Excerpt from A Sermon, Preached in the Episcopal Church in Dedham, December 25, 1797: Being the Festival of Christmas Social worfhip, the obfervation of the Sabbath, Baptifm, and the Lord's Supper, are efl'ential, in the prefent order of nature, for the prefervation of the Chriitian fyftem. We therefore find each of there firietly enjoined, either by precept or example, in the New Tellament. Our annual Falls and Thankfgivings, confidered as volunta ry homage to the Supreme Being, deprecating his difpleafure, foliciting his ptoteetion, and ac knowledginfg his pait goodnefs, are not venera ble merely or being coeval with the fettlement of the country; but are culloms wife and good in themfelves. Very few are there, who are ia capable of contemplation, as to fupport internal religion, if all public forms ihould be laid afide. Of thefe, none are more pleafing than fuch as awaken a cheerful gratitude to God, or lead us to meditate on foch parts of the divine conduet, as are in the highelt degree interefiing to our felves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.