necessity of spiritualizing our affections, and at the same time of reposing with implicit confidence upon Him, Who is at once our Father and our God.
The two last discourses in this series, from different texts, enforce the same practical lesson, namely, the obligation which is laid upon every Christian of making a suitable and correspondent return for the great blessings of salvation.
The Sermons preached on Whit-Sunday, on the Sending of the Holy Ghost, come next under consideration.
They are fifteen in number, and, with the exception of the last, were all preached before King James I. at Greenwich, Whitehall, Windsor, and Holy-rood House, between the years 1606 and 1621, both inclusive. The last, which was just excepted, was only prepared to be preached on Whit-Sunday 1622.
This series is particularly valuable for the light which it throws upon some of the very highest, and most mysterious—and it may be added the most essential—Articles of the Catholic Faith; and also for the arguments which it affords to the controversialist who combats the Socinian and other rationalistic heresies. Herein we have asserted, and established, the distinction of Persons and the unity of essence, in the Godhead,—the Divinity, personality, and agency of the Holy Spirit in particular—His procession from the Father and the Son,—His three-fold coming—His office, His works, His gifts, His place, in the economy of redemption—the power which He confers in Holy Orders—the danger of grieving Him—the necessity of receiving Him—His indwelling—the comfort He imparts, the meetness with which He endues the soul for the inheritance of the Saints in glory. These, and other points of a similar character, form the substance of the above sermons; and it will at once be perceived on perusal that they are not merely speculative, but that they abound in practical applications to the consciences of individual Christians, such indeed as cannot easily be resisted, except in cases where the mind is inveterately prejudiced against the reception of the truth.
On the whole, it is hoped that these discourses may, in the full depth of their meaning, be blessed to the edification of those whom a false philosophy, or perhaps the mere pride of intellect, has unhappily influenced against the mysteries of Revelation, by satisfactorily shewing that there is nothing in them to prevent a rightly-constituted mind from still embracing and holding them fast, as forming a part of that sacred deposit of faith once given to the Saints, and entrusted to us for transmission to succeeding generations.
The Hebrew Quotations have for the most part been revised and corrected by the Rev. C. Seager, M.A. late Scholar of Worcester College, to whom the Editor is glad of having an opportunity of thus recording his obligations.
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