SERMON S, PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. BY THE REVEREND EDWARD BURTON, D.D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, AND CANON OF CHRIST-CHURCH. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, AND WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL: 1832. PREFACE. THE following Sermons were all preached, as is stated in the title-page, before the University of Oxford. The first in the series was preached in the year 1825, the last in 1831. I have thought it best to print them in the order in which they were delivered; and though in preparing them for the press I might perhaps have introduced some alterations and additions, which would have made them less unworthy of publication, I have preferred printing them without any material corrections. In reading them over again, after some interval of time, I see no reason to alter or retract the opinions which I had previously expressed. I am aware, that the present age is one peculiarly marked by a want of charity in religious discussions: and every person who publishes Sermons must expect to be attacked, as if his errors were not only of the head, but of the heart. I am aware also, that it is very difficult to avoid being classed with some particular party in the Church. Those who are actuated by a spirit of party themselves, are sure to attribute similar feelings to others: they cannot imagine that a man can be zealous and in earnest, without feeling an antipathy to those who differ from him; and I observe with great regret, that many persons, whose views are highly spiritual, who are strictly moral in their practice, and who have the warmest faith in their Redeemer, are extremely deficient in the feelings of evangelical charity. If there be any thing in these Discourses which expose me to a charge of this kind, I hope that it will bring upon me a just severity of criticism. If they should be displeasing to those who, attaching themselves to no party, are |