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TO THE

REVEREND AND WORSHIPFUL THE

CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE,

VISITING

IN THE REGretted abSENCE, THROUGH INDISPOSITION,

OF

THE RIGHT REVEREND

THE LORD BISHOP OF SARUM,

AND

TO THE REVEREND THE CLERGY

ATTENDING THE TRIENNIAL VISITATION AT WARMINSTER,

This Sermon,

PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST,

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THEIR FAITHFUL AND OBLIGED SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.

A SERMON.

2 TIMOTHY IV 5.

WATCH THOU IN ALL THINGS, ENDURE AFFLICTIONS, DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST, MAKE FULL PROOF OF THY MINISTRY.

If the value of a precept, independently of its intrinsic excellence, can be affected in any degree by the circumstances under which it was delivered, it would be difficult, perhaps, to select one more touchingly impressive, or more appropriate to the occasion of our present meeting, my Reverend Brethren, than that which I have chosen for my text. From the memorable hour, when, on the road to Damascus, he exclaimed, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" the life of St. Paul was as preeminent in suffering, as in zeal for the cause to which he then devoted himself. The narrative,

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indeed, of his life, from his conversion to his martyrdom, is a practical illustration of the truth with which he stated himself to be

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ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the Lord Jesus ;" and now, that the time of his departure is at hand, how strongly does he manifest the desire of his heart, that "Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death!"

It was from within the walls of a prison, that the exhortation of the text was indited by the Apostle; and the rigour and severity with which his imprisonment was accompanied, may be gathered from the recollections so gratefully expressed by him, when in the fulness of his heart he wrote to Timothy, "The Lord give mercy unto the House of Onesiphorus, for he was not ashamed of my chain, but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me." Yet so unsubdued was his courage, so undaunted his spirit, so undiminished his attachment to the cause of these sufferings, that with a prison and chains, and even death in his view, he could still, in its behalf, beseech Timothy, "Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an Evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

Now in considering this exhortation as addressed to ourselves, I would ask, is there

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