A29694:82
A heavenly cordial for all those servants of the Lord that have had the…
A heavenly cordial for all those servants of the Lord that have had the plague ... , or, Thirteen divine maxims, or conclusions, in respect of the pestilence which may be as so many supports, comforts and refreshing springs, both to the visited and preserved people of God in this present day : also ten arguments to prove that in times of common calamity the people of God do stand upon the advantage ground as to their outward preservation and protection ... : also eight reasons why some of the precious servants of the Lord have fallen by the pestilence in this day of the Lords anger / by Thomas Brooks.A heavenly cordial for all those servants of the Lord that have had the plague ... , or, Thirteen divine maximes, or conclusions, in respect of the pestilence which may be as so many supports, comforts and refreshing springs, both to the visited and preserved people of God in this present day : also ten arguments to prove that in times of common calamity the people of God do stand upon the advantage ground as to their outward preservation and protection ... : also eight reasons why some of the precious servants of the Lord have fallen by the pestilence in this day of the Lords anger / by Thomas Brooks.
London : Printed for and are to be sold by John Hancock, 1666
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Seventhly, Notwithstanding any §7outward promises that the Lord hath made concerning the protection and preservation of his children, yet he still reserves a liberty to himself, to chastise his 1children with what rod he pleaseth. Notwithstanding all the gracious engagements that are upon the Lord to his people, yet he reserves a freedom to himself to make use of the very lives of his people, in such ways as may make best for the bringing about of his own ends, and as may make most for the advance of his own glory; and hence it comes to pass that God delights so to carry it towards his dearest people, as that sinners and saints shall be forced to say, That his judgements are unsearchable, and that his ways are past finding out, Rom. 11. 33. And that his way is in the sea, and that his paths are in the great waters, and that his footsteps are not known, Psal. 77. 19. If you take a strait stick and put it into the water, it will seem crooked; ⟨p. 61⟩why? because we look upon it through two mediums, Air and Water, there lies the deceptio visus; thence it is that we cannot discern aright. Thus all the proceedings of God in his righteous judgements, which in themselves are just, righteous, and strait, without the least obliquity, seem to us strange and crooked. That the wicked should prosper, and the righteous be afflicted; that good men should be in bonds, when bad men walk at large; that the Israelites should make the bricks, and the Egyptians dwell in the houses; that some of the best of Christians should fall by the pestilence, when many of the worst of sinners have their lives for a prey; these are some of those mysterious providences that many times make some of the best of Christians to stagger in their judgements; and why so, but because they look upon Gods proceedings through a double medium of flesh and spirit; and hence it comes to pass that allthings seem to run cross, and that Gods most just and righteous proceedings, are not so clearly and fully discerned, as otherwise they might ⟨p. 62⟩be. The wheels in a Watch or in a Clock, move contrary one to another, some one way, some another, yet all show the skill and intent of the workman, to show the time, or to make the Clock to strike: so in this world divine providences seem to run cross to divine promises; the wicked are spared, and the righteous are taken away;