Gods Three Arrows, To his parishioners – Errata
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE, RIGHT Worſhipfull, and other my Beloved Pariſhioners, Inhabitants of Black-Fryers LONDON, all Happineſſe. Right Honourable, Right Worſhipfull, Beloved,
BEhold here a Teſtimony of my due Reſpect to you. Behold here an Apology for my ſeeming Neglect of you. I do acknowledge that all the Reſpect which by a gratefull Paſtor may be due to a loving People, is by me due to you. In that reſpect, I do here aTreatiſes preſented to my pariſhioners. 1 The whole Armont of God. 2 Domeſticall Daties. 3 A Guide to go to God. 4 Gods three Arrowes.the fourth time give publike teſtimony thereof by preſenting to you in ſpeciall that which is made publike to all. The neglect of you, objected againſt me, is, my ſeldome preaching among you this laſt yeare. This ancient, undeniable aphoriſme, bVltra poſſe non eſt eſſe: ncc velit quidem.A man can do no more then he can, giveth a juſt anſwer thereto. Great hath beene the weakeneſſe of my body, firſt occaſioned by a very dangerous diſeaſe in Auguſt laſt (how low I was brought thereby, many of you are witneſſes) and further increaſed by two relapſes, one in Nov. the other in Febr. following. (Of Gods goodnes in my recoveries I ſhall have fit occaſion to ſpeake on The Saints Sacrifice, ſhortly to be tendred unto you.) Had I no other excuſe, this foreign; Chryſ. Hom. 1. in cap. 1. ad Tit.were ſufficient. Saint Chryſostome, where he granteth that by the weakeneſſe of Miniſters bodies the Churches commodities may be intercepted, concludeth that Miniſters in ſuch caſes are not to be blamed. But howſoever my weakeneſſe were a juſt impediment to preaching (whereby the ſpirits of a feeble man are much exhauſted) yet would I not make it a pretext for waſting precious time in idleneſſe. It was wittily and gravely ſaid, dCavendum & in ocio ocium eſt. Bern de Conſid. l. 3. c. 13. Scipio Africanus dicere ſolebat Nunquam ſe minus ocioſum quam cum ociooſus eſſet. Cic. Offic. lib. 3.Even in leiſure laſineſse is to be ſhunned. Worthy therefore of all to be imitated is he, who made that uſe of freedome from publique affaires, as he ſet himſelfe more cloſe to his private ſtudies, and thereupon was wont to ſay that, He was never leſse at leiſure then when he was most at leiſure: Anſwerably (according to the abilitie which God gave me) I endeavoured to ſpend that ceſſation which I had from publike imployments, in my priuate ſtudies, ſo as ſome fruit thereof might redound to you and others. By this my true and juſt apology, I hope the fore-mentioned ſeeming neglect of you, appeares to be but ſeeming, Concerning the ſubject matter of my private paines now made publike, though I had by me ſundry treatiſes heretofore preached in your eares, which might with more eaſe have beene laid againe before your eyes: yet the manifeſtation of Gods diſpleaſure againſt us and other parts of the Chriſtian world, by ſhooting out his three eforeign malas ſagittas. Ezek. 5. 16 Metonymia effecti.evill arrowes (ſo called in regard of their evill effects) Plague, Famine, Sword, hath drawne my thoughts to meditate thereon, and to publiſh what in mine ordinary courſe of Miniſtry I have not had occaſion to preach. Indeed on ſpeciall occaſions I have out of the pulpet delivered ſome of the points handled in theſe Treatiſes: but I never finiſhed any of them. It is without queſtion a point of prudence to eye the divine Providence in all things. For fMaieſtati divinae gubernatio pariter & adminiſtratio univerſitatis incumbit. Bern ſuper. Cant. Ser. 68.by it without all contradiction are all things thorowout the whole world governed and diſpoſed: eſpecially the affaires of his Church: on which ſometimes the light of his favour brightly ſhineth: other-times haile-ſtones of indignation are ſhowred downe. By a due obſervation