68. The true Believer prays when God visits the Land with Dearth and famine

EXHORTATION.

"Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment."—Ezek. xiv. 16. As tame and wild beasts are punished with hunger to make them learn something, or to break their wildness, so God is accustomed to put a like bit and rein upon mankind, when they refuse to come to him. God long allures them with benefits, but if persuasion will not bring them to repentance, he sends famine into the land, either from a failure of the harvest, or from war, or from dearth or waste, or by taking the virtue out of the bread, so that those who eat are not satisfied. 1. This punishment is usually inflicted when men disregard the word of God, and only seek after ease and pleasure.—Isaiah v. 13. 2. For persecutions against the pious or the Church of God.—Jer. xi. 22.

3. For listening to the voice of false prophets.—Jer. xiv. 15, 16.

4. For obstinacy.—Jer. xxiv. 10.

5. For disobedience.—Ezek. iv. 16.

6. For oppressing the lowly.—2 Sam. xxi. 1, 2. Famine is accompanied with poverty, misery, and disease. 7. When spiritual hunger is superadded, Amos viii. 11, misery is complete.

Righteous God, thou who givest unto all according to their works, and sufferest wrath, trouble, and dread to come upon those that do evil, we come before thy most holy face, ashamed of having so grievously sinned against thee, that thou art constrained to bring us to obedience and prayer by starvation. O richly didst thou feed us in years gone by! We had bread in plenty; the earth brought forth the loveliest and fairest fruits. These good gifts should have drawn us up to thee as cords of love, and attracted us to repentance. But how shamefully were these gifts abused in gluttony, luxury, and waste, so that nature herself groaned at being bestowed upon thankless men, who received her with ungrateful hearts. Where is the wonder that a fertile country will not bear fruit on account of the sins of those who live in it? Thou dost chastise us with dearth, want, and drought; the earth brings forth her fruit sparingly. Lord, hear the cries of the poor, who beg for bread, and are not IN TIMES OF DEARTH AND FAMINE sated. Take to the heart the wail of the children, the lamentation of the parents, the complaints that fill every house in the city, and in the country; we eat, and are not satisfied; we take food, and well nigh expire with hunger; and the cattle cry for food. Lord, Lord, gracious, merciful, patient, and of great goodness, have mercy upon us; turn again to us with thy blessing, which thou hast withdrawn from us. Thy fountains are full of water: therefore visit the land, and water it; let the sky give ear unto the earth, and do thou also give ear unto our prayers from thy sanctuary. Let the dearth cease; restore us to thy favor, feed the hungry, rejoice the poor, bless our scanty bread. Now we understand that we live not by bread alone, but mostly by the word which cometh out of thy mouth, and whereby thou dost invigorate our food. Let the field soon be refilled with grain; increase our small stock of flour, as of the widow of Zarepath; let the little suffice to sustain many. Meantime let thy word be our food, for it is the comfort of our hearts, our honey and honeycomb. For this, thy goodness, we will praise and adore thee all our lives. Amen. 1. With the sourges of starvation,

Angry God! thou dost make bleed

Our obdurate hearts, and threaten

To forsake us in our need.

Hunger's fierce and fiery breath

Fans our constant fear of death.

Suffering and disease have bound us,

Misery settles all around us.

2. Almost it outruns description,

How starvation weighs on all.

'Tis enough to make one shudder,

To behold the sombre pall

That upon the land is spread,

Overwhelming every head.

We are lost, O King of mercies,

If thou dost not stem these curses.

3. Want oppresses great and little,

All our stores have found an end,

Want emaciates our forces,

Want redoubles all we spend.

Want, the poor in anguish cries,

Want, the wealthy exercise.

Want of all things has bereft us,

Until nothing now is left us.

4. 'Tis our sins that wrought this danger,

O they mounted up to heaven!

Now the chastisement has settled

On us with a threefold leaven;

PRAYER IN TIMES OF PESTILENCE.

Insolence and hardened hearts

Brought the sore so fiercely smarts;

Disobedience, pride of living,

Their requital now are giving.

