GOD'S ARROW Of the PESTILENCE. By JOHN SANFORD Master of Arts, and Chaplain of Magdalen College in Oxford. PSAL. 64.7. God will shoot an arrow at the evil doers suddenly; their stroke shall be at once. AT OXFORD, Printed by joseph Barnes and are to be sold in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Crown by Simon Waterson. 1604. TO THE RIGHT WORshipful the Vicechancelour, the Doctors, Proctors, and Heads of Houses, and to the rest of the Students of the most famous University of Oxford Grace and Peace be multiplied. REverend & Right Worsh: Fathers and Brethren, beloved in our Lord & Saviour Christ jesus. Having of late been induced & persuaded (upon former trial of my strength in private exercise) to have delivered some part of this Treatise in public place; and afterwards finding myself prevented by that infirmity which at other times had overtaken me in your hearing, to my no small discouragement, and the grief of many my good friends; I was enforced to forbear the place, and to leave the exercise unperformed; yet supposing this to be an honest and lawful kind of Vorsura, to borrow of my hand, to pay my tongues debt, I have presumed to present it to your grave judgements in writing, and under your Worsh: names to publish it to the world. What the will and purpose of God is, in this manner to put me to silence, I do not busy myself to inquire, neither would I have other rashly and curiously to judge; Exod: 29: 29: 2. Tim: 4: 5: Secret things belong to God. In that I continued thus unserviceable for the work of an Evangelist, in speech and utterance, I resolved with a Reverend man among us, Evangelizare manu & scriptione to preach (according to my poor ability) by my hand and by writing. D. Rainolds Epist. ad Come Essex. Let no man think that I pretend infirmity as a covert for Idleness, for I have heretofore offered and presented my labours, of a willing and ready mind, when I might have withdrawn myself. And I fear to truant in this business under any such colourable excuse, lest that should befall me, which happened unto Caelius, who to avoid the Ave potentiorum, to give his attendance early and late upon the great ones of his times, feigned himself sick of the gout, so cunningly, that his hypocrisy came home to him, and he fell sick of the gout indeed, Tantum cura potest & ars doloris, Martial. l. 7 Epig. 38. Desit fingere Caelius podagram. What my infirmity is I cannot well tell you, because Galen saith it hath no name; yet I find that it effecteth that which there he saith, loquelam, De Sympt, Causis lib. 2 cap. 2. quae voluntatis non leve est opus, prorsus adimit, it clean depriveth & bereaveth a man of speech, which is the principal work and the most noble Action of his will. jam. 3: 2. Enarrat. in Psal. 37. qui in lingua non peccavit, etc. Saint james faith, according to St. Augustine's reading, that he that offendeth not in his tongue is a perfect man, it is meant that sense according to which the Paroemiast speaketh in multiloquio stultiloquium; Prov. 10.19 where Austen saith Non frustra lingua in udo est, Aug. ibid. quia facilè labitur. The tongue may as well offend in too much silence, as in lavishnes of words. For to be wilfully silent in God's message, in which the neglect is attended on with a vae, ●. Cor. 9.16 Ier: 48: 10. & negligence with a curse, is to fail of a Ministers active perfection, the chief compliments whereof, are the right use of his hand and tongue. If I have wilfully neglected, or negligently handled the work of the Lord, Psa. 137.5.6 then let my tongue ever cleave to the roof of my mouth, and let my right hand also forget her cunning; Mark. 7: 35. Luke 1: 64: Motus linguae vitiatur per septimam nervorum coniugationem. Gal. de locis affectis lib. c: 2. But seeing it hath pleased God not to loose the strings of my tongue for utterance, as to Zacharias, but rather by solution of the conjugation of nerves to disable my speech; I must learn with Saint Paul even in this also to be content. Philip. 4.11. Especially seeing that God's worthiest servants have complained of like infirmities. Ser: 44. in Cant. Saint Bernarde saith, that weakness of body oftentimes enjoined him silence, and enforced him to pause in the midst of his sermons, and abruptly to break off his Disputations and Lectures. Concerning this present discourse; as I conceived it upon occasion of the danger of these times, and since have inlardged it with a Summary collection of that, which at other times I had delivered elsewhere touching the same matter; I thought it good to shoot it abroad like one of jonathans' Arrows, 1. Sam. 20.22. to give men warning of God's displeasure, beseeching him to guide it to the mark whereunto it was leveled, namely to work in us all, a trembling fear of his wrathful indignation, & our true & hearty conversion, which I pray God to grant unto us. And I humbly beseech your Wor: to accept this my silly labour with that wont favour, wherewith I have always found my endeavours to have been accepted and entertained of you. God of his mercy double his Spiritual graces upon you, giving you a large heart, 1. King. 4.29. to understand and to comprehend the riches of his goodness and the wonderful things of his law, and replenish you with godly zeal seasoned with discretion, truly to seekc the advancement of his glory & sincere worship, and the good of his Church. From Magdalen College this 13. of March, 1603. Your worships in all Christian duty. JOHN SANFORD. God's Arrow of the Pestilence. Psal. 38.2. For thine arrows have light upon me, and thine hand lieth upon me etc. THAT which Tully sometimes said of crantor's book de luctu: Est non magnus, In lucullo sive lib: 2: Acad: Quest. verùm aureolus libellus. The same may more cruelly be spoken of this book of the Psalms, that it is but a small volume, but in deed a golden book, both for the stuff and the matter thereof, as containing in it the true and undoubted word of God which as the Psalmist saith is pure & to be desired super aurum obrizum even before fine gold: Psal. 19: 10: as also for the multiplicity of Argument, fitted to yield comfort & instruction to all estates of men in their several occurrences and distresses, and therein also is more cordial & medicinable than the Paracelsians aurum potabile so much commended by johannes Franciscus Picus Mirandula. Lib. 1: de au●o ca 4: Saint Basill in his preface to the first Psalm saith, that the whole body of the Scriptures inspired by God, was therefore purposely indited by the holy Ghost, that every man might there find a medicine and confection for his particular disease, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Basil: in Psalm 1. as it were in a common Apothecary's shop. The Prophets teach one thing the Historical books another, the Law a third thing. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but the book of the Psalms, containeth whatsoever is comprised in them all; for it prophesieth of things to come, it recordeth matter of story, it giveth laws and precepts for the well ordering of a man's life, in a word, saith he, it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common storehouse and treasury of all good learning. Out of this storehouse the Saints of God have at all times furnished their spiritual wants, & out of this chirurgeons or Apothecary's shop, have taken medicine for the comfort of their souls. Camerarius in Catalogo Episcoporum: Babylas the good Bishop of Antioch when he was drawn to his execution by the commandment of Numerianus, or as others say, of Decius' the tyrant, repeated that saying out of the 116. Psalm Return unto thy rest o my soul for the Lord hath been beneficial unto thee. In like manner the good Emperor Mauricius, Niceph. lib. 18: cap. 40: when he had been enforced to behold the slaughter and butchery of his wife and children, by the commandment of Phocas usurper of the Empire, & himself lastly being drawn to the scaffold and to the block, quieted his soul with that godly confession out of the 119. Psal. I know o Lord that thy judgements are right & that thou dost afflict me justly. Finally the last words which our Saviour spoke when he gave up the ghost upon the cross, were those out of the 31. Psalm. Luk. 23: 46. Father into thine hands I commend my spirit. So that as Saint Basill truly saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pacis caduceus, ut reddidit volater: A Psalm of David fitly and aptly applied, is as a fair calm and as an herald or Ambassador of peace to a troubled soul. The consideration hereof moved and induced me to make choice of this passage of holy writ, as of a Scripture well befitting these times, in which the hand of God hath for a long time lain heavy upon us, in this his grievous visitation of our land by plague and pestilence, which hath much wasted and dispeopled many of our cities and villadges abroad. The Division: The parts of the whole Psalm (as I conceive of it without any curious Analysis) I propose generally to be two, first a prayer consisting of two branches to wit, a deprecation of the rigour of Gods punishing hand in the first verse wherein the Prophet beseecheth Almighty God not to exasperate his anger against him in fury and displeasure. Secondly an imploring of God's help and assistance, that he be not overborne with the extremity of his sickness to murmur against God or to despair of his providence in the two last verses. The second general part wherein the greatest part of the Psalm is spent, is a vehement complaint of the grievousness of his sickness, from the second verse to the end of the 20. amplified by many circumstances, and interlaced with great variety of passion and affection; for first he bewrayeth his human infirmity, when