hereof may our diſpoſition to God be ſo ordered, as that, which God expecteth, be effected: namely Gratulation for his Favours: Humiliation for his Iudgements. Now are the times wherein clouds of Gods anger have obſcured the bright skie of the Church. Pertinent therefore to the preſent times are the Treatiſes following, and in that reſpect the more profitable to us of theſe times. gQuo magis quid accomodum, eo magis commodum eſt.The more pertinent a point is, the more profitable it is. I could wiſh that there were not ſo juſt occaſion of treating of the fore-ſaid three arrowes, as there is. We have felt the bitterneſſe of the plague within theſe ſix yeares more then in many hundred yeares before in this land: which arrow is now againe ſhot againſt us: and how farre the venime thereof (for it is a venimous arrow) may infect, who knowes? Both the Palatinates, Bohemia, Moravia, Sileſia, Hungaria, and almoſt all Germany: hThe generall Hiſtory of France hath a catalogue of 99 townes and places of Oſtage for them of the religion, reduced in theſe late warres.Rochel, Montauban, Monpellier, Neſmes, and other townes, cities, and countries in France: Bredaw in the Low Countries, and many other places in Chriſtendome, have felt the deepe wound of warre, whereby Idolatry hath thruſt out Piety, Superſtition is ſet in the roome of Religion, Vſurpers have entred upon the rites of the true Lords and Inheritours, the bloud of many millions hath beeneſhed, more have beeneexiled, and all things turn'd upſide downe. S. Auguſtine in his time complained that the outrages of the Clergy of the Donatiſts ſo waſted the Clericorum Donatiſtarum latrocinia ſic vaſtant Eccleſias, ut Barbarorum fortaſſe ſacta mitiora ſiat. Aug. Epiſt. 122.Churches, that Barbarians dealings might ſeeme to be more mild. How much more juſtly may we take up that complaint againſt the Popiſh Clergy, Ieſuites, Monks, Prieſts, Friers, and the reſt of that rabble? As for Famine, it begins to invade all Chriſtendome: ſo as one country cannot be helpfull to another, as they have been in former times. Corne hath not been ſo deare among us, as now it is, in any living mans memory. How far this Famine begun may proceed and to what extremities it may bring both our, and other countries, no man can tell. Is it not now time for Plaisters to be made for the Plague, Proviſion to be procured againſt Dearth, and Protection provided againſt the Sword? Such are the evils of theſe Arrowes, as to determine which of them is the leaſt evill, is not eaſie. I am ſure, that the leaſt of them is ſo evill, as there is juſt cauſe to uſe all the meanes that poſſibly we can to prevent or remove it. To theſe purpoſes tend the Treatiſes here tendred to you. In them ye ſhall find (beſide ſundry other uſefull points) the extremities of, and remedies for iPlaiſter for the Plague §. 70, 71, 50, 64, &c.Plague, kDearths Death, §. 4, 5, 6, &c.Famine, and lChurches 6 queſt, §. 83, 85 9, 10, &c. Dignity of Chivalry, §. 15, 10, &c.Sword. With ſuch a mind accept them as they are offered to you, by him that thinks no pains too much for your good, who is alwaies mindfull of you, and humbly and heartily deſireth the helpe of your prayers: who though feeble in body, yet, ſo long as he retaineth any competent ſtrength to do you any ſervice, deſireth to be
Black-Fryers, LONDON, 11. Apr. 1631. Your faithfull Miniſter, WILLIAM GOVGE.
Errata.
In the Epiſtle Dedicatory in margine pag. 1. lin. 3, for bono reade bona. Pag. 19 lin. 36. and Mordecai was. p. 76. l. 29. To him therefore. p. 99. in marg. l. 10. Macrob. p. 110. l. 11. know not what. p. 111. in marg. l. 17. Gen. 17. 7. p. 325 adde in the end of l. 28 imply as much. p. 335. l. 9. he makes. P. 366. l. 33. ſo deepe a wound. p. 378. l. 12. noted that the very. p. 381. in marg. l. 22. for redi r. recti. p. 433. l. 14. had betrothed to his.