Though the pestilence comes as a judgment upon wicked men, yet it comes only as a chastisement upon the people of God. When the plague comes upon wicked men, it comes upon them by virtue of the first covenant, and as a fruit of the curse ; but when it comes upon the godly, it comes upon them by virtue of the second covenant — I mean the covenant of grace — and as a fruit of his love, Ps. Ixxxix. 30-34. Hence God is called ' The great and terrible God that keepeth covenant,' Neh. i. 5. But why is he called 'the terrible God that keepeth covenant,' but because as he hath covenanted to keep them from the evil of the world, and to purge away their sins, and to save their souls, and to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom, Ps. cxix. 75 ; John xvii. ; 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18; so he stands bound by his cove- nant to make use of any terrible dispensations to effect those great and glorious things. As we sometimes preserve those things in salt that we cannot preserve in sugar ; so sometimes God preserves his poor people in the salt of afflictions, in the salt of terrible dis- pensations, when they would not, when they could not, be preserved in the sugar of mercies, &c. Though the plague should come into a godly family, yet God will deliver that family from the evil of the plague : Ps. xci. 10, ' There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' Beloved, though the plague should come into a godly man's house, yet there shall not be any evil in it to the godly man. When the plague comes into a wicked man's family, it always comes in the quality of a curse, Lev. xxvi. ; but it never comes into a godly man's family in the quality of a curse, for Christ was made a curse for them, Gal. iii. 13. It never enters into a godly man's family as a fruit of God's revenging justice or wrath, Rom. viii. 18 ; Jer. xxiv. 5; Isa. liv. 7-10 ; Jer. xxxi. 3, and xxxiii. 37. When the plague comes upon the wicked, it comes upon them as a fruit of God's judicial wrath; but when it comes upon the godly, it only comes upon them as a fruit of God's fatherly anger. When it comes upon the wicked, it comes upon them as a fruit of God's everlasting wrath ; and therefore where it proves fatal, it is but an inlet to eternal torments. But when it comes upon a child of God, it comes upon him but as a fruit of God's momentary wrath, Isa. liv. 7-10. Look, as David gave charge to his soldiers, that they should not kill Absalom, his son, but only restrain his unnatural rebellion, and reduce him to his former obedience ; so when God sends the pestilence amongst his ])eople, he lays a law of restraint upon it that it shall not hurt his people, that it shall not destroy their graces, nor ruin their souls. The full commission that God gives to the pestilence is to restrain the sins of his people, and to destroy the soul-rebelfions of his people. I have read of a loadstone in Ethiopia which hath two corners ; with the one it draws the iron to it, with the other it puts the iron from it; BO God hath two arms, the one of mercy, and the other of judgment ; two hands, the one of love, the other of wrath ; with the one he draweth, with the other he driveth ; the one stroketh, the other striketh ; and as he hath a right hand of favour wherewith to lead the saints, so he wants not a left hand of fury wherewith to dash the wicked in pieces.
XII. The twelfth divine maxim or conclusion is this — viz., That
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God knows liow to distinguish his people, and how to difference his people from others, luhen the pestilence rages in the midst of them : as he did between the Israehtes and the Egyptians, Exod. viii. 21-23, ix. 22-26, and xi. 7. That of the apostle is a great truth : 2 Tim. ii. 19, ' The Lord knoweth them that are his.' The Lord knows all his people by name ; he doth not only know how many be elected, but he also knoweth who they are. He knows the very numerical persons upon whom he hath set his electing love. Though the pestilence doth not know a saint from a sinner, yet the Lord knows a saint from a sinner ; though the pestilence doth not know the righteous from the wicked, yet the Lord knows the righteous from the wicked ; though the pestilence doth not know him that feareth an oath from him that sweareth, yet the Lord knows him that feareth an oath from him that sweareth ; though the pestilence doth not know the clean from the unclean, yet the Lord knows the clean from the unclean ; though the pestilence doth not know him that sacrificeth from him that sacrificeth not, yet the Lord knows him that sacrificeth from him that sacrificeth not ; though the pestilence doth not know the oppressed from the oppressor, yet the Lord knows the oppressed from the oppressor ; though the pestilence doth not know the persecuted from the perse- cutor, yet the Lord knows the persecuted from the persecutor : 2 Peter ii. 9, ' The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation,' that is, afflictions. Though the godly man do not know how to deliver himself out of temptations, though others do not know how the godly man should be delivered out of temptations, yet the Lord knows how to deliver the godly man out of temptations ; and his time is always the best. The physician turns the hour-glass, and resolves the physic shall work so long ; the impatient patient cries out. Oh, I am in pain ! oh, how I am tormented ! oh, what would I not give for a little ease ! oh, methinks every hour is a year ! but the wise physician, knowing the fittest time, will not suffer him to have any rest or comfort till the physic hath had its proper operation. Thus many times God's dear children, when they are under sore trials, they cry out, How long, Lord, how long shall this rod lie upon om* backs ? how long shall thy anger smoke ? how long shall the judgment continue ? but God will turn a deaf ear, and make them wait his time, which is always the best time. And therefore though God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations', yet he will take his own time to deliver them out of temptations, &c.
XIII. The thirteenth, and last divine maxim or conclusion, is this — viz., That though the godly are not delivered from the plague, yet they are still delivered by the plague ; by it they shall be delivered from all their sins.
Death is not mors honiinis, but mors peccati, not the death of the man, but the death of his sin. When Samson died, the Philistines died together with him ; so when a believer dies, be it the pestilence or any other disease, his sin dies with him. As death came in by sin, so sin goes out by death. As the worm kills the worm that bred it, so death kills sin that bred it. The Persians had a certain day in the year wherein they used to kill all serpents and venomous creatures ; such a day as that will the day of death be to every believer. When
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