Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon,
ecuted a scheme difficult and dangerous . It hath pleased the Author of all goodness to permit him fully to accomplish this favourite purpose ; at once honourable to himself , and beneficial to this populous and increasing neighbourhood . " Now , therefore , our God , we thank thee , and praise thy glorious name . " ' If we consider the local circumstances of this wealth y place , we shall find few situations that more forcibly require so useful a
structure . And while we contemplate the dreadful accident by which numbers perished , and behold the tears , on their accMiut , ret streaming in your eyes , we cannot forbear looking up with grailude to that almighty Being , who is " a strength to the poor , a strength to the needy in his distress , a refuge from the storm , a shadow from the heat . *
' If we look back upon the annals of former ages , we shall discover that founders of bridges were reckoned amongst the greatest benefactors of mankind . And , surely , it must be considered as a material branch of hospitality , to give a safe passage to the weary traveller over the rough and pointed rock ,- the dangerous whirlpool , or the foaming stream .
'in the middle age , the construction of bridges was ranked among the number of acts of religion ; and a regular order was founded towards the close of the 12 th century , under the denomination of pontifices , or bridge-builders ; whose chief object was to be assistant to travellers , by making bridges , settling ferries , and receiving strangers in hospitals , or houses built on the banks of rivers . f
' Almost on the spot where we now stand , at a religious foundation on the opposite side of the river , the fine arts were first introduced into the north of England . It becomes also your boast , that that maferial , so long and so justly esteemed the most useful of metals , should in this place—1 cannot , perhaps , say with accuracy , for the first timebut certainlfor the first time on so extensive and
excel-, y lent a plan—be applied to so beneficial a purpose . In this structure , utility and beauty are united ; and one of the noblest of the arts adapted to the noblest design . Like that vast arch , bent by the hand of the Most Hi gh , it stands the admiration of all beholders ; and ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon,
ecuted a scheme difficult and dangerous . It hath pleased the Author of all goodness to permit him fully to accomplish this favourite purpose ; at once honourable to himself , and beneficial to this populous and increasing neighbourhood . " Now , therefore , our God , we thank thee , and praise thy glorious name . " ' If we consider the local circumstances of this wealth y place , we shall find few situations that more forcibly require so useful a
structure . And while we contemplate the dreadful accident by which numbers perished , and behold the tears , on their accMiut , ret streaming in your eyes , we cannot forbear looking up with grailude to that almighty Being , who is " a strength to the poor , a strength to the needy in his distress , a refuge from the storm , a shadow from the heat . *
' If we look back upon the annals of former ages , we shall discover that founders of bridges were reckoned amongst the greatest benefactors of mankind . And , surely , it must be considered as a material branch of hospitality , to give a safe passage to the weary traveller over the rough and pointed rock ,- the dangerous whirlpool , or the foaming stream .
'in the middle age , the construction of bridges was ranked among the number of acts of religion ; and a regular order was founded towards the close of the 12 th century , under the denomination of pontifices , or bridge-builders ; whose chief object was to be assistant to travellers , by making bridges , settling ferries , and receiving strangers in hospitals , or houses built on the banks of rivers . f
' Almost on the spot where we now stand , at a religious foundation on the opposite side of the river , the fine arts were first introduced into the north of England . It becomes also your boast , that that maferial , so long and so justly esteemed the most useful of metals , should in this place—1 cannot , perhaps , say with accuracy , for the first timebut certainlfor the first time on so extensive and
excel-, y lent a plan—be applied to so beneficial a purpose . In this structure , utility and beauty are united ; and one of the noblest of the arts adapted to the noblest design . Like that vast arch , bent by the hand of the Most Hi gh , it stands the admiration of all beholders ; and ,