A defence of the principles of love, which are necessary to the unity and…

But at last considering, that by this rule I ⟨p. 42⟩might never tell any of their sins, nor preach repentance to them whilst I lived, and that I must not deny my duty and Charity to one sort, because another sort will not receive it, and seeing also necessity increase, and having already written and said so much to the other party, I resolved to imitate those two excellent faithful Tractates, viz. 1. Mr. M. Pool's Vox clamantis in deserto in Latin, calling the Non-conformable Ministers to Repentance, and Mr. Lewis Stukeley's (a worthy Congregational Minister in Exeter, and a kinsman of the late General Monks) enumerating copiously most of the Common sins of Religious Professors, and calling them earnestly and faithfully to repentance, which since the writing of this, I find excellently done in a book called Englands danger and only Remedy.

But at last considering, that by this rule I ⟨p. 42⟩might never tell any of their sins, nor preach repentance to them whilst I lived, and that I must not deny my duty and Charity to one sort, because another sort will not receive it, and seeing also necessity increase, and having already writen and said so much to the other party, I resolved to imitate those two excellent faithful Tractates, viz. 1. Mr. M. Pool's Vox clamantis in deserto in Latine, calling the Non-conformable Ministers to Repentance, and Mr. Lewis Stukeley's (a worthy Congregational Minister in Exeter, and a kinsman of the late General Monkes) enumerating copiously most of the Common sins of Religious Professors, and calling them earnestly and faithfully to repentance, which since the writing of this, I find excellently done in a book called Englands danger and only Remedy.

And therefore I first published some old notes written eleven or twelve years ago called Directions for weak Christians, and annexed to it The Character of a sound Christian; In both which I wrote that which was as like to have exasperated the impatient, as this book is; And yet I heard of no complaints, And afterward I wrote this which I now defend; and sent it to the Licenser, who upon perusal refused to License it; And so it lay by, and I purposed to meddle with it no more. But leaving it in the Booksellers hands that had offered it to be Licensed, after a long time he got it done; and so unexpectedly it revived.