being under God's ferular & under the lash, he doth that which is unseemly & uncomely for a man to do, he crieth & roareth out vers. 8. & all along aggravateth the greatness of his pain & punishment, though not through impatiency, yet through an impotency of mind, which hath likewise been found in the rest of God's Saints job, jeremy, & the like. job: 3: 3: Ier: 20: 14: Secondly he showeth his affiance & confident trust in God, notwithstanding the sharpness of God's correction laid upon him; on thee o Lord do I wait vers. 15. as job likewise saith that although God should slay him yet he would trust in him. job: 13: 15: In the third place he ingenuously confesseth that the primitive & fundamental cause of this his affection was his sin v. 3. there is no rest in my bones by reason of my sin. Lastly the pain of his disease outwardly in his body, was increased by the inward grief of his heart, of with he setteth down 2. accessary causes; 1. the defection of his friends who now stood aside from his plague & his kinsmen stood afar off v. 11. Secondly the barbarous inhumanity of his enemies v. 12. who were so far from condoling with him in this his adversity, as that they did rather rejoice at it & insult over him, most injuriously rendering him evil for good, & hating him, as the manner of such miscreants is, for no other cause, but because he desired to live a godly life, and followed goodness as it is vers. 20. The matter and subject which at this time I purpose to insist on, omitting the rest, is the Nature and kind of our Prophet's disease, together with those two metaphorical Attributes by which it is described & deciphered vers. 2. where it is called the stroke of God's hand & his arrow; Thine arrows, o God, have light upon me, and thine hand lieth upon me. What kind of disease it was, that our Prophet was sick of, it is not here mentioned nor expressed, The Hebrews suppose that it was an ulcer so vile and loathsome that the Prophet was abashed and in a manner ashamed to name it in this his holy Ditty and Spiritual song; this they gather, because he useth the adjective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foul and abominable, but suppresseth the substantive; some render it foeditate or re abominabili, my loins are filled with filthy and abominable corruption. The circumstances and particularities laid down in the text, show it to have been some fowl pestilent and contagious botch or soar: the Interpreters do somewhat differ about the place where this disease made his issue. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by some rendered Ilia, Bucerus in hunc locum: by others Lumbi or renes which our English translations following say, my reins or loins are filled with a sore disease. If this interpretation be admitted and allowed of, than it seemeth to import, that his malady was either the ache of the reins by a fit of the stone, or one of those pangues which Tully calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 difficulty of urine, Lib: 7: Epist Fam: 26: and gripping and wring in the bowels and entrails; For these are the passions which usually fall into these parts. Which maladies though they bring with them a very sharp & sensible pain, yet they proceeede not to that loathsomeness, which here is mentioned, namely to putrefy corrupt and stink, for so Austen readeth computruerunt & putuerunt livores mei. Others who guess more properly and nearer to the disease, Calvinus & Bucerus. say that the word designeth a place beneath the reins, between the thigh and the belly or bowels, which is the flank or groin, into which place the confluence of vicious corrupt and malignant humours do most commonly betake themselves, as being one of Nature's Emunctories, as Physicians speak, and a part fitly qualified and prepared for evacuation of impostumation & the course and flux of humours, by reason of the tenderness & rarity of the skin and other passagdes as Galen hath observed and delivered unto us. Raritas & teneritas axillarun & inguinum. De Oculis particula 6. ca 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 1.6. Exod. 28.27 So that finding there residence, they do impostumate and push out into some blain and ulcer, such a one was this disease, for the word which here is used, signifieth a collection of humours impostumated, which Esay calleth a swelling soreful of corruption, and in Exodus is termed the botch of Egypt. Nicolaus Selneccerus discoursing of those passions & maladies which grow and arise in membris explantatis that is, In Physiolog fol. 597 in the out branches & limbs of the body, the arms, thighs, & legs; among the rest he reckoneth the Carbuncle, which may not unprobably be conjectured to have been our Prophet's disease, & that for these reasons as I conceive: First because it commonly ariseth in the flank or groin, which was the place and seat of our Prophet's disease, as the learned in the Hebrew observe out of the propriety of the word, as before I showed. Secondly because the names of Carbunculus in Latin, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek, signifying a burning coal, describe an inflammation so sensibly grievous & painful, as that it doth vex a man as if his flesh were seared and cauterized with a burning coal: agreeing altogether with the word here used, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 torrere comburere. which coming from a Radix which signifieth to burn, is rendered ardore or combustione, which the Geneva translation following saith, my reins are full of burning, according as in English we call such sores boils because they boil with the extreme heat of the blood and other inflamed feculent matter. Thirdly, because the Carbuncle is a very loathsome blain or sore, and as we commonly say of it, it is cousin german to the boil of the Plague. I will not utter it as my Author describeth it because it would be offensive to the hearing. Vlcus cum ●iustâ. Certain it is that it is an ulcer very odious and loathsome, & in this respect also agreeth with the nature of our Prophet's disease, which some call plagam contemptibilem, a botch or plague abhorred of all men, for his very friends and kinsmen fled from him and stood a loof off for fear of infection as it is not unlikely. Say we then that it was this Carbuncle; or be it rather that it was that boil and blain of which king Ezechias was sick unto the death, 2. Kings 26 Esay 38. which Divines think to have been the very plague immediately sent from God, neither arising from natural causes, nor to be cured by natural & ordinary means. For so junius saith, morbi natura indomita erat à medijs naturalibus, Annot. in 2. Reg. 20. & therefore God challendgeth the cure thereof to himself, saying, I have healed thee. The applying of the lump of dry figs to his boil, Masculus thinketh to have been used for a sign to confirm Ezechias his faith rather than any ordinary cure. Calvin in Esay 38. Hug. Card. in 2. Reg. 20 Howbeit Calvin and Hugo Cardinalis say that Physicians now a days do apply the same to ripen the sore, and that it hath a natural force to draw the corruption outward. Concerning our Prophet's disease Bucer, Musculus and others think it to have been the plague. And thereupon Masculus upon this 2. verse, moveth this question, whether it be lawful to fly from them that are infected with the plague. Add hereunto this reason, that seeing that the prophet confesseth this his sickness to have been laid upon him for his sins, In Argum in Psal. 38. which jansenius collecteth to have been his crying sins of Adultery and murder, it is not unprobable, but that God for exemplary justice, did afflict him with that disease which he threateneth against them that transgress against his law, namely that he would smite them in the knees & in the thighs with a sore botch that should not be healed, Deut: 28: 35 & 59 and with a plague of long continuance. All which very consonantly agreeth, to our Prophet's disease, for the place which this malady affected was the thigh. Faemora mea occupat ardens ulcus saith Musculus, and it was a disease also of long continuance upon him, for in the next Psalm he complaineth, Psal. 39.10. that he was almost consumed by means of Gods heavy hand and of his plague. This may further appear, by those sharp accents of grief which he uttereth in his complaint. First he saith, there was no sound part in all his flesh nor any rest in his bones, verse 3. as if the whole frame of his limbs inwardly had been lurate and disjointed, & as if outwardly by reason of the anguish of his ulcer, which now had made a rapture in his flesh, all his skin had been blistered over. For when he saith, nihil est integri in carne meâ, he alludeth to the name and nature of an ulcer, which coming from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and signifying in the primitive to draw a sunder, it importeth that an ulcer is a disjoining of the continued flesh or skin, as Frischlin upon that verse of Triphiodore, Nicodem: Fris. Annot in Triphiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Ajax by stabbing of himself, broke open the chest and coffin of his body with a deep gash and gaping wound, he saith that a wound or ulcer is solutio continui, a breach of the whole skin: now both these his pains seem to be implied together in the 8. verse, where he saith, I am weakened and sore broken. Secondly he goeth crooked and bended together, incurvatus sum verse 6. his face is heavy, swarthy, and discoloured; not with repining sullenness, but through his languishment, fainting, & wasting away through sickness. Add hereunto that which followeth in the 10. verse, that his heart was overthrown in his body, beating & panting through the anguish of his