GOD, of His Abundant Mercy, having Convinc'd Me, how much Precious Time I had cast away on Airy Verses; I Resolv'd to take a Final Leave of That Sort of Poetry; And in some Degree to Repair the Unhappiness and Fault, of what was past, to Dedicate my Muse in the Future, En­tirely to Sacred Subjects.

I was a while considering, How Those Intended Labours of Mine, might be least unusefully bestow'd; and having, with trouble, taken notice, with how little Reverence, and Devotion, the Holy Days in our Churches Kalendar were Ce­lebrated, I determin'd to Write POEMS on the chiefest of Them.

For I hoped, such Gross, and Sinful Stupidity, proceeded chiefly, from Mens being Ignorant of the True History of the Actions, or Martyrdoms, of those Blessed Persons; so little of both being Recorded in the Sacred Word. And it seem'd to Me no Irrational Belief, that if the Generality of the People, were Instructed in the Truth, it might Inspire in many of them, that Esteem, and Reverence, the want of which, had so long been their Fault, and ought to be their Shame.

The Young, and the Vulgar, of both Sexes, being little inclinable to attain to Information, by perusing Antient Ec­clesiastical Histories, and Records: And the Writers of [Page] both, too often, and too much Disagreeing, in their Narra­tives of the same Actions, and Persons; and the Church of Rome also, having interwoven much Fiction with the Truth, I Flatter'd my Self with a Belief, That by Sepa­rating the History from the Fable, and by making a Short, yet as True a Relation of the Former, as I could attain un­to; Divers thereby might be inclin'd to Learn, what They had been Ignorant of, and might be encouraged to preserve in their Memories, such great Exemplars of Piety; whereby if they did not Write after such Illustrious Copies, yet at least they would Value, and Esteem them.

The handling of these Subjects in Verse, and Rhime, I was perswaded, would not be unpleasing to the less Studious, (who are those who most need such Information) and since in Poetry, there is a kind of Natural Musick, I imagined, that all Those, whose Souls were not quite out of Tune, might be affected with it.

Besides; I found, Th [...]t Many, who could hardly Repeat one Verse of the Sacred Scripture, would yet say without Book, intire Psalms; even in the Vnhappy Verses, and Rhimes, of Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Sternhold; which seem'd to me a Demonstration, how highly the English Ge­nius was affected to Poetry, on Holy Subjects.

Nor is this Love to Verse, Peculiar to our Country, but is in effect diffus'd, over the whole Civiliz'd World.

The False Religion of the Gentiles, was generally taught in Verse; and the True Religion of the Primitive Jews, was much of it Writ in Poetry; as the whole Books of Job; and of the Psalms; besides lesser Sprinklings of it, in the Songs of Moses; and in that of Deborah and Barack &c.

More of Homer, and Virgil, was gotten by Heart by the Greeks, and Romans, than of the Orations of Demost­henes, and Cicero; or of the Morals of Seneca; or even of the Excellent Phedon of Plato; tho' most Con­clude, These, had been more worthy to have been so Trea­sur'd up, than Those.

But it seems to be the Inherent Prerogative of Verse, above Prose, To be better Fancied; To be easier Learn'd by Heart; and to be Longer Retain'd in the Memory.

[Page]I must acknowledge, when I had even Resolv'd upon my Argument, I met with Two Disanimations, which were likely to have made Me Elect another.

The First was, That the Materials I was to be furnish'd with, out of the Holy Scriptures, (for such I coveted most) were so Few, except in what related to Our Blessed Lord; and to St. John the Baptist; and to St. Peter, and to St. Paul, and what further was to be known of those Holy Persons, of whose Lives, and Deaths, I design'd to Write in Epitomie; was not only, so copiously Deliver'd by Church-Historians, and fill'd with so many Improbable Relations, (to give it the softest Name I can) that to Collect so much out of the Former, as seem'd pertinent, and instructive; and to Winnow out of the Latter, so much of the Wheat from the Chaff, as was requisite, appear'd to Me, a Difficult Task to perform, tho' but Tolerably; Since indeed, where I most desired to be supply'd, I was the Least, (th [...]' what it wanted in Quantity, it had in Weight) and where I least desired to be Furnished with Matter, I was but too much. For most of all those Elder Histories seem'd to Me, to be like a Mine, in which several Tuns of Rub­bish must be digg'd through, to attain to One Pound of Oar.

The second was; I had Experimentally found, That no Argument for Poetry, was so little Obliging to the Muse, and Invention of the Writer, as Narrative is; for it con­fines the Fancy, which of all things Delights in Liberty.

But at length I overcame these two Discouragements.

The Last, by remembring, that I Writ, not for Applause to my Self, but for the Instruction of Others.

And the First, Hoping that by my Readers Charity, my Faults might not be Vnpardonable, since this kind of Wri­ting was New to Me, and untrodden by any of my Educa­tion, and Quality: So that the Piety of My Design, might in some Degree Apologize, for My Errors in the Manage­ment of it.

I have in the Margent, not only marked the Places of the Word of God, to which in the POEMS I have Re­ference; but also, some of those Authors out of whom I [Page] have taken My Narrative; That if they have been Faulty, it might appear, I have not erred in My Own Intentions, but by the Mis-information of Elder Times

I acknowledge, it is not usual to handle any Controversies in Verse, and Rhime; especially those in Divinity; and therefore I must beg My Readers Pardon, if in some of the Succeeding Pieces, I have presumed to walk in so unusual a way; which I had not done, but that I esteem'd it a Duty to My Own Religion, to Defend it against the Rest­lessness of the Romish, where-ever I believ'd I had a Fit Rise to do it. And I suppos'd, since in the Present Times, all seem so justly necessitated, to maintain the Truth of Our Religion, it might not be unallowable for a Lay-Man, to draw His Poetick Pen also, in the Defence of it: And Possibly, the Few Arguments I have made use of by the By, in that Important Dispute, may be read, and kept in the Memory of Those, who any other way, would not have done either.

However, If any One of Our Church should be Offended at it, I both desire, and hope, He will for the Causes Sake, excuse the Effect.