plague a way from mee c. for the worde which is there rendred a plague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plaga verber signifieth a stripe or scourge as elsewhere in Scripture diseases are called scourges as in the story of the woman that had her issue of bloud dryed vp healed by Christ it is saide that shee felt in her body that shee was healed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that scourge or of that plague Mark 5.29 Luke 7.21 as our English hath it And in S. Luke it is said that Christ cured many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their sicknesses and plagues But I rather suppose it to haue bin the plague for the reasons before alleadged The vse of this point is to teach and to lessen vs The vse of the 1. part to vnderstand the right vse and ende of this and all other afflictions wherewith God doth exercise his children to wit that howsoever they be inflicted vpon all as punishmentes for sin and to the wicked vngodly which remaine incorrigible are testimonies of Gods vengeance to consume them yet to the godly they are his fatherly chastisements corrections for their amendment And whē we shal see the hand of God to lie heavy vpon his dearest children ◠Sam 23 1 as here it doth vpon David that sweete finger of Israell Act 13 22 the man after Gods owne heart as that it brake bruised his body with a cōtusion of his limmes yea and vpon his only sonne too our Savior Christ whō he cast into an agony and fit of sorrowe so extreame and vehement as that he sweat drops of bloud therat Luke 22 44 Let this be our comfort in the day of our affliction and in the depth of our sorrows that how soeuer Gods hand seeme to presse vs sore yet he will not cast vs away in displeasure as hee doth the vessels of wrath but euen then when he punisheth he will remember mercy Psal 32 11 Greate plagues indeed are ordained and reserved in store for the vngodly but whosoever putteth his trust in the Lord mercy embraceth him on every side And therefore though God doe differre our deliverance yet we must not suffer our selues to bee cast downe with too great consternation as to be swallowed vp of impatiency or despaire but patiently to tarry the Lords leasure as heere our David doth who beeing likely in this his extreame sicknes to rot away peece-meale is not discouraged or discomforted nor mooved for his recovery either to put confidence or relie his hope vpon Physitions 2. Chro. 16.12 as did Asa in his sicknes or to repaire to Idols Witches as did king Ahaziah but as himselfe speaketh verse 15. Hee waiteth on God 2. King 1.16 knowing that to bee true which Hosea hath that it is God that woundeth and healeth againe Hosea 6 1 this is his rest vna eademque manus vulnus opemque feret Popilius Laenas beeing sent embassadour to Antiochus Veleius Paterculus l 1 from young Ptolemie whom he had besiedged hauing deliuered his messadge expected the kings answere which he deferring to doe circūscripsit virgula he drew a circle in the groūd round about the king with his wand adiuring him to giue him answer before he went out of the circle we must not so capitulate with God nor article with him vpon conditions as did the men of Bethulia to yeelde vp their citty to the Assyrians if God did not deliver them with in fiue daies but let vs waite for deliverance frō him Iudith 8 as Iudith there adviseth her people and not binde the counsels of the Lord for he hath power to saue vs when he well And this pacient attendāce on Gods wil and pleasure is an excellent fruit effect of faith according to that of Esay Quo credit non praefestinabit Cap 28 16 hee that beleeueth with a true faith will not bee ouerhasty with God but will patiently waite his Lords leasure Having thus laid downe our Prophets disease and proved by all likelihood that it was the botch of the plague or some other pestilentiall disease I come nowe to the handling of this 2. verse wherein hee calleth his Vlcers Gods arrowes the stroke of his hand And because it is the hand of God that shooteth and scattereth these arrowes abroad I wil somewhat inverting the order intreate first of the hand of God Heere then it is to bee considered that the Phrase heere vsed of the hand of God cannot be vnderstood literally and in a true propriety of speech For that were with the Anthropomorphites to conceiue God to be as man and to haue the bodily parts of a man and who so shall thinke these things truely to bee in God proculdubiò in corde suo idôla fabricat doubtles Tom. 4 lib. de mēbris Dei saith Ierome he maketh an Idol of God in his hart But the Scripture when it doth attribute vnto God Anger