Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

To theChri(Han Reader. heur,andto cotttemnealldanger,efpecially feing they haw tbepswerofGodto aft fithem, and his gracious promi ¡e, that if they will bee hi,fouldiers, they /hall al fo bee conque- rours;iftbey willbutfiiht, they fhall affuredly ouercome: fóa faJhould it incite all Gods fatthfull mtnifters, who are appointed by bim to bee in this fpirituall warfare,not only fotddiers ,tofight in their atoneperfons, but alfo the Lords captaines to teach,guideanddirelt, both by word andex- ample,thofe who are committed to theirchar;e,yea as math as in them lnth the whole armie of the Church militant; that they a fo be careful/ and diligent to teach the ignorant the Loy ds march,the difcipline of hia warre,the order of his bait elf 4/id how to manage theirfpirituall weaponsfar their deft aduantage : that they hkewtf incourage and harten the whiteliuered,andfre/hiwater Jouldier tothefight; that they rouze vp thefluggi fh, by often founding in their cares the serri blethunder of Gods threats, and thefweet tunes of hisprom fcs;_thattheymoderate the heate, and mitigate and reftráine the defperate áoldneffe of thole, whO are o- uercariedin their blind eale, with ]irituall wifdome and di fcretion, which are otherwife apt in themfelues to bee in- trapped with the fubtiltii,and to fall into theambujhmettis of'their enemies,to their viler ruine and deflrutlion. Being therefore called through Gods vndef rued grace to this funttion,l thought it my dusk, befides my other la- bours in my mini Merle, to attempt this-worke; the which l acknowledge might haue been math better atchieued by fume of the Lords great Worthies, vnto the leaffdegree of whofe flringth and excellencie 1 haue not attained : but be- ing by them either otnitted,or but by the way, as famefpeci- alloceal'on required, 'briefly touched ; I thought it better, notrvithflanding my great weaken ,to 'undertake it, then that itfhould be wholly neglelled ; and by doing in this the Lords