PREFACE. THOUGH the Gospel of Christ was abundantly confirmed in the first ages of Christianity, by testimonies of every kind, yet I love to see daily and living witnesses arise, and set their seal to the truth and divinity of this Gospel. Every transcript of it in the heart of a Christian is a new argument to confirm it. "Blessed is he that believes, for he has the witness in himself, that Jesus is the Son of God:" and blessed is he that hath wisdom and courage in this unbelieving age, to make this inward testimony appear and shine to the world. This is one reason why I value the memoirs of holy men; and among those which I have seen, I am not ashamed to recommend this as one of the most valuable, and that on these accounts, namely, I. I found here the inward and experimental work of Christianity described at large, by a wise, a learned, and an ingenious man, who seems to have been a strict observer of his own spirit, and of all the secret motions of it, and the more secret springs. Here you may see the crooked and perverse workings of a carnal heart in a state of nature; the subtle twinings of the old serpent to keep the soul from 11 God and his Christ; and all the counter-workings of sovereign grace, which in the end appears victorious ! You see here the self-flattery and many deceits, whereby sinners raise a good esteem of themselves, and build up their vain confidence, in opposition to the holiness of the law, and the grace of the gospel; and here Christians may learn much of the holy skill that is needful to maintain a constant and glorious war with sin, by strength that is in Christ, and they may read the triumph of a dying conqueror. Now, though every Christian hath some inward sense of divine things, yet every one has not so rich a variety of experiences; and among those that have, few are so watchful as to take a due account of them; few so wise as to judge aright concerning them; and few so faithful and bold as to consign these things to writing for the use of others. Men that are fit to publish their observations of this kind generally imagine, that humility requires to bury them in silence and darkness. But the author and subject of this narrative was a man of great piety, bright natural parts, studious learning, and uncommon penetration and judgment, as sufficiently appears in his other writings; yet there is such a vein of humility and honesty that runs through every page, that you may see the secret workings of his thoughts, through his holy language. His sins as well as his graces, lie open to sight, the labours of his soul appear to the eye, and the pious reader will find himself at once delighted and improved. So the curious operations of bees are seen through a hive of glass, |