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ADVERTISEMENT.

A SERIOUS attention to Domestic Duties hath ever been considered, by wise and good people, as a matter of the last importance to the civil and religious interests of mankind. To persuade men to the faithful and cheerful discharge of these duties, is the object of the following Discourses. The author is sensible that there are many excellent treatises on most of the subjects that compose this volume. But he presumes, that the character of the present times, too sadly marked by inattention to these important matters; and the possibility of placing them in a light somewhat different from that in which they have been usually considered, are sufficient reasons to justify this attempt. With great diffidence he submits it to the candour of the Public: not doubting but his views, however he may have failed in the execution of his plan, will meet the approbation of the friends of virtue and religion; and engage their good wishes for its favourable reception, and their cordial prayers for its success.-The first discourse, which has a general respect to all the duties of benevolence, was intended as an introductory one to a plan of which this volume is only a part. Whether the plan will ever be completed is uncertain. But this circumstance is here mentioned as an apology for what might otherwise be deemed an impropriety.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

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DISCOURSE I.

INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE.

THE DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE CONSIDERED AND

ENFORCED.

PHIL. II. 4.-Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

As man was made for society, it is the duty and interest of every one to contribute what lies in his power to the general good. This is a plain dictate of nature, and is abundantly confirmed and enforced by Scripture. Whoever considers the divine benevolence which breathes through the gospel, and which shone so illustriously in the countenance of its great author the Lord Jesus Christ, must clearly see that it is impossible for a man to be a genuine Christian, without feeling, in a degree at least, that generous warmth which a public spirit inspires. When the Sun of Righteousness first arose upon this miserably cold and benighted world, the balmy influence of his grace diffused itself through the breasts of thousands. Men who had hitherto lived in strife, hateful and hating one another, now felt their fierce and malevolent passions subside and die away, and their bosoms glow with all the godlike ardour of divine friendship and love.

Of this character the apostle Paul was an eminent instance. No man better understood the gospel, and no man ever drank more deeply into the spirit of it than he did. In his sermons and epistles he soberly reasons on the great truths of Christianity, and in the course of his life shews what admirable effects the belief of those truths is capable of producing. Persuaded of their divine authority, and feeling their efficacy on his heart,

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