Excerpt from Expository Notes, Vol. 1: With Practical Observations, on the New Testament My Lord, If ever my mean labours were a blessing to the people of my charge, I with them, and they with me, have abundant cause to bless Almighty God for your Lordship, who was the immediate instrument of my coming amongst them. And we jointly lie under superadded obligations to your Lordship, for repeated instances of respect to this poor town in general, and to myself in particular, in an allowance for one to assist the minister of this place, in that great work which is here daily incumbent upon him. I think myself therefore obliged, both in duty and gratitude, to give your Lordship account how I have spent my time here, (especially since I have had help by your Lordship's particular favour;) which has been employed as I could redeem it, in an endeavour to render the reading of the New Testament profitable and delightful to my people, both in their families and private apartments. In which undertaking my care has been, to be as clear and particular as I could, with an eye to the benefit of the plain and unlearned reader; and have suited things, as far as their nature would bear, and my skill would reach, to the most ordinary capacities and vulgar apprehensions. And whatever the success may be, I hope I shall receive the reward of an honest endeavovr from Him, who estimates our pains, not by their events, which are not our power, but by their natural tendencies, and our sincere intentions. My Lord, controversies are here industriously declined, as inconsistent with my chief design; yet not so as knowingly to betray any text, or wilfully to deliver up truth into the hands of its avowed enemies, whether Papists or Socinians. Against the contagious corruptions of the former, and the more refined subtilties, yet no less pernicious errors, of the latter, the clergy of this diocese have been happily antidoted by your Lordship, at your frequent conferences with them. And the great freedom and condescension with which your Lordship is pleased at such times to treat us, doth at once invite and oblige us also, upon all occasions, publicly and gratefully to acknowledge it. Yea, to your lordship's lasting honour and everlasting comfort, be it spoken, that not only your own clergy, but these three nations, are inexpressibly indebted, for your Lordship's pious care, in instructing in the holy principles of our established religion, the glorious Queen Mary of immortal memory, and her illustrious sister our most august Queen Anne, when your Lordship had the honour to wait upon them in their tender years: from whence her Majesty has been so zealous to run all hazards for its preservation ever since. May heaven long, very long, continue your Lordship an ornament to the church, an honour to the English nobility, a patron of refugees for the sake of religion, a pattern of sincere piety towards God, and of the most extensive charity to all mankind: and after many holy and happy days here on earth, crown your Lordship with the rewards of a glorious immortality. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.