The Preface to thé Reader. too.keen Refentments) of thefe Hiftorical Accounts ofthem. (.And to leave thefe things out was more than Mr. Baxter would allow me, or admit of. Pardon one who a&s by Order, not of Choice. 4. That fuch copious and prolix Difcourfes fhould be here inferted about Things fitter for oblivion, than to be remembred, may feem liable to Exceptions and Diftatt from force ; viz. fuch Difcourfes as refpe& the Solemn League and Covenant, the Oxford Aet, etc. Things 'nowabandon'd and repealed by Aet of Parliament for Li- berty ofConfcience. But r: thofe prefliing A&sare yet upon Record, andfó, ex- poled to the view of Men, from Age to Age. z. They reprefent Diffenters as an intolerable Seed ofMen. 3. All Readers will not readily difcem what here is laid by way of Apology for thofe of whom fuch Ads rook hold. 4. Hereby Dif- femurs will appear to all fucceedingGenerations, as a People worthy of nothing but National Severities and Relraints. Whence s. their Enemies will be confirm- ed in their groundlefs Thoughts and Cenfuresof them. 6. This will not lead .to that Love and Concord amongil all Proteftants which God's Laws,and the Pub-, lick Intereff and Welfare of Church and State require. 7. Thole things abode fo long in force, and to fach fatal dreadful purpofe, as that the Effe&s thereof are felt by manyFamilies and Perforas to this day. 8. And all this was but to dif- charge fome, of no fmall Figure in their Day , from all Obligations to perform what had been folemnly vowed to God. Surely fuch as never took that Covenant could only difclaimall Obligationson themfelves to keep it, by virtue of any filch Vowupon themfelves : but to difcharge chofe that had taken ir, from what therein they had vowed to God to do ( till God himfelf difcharge them, or that it be evi- dent from the intrinfick unalterable Evil of the Matter vowed, that no filch Vow (hall ftand ) is more than I dare undertake to prove at prevent or to vindicate in the great Day. However, a Man's own Latitude of Perfwafion cannot, as filch; abfolve another, nor eo naming, be another's Rule or Law. But 9. if thefe long Difcourfes be needful, pertinent, clear, and Prong, as to the rate of that Affair their length may be born with. to. Tho Author thought it needful to have Os let in the clear open Light, to difabufe all that had been impaled on, by folle,H partial and defeetiveHiftory in this Matter; and to remove, or prevent, or ááy Scandal and Cenfure for time tocome. i r. And if fach things be allo p:rbli he to make our (elves and others, Pill more fenfible of what we owe to God, and trour molt gracious King ( and his late'SoveraignContort, and our then molt gr,eious Queen Mary, not to be parallel'd in any Hiftory that I know of, br any p her Sex, for All truly Royal Excellencies ) and to his Parliaments, who have f much obliged us with freeing us from thofe Co uncomfortable Bonds ; what Faulcan be imputed to the Publither herein ? Shall Gratitude be thought a Crime though more copious in the Materials of it, than may every way confet with tie ltri&er Bounds ofAccuracy ? 12. I am apt to think ( and not without cogenrground ) that very many Readers ( now and hereafter ) would ( with the Aunor) have thought one unfaithful to themfelvesand him, had I not tranfmitted o Polterity who he left, and as he left it for their ufe. And I hope therefore that the Reader will not interpret thisPublication as the Produ& of a Recriminating spirit. God himfelf knows it to beno fuch Birth. Thirdly, The Publication. r. The Author wrote it for this End. 2. He left it with me to be pubiilhed af- ter his Death. 3: He left it to the Judgment of another and m/ felt only, by a Writing ordered to be given me after his Death, as my Direetory about the Publi- cationof his other Manuleripts, which are many, and of monent. And if the reif entrufted with me about their being printed ( one or two ca which he ordered me tochoofe ad libitum , as fitly fuppofing all might not be at leifure) (hall think fit (of whole confent I nothing doubt) you may expeet a confiderabla Volume of Letters byway of Epiltolary Intercourfe betwixt him aad Mr. Lawton, Mr. Barg Mr. Vines, Mr. Gataker, Mr. W. the Lord Chief Juftice Hales, Mr. Sa. maul `facomb, Mr. Dodwell, his dear Flock and Friends at Kedderminfier, with feve- ral others. Thefè Letters are Polemical, Cafuittical, and Praetical. Some are Monitoryand Reproving : but their Names forbidden to be mentioned. Which Order thall faithfully be by me obferved ; Non enim me minus obfeguij gaam i1am conf:lij punter. If we may find Encouragement, I doubt not of the Reader's confi- derable Satisfa&ion and Advantage. But (to return to where I left) 4. He had neither
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