,XV111 PREFACE. 



lFo7'besimi(c Intej^ioris Idea Brevis. Now, it is in 



imitation of this tract of Dr. Garden's, that a 



sketch only, or general draught, of Dr. Sharp's 



spiritual life, is presented to the world, formed 



from his diai*y, and supported with no more 



express testimonies produced from thence, than 



what seemed necessary to prove it genuine and 



true. Hereby the reader is relieved from those 



Tepetitions which are unavoidable in a journal 



of spiritual exercises, and likewise gains both 



^s much satisfaction and as much benefit by a 



partial view, as he could have got by perusing 



($hQ whole. -y 



4\ If it be considered into what times we are 



fallen, in which it is by many insinuated, that 



.the Christian Religion is an imposture, atid the 



teachers of it a ti^ibe of hypocrites, who out- 



•.wardly practise it, and labour to defend it, out 



of a principle of worldly interest, and not from 



a real sense and thorough conviction of its being 



iwhat they would publicly teach it to be ; it 



'ccannot be judged an improper season to. bring 



this secret part of the Archbishop's life upon the 



stage. Not as if he were a singular, or even 



10 



