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To the Right Worshipful AMBROSE PƲDSAY Esq; High-Sheriff of the County of YORK.
AS this short Sermon ows its Birth unto you, so it seeks its Patronage from you; you commanded it to the Pulpit, and advised it to the Press; so that both the nature of the Subject, and your interest in the Preacher have made it wholly yours; and though its hasty Birth denyed it that just proportion, and those Lineaments which a longer time would have given, yet I hope the Honesty of the design will attone for the defects of the Discourse: I have ad∣ded little to what I then spoke, and have omitted nothing but a forward Parenthesis which had given some disgust: None can justly Quarrel with the Character which is laid down, but such as are Con∣scious to themselves how much they deserve it; and no great wonder if these (having over-lived their Duty and Allegiance) like aged Lais strive to break the Glass which shows them their own Defor∣mity; but I shall more easily bear the severest of their Censures, when I have gained your approba∣tion,