To the Religious Reader
To the Religious Reader.
Who are you (O Christian) that, being sick in soul and desiring to be sound, sorrowful in spirit, and craving comfort, unquiet in mind, and seeking to be at rest, wounded in conscience and desiring safety, tormented in thought, and longing for relief? Who are you (I say) that, having offended your God and therefore punished, tried with tribulation, and crying out to be refreshed, visited with affliction, and eager to be delivered? Get yourself to God's word, and there learn your lesson; hear his holy Gospel preached, and thereby receive instruction; peruse and ponder, examine and consider, meditate and exercise yourself in the good books of God's faithful servants, and they shall teach you wisdom.