_ TO THE Llnprejudic'd Reader. AS I Preach not topleafe Mens Ears, /o but little regard ought to be had to the Scoffing Refietlions of fuch Men, who contemn every thingof this kind, unlefs it confifbs of a Fancy- taking Mo4elationof empty Rhetorick, or a high Florid Stile, mixt with Wit, Learning, and Philofophical Notions. Sad it vs tofee that in Divine Matters, nay, in Preach- ing, Perfonsfhouldaffen New Modes and Fashi- ons, (as to the fhame of the prefent Generation, they do in refe ` of Garbs and Dreffes :) I an not for Airy and Florid Orations in the Mini- ftration of the Word of God, but for that plain Way of Preaching ufed by the Holy Apoftles, and our Worthy Modern Divines. Betides, could I fo Preach or Write, as is the Flefh-pleafng, Ear- ticklingA-la-mode ofthe Times, offlthwhoflu- dy Words more thanMatter, it would be utterly diflik'd by all fisch Pions Chriftians, for whore fake, andat whofe Importunity theft Sermons are publifhed. The Holy Apoflle (who tho profoundly Learned) difclaims any Rhetorical Flouriíhes, or perfwafive Oratory, butprofeffes that his Speech and Preaching, was not with the Inticing Words of Man's Wifdom, but in the demon- A2 frtion
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