LIFE OF BISHOP PORTEUS. ix excellent account of the venerable and deservedly esteemed author. In 1769, he had the honour of being appointed chaplain to his Majesty; and in 1773, he succeeded Dr. John Hoadley in the mastership of the hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, an option of Archbishop Secker. At length the time arrived when our author was to be elevated to the episcopal bench. On the advancement of Dr. Markham, in January 1777, to the see of York, Dr. Porteus, by the interposition of the Queen, was promoted to the see of Chester, from whence in November, 1787, on the death of Dr. Lowth, he was advanced to the see of London; and on the 23rd of April, 1789, in obedience to the king's express command, he preached at St. Paul's on the day of thanksgiving for his majesty's recovery. In February 1798, he commenced these admirable Lectures, which have now been before the public nearly a quarter of a century; and which, for beauty of sentiment, justness of reasoning, and strength of argument, cannot be surpassed. They have, through the divine blessing, tended more during that time to the advancement and stability of our Christian faith, than any work of the kind ever published. The man who can rişe from a careful perusal of these Lectures without being convinced of the great truths of our religion, the divinity of our blessed Saviour, is an infidel indeed. The laudable anxiety evinced by the public of all ranks to attend their delivery, must have been truly gratifying to their amiable author; particularly when convinced that his labours had not been in vain, but were the means of bringing many of his hearers to a just knowledge of those great truths he so zealously nculcated. This truly Christian prelate, after acquitting himself of all the duties of his station, and leading a most exemplary life, expired at his palace, at Fulham, without a pang or a sigh, on the 13th of May, 1809; and, in obedience to his express directions, his corpse was removed to Sundridge, and there interred in a vault in the church-yard. The bishop was under the middle size, of a thin and a slender frame, and in his youth is supposed to have been very handsome. In politics he constantly voted with Mr. Pitt, though his religious sentiments were always tolerant. The great feature of his character was benevolence, prompt, active, universal benevolence, founded upon the principles of the Christian religion. Though he was a sound churchman, he was not a bigot; he loved good men of all persuasions, and would often express his full conviction of meeting them in that world where the distinction of churchman and dissenter will be no more known, CONTENTS. LECTURE I. FEB. 23, 1798. A Compendious View of the Sacred Writings Page. 71 88 LECTURE VII. FEB. 8, 1799. Matthew vi. and vii.—Continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew xii.-Observations of the Sabbath; Demoniacs; Blasphemy LECTURE XII. MARCH 15, 1799. Matthew xiii. continued.-Parable of the Tares explained LECTURE XIV. MARCH 7, 1800. Matthew xviii.-Making our Brother to offend. Parable of the un- LECTURE XVII. MARCH 28, 1800. Matthew xxvi.-Institution of the Lord's Supper. Our Lord's Agony LECTURE XXII. MARCH 13, 1801. Matthew xxvii.-Christ carried before Pilate; tried; condemned; and LECTURE XXIII. MARCH 20, 1801. LECTURE XXIV. MARCH 27, 1801. LECTURES. LECTURE I. Ir being my intention to give from this place, on the Fridays during Lent, a course of Lectures, explanatory and practical, on such parts of scripture as seem to me best calculated to inform the understandings, and affect the hearts of those that hear me, I shall proceed, without further preface, to the execution of a design, in which edification not entertainment, usefulness not novelty, are the objects I have in view; and in which, therefore, I may sometimes perhaps avail myself of the labours of others, when they appear to me better calculated to answer my purpose than any thing I am myself capable of producing. Although my observations will for the present be confined entirely to the gospel of St. Matthew, and only to certain select parts even of that, yet it may not be improper or unprofitable to introduce these Lectures by a compendious view of the principal contents of those writings which go under the general name of the HOLY SCRIPtures. That book which we call THE BIBLE (that is, THE B |
