Litchfield enquirer., 1849-09-20
MISCELLANY y.
For the Enquirer.
The PeStilOnco and the BibIe.


find mention made of plague or pestilence,
it appears obvious. 1s
l. That Pestaeneei is as issJttcti0n from
the hand Of God. eff / send pestilence
into the land, and frown out my fury
upon it in blood, to cut off from it man
and beast; though David, Daniel and Job
were in it, as / live, saith the Lord, they
shall deliver neither son nor daughter ;
they shall only deliver their own souls
by their righteousness" Pestlenee is
spoken of as one of the "four sore judg-
ments" which the Lord sends on land
for its Christening. Again. God is rep
resented as going forth in his power and
majesty, executing his dread DEGREES =
Before him went the pestilence, and
burning diseases at his feet"
2. It is threatened as a punishment of
dssobedience. To the unbelieving, REBEL
ious Israeiites, God says, Then will I
walk contrary to you, and wall punish you
seven times for your sins-when you are
gathered together in your cities, sviN
send the pestilence among you" eff ye
will not hearken to the voice of the Lsrd
your God, to observe to do all his COM
mandments and his statutes, all these
curses shall come upon you and over
take you" "The pestilence shall cleave
to thee, until he shall consume thee from
the land" AS ant awful climax Of most
desolating series Of judgments, God sent
the pestiIence on the Egyptians. cit
came to pass at ns;dnight that dread
full hour Of visitation of Asiatic cholera
the Lord smote all the first. born in the
land of Egypt, from the first born of
Pharaoh that sat on the throne, to the
first born Of the captive that was in the
dungeon" Not a house was left un.
touched-not family unvisited ~ not
an il dividual who had not a near rela-
tive among the dead. One universal
wall went up from the whole nation
"The Lord plagued the people, because
they worshipped the calf which Aaron
made, he sent the estilsnce among them.
And ''the wrath of the Lord was kindled
against the people" when they murmer-
ed in the matter Of the mama, "and the
Lord smote the people with very great
plague" Again, the plague or pesti-
lence is made the minister of the Divine
wrath against the disobedient, when Ko-
rah and his company provoked the Lord
when Israel went after Baalpear, and
when David numbered Israel: Lo, tie
Lord sent a pestilence among them, and
they died of the plague, even from Dan
to Beersheba.'
8. Bible history goes far to identify
he ancient pestilence and modern chol-
era. The pestilenee broke out suddenly.
"They provoked the Lord to anger by
their inventions and the plague bro1ke in
among them" "a thousand shall fall
by thy side and ten thousand at thy right
hand" Both the great and the small
die in the land they shall not be buried,
neither shall men lament for them--nei-
Their give them the cup of consolation to
drink for their father or their mother"
In some of our cities where the cholera
has made the most deadly havoc, it has
seemed quite to extinguish the common
sympathies of humanity. Men die like
brute animals, and the common decen-
cies of sepulture are disregarded. The
dead are left with persons hired to clear
| them away as nuisances to the living
Other characteristics Of the pestilence as
described in the Bible, are, that it was
fatal by day and by night--fatal to man
and beast-and especially fatal in cities.
It is the ''terror by night" and the tar
row that flieth by day" and it was often
followed by war aud famine.
4. The Jews were accustomed to at
tribute the pestilence to the agency Of a
destroying angel. "The Lord will pass
through TO smite the Egyptians; and
| when he seeth the blood upon the lin
tel and on the two side posts, the Lord
will pass over the door. and will not suf-
fer the Destroyer to come into your hou-
ses to smite you" And more clearly do
we meet this personiication of the Pesti-
lence, in the account of the plague that
slew the 10000 in the affair Of 'David's
numbering Israel " The Lord sent pes
thence upon Israel-and when the angel
stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem,
to destroy it, the Lord said unto the angel
that destroyed the people. II is enough;
stay thine hand" Pestilence, as de-
stroying angel. traverses great city and
sp, eads his dire ravages over the whole
length and breadth of theland, strewing
| his pathway with the deal. and leaving
in his wake the mingled cries Of lamenta,
ton and woe.
S. What 1.-The dnty ofaI people. when
the destroying angel is ,abrosd in their
midst? The Jews sought deliverence
| by supplication and prayer to God. eff
there be pestilence, blasting, rnildew--
Whatever plague. whatever sickness. |"
! they resorted to the temple and spread
forth their hands towards heaven and
prayed and supplicated the favor ofGod.
Cholera IL sconrge Of the Almighty. a
commissioned agent of Heaven, whose