malady, as if it had laboured and gasped for breath and life. His eyes were sunk into his head and waxed dim, and his sight failed him, and his strength was clean decayed through feebleness, or as elsewhere he speaketh, Psal. 22.15. & 32: 4: his strength was dried up like a potsherd, & his moisture was as the drought in Summer; All which are the very Symptomata & Accidents which usually follow after any extremity of sickness. Thus have I been induced to conjecture, that the disease here meant though not mentioned, was either the Carbuncle, or the very botch & boil of the plague, not so much because it is expressly called the plague, verse 17. in our vulgar English, I truly am set in the plague; & yet more plainly, Psal. 39.10. Take thy plague a way from me, etc. for the word which is there rendered 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 blood dried up & healed by Christ, it is said, that she felt in her body, that she 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 have been the plague for the reasons before alleged. The use of this point, is to teach and to lessen us, The use of the 1. part. to understand the right use and end of this and all other afflictions wherewith God doth exercise his children; to wit, that howsoever they be inflicted upon all, as punishments for sin, and to the wicked & ungodly which remain incorrigible, are testimonies of God's vengeance to consume them; yet to the godly, they are his fatherly chastisements & corrections, for their amendment. And when we shall see the hand of God, to lie heavy upon his dearest children, ●. Sam: 23: 1 as here it doth upon David, that sweet finger of Israel, Act: 13: 22: & the man after Gods own heart, as that it broke & bruised his body, with a contusion of his limbs; yea and upon his only son too, our Saviour Christ, whom he cast into an agony and fit of sorrow so extreme and vehement, as that he sweat drops of blood thereat; Luke 22: 44 Let this be our comfort in the day of our affliction, and in the depth of our sorrows, that how soever God's hand seem to press us sore, yet he will not cast us away in displeasure, as he doth the vessels of wrath, but even then when he punisheth, he will remember mercy. Psal: 32: 11: Great plagues indeed are ordained and reserved in store for the ungodly, but whosoever putteth his trust in the Lord, mercy embraceth him on every side. And therefore though God do differre our deliverance, yet we must not suffer ourselves to be cast down with too great consternation, as to be swallowed up of impatiency or despair, but patiently to tarry the Lords leisure, as here our David doth, who being likely in this his extreme sickness to rot away piece-meal, is not discouraged or discomforted, nor moved for his recovery either to put confidence, or rely his hope upon Physicians, 2. Chro. 16.12. as did Asa in his sickness; or to repair to Idols & Witches, as did king Ahaziah; but as himself speaketh verse 15. He waiteth on God; 2. King. 1.16 knowing that to be true which Hosea hath, that it is God that woundeth, and healeth again; Hosea 6: 1: & this is his rest, una eademque manus vulnus opemque feret. Popilius Laenas being sent ambassador to Antiochus, Veleius Paterculus l: 1: from young Ptolemie whom he had besieged, & having delivered his message, expected the king's answer, which he deferring to do, circumscripsit virgula, he drew a circle in the ground round about the king with his wand, adjuring him, to give him answer before he went out of the circle; we must not so capitulate with God; nor article with him upon conditions, as did the men of Bethulia, to yield up their city to the Assyrians if God did not deliver them with in five days; but let us wait for deliverance from him, judith: 8: as judith there adviseth her people, and not bind the counsels of the Lord, for he hath power to save us when he well, And this patient attendance on Gods will and pleasure, is an excellent fruit & effect of faith, according to that of Esay, Quo credit non praefestinabit, Cap: 28: 16: he that believeth with a true faith, will not be overhasty with God, but will patiently wait his Lord's leisure. Having thus laid down our Prophet's disease, and proved by all likelihood, that it was the botch of the plague, or some other pestilential disease. I come now to the handling of this 2. verse; wherein he calleth his Ulcers Gods arrows, & the stroke of his hand. And because it is the hand of God that shooteth and scattereth these arrows abroad, I will (somewhat inverting the order entreat first of the hand of God: Hear than it is to be considered, that the Phrase here used of the hand of God, cannot be understood literally and in a true propriety of speech. For that were with the Anthropomorphites to conceive God to be as man, and to have the bodily parts of a man, and who so shall think these things truly to be in God, proculdubiò in cord suo idôla fabricat, doubtless, Tom. 4: lib. de membris Dei: saith Jerome, he maketh an Idol of God in his heart. But the Scripture, when it doth attribute unto God, Anger and Displeasure, as in the 1. verse of this Psal. though not as passions, seeing that he is impassable as Saint, Ambrose speaketh upon this psalm, according to that of Lucretius, nec Deus affectu capitur, nec tangitur irâ. And when it doth give eyes, and hands, and fingers, and feet unto God, it doth it by a metaphor and Anthropopathy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Basil: in Ps: 38. speaking unto us 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 Wisdom, he hath an hand, Serm. 4. in Cantic. by which he giveth food unto all flesh, and he hath feet, by which he treadeth upon this earth as upon his footstool; And how hath he all these per effectum, saith Bernard, non per naturam: he hath them not by nature Organically, as men have; but he is said to have them, for that variety of effects, which he bringeth forth in the course of nature, and in the policy and governance of mankind upon earth. But because this metaphor is taken from man, to whom the use of the hand is chief given in token of his perfection; let us somewhat examine the reason hereof, and see by what Analogy and proportion, the Scripture doth attribute an hand unto God. Lib. de Frater amore. Anaxagoras, as Plutarch telleth us, said that the hand in man is the cause of wisdom and knowledge, because that by the use of the hand, a man can draw letters and characters; he can describe Geometrical figures & Diagrams, by means whereof we attain the knowledge of Sciences. And not so only, but by expressing of signs, a man is able to speak with his hand if need be, Act. 21.40. Pers. Saty. 4. as Paul by beckoning with his hand procured silence and audience among the people, maiestate manus, as the Poet saith. Add hereunto the wonderful skill of cunning artisans and handicrafts men in their curious workmanship, in such sort, that a man would think (as the Italians say of the Duch-men) that their wits dwell in their fingers ends. j Tedesch hanno L'ingegno nelli n●ani So that it is not without good cause that Anaxagoras said, that man for having the use of his hands, was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the wisest of all creatures. For howsoever some brute beasts, may seem to participate with man in the use of reason, yet they want speech, which is reason's broker and interpreter, as Democritus said, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. ad Hipp●cratem de natura Hum●. and the hand also with is reason's factor and agent. For although apes, and marmosites, & Babons', have hands, by which as in other parts & lineaments they have some resemblance to a man; yet they have them after a more rude and unfashionable feature, as being rather made for feet, then for hands; in regard whereof the Poet saith, Ovid. lib: 12 M●ta: De Divin. lib. 2: Dissimiles possunt homine similesque videri. Tully out of Ennius Simia quam similis turpissima bestia nobis; How like are these Antics & base creatures to us men in body; and yet how unlike in the comely and exact use of the parts of their bodies. Wherefore Aristotle, correcting as it were the saying of Anaxagoras, affirmeth that a man is not therefore to be accounted the wisest because he hath hands, but therefore he hath hands, because he is the wisest; in as much as the wiser a man is, the more instruments doth he require for his use, and the better can he use them. Hence then appeareth the reason of this Metophore, Rom. 16.27 that seeing that God is only wise, as the Apostle speaketh, he is imagined to use these parts, (though not materially, but by way of proportion) which man useth to show forth his wisdom, to wit the hands, and hence it is, that the Psalmist saith, that the firmament showeth Gods handy work; Psal. 19.1. not only for the curious workmanship, in regard whereof God's hands may be called, as Homer called jupiters' hands, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; hands whose praise cannot sufficiently be spoken; but also for the orderly and powerful governing of the same, Spondanus fol. 24. in which respect they may be called, as some read that place, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hands inaccessible & unresistible for strength; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all the Gods in heaven cannot ward a blow of that hand. The hand of God then ordinarily in Scripture, signifieth his power, Lib. de. memb. Dei. and so saith Jerome in the place before mentioned; But Saint Bernard more pertinently to our purpose saith, the God hath two hands; the one is called Latitudo, quâ tribuit affluenter; Ser. 8. in Cantic. this is the hand of his bounty by which he bestoweth his largesse, & giveth gifts unto men. The other is his hand Fortitudo, quâ defendit potenter, this is the hand of his power, stretched out over all his creatures to protect them & defend them; and not so only, but to punish them also when they shall offend him; and so saith Saint Jerome, Ibid. manus Deo flagellum, the hand of God sometime signifieth a whip or scourge; with the one hand, Deut. 11.29 God seemeth (as standing upon mount Ger●z●m) to deal abroad his blessings; Iliad. 