ΤΟ

THE CONGREGATION,

ATTENDING AT

TRINITY CHURCH, LEEDS,

These Sermons,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR VERY GENERAL REQUEST,

ARE

MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY

INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.

At a period when so many able and elaborate publications, in various forms, have appeared, in defence both of Ecclesiastical Establishments generally, and of the Church of England in particular, the Author would not have presumed to offer the following Sermons to the notice of the public, if he had merely consulted his own judgment, and followed his own inclinations. His object would have been sufficiently answered, in calling the attention, and directing the inquiries, of his own Congregation to the question. He would have been satisfied with the hope, that, for the purpose which he had in view, they had not been unprofitable. In deference, however, to the judgment and feelings of the Congregation, and in compliance with their very general wishes, he now commits them to the public ordeal; not supposing, that he has been able to adduce any new arguments, or to throw any new light on the subject; but simply hoping, that they may not be entirely useless beyond the walls of the Church within which they were delivered. Composed, and hastily revised, amidst many interruptions necessarily connected with a laborious office, they crave an indulgent consideration. An Appendix has been added in the hope of elucidating some points touched upon in the Sermons.

The Author acknowledges his obligations to Dr. Dealtry's excellent Sermon, preached before the Prayer Book and Homily Society in May 1833, to which he has frequently referred.

Leeds, 22d May, 1834.