EXTRACT

From the last Will and Testament of the late Rev. John Pampton, Canon of Salisbury.

I give and bequeath my lands and estates to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Oxford, for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the said lands or estates upon trust, and to the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, I will and appoint that the Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, for the time being, shall take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof; and (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established, for ever, in the said University, and to be performed in the manner following:

I direct and appoint that, upon the first Tuesday in Easter term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads of Colleges only, and

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by no others, in the room adjoining the Printing house, between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, topreach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the commencement of the last month in Lent term, and the end of the third week in Act term.

Also, I direct and appoint, that the eightDivinity Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following subjects: to confirm and establish the Christian faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics; upon the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures; upon the authority of the writings of the primitive fathers, as to the faith and practice of the primitive church; upon the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; upon the divinity of the Holy Ghost; upon the articles of the Christian faith, as comprehended in the apostles' and Nicene creeds.

Also, I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed within two months after they are preached, and one copy shall be given to the Chancellor of the University, and one

copy to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian library, and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the revenue of the land or estates given for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are printed.

Also, I direct and appoint, that no person shall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.

LUKE xii. 51.

Suppose ye that I am come to give Peace on Earth?
I tell you nay, but rather Division.

DISSENTIONS in the church-their fatal effects-contrary to
the spirit of the gospel-Our Saviour's prophecy in that re-
spect, how fulfilled-even in the earliest ages of the church-
Arguments drawn from hence by the adversaries of
Christianity, ill founded-Guilt of schism-Wherever there
is separation from the church a schism, and some one answer-
able for it-Texts by which our Lord enforces the necessity of
union-Schism of late considered as hardly criminal—not so
formerly-Necessity of bringing back to men's minds the true
doctrine-The particular end of such lectures as the present-
No absolute authority claimed for the church-Separation in
some cases a duty-but where causeless a great sin-This the
doctrine of the church at the reformation-Even of the puri-
tans-Acted upon by the latter-Shewn by their destruction
of the church when they came into power-Continued to be