and Displeasure as in the 1. verse of this Psal though not as passions seing that he is impassible as Saint Ambrose speaketh vpon this psalme according to that of Lucretius nec Deus affectu capitur nec tangitur irâ And when it doth give eies and hands and fingers and feete vnto God it doth it by a metaphore and Anthropopathie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in Ps 38. speaking vnto vs saith Basill after the manner of men and stooping and descending to the quality and capacity of the hearers God saith Bernard Serm 4 in Cantic hath a mouth by which he teacheth man Wisdome he hath an hand Serm. 4. in Cantic by which he giveth food vnto all flesh and he hath feete by which he treadeth vpon this earth as vpon his footestoole And how hath he all these per effectum saith Bernard non per naturam he hath them not by nature Organically as men haue but he is saide to haue them for that variety of effects which he bringeth forth in the course of nature and in the policie and governance of mankind vpō earth But because this metaphore is taken from man to whom the vse of the hand is chiefly given in token of his perfection let vs somewhat examine the reason hereof and see by what Analogie and proportiō the Scripture doth attribute an hand vnto God Lib. de Frater amore Anaxagoras as Plutarch telleth vs saide that the hand in man is the cause of wisedome and knowledge because that by the vse of the hand a man can draw letters and characters hee can describe Geometricall figures Diagrammes by meanes whereof we attaine the knowledge of Sciences And not so onely but by expressing of signes a man is able to speak with his hand if neede be Act. 21.40 Pers Saty. 4. as Paule by beckening with his hand procured silence and audience among the people maiestate manus as the Poet saith Adde heerevnto the wonderful skill of cunning
though it be lifted vp brandished by the hand of maÌ„ yet it killeth not but by Gods dispensatioÌ„ as God himselfe saith I will number you to the sworde Esay 65 12 I knowe that the Generall is true that neither the sworde in battaile nor this Arrowe of the Pestilence doeth kill any but those that are appointed thereunto But whether a man may thereupon inferre that it is not lawfull at all to flie from the one nor the other Calvin epist 362. facessant Paradoxa Zanchius ad Philip. cap 2.30 Ovid. 7. meta Fab. 25. it seemeth in Diuinity an harsh sequell and Argument but I will not take vpon me to determine this Question I know great Diuines learned and iudicious to bee of another minde And certaine it is and woe-full experience teacheth that to bee too true which the Poet hath Quo propior quisque est servitque fideliùs aegro In partem laethi citiùs venit By how much the neerer meÌ„ come about infected persons by so much the sooner they come by their own deaths I know that there is a time to be borne Eccles 3 2 Iob 14 5 Seneca Her Fur. Act 1 in choro Luth. in cap 2 Ecclesiastae a time to die as Iob saith mans daies are determined the nomber of his moneths are with God who hath set him his bouÌ„ds that he cannot passe Nulli iusso cessare licet nulli scriptum proferre dieÌ„ Many men saith Luther haue bin deepely deadly wounded who haue recouered survived yet many on the contrary side haue dyed of very small hurtes Astrologers ascribe it to the stars and planets others impute it to chance fortune the scriptures referre it to Almighty God apud queÌ„ sunt vitae mortis nostrae momenta posita who hath skored vp the minutes moments of our life death and he as he hath set the last howre period of our daies so hath hee appointed the meanes and the manner of death to bring vs to our ends yet must we not therefore behaue our selues carelesly wilfully to expose our selues to apparent dangers MaÌ„ is not Lord over his own Spirit or life to reteine it Eccles 8 8 saith the wise man And it is a good note to this purpose that our Bibles haue vpon that place that a maÌ„ hath no power to saue his own life therefore he should not rashly cast himselfe into danger To shut vp al in a word Almighty God after the floud he hung vp his bow in the clowd in token of reconciliation vnto men for if you marke it the bend and the arch of the bowe is turned from vs as Zanchius obserueth Lib 3. de operib creat cap 3 Lib de Noe Arca cap 27 But he hunge vp his bow saith Ambrose not his arrow Arcus habet vulneris indicium non vâ—…lneris effectum the bow maketh a shew of hurting but it doth not hurt it is the arrow that wouÌ„deth But now God seemeth for our sins to haue taken downe his bow againe And hee hath shot his arrowes against our whole land with to vse the Prophets