The Brazen Serpent, Title page – Dedication
THE BRAZEN SERPENT: OR, the Copie of a SERMON Preached at PAVLS Croſſe, Decemb. 31. 1620.
BY IOHN ANDREVVES, Prieſt and Preacher of the VVORD of GOD at Saint Iames Clerkenwell in MIDDLESEX.
Martial. lib. 13. Ep. 2.
Ne perdas operam. Qui ſe mirantur in illos Ʋirus habe; Nos Haec nouimus eſſe Nihil.
NOLI ALTUM SAPERE
LONDON, Printed by G. P. for Thomas Thorp, and are to bee ſold neere Chriſt-Church Gate by Ed. Wright. 1621.
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE IOHN, EARLE OF Houlderneſſe, Viſcount Haddington, and Baron of Kingſtone vponupon Thames, &c. My ſingular good LORD and PATRONE.
Right Hon: and my very good LORD:
SInce I firſt vnderſtood, that it pleaſed GOD, of his gracious mercy, to make choice of your right hand, to be the happy Inſtrument, by which Hee thought it meete to make this Kingdome of Great BRITAINE happy, in reſcuing the life of His Anointed, Our Gracious and dread Soueraigne, from the Malignant Sword of bloud-thirſty conſpirators; I did euer magnifie the name of the Lord for you. For not I only; But all the Inhabitants of this Kingdome (at leaſt, So many as louelove the peace of Hieruſalem, and pray for the proſperitie of Sion) are bound to honour you, and to praiſe God for you. Seeing that by your meanes (in preſeruing our Soueraigne from the Sword of the Treacherous) he preſerued, for vsus, the matchleſſe perfections of many Princes in one. For in him we enioy an Augustus, a Commodus, a Probus, a Pius, a Conſtantinus, and a Salomon, a King of Peace: (without which, neither Religion, nor Piety, nor Probity, nor Commoditie, nor Maieſty can hauehave their perfect luſtre.) For, his Maieſty is not only, foreign, peaceable in himſelfe; but, foreign, a Peace-bringer to vsus in this Land; and foreign, a Peace-maker among Forraine Nations round about: and for this cauſe, highly honoured and deuoutly prayed for, by all ſorts of People, euen beyond the Seas; as being One, whom they hope God hath ordained to be a principall meanes to heale the freſh-bleeding wounds, and to ſtaunch the Bloudy-iſſue of Chriſtendome. So that all Chriſtendome, for his Maieſties preſeruation, next vnderunder God, ſtandeth bound vntounto you. My Lord (I am a plaine-breſted man: Hee that knoweth me, knowes I cannot flatter) This, with many other expreſsions of goodneſſe, was that which did firſt not inuite, but enforce me to louelove and honour you. I may bow to your Greatneſſe; but it is your Goodneſſe that claimes from me all louelove and vnfained honour towards you: And heerein I doe but imitate your Lordſhip; who had rather weare the ſtyle of a Good man and an Honeſt Lord, then of a Rich man and a Great Lord. And you heerein do imitate the Lord of all Lords, who, albeit he be Deus Optimus, Maximus: of All thats good, the beſt; and of all thats great, the greateſt: yet, notwithſtanding, as Pliny ſaith,Plinius in Panegyric… Traian: dict. He is prius optimus quam maximus. Hee prefers his goodneſſe before his greatneſſe. Wherefore (howbeit
Tantò ſim peſsimus omnium propheta,
Quantò Tu optimus omnium Patronus)
I preſumed to preſent theſe worthleſſe Papers to your Lordſhip, truſting only vponupon your Goodneſſe for a liberall Acceptance. For (vnleſſe the wiſer Sages hauehave deceiued me,) Bounty and Liberalitie conſiſt not only in Giuing, but alſo in a cheerfull and gracious Accepting and receiuing of a Preſent. The ſlenderer the Preſent, & the meaner the Giuer is, the more doth it commend and increaſe the Liberalitie of the Noble Receiuer. For to Princes and great Potentates, we doe not ſo much giuegive the Thing it ſelfe which we doe preſent vntounto them; as in It, wee doe make tender of our very Hearts, our LoueLove, Dutie, Honour and deareſt Regards. All theſe I heere preſent to your Goodneſſe, and (not doubting of your Noble acceptance) commend you to the goodneſſe of Him that hath honoured you on Earth, and will glorifie you in Heauen:
Your Honours poore Beadeſ-man and vnworthy Chaplaine, IOHN ANDREVVES.