24. & like Homer's jupiter, out of one of those tons, and great vessels which stand in the entrance of his palace, he setteth abroach his favours unto men; with the other, as standing upon mount Ebal, he scattereth his cursings; & as out of the other tun he drentcheth men with affliction, & giveth them plenty of tears to drink, Psal. 80.5. as the Psalmist saith. Now David had very comfortable experience of both these hands of God, For with his hand Latitudo, the hand of his Bounty; he had given him a kingdom, and set a Diadem and a crown of pure gold upon his head, he had given him pro pedo sceptrum a sceptre for a sheephook, Psal. 78.71. taking him from following the ewes great with young, to make him a ruler over his people: with his hand Fortitudo, God had as mightily defended him; Saul had pursued him & hunted him as a man would hunt a Partridge in the mountains, 1. Sam. 26.20. as himself complaineth; and had brought him into those wonderful straits, that he telleth jonathan in the bitterness of his Soul, that verily there was but a step between him and death; 1. Sam. 20.3. yet God had always broken the snare of the fowler, and had wrought his deliverance miraculously. But now this hand of God for his sins was turned against him; Sickness by a loathsome and contagious disease; Discomfort for the loss of his friends, and grief of heart because of the malicious hatred of his enemies; these were now become his portion, this was the handsel that GOD had given him. By the hand of God then in this place, I understand, In Psal. 38. with Saint Ambrose, virtutem puniendi, his unresistible power, in punishing, by which he keepeth corrections, as it were among kings themselves, who are as Gods among men, Haec manus Dei regem Aegyptiarum flageslavit, this is that hand of God, saith Ambrose, Gen. 20. which scourged Abimelech king of Egypt, or of Gerar, and all his people with a sore disease, because of Sarah Abraham's wife: This is the hand, that punished king pharaoh, with those manifold plagues mentioned in the book of Exodus & this is that hand, which here punished David, with this disease in his body & in his person. I know that Saint Basil, expoundeth it otherwise, understanding it thus, that the hand of GOD was heavy upon David, not as upon his person, but upon his house and upon his family, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it had shaken his house from the very foundation, by the manifold disorders of his children, first by Ammon's incest with his sister Thamar, 2. Sam. 13.14. vers. 28. then by Absoloms killing of him for the same; Afterwards by Absoloms defiling of his father's concubines, and his ambitious aspiring to the Crown; And after that again, by Adoniiah's usurping of the kingdom. But it appeareth all along, 2. Sam. 16: 21. 1. King. 1.5: both by this exposition, & by that other also, where he calleth GOD'S arrows, nothing else but God's commination & threatenings, with the terror whereof, david's Soul and conscience was wounded, that Basill had a moral and Allegorical conceit of the whole Psalm; The best of our late and modern writers, understand it of a disease inflicted upon David in his person, with the Prophet calleth God's hand, Bucer. Musc: as deriving it from the principal efficient cause of all our misery and affliction as for example; Overthrow in battle, is God's handy work; when Israel forsook God and served Baal & Astaroth, judg. 2: 5. it is said that whither soever they went, the hand of the Lord was sore against them, and still delivered them into the hands of their enemies. Psal. 127.3. Children and the fruit of the womb, as they are a blessing that cometh from the Lord, as the Psalmist speaketh; so on the contrary, orbitas liberorum, loss of children and barrenness of the womb, are the stroke of God's hand. Naomi bewailing the death of her two sons the husbands of Ruth and Orpah, and considering that God had shut up her womb and that it ceased to be with her after the manner of women, Ruth. 1.13. so that she was without further hope of having any more children, she said, it grieveth me my daughters for your sakes, that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. Blindness is likewise the stroke of God's hand; when Elymas the sorcerer was strooken blind, Paul telleth him, Act. 13.11. that it was the hand of God, behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee, thou shalt be blind and shalt not see the sun for a season, Sickness and Diseases are the hand of God. For when the Philistines were smitten with Emeroides, it is there said as here David speaketh, that the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them. 1. Sam. 5.6. The use of the 2. part. The Doctrines which hence arise for our instructions are these. First in that he saith, thine hand lieth heavy upon me, Victori: Strigel. in hunc locum. it is very emphatical, it is as if he had said, I do not fear the hand of the Assyrians or the Philistines, or any of the inhabitants of Palestina. for against them I could oppose mine own hand, by which I have gotten many notable victories over them, I could fortify myself with strong munition, of war, I could muster and press forth many thousands of those strong men of Israel, that draw swords; I have many worthies, valiant men, who for my sake will carry their lives in their hands, and will defy mine enemies, and smite them till their hand cleave to the sword, as did Eleazar the son of Dodo; 2 Sam. 23: ●0. but all this will not now serve the turn, it will nothing avail; for it is thy hand O God, that presseth & pursueth me. Again; the charged and weight of a man's blow, is but weak, according to the force and pulse of his arm, as the two princes of the Midianites Zeba and Zalmana said to Gedeon, when he bid his son Iether to try his arm & the dint of his sword upon them; No said they; Arise thou and fall upon us, for as the man is so is his strength. judge 8.21. But the hand of God it falleth not lightly where it lighteth; but with an heavy load, and it breaketh and bruiseth; whatsoever maketh resistance against it, as before I told you out of Homer, that all the gods could not ward a blow of jupiters' hand. This is the hand that now combated David, against which he fenceth himself, not with shield or target, but with his prayers and tears, teaching us thereby, to be careful that we do not by our provocations cause God to lift up his hand against us, Psal. 39.10. lest we be consumed by the stroke thereof, as our Prophet speaketh; and when at any time he is incensed against us, that with David we seek to pacify him by our humble conversion. For howsoever David chose to fall into the hands of God, 2. Sam. 23.14. because his mercies are great; yet when his wrath is kindled though but a little, so that he lay aside his golden sceptre of mercy, and take his crushing rod of iron into his hand, then as the Apostle speaketh horrendum est, Heb. 10.31. it is a fearful thing to fall into the handi of the living God. And if he thus ware fierce against them of his own family, and begin correction & judgement at his own house, as here he doth with David, ●. Pet 4.17. What will be the end of them, which obey not the Gospel: and if this be done in virente ligno, in the green timber, as S. Luke speaketh, Luke 23.31 quid fiet in arido? What will become of the dry wood? But that it should be meat for the fire, Esay 9.19. & fuel for the furnace of his wrath. Secondly, in that he saith, that his sickness was God's hand lying upon him, it teacheth us, that affliction and calamity come not upon us by chance or fortune, but by the hand of God's providence. Which while men ignorant of the true God considered not, they framed to themselves a new goddess of casual events, Fortune, te facimus Fortuna Deam. juve. Sat. 14. 1. Sam. 6.9. The Soothsayers tell the Eckronites & the men of Ashdod, that if the Ark which they sent home upon a new cart, drawn with two milk kine, took up the way to its own coast to Bethshemesh, that then surely it was God that had done them that evil; if not, then shall we know, say they, that it was not his hand that smote us, but that it was a chance that happened unto us. No no, things come not to pass by chance; David in the true search and survey of his sickness, findeth that it is God hand and his arrow that had wounded him, as job likewise saith, manus domini ●●tigit me, Cap. 19.21 job. 2.7. and yet it is said in the second Chapter, that it was Satan that had smitten him with boils, but the holy man knew that the Devil and wicked men who are his instruments, are God's agents; as David likewise replied not against the reproaches of his reviling enemies, because it was Gods doing. Psal. 39.9. But of this more hereafter; The godly then wisely consider, that whatsoever misery befalleth them in this life, it is all Gods doing; There is no evil of affliction in the city, which the Lord hath not done, saith the Prophet Amos. I form the light and create darkness, Amos 3.6. Esay 45.7. I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all these things, saith God by his Prophet Esay. Amos in his fourth chapter, giveth instance of the particulars, where God telleth the house of Israel. I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and skarcenes of bread in all your