Elohim, Title page – Dedication
אלהים OR, God and the Magiſtrate: As it was delivered In a SERMON before the Honorable Baron ATKIN and Juſtice TIRRIL, two of His Majeſtie's Judges of Aſſize, in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, and in the Shrievalty of the Honorable Sir EDWARD DYMOCKE Kt, and CHAMPION to His Sacred MAJESTIE.
By OBADIAH HOWE, M. A. and Vicar of Boston in Lincoln-ſhire.
Take heed what ye do; for you judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in Judgment,
2 Chron. xix. 6.
Ultio Magiſtratûs, DEI ultio eſt: & quam rependit Magiſtratus, rependit & ipſe DEUS.
Spanhem. in Rom. xii. 19.
LONDON, Printed for William Mallory Book-ſeller at Boston in the County of Lincoln. 1663.
Imprimatur
Septemb. 15. 1663. M. Franck, S.T.P. Rever. in Chriſto Patri ac Dom. Dom. Gilb. Archiepiſc. Cant. à Sacr. Dom.
To the Honourable Sir Edward Dymocke Knight, and Champion to His Sacred MAJESTY, and High-Sheriff of the County of LINCOLN.
SIR,
THat Sober and Grave Apophthegme, which I finde given by the Antient Jewes foreign Sile & liberaberis, in Engliſh thus Be ſilent and be ſafe, gave a little check to my Reſolves both for the Pulpit and the Preſs. That Impreſs, which Cambden in his Remaines tells us a Gentleman choſe, Tuti montes, tutum ſilentium; Silence and ſolitude the beſt ſhelter, takes no ſmal impreſsion upon me. He that travails abroad in publick, muſt expect to be wounded by two Thieves, Envy & Ignorance; the first hath his eye alwaies upon a blot, and he will be ſure to hit it; and the ſumm of his numeration is onelyonly what was ſpoken ill. The ſecond, as he ſometimes admires, ſo he as often condemns that which he underſtands not. He that knoweth leaſt, carpeth moſt; to make good that Proverb, That a Flie hath a ſpleen. Let the Diſh and the Dreſsing be what it will, there being variety of palates, as were among Horace his Gueſts, it's an hundred to one, but the Cook is quarrelled with. But, Sir, my Reſolve rather to ſerve you, their ſecure my ſelf, brought we firſt upon the Stage; and its the ſame that makes me continue ſo. Your Command bound me for the Pulpit, and to the Auditory, by way of Diſcourſe; and your Candor brings me to the Preſs, and to your Self, by way of Dedication. What was preſented to your Ears, is here repreſented to your Eyes: not as commanding your pains in the review, but craving your Patronage. Your Command did firſt give life to theſe Conceptions; they are therefore Yours. I humbly expect that right, that you will own them. The Subject was ſeaſonable, had the Speaker been ſuitable; the Subject deſerves your Patronage, the Speaker deſires your Pardon. It is printed, as it was preached, without alteration, ſave only that I preſent it to you intire, as it was penn'd, with ſome few reſerves of Application in the cloſe, which my fear of too bold entrenchment upon publick Concerns made me omit. It is not Ambition, but Obedience to your Self, and the commanding Requeſts of other Friends that makes me appear in print; & if I meet with ill meaſures from any that read it, I can esteem it one Compenſation, that it is, whileſt I am,
SIR, Your humble and obliged Servant, OBADIAH HOWE.