_MOST EXCELLENT PRINCE_,
I have had three births; one, natural, when I came into the world; one,
supernatural, when I entered into the ministry; and now, a preternatural
birth, in returning to life, from this sickness. In my second birth,
your Highness' royal father vouchsafed me his hand, not only to sustain
me in it, but to lead me to it. In this last birth, I myself am born a
father: this child of mine, this book, comes into the world, from me,
and with me. And therefore, I presume (as I did the father, to the
Father) to present the son to the Son; this image of my humiliation, to
the lively image of his Majesty, your Highness. It might be enough, that
God hath seen my devotions: but examples of good kings are commandments;
and Hezekiah writ the meditations of his sickness, after his sickness.
Besides, as I have lived to see (not as a witness only, but as a
partaker), the happiness of a part of your royal father's time, so shall
I live (in my way) to see the happiness of the times of your Highness
too, if this child of mine, inanimated by your gracious acceptation, may
so long preserve alive the memory of
Your Highness humblest and devotedest,