places. Amos 4.6. I have withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. Pestilence have I sent among you after the manner of Egypt, yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord: The certainty of this Doctrine, teacheth the godly when they are exercised with any cross of affliction, to look up to the hand that smiteth them; and as David asked the woman of Tekoah, 2. Sam. 14.19 whether the hand of joab were not with her in her plot and devise; so they examine, whether the hand of God be not with the wicked, in those things which they attempt and practise against them, or in any other calamity whatsoever else cometh upon them. It is apparent by the whole course of the Story, that joseph's brethren had sold him to the Ishmeelits, for hatred and of envy, and that the Medianites or Ishmeelits to make their gain, had sold him again at the second hand to Potiphar king Pharaohs chief, steward, to be a slave and bondman as it is in the Psalm: Psa. 105.17 But joseph he espied God's 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 he, sent me into Egypt before hand for your preservation. But the example of our Saviour Christ, Gen, 45.5. is very excellent to this purpose. See what a rabble of miscreants combined and confederated themselves together, to work the destruction of that innocent lamb of God; and every one of them proposed to himself a particular end of his doing. Satan the chief Agent, he saw that his kingdom could not stand, if Christ's kingdom were erected, and therefore he beginneth to play the pioneer; but yet he would not openly show himself in the Action, (which is the manner of the great Politicians of our age) but he suborneth another to play the traitor, judas one of Christ's own followers, and he put into the heart of judas to betray Christ, saith Saint john. joh. 13.8: judas then having through the throat of covetousness, which inlardgeth itself as wide as hell, swallowed down the Devil and all together with the sop, as it followeth in the chapter, he cometh to the Priests to proffer his service, perfidiously to betray his Lord & Master, saying, Quid dabitis? what will you give me? Here is his end; for thirty pence he will sell him that was worth all the world beside, for he was the Ransom of the whole world. The Priests willingly condescend thereunto, moved through an ambitious desire of upholding and mainetayning their estates and dignities, against the proceed of so base an upstart, as Christ seemed to be, Ioh: 11.47. & 48: 49. mark their speeches; What perceive you not that we pervaile nothing, behold all the world goeth after him, and if we let him thus alone all men will believe to him, and the Romans' will come and take away both our place and the nation. And thereupon they trudge to Pilate, who makes up the match. And the end which he proposed to himself, was the retaining of Caesar's favour, lest he should have been stripped out of all his offices & preferments; for the Priests had told him that if he did deliver Christ, joh. 19: 12. Luke 23.23 he was not Caesar's friend, & therefore their instant & clamorous voices prevailed against him, as S. Luke testifieth; insomuch that through pusistanimity of mind not fit to be found in a judge, contrary to his own knowledge, Luke 23.22 for he found no fault in him worthy of death, against his own conscience, against the admonition sent unto him from his wife, who willed him to have nothing to do with that Just man, Math. 27.19 for she had suffered many things that day in a dream by reason of him; yet he, notwithstanding all this, causelessly & without any suspicion of crime, condemned to death the Lord of life. Here is now the Gordian knot of the very powers of darkness made fast. But what; had God forgotten or forsaken his beloved son all this while? no, the scripture doth not dissemble it, but that the hand of God was mainly in this whole action, & wrought with every particular agent, though not in every one; according to that of the Schoolmen, Beza quaest. fol. 91. Deus agit quidem in bonis, & per bonos, per males verò tantùm agit, sed non in malis, see them how the Scripture doth determine of it; doubtless say the Apostles, Peter & john, doubtless both Herode, Act. 4.27. & Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles & the people of Israel gathered themselves together, to do whatsoever thine hand & thy counsel, O God, had determined before to be done. The place is very pregnant to the purpose which we have in hand, namely to show, that whatsoever affliction befalleth us, it cometh not to pass by chance, but by God's providence, & as we commonly say, God's band hath a stroke in it. Therefore in all our miseries we may truly say, as David here doth, that it is the hand of God that presseth us. Let us not behave ourselves frowardly in this day of our visitation, by murmuring against God for afflicting us in this measure, or in this kind of punishment by plague and Pestilence, like cursed Dogs which bite at the chains wherewith they be tied. But let us learn with David, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, ● Pet. 5.6. as Saint Peter exhorteth; the way to avoid the weight of his blow, is to yield under it, for it breaketh & bruiseth whatsoever maketh resistance against it. And seeing that it is undoubtedly God's hand that smiteth us, let us construe it to be for our good, namely that God in seeking to reclaim us from those bypaths of sin, into which we have strayed, he showeth that he hath a care of us as of his children, as of those who are not yet past hope of recovery. Magna est ira quando Deus non irascitur. August. Desperate is the case of those, who never feel any touch of God's hand, nor of his displeasure; and it is a sign of his greatest anger, when he doth not show himself to be angry with us at all. Having thus discoursed of the hand of God, I will now proceed to this other metaphor here used, where the Prophet calleth his Ulcers and sores, Gods arrows. Thine arrows o God stick fast in me. The Lord, saith Moses, is a man of war. Exod. 15.3. The Scripture elsewhere describeth his furniture and his armour; For his armour of defence he is said in Esay, Esay. 59.17. to put on Righteousness as an habergeon, and the helmet of Salvation upon his head; & with these he defendeth this church: For his weapons of offence, Ibid. he putteth on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and is clad with zeal as with a cloak. And in the Psalms, he is said to gird his sword upon his thigh & to whet it, Psal. 7.12: & 4●. to bend his bow and to prepare his deadly arrows. Neither is God a common soldier under pay, gregarius miles, but he is the Lord high Marshal and great commander of all the forces and armies in the world, and therefore is very truly called the Lord of hosts 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. job. 26.3. and in job God's armies; and are by him appointed to encamp and to pitch their tents about his Saints: as the Psalmist speaketh. He hath also a Legion of wicked and unclean Spirits, Psal. 34.7. 1. Cor. 10.10. destroying Angels, as the Apostle calleth them, and these have a leader and commander whose conduct they follow, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, & in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, a destroyer, Apoc. 9.11. 2: Sam: 23: these are mightier than the Worthies of David so much famoused and commended, 2. King. 12. for one of them in one night space slew an hundred fowrescore and five thousands in Sennacharibs' host. God hath his host and army in the orbs and Arches of heaven, judg. 5: 20: for the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. He hath his garrisons in the lower Elementary regions; Psal. 135.7 Psal. 147.16. thence he bringeth his swift winds as out of a treasury, giveth snow like wool; and scattereth his ice like morsels; Thence he smiteth the corn with blast, and mildews; Thence he destroyed the Egyptians vines and mulberry trees with the frost, Psal. 78: 47.48. and their flocks with hot thunderbolts; Thence he slew the Amorites with prodigious hailstones; josua. 10.11. And thence will he shoot his ireful arrows against the wicked; & will rain upon their snares, Psal. 11.6. fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, this shall be the portion of their cup. Nay out of the least and the lowest and most contemptible creatures: God mustereth forth an army to destroy mighty nations: Exod. 8. Frogs, flies and lice, the Caterpillar, and the palmer worm, are sent out against Egypt; and God seemeth to brag of them in the 2. of joel, joel. 2.25. calling them his great best. Against those seven mighty nations the inhabitants of Canaan, God sent an army of Hornets to destroe them. josua. 