He most gratefully acknowledges the kind and honourable reception he hath met with since his arrival in England; the chearfulness and generosity with which persons of all ranks have honoured his publication; and the affectionate zeal of his friends, relations, and connexions, in undertaking and completing his subscription, without giving him the trouble of soliciting a single name. To his most ingenious and worthy Friend and Countryman, BENJAMIN WEST, Esq. History Painter to his Majesty, he is happy to acknowledge himself indebted for the elegant designs, taken from two of his most capital paintings, which are placed as frontispieces to these volumes. To his dear and valuable friend, the Author of the late accurate and elegant Translation of THOMAS à KEMPIS, he is sincerely thankful for his kind and chearful advice and assistance, in conducting the whole publication, to which the author's inexperience in printing, as well as his frequent and necessary absence from the press, would have rendered him altogether unequal. He hath only to add, that the revisal and publishing of these discourses was undertaken at the instance of some of the most respectable names in the list of his subscribers to the first edition, under whose kind patronage, and in hopes of every indulgence from the candour of the publick, he hath ventured to send them abroad. Hampstead, 1st March, 1780. CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. DISCOURSE I. THE CHARACTER OF WISDOM'S CHILDREN. St. LUKE, CHAP. vii. VER. 35. "But Wisdom is justified of all her Children." DISCOURSE II. EVANGELICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. JEREM. CHAP. xxiii. Part of VER. 6. "And this is his Name, whereby he shall be called, The LORD our Righteousness." DISCOURSES III. and IV. THE RELIGION OF JESUS, THE ONLY SOURCE OF HAPPINESS. St. JOHN, CHAP. vi. VER. 66, 67, 68. "From that Time many of his Disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said JESUS unto the Twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, LORD, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of Eternal Life." DISCOURSE V. TRUE RELIGION, A COSTLY AND CONTINUAL SACRIFICE. 2 SAMUEL, CHAP. xxiv. VER. 24. "And the King said unto Araunah, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a Price: neither will I offer Burnt-Offerings unto the LORD my GOD, of that which doth cost me nothing." DISCOURSE VI. TRUTH, THE ONLY FRIEND OF MAN. GALATIANS, CHAP. iv. VER. 16. "Am I therefore become your Enemy, because I tell you the Truth?" DISCOURSE VII. THE STRENGTH AND VICTORY OF FAITH. 1 JOHN, CHAP. v. VER. 4. "Whatsoever is born of GOD overcometh the World: and this is the Victory that overcometh the World, even our Faith." DISCOURSE VIII. FAITH TRIUMPHANT OVER THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. St. MARK, CHAP. ix. Part of VER. 24. "LORD, I believe: Help thou mine Unbelief!" DISCOURSE IX. THE FLOURISHING STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. PSALM i. VER. 3.