5. Hark, the children wail and clamor,

Give us more of bread! More bread!

On the fields and in the houses

Many languish, worse than dead.

Here the poor a morsel crave,

That the givers scarcely have;

E'en the cry of beasts arises,

Of their hunger which advises.

The true Believer prays in times of Pestilence.

EXHORTATION.

"If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, thy God, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he save consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish."—Deut. xxviii. 15, 21, 22. When the wicked are to be visited with wrath, tribulations and terror, Rom. ii. 8, 9, infectious diseases and pestilence form a part of the infliction. 1. This is imposed particularly when men refuse to believe the words of warning and exhortation.—Deut. xiv. 12. 2. When God receives lip-service only, without the worship of the heart.—Jer. xiv. 12, xxvii. 8. 4. For contempt of the servants of God.—Jer. xxix. 17.

5. When the people grow insolent and fractions.—Ezek. xiv. 19.

6. When fornication and murder flourish.—Ezek. xxxiii. 26, 27.

7. When admonitions to repentance are no longer heeded.—Amos iv. 10.

8. For adultery.—Numbers xxv. 9.

9. For blasphemy.—2 Kings xix. 35.

10. For high-mindedness, 2 Sam. xxiv. 15, and for other sins. When this punishment is felt, it is necessary to do repentance, because the Lord in his mercy is open to prayer, on which account also, David preferred this among the three great evils. Strong and Almighty God! great is thy wrath against wanton sinners, which do not suffer themselves to be brought to repentance by thy goodness. For a time thou dealest with the children of men like a loving father, who allures IN TIMES OF PESTILENCE.

the disobedient to his side with long forbearance, but if they wantonly trifle with thy kindness, thou dost also approve thyself an austere judge.

This, just God, we now experience. We are told that in many places an infectious disease is spreading, which sweeps away thousands of men, so that the dead are to be found almost in every house, and hands are wanting to bury them. Have we not great cause to fear that thou wilt send the devastating evil into our neighborhood also? We must not suppose,

O jealous God, that those who have already experienced this chastisement were alone or pre-eminently sinners; we must rather remember that we, ourselves, deserve to perish even as they did. Among us, likewise, are to be found, security, contempt of thy holy word and sacraments, obstinacy, luxury, fornication, unrighteousness, pleasure, and pride; indeed the fear of God is hardly left in the land, the saints have diminished, and there are but few believers among men. If thou wilt call sinners to account, who, Lord, will stand before thee? O

Lord, Lord, we plead thy word, seek my face:

therefore, Lord, we seek thy face. Thou dost not desire the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live; therefore we accuse ourselves, and do penance in dust and ashes. Do not regard the heinousness of our sins, but free us from them in mercy. Stand by us in our distress, and make us free from all punishment. We have sinned with our fathers; we have done amiss, and lived ungodly lives. Command the destroying angel, who carries the avenging sword, to cease, and say, It is enough. If we are not worthy of grace, yet we greatly need it. If we are all children of death, yet thou hast promised the penitent to do mercy instead of justice. Give us thy mercy, and spare our lives for the sake of Jesus, our eternal mediator and advocate. Have mercy upon us, have mercy us upon, thou God of mercies. Be gracious unto us, and spare us, dear Lord! help us, dear Lord God! Have mercy upon the poor and wretched, assailed by this violent disease; who suffer hunger and pain; who are uncared for, and deserted by all men; stand by them with thy comfort, and let thy spirit bear witness unto their spirit, that they are children of God, although fated to fall by this disease. Lord, hear our prayer, protect our country, and let us say that the Lord has done great things in us. Amen. 1. Distress and danger visit us,

Despair, and deadly languor;

We almost witness, face to face,

The archangel in his anger.

IN TIMES OF PESTILENCE.

The towns and hamlets, like a swath,

Are strewed with corpses in the path

Of pestilence, down-stricken.

2. There lies a poor, forgotten wretch,

His house already haunted,

Receives no healthful tenant more,

All fly whence they are wanted;

Another dies for lack of food:

Such are the visitations rude,

When men forget God's anger.