24.12. Against the house of David. God saith that he will hiss for the fly of Egypt, & the be of the land of Ashur, as it is in Esay; Esay. 1.18. but by these are properly understood the armies of the Egyptians, and the Assyrians. Nay a man findeth an host of enemies amongst them of his own house, Math. 10.36. as our Saviour speaketh in another sense; for even in this house of clare which we carry about with us, job. 4.19. & in this body of ours, the very humours yield matter and occasion of sundry strange and incurable diseases, as punishments for our offences, for since the time that man first fell away from God his Creator by sinful transgression, Maecies & nova febrium terris incubuit cohors; Horat. lib. 1. odo 2. as the Poet speaketh, he still hath been and yet is assaulted, with a new army of burning Fevers and pestilent Agues, with botches, blains, and sores, & other maladies, which the Prophet vers. 5. calleth the stripes of God's rod, vibîces meae computruerunt, and in this place he calleth them the stroke of God's sharp & wounning arrows, Sagettae tuae in me descenderunt, Thine arrows, o God, stick fast in me. The Metaphor of a sword, a bow, and arrows, attributed to God, seemeth to be borrowed from the custom of the Eastern and Southern nations, whose armour in battle were the bow to wound a far off, & the sword to be used in close fight. Thus the Black-more and the Lybian, are said to bear shields, and the Lydians to handle and bend the bow. Ier, 46, 9 Now God this great and terrible archer, hath his quiver fraught with diverse kinds of arrows. First, the Prophet and the Preacher who by denouncing Gods judgements against sin, laboureth & endeavoureth to make a breach into the consciences of ungodly men, he is one of God's arrows. Such a one was Moses; and such a one was Saint Peter, Moses in quo locutus est deus dei est sagitta. Origen in. Ps. 36 Hom 3: Act: 2: 37. Esay: 49. at whose preaching it is said that the hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were pricked in heart. according whereunto the Prophet Esay saith of himself, that God had made him a chosen shaft, and had hid him in his quiver; Some read, posuit me sagittan mundan, a clean, a smooth & a bright arrow, to teach us, that a Minister in his judgement and Opinions, should endeavour to be free from error and falsehood, And that his reprehensions also, should not be cankered with the rust of Affection, of hatred or malice, or the like; but that he should speak saith Oecolampadius, joh. OEcolampad: in 49: Esay: Eloquia Dei,: the true, pure and sincere word of God, which is as silver, that hath been tried, purified, and refined in the fire: Secondly the tongues of malicious and ungodly men, are after a sort God's arrows; whence it is, that job calleth the wicked, job: 16: 13: Ier 8 3: Psal: 11: 2: God's archers. There is a generation, saith jeremy, who bend their tongues like bows, and these are they, of whom the Psalmist saith, that they shoot out their arrows, even bitter words, against them which are true of heart. Which Origen thus expoundeth, Origen: Ibid: that their Quiver, is the heart, their arrows are the Counsels and intentions of the heart, their bows, are their tongues & lips; by which they cast forth their virulency, to wound the good name of their brethren. agreeable hereunto, is that spoken of joseph, that the Archers grieved him and shot against him, but his bow abode strong, Gen: 49: 23 & the hands of his arms were strengthened by the mighty God of jacob, Hom. 66: in Gen: which Chrysostome understandeth of his brethren's conspiracy against him, and accusing him with joint consent unto their father, but God defeated their practices. Thirdly the Devil and those whom he retaineth in vassaladge to his service, they are God's rod, his sword, and his arrow. Thus Ashur or Nabuchadnezzar, Esay: ●0. 5: Ier: 50.23: Vide Petrum Mesiam var: lect: part 1: cap: 32: is called the rod of God's wrath, and his hammer, as Tamberlan and Totilas called themselves Flagella Dei God scourges. In the 17. Psalm vers. 13. the wicked are called God's sword; Deliver my soul from the ungodly which is a sword of thine. So when God cast upon the Egyptians the furiousness of his wrath, by storms and tempest of hailstones, thunder, and lightning, which Psal. 18.14. and Psal. 144.6. are called Gods arrows) and by giving their lives over to the pestilence, which in this place is called God's arrow; it is expressly said Psal. 78. that he sent evil Angels amongst them. And hereunto agreeth Saint Ambrose; Cum Diabolus vulnerat, Psal. 78.49. Ambros. in hunc lo cum: Domini sunt sagittae, qui vulnerandi potestatem dedit; when the Devil doth wound any man either by himself or by his instruments and ministers, they are Gods arrows that wound, because it is God, that giveth them power, and ability to hurt. Fourthly those great and famous worthies of old, and in former adges, whom God used as Instruments, to bring his purposes to pass, and to subdue kingdoms & countries; they were his strong, his swift, and victorious arrows, Thus God calleth Cyrus and Darius, Esay. 13.3. & 5. his Sanctified ones, and his mighty giants, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the vessels or the weapons of his wrath, as our English hath it. Of Cyrus, whose right hand God had holden up to subdue nations before him, Esay. 45.1. ●. he speaketh thus; I will weaken the loins of kings, and open the doors before him; I will break the brazen gates and burst the iron bars, and give him the treasures of darkness, & the things hid in secret places, & yet Cyrus knew not all this while, that he was Gods sanctified champion nor his weapon or arrow, and therefore God saith to him, Vers. 5. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. Alexander the Great, was another of these arrows, who being shot off with great strength, flew without resistance a conqueror of the world; subduing kingdoms, faster than a man could place them over; and therefore Daniel compareth him to a Leopard, which had four wings upon his back. Dan. 7.6. julius Caesar, was another of God's arrows, he wondereth himself at his own success; veni, vidi, Sueton in jul. num: 37: more sulminis venit percussit, abscessit. Florus. lib. 4. cap. 2. Lucan: l: 1● 2. King. 9: 20: vici, and as another saith of him Omnia ei prova; all the world lay coutched before him at his feet. Lucan doth fully express and interpret my meaning when he saith of him that he was Ductor Impigor, & torto Balearis verbere funda ocyor, & missâ Parthi post terga sagittâ, He was a leader and commander sudden in his expedition, he Marched furiously like jehu, and swift as a Parthian arrow. These were indeed God's principal & chosen shafts. He hath yet other arrows prepared for destruction. Thunder and lightning, are called GOD'S arrows; Ps. 18.15. with these arrows GOD scattered and discomfited the Philistims, at the prayer and petition of Samuel. 1 Sam: 7: 10 Out of his bow in the cloud, he shot against the old world, rain and waters, that all flesh perished that moved upon the earth. Zanch. de Operib. Create. l: 3: c. 3: de Iride, 9 Thes: 3: Lamen. 4.6 Against Sodom, he shot arrows feathered with fire, & it was destroyed as in a moment, and none pitched camps against her, as jeremy speaketh; All these arrows he shooteth, and yet his quiver is not emptied, nor spent, I have yet other arrows to speak of Zosimus telleth us, that in that battle that was fought between Constantius & Magnentius near unto the city Mursa, Lib. 2. in fine there was one Menelaus Colonel of the band of the Armenian archers, in Constantius his army, a bowman so skilful and cunning, that he could, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, at one lose, shoot of three arrows at once, not as against one man, but he would be sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to stick his shafts, in three men at once. Almighty God, when being provoked to anger, he cometh forth to battle against sinful men; he draweth out of his quiver his three arrows, which are his deadly weapons; like Philoctetes arrows, in Sophocles; In Philoctete. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the messengers and forerunners of death, Et habent sunt arundine plumbum; they are stemd and headed with heavy vengeance, and feathered with swift destruction. The first of these arrows; is his Arrow of Famine. This is the arrow which he threateneth against his rebellious people, when he saith; I will send upon them the evil arrows of Famine, which shall be for their destruction, Ezech: 5: 16 & I will break their staff of bread. The second, is the Arrow of battle, for this is also leveled & directed by him. Michaiah told Ahab, 1: King: 22: 34: that if he went to battle against the king of Aran, he should not return in peace; the event proved the prediction true, for a certain man drew a bow ignorantly, or in his simplicity, or as Jerome readeth; in incertum sagittam dirigens, casu percussit regem, he shot at a venture, and he hit the king by chance; but it was not by chance, for God so directed the arrow, that it smote the K of Israel, between the joints of his brigandine, & he died at even. jehoram had received wounds in the battle, 2: King: 9: 15 which he fought in Ramoth Gilead against Hazael K. of Aran, but he was in way of recovery, & to be cured of those wounds; afterwards when jehu was anointed K. over Israel, & appointed to smite the house of Ahab, God directed his hand in the battle, & he took a bow, & smote jehoram between the shoulders, vers: 24: that the arrow went through his heart, & he fell down dead in his chariot. julian, as Sozomen reporteth, Lib: 9: cap: 2: being wounded to death by a Persiam arrow, intellexit, saith mine Author, he knew it to be God's arrow, & therefore receiving the blood that gushed out of his wound, into the palm of his hand; he threw it up despitefully into the air, Zonara. Tom. 3. in juliano, crying out, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Satiate thyself with my blood, o Christ of Nazareth. The third & last Arrow, is his arrow of Pestilence; this is indeed a fearful arrow, Musc, in Psalm. 