PREFACE.
The following series of Meditations has been long in high repute in England. They were originally collected, a long time ago, from the best ascetical writers, which were then in existence, and there is hardly a meditation book of those days which our author has not ransacked in order to form his work. Tradition says that this little book served in an eminent degree to keep alive the spirit of their religion among the persecuted Catholics of England, for when it was first printed the days of intolerance and religious proscription had not passed away. Independently of the intrinsic merit of the book, these associations give it some degree of interest which it would not otherwise possess. This book was a particular favorite with such men as Bishops Challoner and Walmsly.
The devout contemplative, as well as the ordinary Christian, may use these Meditations with advantage.
The edition used in revising this work was printed in the year 1669. If the language had only been a little antiquated, it would have been better to have reprinted it in its original state; for we have more than one instance of good old books being revised and corrected, and spoiled. But the style was too far removed from the standard of modern language for the book to appear in it before the public, with that credit to which it is entitled. The citations from Scripture, besides, were taken
