Tbe Preface~ . was for fotne Ages ·filled with uproars,. confufion; and: fcandalous diforders about the Perfon of Chrift,through. the curfed oppofitions made thereunto by the Gates. of Hell. Neither had the Church any RdlSrom thefe con– flitts for .aooutfive hundred _.years. But near that · pe· riod of time, the Power ofTruth and Religion begin-– ing univerfally to decay~ong the outward Profeffors, of them, Satan took a vantage to make that havock and deil:ruetion of the · hurch, by fuperil:ition, falfe worlliip, and profanenefs of life, which he failed of in his attetnpt again£1: the Perfon ofChrifr,or the Doctrine .cfTruth concerning it. . · It woul-d be a tedious work, and it may be not of much profit unto them who ate utterly unacquainted with things fo long paft and gone,. wherein they feem to have no.concernment, to give aSpecimen of the feve-- .:ral HerefJes wheteby attempts were 1nade againil this~ Rock and Found~tion of the Church ; unto thofe who· have enquired into the Records of Antiquity, it would: be altogether ufelefs.. For almofr every-page of them at firfl: view prefents the Readers with _an account of fome one or more of the1n. Yet do I eil:eem it ufeful that the very ordinary fort of Chrifhans ihould· at leafl:: in genera~ be acqpainted with \iVhat hath pafled in this.. great contefr about the Perfon of Chrifl: from the begin– ing~ For there are nvo things relating thereunto,where– ~ their Faith is greatly concer~ed ~ £or firfl:, there ~s ; e.v~ j
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