IF these ensuing illiterate and homespun-Poems come to thy hand, let me crave this of thee, viz. Diligently and impartially to peruse them; and do not censoriously judge, nor ⟨image 3⟩prejudicially condemn the plain and simple-hearted Author thereof: Neither do thou slight them because of the lowness and meanness of the stile that they run in: But esteem them rather for the honesty of the matter, then for their Elegance; more for their Virtue, than for the Variety of Scholastic Expressions. I never learned the Art of Rhetoric, nor courted the Universities. Neither have I studied to deliver my self in that stile that might tend either to the pleasing of the Mind, Fancies, Or vain Humours of any; nor to delight the Ear, but to affect ⟨image 3⟩the Heart; not to stir up the Mind to Mirth, but to move the Soul to Mourn. And if, Courteous Reader, thou art a Christian, one that art truly and really born from Above, of the free Woman, and brought up virtuously in the Heavenly Family; if so, I am persuaded that I need not enforce many Arguments to induce thee to a kind acceptance of what I present thee with, because it treateth of the state of Her whose Womb did bear thee, and whose Paps have spiritually given thee suck. Shall thy dear Mother be in a miserable languishing state and condition, and not her own dear ⟨image 4⟩Children incline with all diligence to her mournful Complaints? God forbid. If I have misrepresented the state of ZION this day, in any thing, I humbly crave pardon: I have writ according to the measure of Light received. The Subject is Divine, and I confess too high and good to be so low and badly handled; too worthy for such an unworthy Worm to meddle with. Such as it is, I here present to you: I have, with Mary, done what I could; you must not expect a mans Head upon a Child's Shoulders. And if it prove acceptable in your eyes, I matter not how I and it are censured ⟨image 4⟩by others: It cannot speed worse then She doth for whose sake I have writ these Lines. This only I entreat of thee. Let Zions Captivity be thy Misery, and never add thou to her Afflictions: So shall I be thine for ever, in all Christian Service.
IF these ensuing illiterate and homespun-Poems come to thy hand, let me crave this of thee, viz. Diligently and impartially to peruse them; and do not censoriously judge, nor ⟨image 3⟩prejudicially condemne the plain and simple-hearted Author thereof: Neither doe thou slight them because of the lowness and meanness of the stile that they run in: But esteem them rather for the honesty of the matter, then for their Elegancy; more for their Vertue, than for the Variety of Scholastick Expressions. I never learned the Art of Rhetorick, nor courted the Universities. Neither have I studied to deliver my self in that stile that might tend either to the pleasing of the Mind, Fancies, Or vain Humours of any; nor to delight the Ear, but to affect ⟨image 3⟩the Heart; not to stir up the Mind to Mirth, but to move the Soul to Mourn. And if, Courteous Reader, thou art a Christian, one that art truly and really born from Above, of the free Woman, and brought up vertuously in the Heavenly Family; if so, I am perswaded that I need not inforce many Arguments to induce thee to a kinde acceptance of what I present thee with, because it treateth of the state of Her whose Womb did bear thee, and whose Paps have spiritually giv'n thee suck. Shall thy dear Mother be in a miserable languishing state and condition, and not her own dear ⟨image 4⟩Children incline with all diligence to her mournful Complaints? God forbid. If I have misrepresented the state of ZION this day, in any thing, I humbly crave pardon: I have writ according to the measure of Light received. The Subject is Divine, and I confess too high and good to be so low and badly handled; too worthy for such an unworthy VVorm to meddle with. Such as it is, I here present to you: I have, with Mary, done what I could; you must not expect a mans Head upon a Childs Shoulders. And if it prove acceptable in your eyes, I matter not how I and it are censured ⟨image 4⟩by others: It cannot speed worse then She doth for whose sake I have writ these Lines. This onely I intreat of thee. Let Zions Captivity be thy Misery, and never adde thou to her Afflictions: So shall I be thine for ever, in all Christian Service.
