Page:MN5031ucmf 5.djvu/12

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better; the omissions being not at all of a doctrinal character, but simply falling under one or other of the following heads. (1.) Those which have no bearing on the duties of English Churchmen of the present day; such as Of the pride of Abbais, Of Pilgrimages, Of the Discipline of Monks, and the like. In a book intended for use, it seemed worse than superfluous to swell the pages with references from which the modern Preacher could not possibly derive any advantage. 2. Some sections are also omitted, based on half theological, half metaphysical divisions, which no one would now be able to introduce into any sermon. For instance : there are several headings, which are occupied with the various kinds of contemplation. "The first consists in imagination, according to imagination ; the second, in imagination according to reason ; the third, in reason according to imagination ; the fourth, in reason according to reason ; the fifth is above reason, in a lower sense; the sixth is above reason, in a higher sense." It is clear that such a distribution of texts would now be of no practical use in the pulpit. (3.) When two sections, which is often the case, are occupied with subjects so nearly allied as to be almost identical, and when the references given, are, for the most part, the same, then the second is very frequently omitted. (4.) In like manner, and also for the sake of brevity, references are very often omitted which have occurred in previous sections, in allusion to the same subject. (5.) In some instances, and more especially in the first book, sections referring to sins which could not possibly be treated of in the pulpit, have been left out; and the same may be said of minute subdivisions of other sins, such as, The pride of the eyes, Of