words Ioel 2 3. lay before him like the Garden of Eden but hee hath left it wast and desolate where hee hath gone like a wildernesse The Queene city of our land and the glory of the kingdome which to speake with the Prophet Zephanie as shee dwelt carelesse Cap. 3 15. and sate attired in fine scarlet so had shee her sinnes also red as scarlet and therefore God hath made her an ensample of his wrath to her sister cities of the land and shee mourneth in her desolations for the losse of her inhabitants And now God hath changed his markes and hee shooteth his arrowes all abroad to cities and villadges far and neere he cannot shoote amisse sin is a faire marke for the arrow of vengance to hit Concerning our selues of this place almighty God as if at the first he had missed his ayme he shot wide first on the one side of the city and then on the other of late it began to be feared that having found the iust length hee had shot his arrowes into the midst of our city that his arrowes stucke fast in her very flancks What remained but that we should betake our selus to Davids preseruatiues against the Plague Praiers Teares Aâ—undines vulnera per niciosa ferentes Ammian Marcell lib 25 Lib 2 ca 8 The Persian bow-men are by all Historians commended for excellent archers and their arrowes are said to haue wouÌ„ded deadly yet in the battaile that was fought betweene Scipio and Antiochus they were woÌ„derfully foiled but mark how it came to passe imber superfusus Persicos arcus corruperat a showre of raine saith Florus falling in time of the battaile so slacked their bowes that they could not shoot an arrow The way for vs to slackeÌ„ Gods bow is by a showre of tears falling froÌ„ the eies of penitent sinners Let the Priests saith Ioel Ioel 2 17 the Ministers of the Lorde weepe betweene the portch the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord then wil the Lord be iealous over his land and spare his people And as Teares must worke vpoÌ„ Gods vow to slacken it Plin l 26 c 14 Dictamnum pota sagittas pellit so Praier is the true Dyctamnum that plucketh out his arrowes when they sticke fast in vs. These are the Sacrifices with which God is wel pleased and pacified these were David Ezechias his amulets counterpoisons preseruatiues against the plague for so God telleth Ezechias I haue heard thy praier 2. Kings 20.5 and seene thy teares behold I haue healed thee Now God of his mercy giue vs grace to make an holy vse of this and all other his visitations and to make a conscience of vsing all holsome meanes for our preseruatioÌ„ that so his heauy hand may be remoued from vs his arrowes which yet sticke fast in the flancks of many of our distressed brethren may be plucked out through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost three persons and one euer liuing God be all honour and glory worlde without ende Amen FINIS
they attempt and practise against them or in any other calamity whatsoeuer else commeth vpon them It is apparent by the whole course of the Story that Iosephs brethrē had sold him to the Ishmeelits for hatred and of enuy and that the Medianites or Ishmeelits to make their gaine had sold him againe at the second hand to Potiphar king Pharaohs chiefe stewarde to bee a slaue and bondman as it is in the Psalme Psa 105.17 But Ioseph he espied Gods hand working in that action and he telleth his brethren Gen. 50.20 that when they thought and intended evil against him God disposed it to good for God saith hee sent me into Egypt before hand for your preservation But the example of our Savior Christ Gen 45.5 is very excellēt to this purpose See what a rabble of miscreants cōbined and cōfederated themselues togither to worke the destruction of that innocent lambe of God and every one of them proposed to him selfe a particular end of his doing Sathan the chiefe Agent he saw that his kingdome coulde not stand if Christs kingdome were erected and therfore he beginneth to plaie the pioner but yet he would not openly shew himselfe in the Action which is the manner of the great Politicians of our age but he suborneth another to play the traitour Iudas one of Christes owne followers and he put into the hearte of Iudas to betray Christ saith Saint Iohn Ioh. 13.8 Iudas then hauing through the throate of covetousnes which inlardgeth it selfe as wide as hell swallowed downe the Diuell and all togither with the sop as it followeth in the chapter hee commeth to the Priests to proffer his seruice perfidiously to betray his Lord Master saying Quid dabitis what wil you giue me Here is his end for thirty pence he will sell him that was worth all the world beside