28. That perfect freedom can only be obtained by a total surrender of 29. Of self-government in the concerns of the present life, and of having recourse to GOD in all its difficul- 30. Against anxiety and impetuosity in 31. That in man there is no good; and that, therefore, he has nothing in 32. Of the contempt of all temporal hon- our, and the renunciation of all 33. Of the vanity of human learning 34. Of disengagedness from the busi- ness of the world, and the opin- 35. Of credulity in the promises and 36. Of confidence in the righteous judg Page That all the afflictions of the pre- sent state are to be patiently en- dured for the hope of eternal life 219 38. Of the desire of eternal life; and of the great blessedness that is prom- ised to those, who resolutely strive That when we find ourselves inca- pable of the higher exercises of devotion, we should with humil- ity practise the lower; and ac- count ourselves rather worthy of -40. That the grace of God dwells not with those that love the world As "The Christian's Pattern" by Dean Stanhope, has claimed a place among the translations of this excellent book, and by an implicit admission has obtained general approbation; it will undoubtedly be asked, what occasion there was for attempting a new one. And to this question, no other answer, as an apology for the translation now offered to the public, can be given, than that it was attempted in the hope of doing some justice to the sense of the Original; which is almost lost in the loose paraphrase of Dean Stanhope, and almost deprived of its spirit by the literal and inelegant exactness of others. With what degree of success this attempt has been prosecuted, must be left wholly to the judgment of the reader. It is hoped, however, that, where the Original allowed of some latitude in the translation, no sense is introduced, that will not be found coincident with the author's great principle, "The necessity of exchanging an earthly for a heavenly nature," and that an apology will not be required, for giying the preference, in several instances of competition, to some apposite passage in the Divine Oracles, as the best illustration of the thought, and the most forcible manner of expressing it. As this preference has been given wherever an occasion was supposed to offer, the quotations from the Sacred Scriptures are more numerous than they are in the Original: and though all the quotations in the Original are taken from the Vulgate Bible, yet here they are generally taken from our English Bible; and the Vulgate is seldom retained, but where the force of the author's sentiment depended upon the peculiar turn given to that translation. In the third book, the division and the titles of the chapters are different, not only from all the translations, but from all the editions of the Original that have been consulted upon this occasion, except the late Paris edition published by M. J. VALART; which, as it is declared to have been formed upon an accurate collation of manuscripts and old printed copies, and, in consequence of that collation, purified from more than six hundred errors, has been chosen as the standard with respect to this translation. Of the book isself, it will be difficult to shew the excellency and use, to those that have no perception of the power of Spiritual Devotion; and unnecessary, to those that have: the numerous editions of the Original, however, and the numerous translations of it into the different languages of all the nations professing Christianity, whether as Protestants or Papists, that have been continually published for near three hundred years; are a testimony of approbation, which few human compositions can boast, and which the advocates for libertinism, though they may pretend to despise it, cannot but secretly venerate. But, besides the professors and patrons of profane wit and unrestrained pleasure, there are some sober minds, who, because they live in a nation where Christianity is professed, have assumed the character of Christians; and being perfectly pleased with themselves, and satisfied with following the regular rotation of formal duties, are offended at every attempt to convince them, that "there is something still needful,” of much higher importance than the most minute con |