38, & it is, as one calleth it, grandis terror mort al●um the great terror of men; as being deaths chief Pursuivant and Sumner, job, 18 18, who in job, is called Rex terrorum, the king of fear. These three arrows, God had laid upon his bow, & had fitted them to the string, when he came against David for numbering the people, 2. Sam. 24, but he gave David his choice, whether he would endure the arrow of Famine 7. years; or the arrow of battle 3. months, or the arrow of the pestilence 3. days: he made choice of the last, of with I will deliver a word more particularly. Cu● huiusmodi ulcera Domini sagittae vocentur non video. Musculus saith, that he doth not well conceive the reason, why the Prophet should call his Ulcers Gods arrows, unless it be because that the body being suddenly strooken with them, they kill a man down right, as doth an arrow or dart shot into the body. I suppose it to be an Hebrew phrase, by which they call such blains and sores, Arrows; because that the impostume, the rapture & abscession (as Physicians call it) which they cause in the body, maketh the flesh and skin to go a sunder, à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimidians Pagn: as in Hebrew ●n arrow is so called, because it divideth a thing into two parts; or because the pain & ache which they cause, is like unto the piercing of an arrow. Other languages in other sores have terms not unlike; The tumour and swelling inflammation, called Erysipelas, In Phisiol. fol. 195. lin. 1. or Saint Anthony's fire, is by Selneccerus (belike out of the propriety of his country languadge) called Spina a thorn, because the smart which it causeth, is like the pricking of a thorn. Boils are in another languadge called nails, and this is from the Latin; Gallicè clout. lib. 3 Ep. 7. erat illi natus insanabuis clavus, cuius toedio admortem irrevocabili constantiâ decucrit. Pliny writing to Caninius Rufus, of the death of Silius Italicus, telleth him that he had a boil or a nail risen in his body, with put him to the extremity of pain, that he, to rid himself out of the torment, pined, and starved himself to death. But to omit the phrase; I come briefly to show you in what respect the Plague may be called Goat arrow. In an Arrow than I observe these properties; First, it flieth very swiftly; whence as one prettily noteth, the Italians from their word Frezza, Pierius Higher lib. 42. which signifieth an arrow have form the verve Affrezzolare, which signifieth to make haste about any matter; Psal 9.11.5. So the Pestilence which is GOD arrow, it is called by the Psalmist, Sagitta volans, a flying arrow, this arrow in three days space, flew throughout all the coasts of the land of Israel, 2. Sam. 24: from Dan to Beersheba, and slew of the people 70000. Secondly, an Arrow flieth silently, without making any great noise, Wisd. 5.12: it gently parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through. In like manner this arrow of God, the arrow of Pestilence, it is called terror nocturnus, Psal. 91. ambulans in tenebris, it stealeth upon men oftentimes suddenly in the night, in their most private and secret bedchambers, and assaileth them with wonderful terror. Thirdly, an Arrow reacheth a mark that is far off, Ovid. lib. 9: Meta: fab. 2 as Hercules told Nessus when he ran away with his Deianira, that although he could not come to him, yet he would send after him; Vulnere non pedibus te consequar; and he made it good too, fugientia terga sagittâ-traijcit, he sped an arrow clean through his loins. In like manner the Arrow of the Pestilence it is called a walking arrow, Sagitta ambulans. it roveth dp and down to marks far and near, from city to villadge, to the great terror of men. Qui longè abest pest morietur; qui propè, gladie cadet, Ezech. 6.12. He that is afar off, he shall be a mark for the arrow of the pestilence, and he that is near at hand he shall fall by the sword. Eusebius showeth, Lib 9 c: 8. how many, who had made shift to escape the arrow of Famine, could not keep themselves out of the reach of this Arrow, but that they died of the Plague. Fourthly, an Arrow pierceth and woundeth deeply & dangerously, Psal: 127: 5: especially from the hand of a giant, as the Psalmist speaketh. The Indian archers shot arrows of two cubitts of length, with such strength, that as one writeth, non clypeus non thorax summae firmitudinis, Caelius Rhodig. lib. 23: 9: In Psal. 91. neither target nor corsset of armour of proof, were able to resist the stroke of them. The Pestilence God's Arrow is of like force, as Musculus saith, pernicissemè volat & exitialiter ferit, it flieth swiftly, and it woundeth deadly. No age is exempted from the stroke & infection of it; no, not young men by their lusty and strong bodies: for as Seneca saith, De Ira. lib. 3: cap: 5: Adversus pestilentiam nihil prodest firmitas corporis etc. it little availeth a man against the plague, to be of a strong constitution of body, or to use diligent care in preserving his health, for the Plague seizeth upon weak and strong both alike. Old men are not superannuated nor privileged from it, howsoever Pliny be bold to avouch the contrary; Lib. 7: c: 50. Senet minimè sent●re pestilentiam, that old men are never tainted with the plague: It is not the season nor the coldness of the winter, that can stop the course of it; De rebus Moscoviticis fol. 11. Possevinus telleth us that at what time he was Ambassador for the Pope in Moscovia, the plague with had scarce ever been heard of before in that country, ob intensissima frigora, by reason of the extreme cold; yet it than killed many thousands. And hence is this arrow called Exterminium, Psal. 91.6. a rooting out and a destroying arrow. Lastly, an arrow being guided by a steady hand, and leveled by a quick cast & just aim of the eye, it flieth strait and misseth not its mark. The dexterity of some men in these sleights hath been wonderfully excellent; there were brought before Alexander at several times two men, notably famous for their Activity in divers kinds: Sine frustratione. the one could cast millett seed through the eye of a needle, without missing the king wondering at his vanity, rather than admiring any excellency, rewarded him, Quintil. l: 2 cap. 21. eius leguminis modio, with a bushel of the same pulse, to find him play, and to keep his hand in ure. The other was an archer, so skilful and cunning through long practice, that he could shoot his arrows through a ring. Cael. Rho. dig: lib. 23.9. In the 20. of judges it is said, that of the children of Benjamin there were 7. hundred chosen men, Iud 20.16. Au●el. victor. & Sueton in domit. num. 19 that could sling stones at an hairs breadth and not fail. The like is reported of Domitian, that he could shoot his arrows between the fingers of a man's hand a far off, without doing him any hurt. But the hand of God is much more cunning to handle the bow, and his arrows fly more steddelie and miss not. They are more certain and sure than the Arrow of Shafalus, Ovid. met: lib. 7. Fab. 27. of which the Poet saith Consequitur quodcunque petit, it hit whatsoever it was aimed at; They are more Fortunate than Hercules his bow and arrows, In Here ●●taeo vers. 1655. which as he telleth Philoctetes in Seneca; Non fallet unquam dexteram hic arcus tuam librare telum didicit & certam dare-fugam sagittis: my bow is a knocker, it will never fail thy hand, it keepeth always one scantling, and mine arrows; ipsa non fallunt iter-Emissa nervo tela: they never glance wide from the mark. GOD'S bow is like jonathans' bow, 2. Sam. ●. 22. which never returned empty from the blood of the slain, nor from the fat of the mighty, and this his arrow of the Pestilence, though it walk in the darkness, and be shot off as in the night, yet it is not carried casually by chance, but is guided and leveled by the hand of God's Providence. Now this is the arrow, or some other of this kind that had wounded David, The use of the 3, part, as out of the comperts and evidences of the text, & out of the judgement of learned Interpreters, I have deduced more at large. For our instruction; The Emphasis which he useth, is worth the observing. First, he saith thine arrows o God, Exod. 14.18. Lento gradu ad vindictam divina procedit ira, sed tarditatem gravitate supplicij compensat. Val: Max. l. 1, cap, 2, have light upon me, or as another Translation readeth, stick fast in me. God is slow to wrath and slow to punish; but when he is provoked, he recompenseth his slowness, with the greatness of his punishment; as Euripides truly saith; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. which is the reason why David saith, that God threw his darts & his arrows impetuously against him; Sagittae tua confortae, dimissae, depressae sunt, ●rruerunt in me, the Interpreters strive to find a word to express the Emphasis of the Hebrew; they were whirled at him with violent fury, GOD let drive at him, as at his enemy, his arrows sunk into his body, and hid themselves in his flesh; Ps. 103.8.9.10. Our GOD is a GOD of patience, and long-suffering; yet when he is provoked, he is a consuming fire. In the book of job; job, 20, 29, Zophar the Naamathite enforceth a very firm and true conclusion; that howsoever the wicked man, doth bathe himself in pleasure for a time, yet God will send upon him his fierce wrath, and although he escape the iron weapons, that is, the sword of man, yet he shall not escape the hand of God, for his bow of steel, job: 20, 24, saith he, shall strike him through, his arrow shall drentch itself in his very gall. And against the wicked GOD threateneth and speaketh thus in the 32. of Deuteronomie; Deut, 32, 23 I will spend plagues upon them, I will bestow mine arrows upon them; If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgement, I will execute vengeance on mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me, I will make mine arrows drunk with blood. and my sword shall eat flesh. Secondly, our Prophet calleth the Plague GOD'S Arrow. thine arrow, o GOD, sticketh fast in me; it is not then Apollo's arrow, as Homer affirmeth, Iliad, 1. when describing the Plague that destroyed in the Grecian army, he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for 9 days together, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the Arrows of God Apollo