To the Reader. Cht'dt, for the Redemption (or rather finething elfe, well I wot not what) of ah and every Man ; finding this render'd plau(ible from fome general Ex- preffions in the Word, feeming,to_ca1 an Eye of Favour that way, in the Light wherein they /land, as Alfa té be a fit' Subject for them to varnifb over and deck up, with Loofe, Ambiguous, Rhetorical Expre/ons, they attempt with all their Might toget Entertainment for if, knowing thatthole whd (ball receive it, may well call it Gad, being Jent before, only. to take up Quarters for the Troop that follows. To obviate this Evil, which being thus planted, and watered through other Sabtilties and Advantages, bath received no fmall lncreafe ; I have once and 'again * cal! in my Mite into the Treafury of that rich Provifion, which the Lord bath enabled many Men of Eminent Learning and Piety, to draw forth from the inexhaufible Store.houfe of Divine Truth, and to prepare it for the Tile of the Saints. In one 1 oftbofeTreatifr, having at large handled the fveralConcern- ment, of the Death of Chrifi, ás to the Satisfaftion and Merit thereof, in their Nature and Tendency, as ,vell as their Ob;eft and Extent; and find- ing fame Oppolition made to fundry Truths therein delìver'd, I have attempt ed through the allianceof Grace, to vindicate them from that Oppofition, to this enjuing Dilcourfe ; ns alto taken Occafion to hold forth fundry other Things of Weight and Importance; of all which you have an Account given in the' lirft Chapters thereof, whither I remit the Reader. For the prefent there arefome few Things, which (Cbriflian Reader) I &fire to acquaint thee withal in particular, :which fernething nearly concern the Buli- nef we have in hand. Since not only the compleat finifiing of this'Treatife under my Hand, which ìt now about five Months ago, but alto the Printing offame Partof it ; the two Differtations of Dr..Davenant, of the Death -of Gird, and of Predefti- nation and Reprobation were fee forth : Inhoth which, efpecially the former, there arefundry Affections, Pofitions, andThefts, differing from what is de- livered in theenfuingTreatif, and as Ifuppofe, repugnant unto Truth itfifeThe whole of that PerfuaSons, I confefs, which he endeavoureth in them to maintain, isfatted to the Exprejions offundry Learned Men, as Auftin, Hillary, Fulgen- tins, Profper, who in their Generationsdelrved exceeding well of theChurch of God: But that it is free fromOppofition io the Scripture, or indeedSelf-contra dtaTion, is notfo apparent. Tea, through the Patience andGoodnefs of God, I undertake to demonfrate, that the main Foundation of his whole Dilfertation about the Death of Chrif, with many Inferences from thence, are neither found in, nor founded on the Word, but that the feveral Parts thereof mutually confiding and deflrullove of each other, to the great Prejudice of the Truth therein contained. It is a Thing ofthe faddef Confideration po/Jïble, that Wife and Learned Men Jhould once fuppole, by tempering the Truths of God, fo that they may be Aired to the Self-Indulgency of unfubdned Carnal Afeutions, to give any Lullre to them, or in the hall to remove that Scandal and Offence, which the feflrly minded both take continually at thole Ways if God, which are far above .out of its fight. That Ibis is the grand Defign of filch Undertakings, ai that of theLearned Bifhop now mentioned, even to force the Myflericsof the Colelto a Condefcention andSuitablenefs unto the unpnrged Relicks g`. the Wifdom ofeNa- ture, when all other Thoughts ought to be captivated to the 06 dieare theree f io memollapparent. Whence elfe 'bottle/ it proceed, that fo many unfcriprwai Di- " otlrtay if Armin, silo. nteítarem fna:r r f i. t satru E7ett. II Rom. S. 7 , flintlienr,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=