is, for Perfons engaged in the Commerce of the World, and expofed to all the Dangers and Corruptions of it: And thefe I have endeavour'd to feed with Milk, and not with Meat; for they are not able to bear it; that is, I have made it my principal Business to inftruct them in all the most effential and indifpenfable Duties of a Chriftian Life: I have laid fuch Confiderations before them, as are most proper to wean their Hearts from all finful and inordinate Affections to the Things of this World; to inspire them with a Hatred to Sin, a Love of Virtue, and a Serious Concern for the Salvation of their Souls: Finally, I have recommended to them a regular Uniformity in the Practice of fuch Exercises and Devotions, as are both juited to their Circumftances, and will help to nourish and ftrengthen the foremention'd Chrif tian Difpofitions in their Souls. All this, I hope, they will find perform'd in the three Volumes of thefe Entertainments. Wherein if they meet fometimes with Repetitions of the Jame Truths or Maxims, I must affure them it it was wholly unavoidable. First, becaufe fince feveral Duties flow from one and the fame Principle, it was impoffible to explain thefe feveral Duties without repeating the Principle upon which they are grounded. 2dly, Because general Remedies must of Neceffity be repeated as often as any particular Dif temper, for which they are prefcribed, is fpoken of. And, 3dly, As the fame unhappy State of Sinners, the Dangers that attend it, and the Methods of their Cure are reprefented under diverfe Parables or Figures, in moralizing upon fome of these I was unavoidably lead to a Repetition of the fame Reflections, Remonfrances, and Advice; without which, the Subject I had undertaken, could not be fully handled, and my Difcourfe upon it would have been manifeftly defective. But tho' thefe Reafons had not obliged me to a frequent Repetition of fome Truths; yet I believe fome Readers at leaft will find their Account in it: For all Perfons are not quite fo happy in their Memories, nor fo eafy in receiving last ing Impreffions, but that they may stand in need of being told the fame Thing oftner than once. Befides, as the fame Meat does not always go down with an equal Relife, fo it is with spiritual Truths, which are the Food of our Souls: What we may not relish, or be touch'd with at one Time, may have better Success, and affect us very fenfbly at another. St. Auguftine was in a Moment determined to an entire Change of Life by reading a few Lines in St. Paul; yet it is probable he had read them many times before: But till that happy Moment, they had been as fo much Seed thrown upon a barren Soil. And we obferve the fame Diverfity of Success in phyfical Prescriptions: For the fame Phyfick adminifter'd to the fame Patient has a good Effect fometimes, and often none at all. And therefore as a Patient cannot reasonably be angry at his Phyfician for repeating the Jame Dofe as often as he thinks it for his Good, fo the Reader cannot justly quarrel with me for giving him the fame Advice often over, unless he can convince me that every one, who fall read thefe Enter Entertainments, will be fo docile as not to ftand in need of being told the fame Thing oftner than once, which I can rather wish, than hope for; fince we find by Experience that the Distempers of the Soul are ufually even more obstinate than thofe of the Body. I hope I shall not need to fear being accused of too much Rigour. For tho' I have been under a Neceffity of bandling many fevere Truths, I am not conIcious to myself of having overstrain'd any. But be that as it will, I fincerely fubmit both this and whatever I have writ, to the Judgment and Correction of my Superiours. And being fenfible how easily fame unguarded Expreffions may have flip'd from my Pen in fo great a Number and Variety of Dif courfes, it is my hearty Requeft, that whether I be alive or dead, they may not be printed without being first ftrictly examined by fome Perfon of known Judgment and Learning. CON |