ON PRACTICAL SUBJECTS, BY THE LATE REVEREND HENRY STEBBING, D.D. PREACHER TO THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY; TO THE WORSHIPFUL THE READERS AND BENCHERS OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF GRAY'S-INN. GENTLEMEN, H to AVING fo long had the honour of being your Preacher, it is with the greateft propriety, that, in giving these my labours to the world, they fhould be dedicated under whofe kind patroyou, nage and protection they were written, and in whofe Chapel they were delivered; and I fincerely with their merit equalled the generofity which their Author has amply experienced from the Society. To you, Gentlemen, I present them, as an inftance of the great regard I have for the Honourable Society of Gray's-Inn, and as a memorial of the liberality and friendship which has, for near half a century, been uniformly fhewn to my father, your former Preacher, and to myself, fucceeding him in that honourable office. PREFACE. T HE following difcourfes were com pofed for the Chapel of the Honourable Society of Gray's-Inn, (of which Society the Author has been for many years the Preacher :) and they are printed from the original MSS. exactly as they were preached, which is judged a better manner of giving them to the world, than, by new modelling, to throw them into a more fyftematic form. The first five Sermons are introductory to the doctrines of the Chriftian Religion, beginning with the Jewish Difpenfation, as being in itself preparatory to the future Chriftian Difpenfation this is the subject of the two firft Sermons. The third and fourth are as a fecond step in the grand purpose of the falvation of man — namely, the promise of the kingdom of Chrift to David. And the fifth is on the Miffion of St. Paul to the Gentiles. -Thefe are felected, as a proper foundation for inculcating the practice of the Christian duties, which is the fubject of the remaining part of these volumes. |