:

confess, that God is in us of a truth." The prophet Isaiah seems to represent the increase of universal charity and religious knowledge in the Christian Church, as the preparation and prelude of the conversion of the Gentiles, and of the restoration of the Jews; in that remarkable prophecy, which certainly hath not yet been fully accomplished: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ;-they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, the root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign to the people ;-to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his resting-place shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left :-and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth."

Lastly, and above all, Let us endeavour to re

1 Isaiah xi. 6, &c.

.והיה ביום ההוא שרש ישי אשר עמד זנן' 2

Our Translation, by departing from the Masoretical pointing, and the obvious grammatical construction, hath obscured this passage. The frequent necessity we are under, of appealing from it to the original, sufficiently shows the expediency of the revisal above proposed: and I beg leave here to add, that the present time offers a favourable opportunity, which ought not to be neglected; when the station, to which the chief direction of such a work properly belongs, is filled with a person endowed, beyond any other of this age, with all the abilities and qualifications requisite for bringing it to that degree of perfection, of which it is at present capable.

commend still more effectually our most holy religion by holiness and purity of life.

We live in an enlightened age, in which knowledge is still increasing; in which continual approaches are made towards a more perfect comprehension of the Gospel-scheme in its full extent; in which new accessions of light are every day thrown on the Holy Scriptures: the true Christian spirit of charity, moderation, and forbearance, prevails more and more, softening by degrees our mutual distastes, and healing our divisions: may we not hope that these improvements will have their proper and natural effect, though we do not yet perceive it, in introducing a reformation of another nature, and infusing more and more of the true spirit of our religion into our manners and our lives? Greater knowledge should reasonably be attended with more perfect obedience; and the love of our brethren is closely connected with the love of God. How bad soever therefore in this respect the present appearance of things may be, let us not be discouraged in our endeavours to promote the practice of true religion. And it is indeed more in our power to promote it than we are generally apt to think. Every one, according to his station, may have his proper share in it; some by their skill and abilities, others by their influence and authority; some by their exhortations, all by their example. More especially is it the duty and peculiar province of the ministers of the Gospel, as workers together with Christ, to pursue it by every method; " by pureness, by knowledge, by suffering, by kindness, by love un

feigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God." As many of us, therefore, as have received this ministry, or have it by any means in our power to contribute to this great work, "let us not faint, neither let us be wearied" in it; still " looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, when " every man shall have his due praise of God," and " every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour:" when "they that make others wise unto salvation shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."

SERMON III'.

DEUT. iv. 7, 8, 9.

What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things, that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart, all the days of thy life.

WITHOUT attempting any parallel between our own nation and that of the Israelites, which stood in a nearer and more immediate relation to God than any other people of the world hath ever done; I shall deduce from the words, which I have rehearsed to you, the following general proposition, immediately resulting from them, and applicable

1 Preached before the Hon. and Right Rev. Richard, Lord Bishop of Durham, the Hon. Henry Bathurst, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Hon. Sir Joseph Yates, one of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench; at the Assizes holden at Durham, August 15, 1764. By Robert Lowth, D.D. Prebendary of Durham, and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty. Newcastle, 1764, 4to. 3rd edition. Lond. 1767, 8vo.

a.en under heaven, but peculiarly apurselves:-that great and signal nang lay those, on whom they are coner a proportionable obligation of duty; at their hands suitable returns of grati2. and obedience, to Almighty God the

'cader and legislator of the Israelites people to obedience, from a considere most remarkable and most important a which God had manifested his goodavour to them; from the excellence of

the righteous statutes and judgments," cus and civil, which by God's command before them; from "God's nearness

and readiness to hear them, “in all which they called upon him;" in all weaderful things, which their eyes had

them relief in all their distresses, over all their enemies. From the like God's great goodness to this nation, I ...voar to excite in you a due sense of the cumbent on you; and to remind you returns of duty, which these great ...and.

place, let us reflect on the greatest pertant of all the blessings, which sowed upon us, our most holy relipare and uncorrupted form of Christby his good Providence hath been nong us, and through so many eserved to us. We enjoy in its full complete revelation of God's will to man