THREE SERMONS, PREACHED BY MR. JOHN WILKINSON, OF HIGH WYCOMBE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE; THE FIRST AT THE FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, LIVERPOOL, AND THE OTHER TWO AT THE FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, MANCHESTER, IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1834. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW; MDCCCXXXV. [Price One Shilling.] HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE ANDREW PRESTON FEABODY February 3, 1942 BANCKS AND CO., PRINTERS, MANCHESTER. THREE SERMONS, &c. SERMON I. PREACHED AT THE FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE, LIVERPOOL, "REPENT ye and believe the Gospel." [Mark I. 15.]—We are fallen creatures: we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Of what infinite moment is it, then, to every one of us that we truly repent, for God commandeth all men, every where to repent, because He has appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead. On the one hand, therefore, we are warned, that we may be made sensible of our dangerous state,—on the other hand we are mercifully invited to believe the gospel. But it may be said, "how can we repent and believe the Gospel ?" O my beloved friends, nothing short of the influence of the Holy Spirit upon the heart can bring us to repentance, and to the belief of the Gospel. By nature we are dead in trespasses and sins. In us, that is in our flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. God by his Holy Spirit is able to renew us,-to give us life that we may repent and believe, and that we may have everlasting life. The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. If, therefore, we have spiritual life communicated unto us by the Holy Spirit, and we be truly penitent and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall not be living unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. In the love of the Gospel, therefore, do I offer this to my beloved friends as a test;—what are our affections set upon? If they remain, as they have been, set upon the world and the things of the world, the treasures, the |