Christian Wisdom, Title page – Dedication
CHRISTIAN WISDOME, OR THE EXCELLENCY FAME AND RIGHT MEANES OF TRVE WISDOME. As it was briefly delivered in a Sermon in St MARIES Church in OXFORD. Novemb: 11. 1638. By H. TOZER B. D. Fellow of Exeter Colledge.
OXFORD, Printed by L. LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1639.
TO THE R. HONOVRABLE LORD ROBERT EARLE OF ANCRAM.
R. HONOVRABLE.
I HERE adventure to preſent to your Lordſhip this Sermon of the Praiſe and Worth of Wiſdome. Were the Diſcourſe anſwerable to the Subject, it were a Treaſure indeed and well worth the keeping, but the emptineſſe of that may well giuegive the World juſt cauſe to think it to be, as it is, too far below the acceptance of ſo great a Perſonage, and my ſelfe ſo much the more unadviſedly bold in preſenting the ſame unto You. However, it will not bee very ſeaſonable to enlarge a Preface with variety of ſtudied words and elaborate expreſsions for the obtaining of Your Lordſhip's favorable acceptation, but rather indeed to adventure on a ſecond incongruous boldneſſe in treſpaſsing on Your wonted Goodneſſe and dayly ſerious Imployment: whereof the One, as the world knows well, reſpecteth not ſo much a verball obſervance as plaine Honeſty and Truth; and the Other, which duly is diſcharged in waiting on the ſervice of GOD and Your KING, doth ſeldome give leave to ſpend much time in the reading of long Epiſtles and tedious Dedications.
Wherefore, to ſay all that is needfull in a litle, if any by reading this plaine Diſcourſe ſhall be occaſioned to entertaine one Thought of ſeeking after VViſdome more than before hee had, 'tis that which, God knoweth, was my ayme in the Publication thereof: and if, for this purpoſe, Your Lordſhip ſhall pleaſe to let it goe forth under Your Honourable Protection, and accept the Dedication of it as a true acknowledgment of that ſervice, wherein I have ſtood long engaged, 'tis more than I deſerve, and all that I doe or can deſire.
God direct the hearts of all men to ſeek after that wiſdome, which is acceptable and makes them ſuch, who love it: and may the Gift thereof be ever multiplied on Your Honourable Family, to the magnifying of God's glory here, and Your's hereafter: which is the true deſire and unfayned Prayer of
Your Lordſhips Humble Servant HENRY TOZER.