1. The greatness of the punishments proposed, Famine, Sword, and Plague: these are the three besoms with which God sweeps mankind from off the earth: these are Gods three iron whips, by which he chastiseth sinful man: these are the three arrows shot out of the quiver of Gods wrath, for the punishment of man, they are, as one calleth them, Tonsurae humani generis. In Revel. 6. you shall read of four Horses, when the four first Seals were opened: a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse: after Christ had ridden on the white horse propagating the Gospel, then follows the red horse, a type of War, then the black Horse, an Hieroglyphic of Famine; then the pale horse, the emblem of Pestilence. Now God was resolved to ride on one of these horses, and David must choose upon which God should ride; this was a great strait: Let me present Davids lifting up his eyes to Heaven, and speaking to God thus: O my God, what is this message thou hast sent me? Thou offerest me three things: I am in a strait, I know which to refuse, but ⟨p. 4⟩which to choose I know not: shall the Land of Canaan, a Land flowing with milk and honey, shall this Land endure seven years famine, and be turned into a wilderness, and dispeopled? and shall I, whose hands thou hast taught to fight, and whose fingers to war, shall I that have subdued all my enemies, shall I in my old age, and all my Captains, fly three months before our enemies and be driven to Caves and Rocks to hide ourselves? O thou my God, who art my refuge, shall I and my people be a prey to the pestilence that walketh in darkness and destruction, that walketh at noon day? O my God, I know not what to do, I am in a great strait.
1. The greatness of the punishments proposed, Famine, Sword, and Plague: these are the three besomes with which God sweeps mankind from off the earth: these are Gods three iron whips, by which he chastiseth sinful man: these are the three arrows shot out of the quiver of Gods wrath, for the punishment of man, they are, as one calleth them, Tonsurae humani generis. In Revel. 6. you shall read of four Horses, when the four first Seals were opened: a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse: after Christ had ridden on the white horse propagating the Gospel, then follows the red horse, a type of War, then the black Horse, an Hieroglyphick of Famine; then the pale horse, the emblem of Pestilence. Now God was resolved to ride on one of these horses, and David must choose upon which God should ride; this was a great strait: Let me present Davids lifting up his eyes to Heaven, and speaking to God thus: O my God, what is this message thou hast sent me? Thou offerest me three things: I am in a strait, I know which to refuse, but ⟨p. 4⟩which to choose I know not: shall the Land of Canaan, a Land flowing with milk and honey, shall this Land endure seven years famine, and be turned into a wilderness, and dispeopled? and shall I, whose hands thou hast taught to fight, and whose fingers to war, shall I that have subdued all my enemies, shall I in my old age, and all my Captains, fly three moneths before our enemies and be driven to Caves and Rocks to hide ourselves? O thou my God, who art my refuge, shall I and my people be a prey to the pestilence that walketh in darkness and destruction, that walketh at noon day? O my God, I know not what to do, I am in a great strait.
