DEDICATION.
of your uncommon knowledge and abilities, they could not paſs unobſerved by the ableſt judges; and all who have the happineſs of your perſonal acquaintance, are witneſſes of a moſt becoming piety and true virtue.
Your kind and early diſpoſition to encourage this undertaking, was a great obligation upon the author; and I gladly embrace the firſt publick opportunity of making a grateful acknowledgement. The work now implores your protection; and it is not eaſy to find another name, that would do it equal honour in the learned world, and at the ſame time remove the objections of thoſe, who think that all the ſtudies of men in my profeſſion ought to be confined to one ſubject. The Fortuita Sacra are a laſting monument (though I hope not the only one you will leave) that the trueſt concern for religion, and the greateſt knowledge of divine things, are not inconſiſtent with the moſt accurate acquaintance, and profoundeſt skill, in all the branches of curious and polite learning.
