Excerpt from Sermon Preached at the Visitation of the Honourable and Right Reverend Richard, Lord Bishop of Durham: Held in the Parish Church of St. Mary Le Bow in Durham, on Thursday, July 27, 1758 If we take a view of chril'cianity in the firfi ages, we {hall find it mighti increafing from very fmall beginnings; fpreading and ex tending itfelf far and wide with a quick progrefs; and 'like leaven, ' as our Saviour very expreflively reprefents it, hid in a large quantity of meal, working and fermenting by degrees, till the whole was leavened.' We firfi hear that the number of the names of the difciples together, were about an hundred and twenty. Soon after in one day there were added unto them about three thoufand fouls. Next the number of them that heard the word, which Peter {poke to them, and believed, was about five thoufand. And believers were {till added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.' Ac the fame time they abounded in charity, in faith, and in good works the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one foul they continued f'tedfafily in the apoliles doctrine and fellowlhip they had all things common, and fold their pofi'ellions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.' such was the Rate of the church at its very firfi eflabliihment, and as yet con fined to Jerufalem: (mall in extent, and few in number; but full of grace and of power, perfeet in every good work, and rich in all the fruits of the fpirit. 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.