Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon Preached At Greenwich, On The Festival Of St. John The Baptist, June 24, 1774,
A SERMON PREACHED AT GREENWICH , ON THE FESTIVAL OF ST . JOHN THE BAPTIST , JUNE 24 , 1774 ,
B-TFOIIE THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS / UNDER THE SANCTION OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ATHOL , G . M .
BY JAMES GRANT , LL . D . LECTU . 1 EE AT ST . LEONARD ' S , SHOREDITCH , AND VICAR OF KEMFSTON , IN THE COUNTY . OF BEDFORD .
i CORINTHIANS i . 10 . Now 1 beseech you , Brethren , by the Name of our Lorcl Jesus Christ , that you all speak the same thing , and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together hi the same mind , and in tbe same judgment . P'lP'HE best things are liable to the worst corruptions . This was
jj even the fate of Christianity , though taught by the purest teachers , and planted by men divinely inspired . Although its own native excellence and utility were sufficient to recommend it to every candid mind ; although it published nothing but what was trul y interesting to human happiness , and conveyed such truths as were not only of immediate importance to manbut many others almost as old
, as creation itself ; and though its doctrines , its precepts ., its promised rewards , and its threatened punishments , were placed beyond the power of change ; j'et we find that a love of novelty , an ardent desire of being thought singular , the pride of false learning , and the itch of refinement , were able to produce many contending factions among its professorsand make them forget the benevolent and uniting
spi-, rit of that excellent and divine institution , which had been tauo-ht them from heaven , and to which , amidst all their broils and contests , they still pretended- to adhere . The city of Corinth , at the time that St . Paul wrote his first epistle , was , like all other large and over-grown cities , filled with inhabitants of various talents , and of as various aims and dispositions .
Among those who had adopted the profession of Christianity in that city , were many of the Jewish descent and education , zealously devoted to their ancient customs , and uncommonly anxious to intermix them with the plainer duties , and more simple dictates of the gospel : while , on the other hand , were to be found as maiiy more of the Grecian converts , who , following the deceitful li ghts offalse learning , were most studious of human wit and argument , set off with much ¦ Mt and acu . _ et . ess , were warmly attached to their pretended wise VOL , IV , M
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon Preached At Greenwich, On The Festival Of St. John The Baptist, June 24, 1774,
A SERMON PREACHED AT GREENWICH , ON THE FESTIVAL OF ST . JOHN THE BAPTIST , JUNE 24 , 1774 ,
B-TFOIIE THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS / UNDER THE SANCTION OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ATHOL , G . M .
BY JAMES GRANT , LL . D . LECTU . 1 EE AT ST . LEONARD ' S , SHOREDITCH , AND VICAR OF KEMFSTON , IN THE COUNTY . OF BEDFORD .
i CORINTHIANS i . 10 . Now 1 beseech you , Brethren , by the Name of our Lorcl Jesus Christ , that you all speak the same thing , and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together hi the same mind , and in tbe same judgment . P'lP'HE best things are liable to the worst corruptions . This was
jj even the fate of Christianity , though taught by the purest teachers , and planted by men divinely inspired . Although its own native excellence and utility were sufficient to recommend it to every candid mind ; although it published nothing but what was trul y interesting to human happiness , and conveyed such truths as were not only of immediate importance to manbut many others almost as old
, as creation itself ; and though its doctrines , its precepts ., its promised rewards , and its threatened punishments , were placed beyond the power of change ; j'et we find that a love of novelty , an ardent desire of being thought singular , the pride of false learning , and the itch of refinement , were able to produce many contending factions among its professorsand make them forget the benevolent and uniting
spi-, rit of that excellent and divine institution , which had been tauo-ht them from heaven , and to which , amidst all their broils and contests , they still pretended- to adhere . The city of Corinth , at the time that St . Paul wrote his first epistle , was , like all other large and over-grown cities , filled with inhabitants of various talents , and of as various aims and dispositions .
Among those who had adopted the profession of Christianity in that city , were many of the Jewish descent and education , zealously devoted to their ancient customs , and uncommonly anxious to intermix them with the plainer duties , and more simple dictates of the gospel : while , on the other hand , were to be found as maiiy more of the Grecian converts , who , following the deceitful li ghts offalse learning , were most studious of human wit and argument , set off with much ¦ Mt and acu . _ et . ess , were warmly attached to their pretended wise VOL , IV , M