The Zealous Magistrate, Title page – Dedication
THE ZEALOUS MAGISTRATE.
Set forth in A Sermon, Preached in Exeter, before the Right Honourable Sir Robert Foſter, his Majeſties Justice of Aſsize for the Weſtern Circuit.
By THOMAS TRESCOT, Maſter of Arts, and Rector of the Church of INVVARDLEIGH in DETTON.
Contende intrare per anguſtam portam. nec quid multi agunt attende; ſed quid agendum, ipſa tibi Naturae Lex, ipſa Ratio, ipſe Deus oſtendet: Neque enim aut minor erit gloria…a, ſi faelix eris cum paucis, aut levior Poena, ſi miſer es cum multis.
Ioh. Picus Mirand. in Epiſt. Nepoti ſuo.
IT is this 10th. day of October 1642. (by the Committee of the Houſe of Commons concerning Printing) Ordered, that this Book, intituled, The Zealous Magiſtrate, &c. be printed.
Iohn White.
LONDON, Printed for Daniel Frere, and are to be ſold at his Shop at the Signe of the Red Bull in little Britaine. 1642.
To the Worshipfull, my much honoured Friends, Arthur Ʋpton of Lupton in Devon. Eſquire; And Francis Rous Eſquire, one of the Burgeſſes in PARLIAMENT for the Towne of Truro in CORNVVALL.
Worthy Gentlemen,
WHEN one came to Alexander, V. Libanii exempla. P…ogymnaſ. Chria. 1.and deſired him that he might ſee his Treaſure, he bid one of his ſervants take him, and ſhew him, not foreign, his money, but foreign, his friends. It ſeems he put a higher value upon them, than he did upon all the wealth which he had.Dilectio Christiani nominis theſaurus Tert. de patient. c. 12. Good friends are an unvaluable treaſure, and the rarity of them, doth much inhaunce the price of them. The love & friendſhip which I have found from you, hath ſtampt in my affections a very high valuation of you; and among other friends which God hath given me, I muſt ever reckon you among thoſe of the firſt magnitude. The confidence I have in you, in your love to thoſe truths, which this ſermon holds forth, hath imboldned me to make it publique under your names; J ſhall not much trouble my thoughts with what cenſures others may paſs upon it, ſo it carries the mark of your acceptance: I will ſay of that, as Libanius did of the Commendation, which Baſil gave him, foreign, if you (and ſuch as you are) ſhall like well of it,Liban. in Epiſt ad Baſilium. it will over-maſter the opinions of other men. For my own part, I never preached it, neither do I now print it with any hopes or deſires to pleaſe all:Salv. ad Eccleſ. Cath. li. 4. Mirum eſſet ſi hominibus loquentia de Deo verba non placeant, quibus ipſe forſitan Deus non placet; 'Twere very ſtrange, if I ſhould pleaſe a world of men, when God himſelfe doth not give every one content; and if I ſhould but offer to pleaſe Men, 1 Gal. 10.my Maſter would quickly diſcard me, and I ſhould be no longer the ſervant of Chriſt.
I know St. Paul elſe-where ſtrikes in with his foreign,1 Cor. 10.33 I pleaſe all men in all things, but then we muſt take him, Cum grano ſalis, his all things muſt come under omnia licent, All lawfull things, or (which is more genuine to the Text) All indifferent things,Mr. Barys Serm. in loc. where God hath left us in Bivio, without expreſſe, or implicite command. But I can no where find that ever St. Paul did forbeare to ſpeak neceſſary truths (though it were oftentimes to his own prejudice) or elſe ſpeak them coldly and faintly,1 Titus 13. foreign. Tremel. durè. Beza praetiſe in Annotat. Rigide qraſm. ſever…ter, & in Anotat. ad vivum. & ſevere Gen. note, roughly & plainly, and goe not about the Buſh with them. for fear of angring or diſpleaſing men. I am ſure he gives it in charge to Titus, when hee had to deale with thoſe peccant Cretians, that he ſhould rebuke thē ſharply, cuttingly, do it to the quick; for look as Oyle feeds the fire which is quenched by other liquors, ſo many times a ſweet oyly loving Reproofe, makes ſome men the more cholerick, and the gentlier they be handled, (like Nettles) the worſe they ſting. It wil therefore ill-beſeem any Miniſter of Chriſt, to let flattery take the wall and inſide of plain-dealing, or make the truth of God to Lacquie up and down after the humors of men. For my own part I am yet to learn that piece of paraſitical Divinity, & in this ignorance I hope both to live and die.
I have no more to ſay, but to deſire the God of heaven, ſtil to ſupply you with all thoſe graces wch may continue you ſerviceable inſtruments of his glory, that you may ſtil do worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem, 4 Ruth 11 …which ſhall be the dayly Paryer of him, who is,
Yours, with his best abilities to ſerve you, THO. TRESCOT.