1 The word is here used iu the obsolete sense of " mistnhc," and has no reference to the legal offence of evasion or concealment now understood bv the terra.— Kn.
TO THE EEADEE. 155
to have my hand against others, and theirs against me, that put me upon this task. I never like myself worse than when faced with a vizard of disputing in controversies. The complexion of my soul is much more pleasant unto me in the waters of Shiloah : —
" Nuper me in littore vidi.
Cum placidum ventis staret mare." i
What invitation there can be in itself for any one to lodge, much less abide, in
this quarrelsome, scrambling territory, where, as TertuUian^ says of Pontus,
" omne quod flat Aquilo est," no wind blows but what is sharp and keen, I know
not. Small pleasure in those walks which are attended vdth dangerous precipices
and uni^leasing difficulties on every side: —
" Utque viam teneas, nulloque errore traharis ; Per tamen adversi gradieris cornua Tauri, Htemoniosque arcus, violentique ora Leonis." 3
No quiet nor peace in these things and ways, but continual brawls and dis- sensions : —
" Non hospes ab hospite tutus,
Non socer a geuero: fratrum quoque gratia rara est." «
The Strongest bonds of nearest relations are too commonly broken by them. Were it not for that precept, Jude 3, and the like, of " contending earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints," with the sounding of my bowels for the loss of poor seduced souls, I could willingly engage myself into an unchangeable resolution to fly all wordy battles and paper combats for the residue of my few and evil days.
It is not, then (that I may return), any salamandrian complexion that was the motive to this undertaking. Neither, secondly, was it any conceit of my own abilities for this work, as though I were the fittest among many to undertake it. I know that as in all things I am " less than the least of all saints," so in these I am
Abler' pens have had, within these few years, the discussing and ventilating of some of these questions in our own language. Some have come to my hands, but none of weight, before I had well-nigh finished this heap of mine own, which was some twelve months since and upwards. In some of these, at least, in all of them, I had rested fully satisfied, but that I observed they had all tied up themselves to some certain parts of the controversy, especially the removing of objections, nei- ther compassing nor methodizing the whole; whereby I discerned that the nature of the things under debate,— namely, satisfaction, reconciliation, redemption, and the like,— was left exceedingly in the dark, and the strong foundation of the whole building not so much as once discovered. It was always upon my desires that some one would undertake the main, and unfold out of the word, from the bottom, the whole dispensation of the love of God to his elect in Jesus Christ, with the conveyance of it through the promises of the gospel, being in all the fruits thereof purchased and procured by the oblation and intercession of Jesus Christ; by which it could not but be made apparent what was the great design of the blessed Trinity in this great work of redemption, with how vain an attempt and fruitless endeavour it must needs be to extend it beyond the bounds and limits assigned unto it by the principal agents therein. That arguments also might be produced for the confirmation of the truth we assert, in opposition to the error opposed, and so the weak established and dissenters convinced, was much in my wishes. The doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ, his merit, and the reconciliation wrought thereby, understood aright by few, and of late oppugned by some, being so nearly related to the point of redemption, I desired also to have seen cleared, unfolded^,
5 v!nfii?"« ^^- "; ^^,- ^ ^^- ^^^''- S Ovid. Met. ii. 79. 4 Ovid. Met. i 144.
Clawing sinnerr^' ^ ™^ "verend and learned brother, Mr John Stalham; Mr Rutherford, Christ
156 TO THE READER,
vindicated, by some able pen. But now, after long waiting, finding none to answer my expectation, although of myself I can truly say, with him in the Comedian, " Ego me neque tarn astutum esse, neque ita perspicacem id scio," that I should be fit for such an undertaking, the counsel of the poet also running much in my mind, —
" Snmite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, sequam ■yiribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent, Quid valeant humeri." 1
Yet, at the last, laying aside all such thoughts, by looking up to Him Avho sup_ plieth seed to the sower, and doth all our works for us, I suffered myself to be overcome unto the work with that of another, " Ab alio quovis hoc fieri mallem quam a me; sed a me tamen potius quam a nemine;" — "I had rather it should have been done by any than myself, of myself only rather than of none;" especi- ally considering the industrious diligence of the opposers of truth in these days: —
"Scribimus indocti doctique,
Ut jugulent homines, surgunt de nocte latrones ; TJt tcipsum serves non expergisceris?"^
Add imto the former desire a consideration of the frequent conferences I had been invited unto about these things, the daily spreading of the opinions here opposed about the parts where I live, and a greater noise concerning their pre- vailing in other places, with the advantage they had obtained by some military abettors, with the stirring up of divers eminent and learned friends, and you have the sum of what I desire to hold forth as the cause of my undertaking this task. What the Lord hath enabled me to perform therein must be left to the judgment of others. Altogether hopeless of success I am not; but fully resolved that I shall not live to see a solid answer given unto it. If any shall undertake to velli- cate and pluck some of the branches, rent from the roots and principles of the whole discourse, I shall freely give them leave to enjoy their own wisdom and imaginary conquest. If any shall seriously undertake to debate the whole cause, if I live to see it effected, I shall engage myself, by the Lord's assistance, to be their humble convert or fair antagonist. In that which is already accomplished by the good hand of the Lord, I hope the learned may find something for their content- ment, and the weak for their strengthening and satisfaction; that in all some glory may redound to Him whose it is, and vhose truth is here unfolded by the imworthiest labourer in his vineyard, J. O.