Baxter - BJ1441 B3 1673

p~rts of his l~elation) _and of the Holy Gh?!l:. The dofrrine ofTemptati, ons is handled wnh brevtty, becaufe they arelo numerous ; lefl: a due am– plification f11ouldhave fwelled the Book coo much ; (when a fmall1'art of their number maketh up fo much of Mr. John Dorvname's great and ex– cellent Treatile called The (brijli.m Welfare.) The grellt radic;;l fins are handled more large!y than feemeth proportionable to the reil:, becanfe all die when they are dead. And I am large about ~deeming Time, becaufe therein the fum of a holy obedient life is included. 4· If any fay, Why call yo11 tl1at ajmn of Pr.1Etical ;'heologie which is bm the DireEI:ing part, and leaveth om the explication, reafons, various Ufes, marks, motives, &c ~ Ianfwer, 1. Had I intended Sermonwife to fay all that might well be faid on each fubjcCl:,it would have mademany Volumes as big as this. 2 . Where I thought them needful, rhe explicationof each duty and fin is added, with marks, contraries, counterfeits, motives, '-5"c. And Ufes are eafily added by an ordinary Re~der, without my naming them. 5· I do efpecially defire you to ob{erve, that the refo_lving of praEI:ic.1l [afes of Confcience, and the reducing of Theoretical knowledge into ferio;u Chriftian PraEI:ice and promoting a sk.ilfi•l facility in the faithful cxercife of univerfal obedience, and Holinefs of heart and life, is the great work of ~his Treatife; And that where I thought it needful the Cales are reduced to exprefs Q.tefl:ions and An[wers: But had I done fo by all, many fuch Vo– l~mes would have been too little : And therefore I thought the DireCting 1vaj moll: brief and fit for [l:riftian praElice: For if you mark them, you will find fewDireEI:ions in the Book, which may not pafs for the anlwer of an ( implyed) Qpefl:ion or Cafe of Con[cience, And when I have given you the Aliftver 1~ a Dtreaton, an 1ngenwus Reade: can tell what fhleftton it is that is anfvvered; And fo, many hundred Cafes are here refolved, efpecia[. ly in the twofirfl: Parts, which are not interrogatively named. 6. And I mull: do my felf the right as to notifie to the Reader, that this Treati!"e was written when I was (for not-fubfcribjng, Declaring, &c.) forbidden by the Law to Preach, and when I had been long feparated far from my Library aHd from all Books, faving an inconfiderable parcel which wand.red with me, where I went: By which means..this Book hath two dcfetl:s: t. It hath no Cafes.of Confcienre but what my bare memory brought to hand : And Cafes are fo innumerable, that it is far harder, me– thinks, to remember them, th-an to anfwer them : whereby it came to pafs that fome of the Ecclefiafl:ical Cafes, are put Out oftheir proper place, becaufe I could not feafonahly remember them. For I had no one Cafi.Jifl: but AmejiiUwith me. But (after about twelve years feparation) having received my Library, I find that the very fight of Saym>,Jor,'ll,ofo, CJ\jderique:z; To/et, &c. might have helpt my memory to a greater number : Bm· perhaps thefe will be enough for thofe that I intend them for. 2. And by rhe fame caufe the Margin is unfurnil11ed of fuch citations as are ac– counted an Ornament, and in fome cafes are very ufeful. The fcraps inferred out of my few trivial Books at hand being fo mean, as that I am well content (except about Monarchy Par. 4· ) that the Reader pafs them by as not worthy of his notice. · And it's like that the abfence of Books, will appear to the Readers lofs in the materials of the Treatife : But I Hull have this advantage by it that he

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