1709.ver by Justices-Warrants to the value of 10%. with the hundredth part of the Charge. Now we come to the fecond Volume of his Great Work, the Hiftory of the New Testament, which he had had in Hand at times, for the moft Part fince he finished his former; and when he had finished this, he brought it up to London for Friends Perufal and Approbation; where it was Read, and afterwards published this Year 1709, in Folio, under the fame Title with the former, only as that was of the Old Teftament, this was of the New, viz. Sacred Hiftory, or the Hiftorical Part of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, &c. (as in the Title of the former) which as I gave fome Account of, fo it behoves I fhould of this. The former Treatife (fays he in his Preface) having found a favourable Reception, he was thence encouraged to refume his Pen (which at the clofe of that Volume he had let fall) and proceed to the Methodizing of the Hiftorical Part of the New Teftament, in Two Parts. In the firft Part whereof the Reader will find an Account of the Conception, Birth, Life, Travels, Doctrines, Difcourfes, Miracles, Sufferings, Death, Burial, Refurrection and Afcention of our Bleffed Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST (the Author of the true Chriftian Religion) plainly, fairly and fuccinctly given; ufhered in with a brief Account of the Conception, Birth, Manner of Life, Ministry and Death of his Forerunner, John, Şirnamed the Baptift: And attended (in the Se cond cond Part) with a like Hiftorical Account of 1709. the Acts and Travels of the Apostles of our Lord, in the Propagation of his Bleffed Gofpel, after the Afcention of our bleffed Saviour; fo far, at least, as the Evangelift Luke in the Acts of the Apostles hath recorded, or the Clue or Thread of the Holy Text leads him: beyond which (he fays) he was not willing to adventure, &c. In this Undertaking, he says, he aimed at the fame End as in the former, viz. That all the Youth especially, of either Sex, under whatfoéver religious Denomination they go, might be further furnished, with fuch an Entertainment, to spend, at least, their Leifure Hours upon, as might yield them at once both Profit and Delight; and might be thereby drawn off from mif-fpending their precious Time upon other, either hurtful, or (at beft) unprofitable Subjects. Then he gives Account why he hath, with the Matter of Fact, delivered the Discourfes, Speeches, Sermons and Doctrines delivered by our bleffed Lord to his Difciples, &c. viz. That the Nature of the History required it, and that without it the Difcourfe would have been lefs profitable and pleasant to the Reader; and by that means lefs conducive to the End he propofed, which is to allure him to read the Holy Scriptures with Delight, &c. according to the Poet, He certainly doth hit the white, After 1709. After which he gives an Account of his going from Place to Place in the Evangelifts, to reduce the several Parts and Paffages of the History (in the first Part) to their due and Proper Times and Places, which he endeavoured to do, (tho' difficult) as near as he could. But the Second Part (the Acts) being all written by one Hand, the Method (he fays) is more regular, and the Course of the History more clear. Yet the Apoftolical Epiftles, being without Date, are hardly, he conceives, to be reduced with indubitable Certainty to exact Order; which yet he hath endeavour'd to place them right, according to the best of his Understanding. Then owning the Helps he had in Compiling this Hiftory, had been chiefly from the Criticks, and Cradock's Harmony of the four Evangelifts, and his Apoftolical Hiftory, with a few Words of the Performance; which if not done as it fhould (nor as he would) yet as well as he could; And therefore, in all Humility, recommending and committing it to the Divine Difpofal, he concludes his Preface. Next to the Preface is an Introduction, concerning the Pen-men of the New Teftament, and in what Language Originally written, and in what Order of Time; particularly of the four Evangelifts, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, what they were, the time of their Writing, and fome particular Circumftances concerning them and their Ends; well worth the Readers Perufal, for the better understanding the Hiftory, both of the Evangelifts and Apoftles. So proceeds to the the Hiftory; which he deduces from the Promi- 1709. fed Seed after the Fall, for Man's Restoration, which the Prophets foretold the Coming of, and which he pleasantly draws out at large in Order of Time, and explains with the like judicious Obfervations, as in the former, taking in the Epiftles of St. Paul, &c. (in the fecond Part) in their proper Places (as near as could be) and gives an Account of them, the Occafion why, the manner how, and time when they were written: ending with the Revelations, which he renders as a Revelation unrevealed; with some Brief Notes on it. The whole, as I faid of the former, being both pleafant and profitable. Both which will remain a lasting Monument of him in time to come. This Year (1710.) our Friend Oliver Sanfom, 1710. formerly of Faringdon, fince of Abington in Berkfbire (who had long War with the Priests about Tythes) dying in the 2d Month, and leaving behind him An Account of fome Remarkable Paffa ges of his Life, which he Communicated (in his Life time) to our Friend T. Ellwood to perufe, who being always ready to be helpful and ferviceable to all, efpecially his Friends, he Tranfcribed the fame, and fitted it for the Prefs: which was Printed this Year; to which T. E. prefixed a Teftimony concerning him, pertinent to the Occafion. There is one Book more of his, which he publifhed in his Life-time; which, it seems, he had had by him, for the most part, a long time, and after he had finished his Sacred Hiftory of the New Teftament, 1710. Teftament, he took in hand to finish, and compleated. And that is The Life of DAVID in Verfe; first begun (for his own Diversion, not then thinking of the Prefs) and carried on, by degrees, to the End of the Third Book, in the Year 1688. (as hinted before in that Year) when the Prince of Orange Landing, and the Nation being in Arms; the Noife of Guns, and Sounds of Drums and Trumpets fo affrighted, and difturbed his peaceful Mufe (as he fays in his Preface) that both fhe, for a while, forfook him, and he thereupon the Work (for above Twenty Years) fave that on a Review, obferving how abruptly David was brought in, he added the first Chapter (of the first Book) to introduce his Hero from the Beginning of his Story. Where it refted again, without any Profpect of its ever 1711.going further, until the laft Winter; (1711.) When having (as he fays) lefs Health and more Leifure, than at fometimes before, he took it up for an Entertainment, to make fome uneafie Hours pafs fomewhat lefs uneafily over. And after he had read it through, confidering that if, after his Death, it should be found among his Papers and committed to the Prefs, it would be but an imperfect Piece; he found an Inclination to carry on the Story to the End of David's Life, (I wish he had done fo by his own) And giving a kind Invitation to his gentle Muse to return (which by fome fhort Vifits on particular Occafions, in the Interval, had given him fome Ground to hope, fhe had not quite forfook him) he entred again upon the Subject, where he had left |