Church-history of the government of bishops and their councils abbreviated including the chief part…

THE PREFACE.

THE great usefulness of History needs not many words to prove it, seeing natural inclination it self is so much for it, and reason and experience tell men, that they cannot spare it, as to Natural, Civil, or Religious use. God himself hath highly commended it to us, by writing the Sacred Scriptures so much Historically; yea and making some of it part of the necessary Articles of our Creed. Children that yet understand not the Doctrinal part of the Bible, do quickly take delight in the Historical part; which prepareth them for the rest. Ignorant and ungodly persons that have no true sense of Sacred Doctrine, can yet understand and with less averseness and weariness read the history. Melancholy and sad persons who can hardly bear long Doctrinal studies, are often eased and recreated with useful History.

THE great usefulness of History needs not many words to prove it, seeing natural inclination it self is so much for it, and reason and experience tell men, that they cannot spare it, as to Natural, Civil, or Religious use. God himself hath highly commended it to us, by writing the Sacred Scriptures so much Historically; yea and making some of it part of the necessary Articles of our Creed. Children that yet understand not the Doctrinal part of the Bible, do quickly take delight in the Historical part; which prepareth them for the rest. Ignorant and ungodly persons that have no true sense of Sacred Doctrine, can yet understand and with lesse aversness and weariness read the history. Melancholy and sad persons who can hardly bear long Doctrinal studies, are often eased and recreated with useful History.

Man is a part of the Universe, and every man is a part of the world of mankind, and therefore thinketh the case of the whole to be much of his concern. And were not narrow selfishness much of our Pravity, we should take the universal and public good, and Gods Love to it and Pleasedness and Glory in it, to be much more our end, and the object of our desire and delight, than any personal felicity of our own; It is a Monster of inhumanity in the Doctrine of the Sadducees, Spinosa, Hobbes, and their brutish followers, that they set up Individual self interest as a mans chiefest end and object of rational Love and desire; and own no Good, but that which Relatively is Good to me, that is, either my personal life and pleasure as the end, or other things as a means thereto: Though Grace only savingly cure this base inhumane malady, yet common reason beareth witness against it, and only sense, and reason captivated by sense do patronize it. Put not the question to a reasonable man, though wicked, what he can do or doth: But what in reason he should do, and he cannot deny but that he should think of a more excellent person at the Indies, that never will do anything for him, as more amiable than himself,