VILLAGE SERMONS ON THE CHIEF ARTICLES OF FAITH AND THE MEANS OF GRACE. BY THE REV. EDWARD BERENS, M.A. LATE FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE. SIXTH EDITION. OXFORD, PRINTED BY W. BAXTER: SOLD BY MESSRS. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, 1822. Price, 2s. 3d. sewed; 2s. 6d. in boards. 1242. هذا TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE Parishes of Shrivenham and Englefield, IN THE COUNTY OF BERKS. MY DEAR PARISHIONERS, THE little volume which I now put into your hands, has no pretensions to novelty of argument or of illustration. My object is, in a plain way to call your attention to certain important doctrines, which, as members of the Church of England, you all acknowledge; and to point out the practical effects which real belief in these doctrines ought to produce upon your hearts and conduct. You were long since taught, that the chief Articles of Faith are, belief in God the Father who created; in God the Son who redeemed; and in God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth you. These are the doc trines which I here wish to impress upon your minds. And since we can neither believe nor do any thing well without the grace of God, I have added five Sermons on some of the principal means of obtaining that grace, and of renewing and strengthening within you firm religious principles. From such principles, observance of the duties of social life will follow in some measure as a matter of course. Permit me to hope, that you will peruse this little volume with seriousness and attention, particularly at those seasons to which the discourses which it contains are particularly appropriate : -the Sermon on Redemption, on Good Friday; that on the Holy Spirit, on Whit Sunday; and that on Judgment, in the season of Advent, To the discourse on the Baptismal Vow, I humbly request the attention of all; but especially that of parents, when they bring a child to be baptized; and that of those, who by sickness or any other affliction are solemnly admonished "to remember the profession which "they made unto God in their Baptism." The times in which we live, and my persuasion of the justness of the claims of the ministerial office to attention and respect, induced me to add the Sermon on the Christian Priest hood. That this volume may through the Divine blessing be the humble means of preserving a sense of religion upon your minds in this world, and of promoting your happiness in the world to come, is the sincere wish and prayer of Your affectionate Pastor, EDWARD BERENS. |