The present miseries and mischiefs of sin discoursed in a sermon before the late Lord mayor of London at Guild-Hall chappel / by Robert Wensley ...

To the Honoured Lady THE LADY REBECCA LYTTON; Relict of Sir ROWLAND LYTTON, Late of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, K^nt. And to her most Hopeful Son, Mr. Playters Lucy.

IN Obedience to your desires (which by reason of my many Obligations to you both, ought by me to be esteemed as Commands) having perused my Discourse, and added to it what I thought expedient, and considering in what manner I should (in An∣swer to your Request) present it to you; after some consideration I have chosen to do it in the most publick manner that I could.

Not only for that common reason, (though I think that may be sufficient to acquit me from Ostentation) viz. That I might publickly acknowledge

how much I am obliged to you: But because by my long Acquaintance with your Vertues, I am fully assured that this Sermon can scarcely meet with any Readers who have less need of it than either of you. Wherefore I concluded, that since you were plea∣sed to think it useful for your selves in private, it might be much more beneficial to others in publick.

For as for your Ladiship, I must beg pardon of your modesty to say that your great Prudence and Piety, is a sufficient guard against all Temptations to those Sins which in this following Discourse are proved Guilty of all the Miseries and Mischiefs of Mankind.

And as for that Worthy Gentle∣man your Son (whom I cannot but be proud to call my Pupil) all that have had the happiness to have been

acquainted with him from his Child∣hood, (as I have) cannot but Love and Honour him for his Vertues, which seem innate in him, be∣ing so constantly Visible in all his Actions. For I should be unjust to him, if I should not say that I always knew him of that sweetness and even∣ness of Temper, as though he had no Passion in him, but a desire to oblige all Persons with whom he conversed, nor any excess but an excess of Kind∣ness; and this joyned with such a ••••ick∣ness of Apprehension, and business ••f Action, that I may (I think without any Complement) say of him that he seems so made by Nature, as if God had on purpose framed him to demon∣strate the Beauty and Loveliness of Vertue to all those of his Quality in this Degenerate Age.

For so naturally is he inclined to all Good, and averse from anything that is Evil, that one would almost think that he alone was exempted from that general Corruption and De∣pravity of Nature, which all other Men derive from Adam. So that since I so fully know that this Sermon could be of no great use to either of you, and since I should be ungrateful should I have denyed your Request, I hope you will Pardon me, if I per∣form it in such a manner as it may be useful to such, to whom it is most necessary; in confidence of which, (wishing to you both all the Happiness of this World, and that which is to come) I take leave to Subscribe my self.

Your most obliged humble Servant. Rob. Wensley.