leaf. O that you would now believe me, listen to me attentively, and, like an upright judge, give sentence according to what shall be alleged and made out! How happy would your choice be! How fortunate my labor!
8. I am sensible my wish is very great, and no pen is able to bring it to pass; for which reason, I here, in the beginning, beseech him who is the virtue and wisdom of his Father, and who has the keys of David, to open and shut to whom he pleases, that he will be present with, and instil himself into these words, and give them spirit and life, to move such as shall read them. Yet, if I reap no other fruit of my labor, but the satisfyinf my own desire, in abundantly extolling so commendable a thing as virtue is, which I have long coveted, I shall look upon this alone as a sufficient reward for all my labors. I have endeaboured in this, as in all my other works, to suit myself to all persons, either spiritual or carnal, that, since the necessity and cause is universal, my writing may be so too. For good men, by reading this book, will be more confirmed in the love of virtue, and take deeper root in it; and those who are not so will, perhaps, discover how great losers they are in deviating from it. According to this doctrine, good parents may educate their children from their infancy, that from those tender years it may become habitual for them to honor, worship and follow virtue, for a virtuous child is one of the greatest blessings a father can have.
9. This work may be also of great use to those whose duty it is to instruct the people, and preach up virtue; because the principal motives and inducements to oblige us to embrace it are here orderly set down, and whatsoever has been written upon this subject may be reduced to them as to common places. And as we here speak of the present advantages of grace promised to virtue, specifying twelve singular privileges it enjoys, and that it is most certain all these riches and blessings were conferred on us through Jesus Christ, therefore, this doctrine is very beneficial for the better understanding those books of Holy Writ, which particularly treat of the mysteries of Christ, and the inestimable benefit of our redemption, such as the prophet Isaias, the Canticles, and the like.
