BY HENRY MELVILL, B.D., MINISTER OF CAMDEN CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE TOWER OF LONDON; COMPRISING All the Discourses Published by Consent of the Author. EDITED BY •harle RIGHT REV. C. P. M'ILVAINE, D. D., BISHOP OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE OF OHIO. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME I. NINTH THOUS 4 N D. New York: STANFORD AND SWORDS, 137, BROADWAY. 1853. TO THE CONGREGATION OF CAMDEN CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, In acknowledgment of many kindnesses shown him, through years of health, and months of sickness; and in the hope that what is now published may help to strengthen them for duty, and comfort them in trial, this volume is inscribed with every sentiment of christian affection, by their faithful friend and pastor, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The Author has selected the following sermons for publication, from having observed that passages of Scripture which may more easily be overlooked, as presenting nothing very prominent, prove especially interesting to an audience when shown to be "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." He has material in hand for another volume of the like kind, and may hereafter commit it to the press, if he should have reason to think that the present has proved acceptable. CAMBERWELL, January, 1843. THE LIBRARY jorge Lenox and Trider 15990 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, FEBRUARY, 1836. SERMON I-THE GREATNESS AND CONDESCENSION OF GOD SERMON II-THE TERMINATION OF THE MEDIATORIAL KINGDOM SERMON III-THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE POSSESSION OF THE SERMON IV.-NEGLECT OF THE GOSPEL FOLLOWED BY ITS REMOVAL SERMONS PREACHED IN GREAT ST. MARY'S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE, AT THE EVENING LECTURE IN FEBRUARY, 1836 AND 1837- SERMON (1836.)-THE GREATNESS OF SALVATION AN ARGUMENT FOR THE SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, FEBRUARY, 1837. SERMON. THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL, PREACHED AT TRINITY CHURCH, MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS. EDITOR S PREFACE THE author of these discourses is well known in England as an eloquent and earnest preacher of the Gospel, "Envy itself," says the British Critic, "must acknowledge his great abilities and great eloquence." After having occupied the highest standing, while an under-graduate of the University of Cambridge, he was chosen to a Fellowship in St. Peter's College, and, for some time, was a tutor to that Society Thence he was called to the pastoral charge of Camden Chapel, (a pro prietary chapel,) in the overgrown parish of Camberwell, one of the populous suburbs of London. The first twelve discourses in this volume were preached in that pulpit, and the rest, while he was connected therewith. It has not unfrequently been the privilege of the Editor to worship and Listen, in company with the highly interesting and intelligent congregation that crowds the pews and aisles, and every corner of a standing-place in that edifice; fully participating in that entire and delightful captivity of mind in which their beloved pastor is wont to lead the whole mass of his numerous auditory. Melvill is not yet what is usually called a middle-aged man. His constitution and physica powers are feeble. His lungs and chest needing constant care and protection, often seem deter mined to submit no longer to the efforts they are required to make in keeping pace with his highwrought and intense animation. The hearer sometimes listens with pain lest ar instrument so frail, and struck by a spirit so nerved with the excitement of the most inspiring themes, should suddenly break some silver cord, and put to silence a harper whose notes of thunder, and strains of warning, invitation, and tenderness, the church is not prepared to lose. Generally, however, one thinks but little of the speaker while hearing Melvill. The manifest defects of a very peculiar delivery, both as regards its action and intonation: (if that may be called action which is the mere quivering and jerking of a body too intensely excited to be quiet a moment)-the evident feebleness and exhaustion of a frame charged to the brim with an earnestness which seems laboring to find a tongue in every limb, while it keeps in strain and rapid action every muscle and fibre, are forgotten, after a little progress of the discourse, in the rapid and swelling current of thought in which the hearer is carried along, wholly engrossed with the new aspects, the rich and glowing scenery, the bold promi nences and beautiful landscapes of truth, remarkable both for variety and unity, with which every turn of the stream delights him. But then one must make haste, if he would see all. Melvill de livers his discourses as a war-horse rushes to the charge. He literally runs, till for want of breath he can do so no longer. His involuntary pauses are as convenient to his audience as essential to himself. Then it is, that an equally breathless audience, betraying the most convincing signs of having forgotten to breathe, commence their preparation for the next outset with a degree of unan imity and of business-like effort of adjustment, which can hardly fail of disturbing, a little, a strang. er's gravity, There is a peculiarity in the composition of Melvill's congregation which contributes much to give peculiarity to his discourses. His chapel is a centre to which hearers flock, drawn by the reputation of the preacher, not only from all the neighborhood, but from divers parts of the great me tropolis, bringing under his reach, not only the highest intellectual character, but all varieties of states of mind; from that of the devout believer, to that of the habitual doubter, or confirmed infidel. In this mixed multitude, young men, of great importance, occupy a large place. Seed sown in that congregation is seen scattered over all London and carried into all England. Hence there is an evi dent effort on the part of the preacher to introduce as much variety of topic and of treatment as is consistent with the great duty of always preaching and teaching Jesus Christ; of always holding up the cross, with all its connected truths surrounding it, as the one great and all-pervading subject of his ministry. To these circumstances he alludes in a passage towards the end of the sermon on the Difficulties of Scripture, a sermon we would particularly recommend to the reader—and a pass |