3. No wonder! For of piety

The name was scarcely noted;

All dwelt in fond security,

To waste and gain devoted.

Contempt of God, hypocrisy,

Fraud, swindling, pleasure, luxury,

Alone were sought and worshipped.

4. If thou wouldst judge us by our sins;

Who, who would meet with kindness?

Yet O consider not of this,

Nor of our wanton blindness,

But on our sufferings pity take,

And look upon us, for the sake

Of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

5. Give us a pure and healthful air,

Our lives no longer jeopard,

Dispel the venomous fumes of ill,

And be again our shepherd,

And we will raise our lips and eyes

In thanks unto thy beauteous skies,

And praise thy name for ever.

The true Believer prays to God in Times of continued Rain and wet Weather.

EXHORTATION.

"Behold I will bring a deluge of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, under the heavens; all on earth shall perish."—Gen. vi. 17. Then did God speak to the pious Noah, and as a true God he verified his threat, in suffering all things on earth to perish except the few living things which had gone with Noah into his ark. Although God has promised not again to punish the world with a general deluge, yet to refresh the humility of men, he often suffers inundations, heavy showers of rain, and protracted seasons of wet weather to take place. 1. When the rain pours unceasingly from the heavens, true Christians remember that these showers come from God—which gives them good cheer. 2. They also call to mind that God is angered by their sins—which brings them to repentance IN TIMES OF WET WEATHER.

3. They are aware that such showers may easily prove ruinous to them—which makes them attentive of the fact that in all things they are in the power of the Lord. This drives them to God, to whom they cry in their distress, and call upon him with child-like and believing prayer. If they do this, God will have mercy on them, and give them seasons of fertility, so that their hearts shall again be filled with joy. Great and majestic God! thou who hast spread out the heavens, and founded the earth, and created all things that live and move, and are; how quickly canst thou change the form of the earth, and take away its beauty and loveliness! This we learn especially when, as now, thou openest the windows of heaven, and sufferest the rain to fall without cessation. The sun withholds his warming and refreshing beams; the eye sees nothing but dark and heavy clouds, which cover the earth with water; the fruits of the field are in danger of decay; all things wear a disquieting aspect. Lord, Lord, look upon this, our distress, and be pleased to have mercy on us. By our sins we have richly deserved to lose thy blessings, but let mercy take the place of justice, and think of us at the best. Thou hast promised not again to destroy the earth 42* and its inhabitants with water. O God of mercies, close the windows of heaven, that the rain may cease to fall upon us. Clear up the murky sky, and let the beautiful sunlight shine again, that the grass may grow for the cattle, and the corn for the advantage of men. Soften the hardness of our hearts by thy goodness and truth, so that we may mend at last, and persevere unto the end in the things well pleasing unto thee. And at the last receive us mercifully into thy kingdom in heaven. Amen. 1. Shall the heavens weep forever?

Shall they still be overcast?

Shall the sun no more regale us?

Is his day for ever past?

God of mercies, in thy wrath,

Wilt thou cause a watery death?

Lo, the swelling of the water

Makes the river ripe for slaughter.

2. Everything is inundated,

Grasses rot upon the field;

Still the rain is undimished,

Never promising to yield.

Ripeness comes not near our fruit.

For there is no warmth to do 't;

All things for the sun stand waiting,

But the rain shows no abating.

3. O the heavens weep thus sadly,

Because no one weeps for sin.

Who is left, of great or little,

Having love of God within?

Where is penance, piety,

Godliness, sincerity?

Therefore, though we cry untiring,

Nothing answers our desiring.

4. Lord, upon us all have mercy!

Bid the endless rain to cease;

Hear the wail of the afflicted,

Give us sunshine, give us ease.

See, we come while yet is time,

Of our sins cast off the slime,

We acknowledge, in our madness,

Thrice to have incurred this sadness.

5. If thou to our supplication

Wilt vouchsafe a pitying ear,

If thou wilt again accord us

Warmth and thriving comfort here,

We shall praise thy providence,

That thou didst to us dispense

Sunlight, and anticipation

Of a glad emancipation.