My Education among Libraries, my Concernment only in such a Warfare as Timothy had recommended unto him, and my impatient Longings for the Revolution of a Golden Age wherein there shall be (as about the Time of our Lords first coming it is noted by the Roman Historian that there was) Totius Orbis aut pax aut pactio, a general Peace or Truce throughout the whole world, have made me the unfittest of all men to read Military Lectures. Aelian's Tactics shall stand in the R•re of my Authors, and will perhaps be left unstudied by me, till I have nothing else to do. That military mischievous Invention of Guns, and the Nitrous, Sulphureous, Charcoaled matter which they vomit, was indeed first hit upon by a Clergy-man, ⟨image 4⟩yet one that I never would care to be a kin unto. But a Request from the Honoured Persons, at whose Invitation the ensuing Thoughts have been Spoken and Written, was a strong Summons not to be g•in said by me, who ought to count Opportunities […] doing Good among the best of all my Treasures. They asked me to lay before them their Du•yes, as far as my Armoury, the Bible, would inform me what they are: and I have with brief Hints attempted to let them know what those Words of Command are which come unto them backed with a, Thus saith the LORD. They have also asked me to give them a Copy of those Words for the Publication of them; and I considered that this being all, my case was not so hard as that of the Expedition against Sisera, wherein out of Zebulon were engaged they that handled the pen of the Writer, Gown-men became Sword men, and Pen-knives (as one saith on it) were turned into Swords. But in this thing they had not found me ready to gratify them, if it had not been for the sake of Communicating those Meditations in the Close of the Discourse, which render every man a Soldier, and call upon all to encounter the invisible Enemies of their own souls. This part of the Discourse is no ⟨image 5⟩Diversion from the work which my Hand finds to do, however the other may: of this, if I had a voice as loud as the last Trumpet I must say, Let him that hath ears to hear, hear.
My Education among Libraries, my Concernment only in such a Warfare as Timothy had recommended unto him, and my impatient Longings for the Revolution of a Golden Age wherein there shall be (as about the Time of our Lords first coming it is noted by the Roman Historian that there was) Totius Orbis aut pax aut pactio, a general Peace or Truce throughout the whole world, have made me the unfittest of all men to read Military Lectures. Aelian's Tacticks shall stand in the R•re of my Authors, and will perhaps be left unstudied by me, till I have nothing else to do. That military mischievous Invention of Guns, and the Nitrous, Sulphureous, Charcoal'd matter which they vo•it, was indeed first hit upon by a Clergy-man, ⟨image 4⟩yet one that I never would care to be a kin unto. But a Request from the Honoured Persons, at whose Invitation the ensuing Thoughts have been Spoken and Written, was a strong Summons not to be g•in said by me, who ought to count Opportunities 〈…〉 doing Good among the best of all my Treasures. They asked me to lay before them their Du•yes, as farr as my Armory, the Bible, would inform me what they are: and I have with brief Hints attempted to let them know what those Words of Command are which come unto them back'd with a, Thus saith the LORD. They have also asked me to give them a Copy of those Words for the Publication of them; and I consider'd that this being all, my case was not so hard as that of the Expedition against Sisera, wherein out of Zebulon were engaged they that handled the pen of the Writer, Gown-men became Swordmen, and Pen-knives (as one saith on it) were turned into Swords. But in this thing they had not found me ready to gratify them, if it had not been for the sake of Communicating those Meditations in the Close of the Discourse, which render every man a Souldier, and call upon all to encounter the invisible Enemies of their own souls. This part of the Discourse is no ⟨image 5⟩Diversion from the work which my Hand finds to do, however the other may: of this, if I had a voice as loud as the last Trumpet I must say, Let him that hath ears to hear, hear.