for he was the Ransome of the whole world The Priests willingly condescend therevnto mooued through an ambitious desire of vpholding and mainetayning their estates and dignities against the proceedings of so base an vpstart as Christ seemed to be Ioh 11.47 48 49. marke their speeches What perceiue you not that wee pervaile nothing beholde all the world goeth after him and if we let him thus alone all men vvill beleeue to him and the Romaines wil come and take away both our place and the nation And thervpon they trudge to Pilate who makes vp the match And the end which he proposed to himselfe was the retaining of Caesars fauour least he shoold haue bin stript out of all his offices prefermēts for the Priests had told him that if he did deliuer Christ Ioh. 19 12. Luke 23.23 he was not Casars friend therfore their instant clamarous voices prevailed against him as S. Luke testifieth insomuch that through pusistanimity of mind not fit to be foūd in a iudge cōtrary to his own knowledge Luke 23.22 for he foūd no fault in him worthie of death against his own cōscience against the admonitiō sent vnto him frō his wife who willed him to haue nothing to doe with that Iust man Math. 27.19 for she had suffered many things that day in a dreame by reason of him yet he notwithstāding all this causlesly without any suspiciō of crime condēned to death the Lord of life Here is now the Gordian knot of the very powers of darkenesse made fast But what had God forgottē or forsakē his beloued sōne al this while no the scripture doth not dissēble it but that the hand of God was mainly in this whole actiō wrought with every particular agēt though not in every one according to that of the Schoolemen Beza quaest fol. 91. Deus agit quidē in bonis per bonos per males verò tantùm agit sed nō in malis see thē how the Scripture doth determin of it doubtles say the Apostles Peter Iohn doubtles both Herode Act. 4.27 Pōtius Pilate with the Gētiles the people of Israel gathered themselues togither to doe vvhatsoever thine hand thy counsel O God had determined before to bee done The place is very pregnāt to the purpose which we haue in hand namely to shew that whatsoeuer afflictiō befalleth vs it cōmeth not to passe by chāce but by Gods providēce as we cōmōly say Gods bād hath a stroke in it Therfore in al our miseries we may truly say as David here doth that it is the hand of God that presseth vs. Let vs not behaue our selues frowardly in this day of our visitatiō by murmuring against God for afflicting vs in this measure or in this kinde of punishmente by plague and Pestilence like curst Dogs which bite at the chaines wherewith they be tyed But let vs learne with David to humble our selues vnder the mightie hand of God ◠Pet. 5.6 as Saint Peter exhorteth the way to avoide the weight of his blow is to yeeld vnder it for it breaketh bruiseth whatsoeuer maketh resistance against it And seeing that it is vndoubtedly Gods hande that smiteth vs let vs cōstrue it to be for our good namely that God in seeking to reclaime vs frō those by-paths of sin into which we haue straied he sheweth that he hath a care of vs as of his children as of those who are not yet past hope of recovery Magna est ira quando Deus non irascitur August Desperat is the case of those who neuer feele any touch of Gods hande nor of his displeasure and it is a signe of his greatest anger when he doth not shew himselfe to bee angry with vs at all Having thus discoursed of the hād of God I will now proceede to this other metaphore here vsed where the Prophet calleth his Vlcers and soares Gods arrowes Thine arrows ô God sticke fast in me The Lord saith Moses is a mā of warre Exod. 15.3 The Scripture elswhere describeth his furniture and his armour For his armour of defence he is said in Esay Esay 59.17 to put on Righteousnes as an habergeon and the helmet of Salvation vppon his head with these he defendeth this church For his weapons of offence Ibid. he putteth on the garments of vengeance for cloathing and is clad with zeale as with a cloake And in the Psalmes he is said to girde his sword vpon his thigh to whette it Psal 7.12 4◠to bend his bow and to prepare his deadly arrowes Neither is God a cōmon souldier vnder pay gregarius miles but hee is the Lord high Marshall and great commāder of all the forces and armies in the world and therefore is very truly called the Lord of hostes he hath in heaven a band of ten thousand thousands of Angels Esay 1.24 which are his swift archers and his winged posts Dan. 7.1.10 and these stand before him to attend his command Who are properly called the host of heaven 1. King 22.19 Iob. 26.3