A HEAVENLY CORDIAL., A heavenly cordial for all those servants of the Lord that have had the… (Thomas Brooks, 1666) | AskReformation

A HEAVENLY CORDIAL., A heavenly cordial for all those servants of the Lord that have had the… (Thomas Brooks, 1666) | AskReformation

¹SO the Lord sent a Pestilence upon Israel, from the morning even to the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba, seventy thousand men. Numb. 16. 46. Wrath is gone out ⟨p. 2⟩from the Lord, the Plague is begun. Numb. 14. 12. I will smite them with the Pestilence, and disinherit them. Deut. 28. 21. The Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee, until he hath consumed thee from off the Land whither thou goest to possess it. Ezek. 14. 19. Or if I send a Pestilence into that Land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast. Verse 21. For thus saith the Lord God, how much more, when I send my four sore judgements upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast. Amos 4 10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Hence 'tis called, Gods Arrow, Psal. 91. 5. and when God shoots these arrows into Kingdoms, Cities, Towns, Families, none can ²pull them out but God himself. The Plague is more immediately from God, than any other Sicknesse or Disease is; for it is the immediate stroke of God. The Scribe is more properly said to ⟨p. 3⟩write, than the pen; and he that maketh and keepeth the Clock, is more properly said to make it go and strike, than the wheels and poizes that hang upon it: and every Workman to effect his work, rather than the tools which he useth as instruments. So the Lord of Hosts, who is the chief Agent and Mover in all things, and in all actions, may more fitly and properly be said to effect and bring to pass all Judgements, yea, all things which are done in the Earth, than any inferiour or subordinate causes; seeing they are but his tools and instruments, which he rules and guides according to his own Will, Power, and Providence. I know some Physitians ascribe it to the heat of the Air, and sometimes to the driness of the Air, and sometimes to the corruption of the Air, & sometimes to the corruption of mens blood, & sometimes to Satan, and sometimes to the malignancy of the Planets; but certainly those are Physitians of no value, that ⟨p. 4⟩cannot look above second causes, to the First Cause, that cannot look to the wheel within the wheel. The ³Plague is a hidden thing, a secret thing; it is a sickness, a disease, that more immediately comes from God, than any other sickness or disease doth.

:6p. 4–6§1

Behold the hand ¹of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep, there shall be a very grievous murrain. The word here translated murrain, is in chap. 5. v. 3. termed pestilence; and it is one and the same disease, though when it is applied to cattle, it be usually rendered by murrain, yet when 'tis applied to men, as in the Scripture last cited, it is commonly called the pestilence. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle, &c. That is, the extraordinary immediate power and work of God, without the intervening of any second cause or humane operation. This open plague, this plague without doors, that principally ⟨p. 5⟩fell upon the cattle, was from the immediate hand of God. 'Tis God alone that singles out the Nation, the City, the Town, the Parish, the Family, the Person, that he will strike with the plague; for all second causes are ordered by the first cause, as every instrument is ruled or over-ruled by the will and hand of him that holdeth it. When a man goes with his Axe to cut down Trees in the Wood, there is an equal aptness in the Axe to cut down one Tree as well as another, an Oak as well as an Ash, &c. but it is still ruled by the will of him that handles it. So 'tis here, the noisome pestilence, or the pestilence of griefs (as the Hebrew runs in that Psal. 91. 3.) hath an equal aptness to cut down one man as well as another, the rich as well as the poor, the honourable as well as the base, the strong as well as the weak, the Prince as well as the peasant, the Emperor as well as the Carter; but it is still over-ruled ⟨p. 6⟩by the Lord himself, who gives it a Commission to cut off such and such in this Kingdom, and that in this City, and that in this Town, and that in this Family; and that to spare, save, and pass by all the rest. In Rev. 6. you shall read of four horses when the four seals were opened, 1. A white horse. 2. A red horse. 3. A black horse. 4. A pale horse. After Christ had ridden upon the white horse propagating the Gospel, then follows the red horse, a Type of War; then the black horse, an hieroglyphic of Famine; and then the pale horse, the emblem of Pestilence. Now all these horses, these plagues, were of Christs sending. From those words Judges 3. 20. I have a message from God unto thee, O King, said Ehud. Lo, his poniard was Gods message;

Behold the hand ¹of the Lord is upon thy cattel which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep, there shall be a very grievous murrain. The word here translated murrain, is in chap. 5. v. 3. termed pestilence; and it is one and the same disease, though when it is applied to cattel, it be usually rendred by murrain, yet when 'tis applied to men, as in the Scripture last cited, it is commonly called the pestilence. Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattel, &c. That is, the extraordinary immediate power and work of God, without the intervening of any second cause or humane operation. This open plague, this plague without doors, that principally ⟨p. 5⟩fell upon the cattel, was from the immediate hand of God. 'Tis God alone that singles out the Nation, the City, the Town, the Parish, the Family, the Person, that he will strike with the plague; for all second causes are ordered by the first cause, as every instrument is ruled or over-ruled by the will and hand of him that holdeth it. When a man goes with his Axe to cut down Trees in the Wood, there is an equal aptness in the Axe to cut down one Tree as well as another, an Oake as well as an Ash, &c. but it is still ruled by the will of him that handles it. So 'tis here, the noisome pestilence, or the pestilence of griefs (as the Hebrew runs in that Psal. 91. 3.) hath an equal aptness to cut down one man as well as another, the rich as well as the poor, the honourable as well as the base, the strong as well as the weak, the Prince as well as the peasant, the Emperour as well as the Carter; but it is still over-rul'd ⟨p. 6⟩by the Lord himself, who gives it a Commission to cut off such and such in this Kingdom, and that in this City, and that in this Town, and that in this Family; and that to spare, save, and passe by all the rest. In Rev. 6. you shall read of four horses when the four seals were opened, 1. A white horse. 2. A red horse. 3. A black horse. 4. A pale horse. After Christ had ridden upon the white horse propagating the Gospel, then follows the red horse, a Type of War; then the black horse, an hieroglyphick of Famine; and then the pale horse, the emblem of Pestilence. Now all these horses, these plagues, were of Christs sending. From those words Judges 3. 20. I have a message from God unto thee, O King, said Ehud. Lo, his ponyard was Gods message;

1Exod. 9. 3.