A Fort for the Afflicted, Title page – To the reader
A ¶Fort for the afflicted. Wherin are ministred many notable & excellent remedies against the stormes of tribulation.
Written chiefly for the comforte of Christes little flocke, which is the smal number of the Faithfull, by Iohn Knoxe.
Iohn. 16. 33 In the vvorlde yee shall hauehave affliction, but be of good comfort: I hauehave ouercome the vvorld.
Imprinted at London at the three Cranes in the Vintree, by Thomas Dawson, 1580.
To the Religious Reader.
WHo art thou (O Christian) that beeing sicke in soule, and desirest to be sound? Sorowfull in spirit, & crauest comfort? vnquiet in minde, & seekest to be at rest? wounded in conscience and wouldest be in safetie? tormented in thought, and longest for reliefe? Who art thou (I say) that hauing offēded thy God, and art therfore punished? tried with tribulation, and criest out to bee refreshed? visited with affliction, and faine wouldest be deliuered? Get thee to Gods woorde, and there learne thy lesson: heare his holy Gospell preached, and thereby receiue instruction: peruse and ponder, examine and consider, meditate and exercise thy selfe in the good bookes of Gods faithful seruants, and they shall teach thee wisedome.
And among all bookes tending to this … Christian… to bee imbraced and followed, this notable exposition of that zealous man of God, Maister Iohn Knoxe vppon the sixt Psalme, contayning sundry comfortable and excellent doctrines, in number many, in matter weightie, vnderunder the person of that Princely Prophet Dauid, and after his example and patterne too bee applied vntounto all suche as are touched eyther in minde or bodie, with any kind of crosse or calamitie, to direct them to the path of patience, and to shew them by a president, vntounto whom they must run for refuge in the time of their visitation, if they desire eyther partly too hauehave theyr miseries mitigated, or themselues wholly from troubles to be deliuered.
The benefite of this Booke belongeth to eueryevery particular member of Christes Mysticall bodie, and they onelie hauehave the grace to vse this and the like at conuenient seasons. Moreouer, the manifolde comfortes of this woorthy Authors most fruitefull Epistle, written for the consolation of Christes afflicted flocke, are of no lesse force and vertue, in cases of calamitie, then his other treatise: the one, commodious, the other necessary, both beneficiall.
Thine to doe thee good, Abraham Flemming.