“Admonition”

These things have I written not for the use of the learned, but for the disciples aspiring to the pastoral office. Those things which seemed to me truly profitable for them, I have set forth; the rest I have diligently neglected. All the heads of theology I have treated dogmatically, polemically, practically, and, where the occasion was fitting, historically. I have followed a systematic method, yet not a scientific one. The style I have employed is biblical, and when necessity required it, ecclesiastical and philosophical. In the Foundations, I have presented a philosophical theology, and in the Elements, a purely Christian theology, which I have divided into five parts, to be briefly outlined in a table at the end of the work. Here I shall not now tarry in unfolding more general matters, such as pertain to the name of theology, its parts, its fortunes, its diverse methods, the instruments necessary for rightly conducting its study, and such like. For concerning these, I have sufficiently discoursed in a small book written in French, published at Yverdon in the year 1771, with the title, Counsels on the Studies Necessary for Those Who Aspire to the Holy Ministry; a Work Which May, at the Same Time, Serve as an Introduction to the Study of Theology; which, in truth, I composed as a guiding work for this present one, which, according to the desire of my disciples, I now send forth into the light.