walked up & down the army, but this is but a Poetical fiction. It is God alone that shooteth this arrow among us; & it is he alone that can salve & cure the wound that it maketh, & therefore vain is it for us to seek for help from any other, and consequently foolish & superstitious are those prayers, which the Papists make to their Saints, whither it be to our Lady, In. Breviar. ad usum Sarun, part Aestivali fol. 128. as in the Mass appointed for the plague. Virgo matter, maris stella, Fons ortorum, verbi cel●a, Ne nos pestis aut procella Peccatores obruant D. Rainold. de Idololat. lib. 1. cap 6. Sect. 7. Or to Saint Rochus most profanely, Tu qui Deo es tam chorus, Et in luce valdè clarus. Sana tuos famulos; Et à pest nos defend, Opem nobis ac impende, Contra morbi stimulos. These are their shameless and impious blasphemies, which I find also published for the use of the vulgar & common people, in a little Manual of Spanish prayers. Thirdly, in that it is called God's arrow, it teacheth us that it cometh not upon us by chance, or fortune, but by the hand of God's providence, as before I have showed; for howsoever it may seem to make havoc of the people, and to destroy without difference men of all sorts, yet the godly man, hath a comfortable promise of deliverance, Psal. 91.7. a thousand shall fall beside him, & ten thousand at his right hand; but it shall not come nigh him nor nigh his dwelling. God will so ●edge him in on every side, with his protection, that neither an hair of his head, nor a bristle of his Swine, shall fall to the ground. And this is it, that Satan stormeth at, that he could not hurt job, job. 1.10. because God had made an hedge about him, and about all that he possessed on every side. But here we must carefully observe these two caveats. First, that in a Christian charity towards other we do not rashly judge of their fall, nor censure their lives by the manner of their deaths For the wise man dieth as doth the fool, Eccl. 2.16. not only by the same necessity of death, but oftentimes also by the same disgraceful and dishonourable means, that other men do, Psal. 34.21. that as misfortune slayeth the ungodly, as the Psalmist speaketh, so the godly sometimes come to their ends by sudden & unexpected deaths. I showed you before how two wicked kings, Ahab & jehoram, were slain by an arrow; and you shall find in the book of Chronicles, 2. Chro. 35. the good king josiah was likewise slain by an arrow, for going to battle against Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt. And in this place you see, how God made this good king David a But to shoot his arrows against and holy job likewise complaineth, job 16 12: 13 item ca 6.4 that God had set him as a mark to shoot at, that his arrows were in him, the venom whereof drunk up his spirits; and jeremy yet more plainly, Lament. 3.12.13. saith of God, He hath bend his bow and made me a mark for the arrow, he hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. Thus we see that the godly are plagued like other men but yet God taketh a more special notice of them; for the foundation of God remaineth sure, 2: Tim: 2: 19 & hath this seal, the Lord knoweth who are his. Psa: 116: 15 And therefore precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints, by what means, or by what kind of death soever they fall. The second Caveat concerneth ourselves, in our own particular; namely that we do not upon too great prefidence of God's protection, neglect the good means of our preservation, and through overbold presumption, audaciously thrust ourselves into places and companies of dangerous infection; and so become homicides and wilful murderers of ourselves: I know that Musculus upon this place, from this Metaphor of an arrow here used, seemeth thus to argue that the use of an Arrow, is not to be flirted out at random, or to be shot at a venture; but to be aimed and directed to a set mark, And therefore men do amiss, to think that the Plague infecteth any by chance or fortune, but rather by God's special message, and consequently that it proceedeth from weakness of Faith, for men to fly. Infirmitas Fidei, in Psal: 86: 2: The sword likewise in battle, saith he, though it be lifted up & brandished by the hand of man, yet it killeth not but by God's dispensation, as God himself saith, I will number you to the sword; Esay 65: 12: I know that the General is true, that neither the sword in battle, nor this Arrow of the Pestilence, doth kill any but those that are appointed thereunto: But whether a man may thereupon infer, that it is not lawful at all to fly 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 Divinity an harsh sequel and Argument; but I will not take upon me to determine this Question. I know great Divines, learned, and judicious, to be of another mind. And certain it is, and woeful experience teacheth that to be too true, which the Poet hath, Quo propior quisque est, servitque fideliùs aegro, In partem laethi citiùs venit. By how much the nearer men 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: job 14: 5: Seneca Her: Fur. Act: 1: in choro Luth. in cap: 2: Ecclesiastae. & a time to die & as job saith, man's days are determined, the number of his months are with God, who hath set him his bounds that he cannot pass. Nulli iusso cessare licet, nulli scriptum proferre diem. Many men, saith Luther, have been deeply & deadly wounded, who have recovered & survived, & yet many on the contrary side, have died of very small hurts; Astrologers ascribe it to the stars and planets; others impute it to chance & fortune, the scriptures refer it to Almighty God apud quem sunt vitae & mortis nostrae momenta posita, who hath skored up the minutes & moments of our life & death, and he, as he hath set the last hour & period of our days, so hath he appointed the means and the manner of death, to bring us to our ends: yet must we not therefore behave ourselves carelessly, wilfully to expose ourselves to apparent dangers. Man is not Lord over his own Spirit or life to retain it, Eccles: 8: 8: saith the wise man; And it is a good note to this purpose, that our Bible's have upon that place; that a man hath no power to save his own life, & therefore he should not rashly cast himself into danger. To shut up all in a word: Almighty God after the flood, he hung up his bow in the cloud, in token of reconciliation unto men; for if you mark it, the bend and the arch of the bow is turned from us, as Zanchius observeth: Lib: 3. de operib: create: cap: 3: Lib: de Noah & Arca: cap: 27: But he hung up his bow, saith Ambrose, not his arrow: Arcus habet vulneris indicium, non v●…lneris effectum; the bow maketh a show of hurting but it doth not hurt, it is the arrow that woundeth But now God seemeth for our sins to have taken down his bow again; And he hath shot his arrows against our whole land, with to use the Prophet's words, joel: 2: 3. lay before him like the Garden of Eden, but he hath left it waste and desolate where he hath gone, like a wilderness. The Queen city of our land, and the glory of the kingdom, which to speak with the Prophet Zephanie, as she dwelled careless; Cap. 3: 15. and sat attired in fine scarlet, so had she her sins also red as scarlet; and therefore God hath made her an ensample of his wrath, to her sister cities of the land, and she mourneth in her desolations, for the loss of her inhabitants. And now God hath changed his marks, and he shooteth his arrows all abroad, to cities and villadges far and near; he cannot shoot amiss, sin is a fair mark for the arrow of vengeance to hit. Concerning ourselves of this place; almighty God as if at the first, he had miss his aim, 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 just length, he had shot his arrows into the midst of our city, & that his arrows stuck fast in her very flanks. What remained? but that we should betake our selves to David's preservatives against the Plague, Prayers & Tears. A●undines vulnera per niciosa ferentes. Ammian: Marcell. lib 25: Lib: 2: ca: 8: The Persian bowmen, are by all Historians commended for excellent archers, and their arrows are said to have wounded deadly; yet in the battle that was fought between Scipio and Antiochus, they were wonderfully foiled; but mark how it came to pass; imber superfusus Persicos arcus corruperat, a shower of rain, saith Florus, falling in time of the battle, so slacked their bows, that they could not shoot an arrow. The way for us to slacken Gods bow, is by a shower of tears falling from the eyes of penitent sinners. Let the Priests, saith joel, joel: 2: 17: the Ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch & the Altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord; then will the Lord be jealous over his land, and spare his people. And as Tears must work upon God's vow, to slacken it; Plin: l: 26: c: 14 Dictamnum pota sagittas pellit. so Prayer is the true Dyctamnum, that plucketh out his arrows when they stick fast in us. These are the Sacrifices with which God is well pleased and pacified; these were David; & Ezechias his amulets, counterpoisons, & preservatives against the plague; for so God telleth Ezechias. I have heard thy prayer, 2. King's: 20.5: and seen thy tears, behold I have healed thee. Now God of his mercy give us grace, to make an holy use of this and all other his visitations, and to make a conscience of using all wholesome means for our preservation, that so his heavy hand may be removed from us, & his arrows which yet stick fast in the flanks of many of our distressed brethren, may be plucked out, through jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost, three persons and one ever living God, be all honour and glory, world without end, Amen. FINIS.