The Cause and Remedy of the Plague. Lancelot Andrewes: The plague
comes not by chance, but has a cause. That cause is not altogether natural and
pertains to the physical, but has something supernatural in it, and pertains to
divinity. That supernatural cause is the wrath of God. This, however, is not
the first cause; for the wrath of God would not come down unless he was
provoked by our sins. Indeed certain sins have provoked his wrath. Our own
inventions produced the sins that incurred his wrath, resulting in the plague
among us. To stay the plague, God’s wrath must be stayed. To stay God’s wrath,
there must be a ceasing from sin; for that sin to cease, we must stop loving
our own inventions, and no longer whore after them. Prayer which assuages
anger, and the execution of justice abates sin. With respect to the latter,
this means executing justice publicly as the magistrate does, or privately as
every individual may do on themselves [by means of repentance]. The execution
of justice joined with prayer will soon rid us of [the plague] of which we
complain. Otherwise, “his anger will not be turned away, but his hand is still
stretched out.” Sermon on Psalm 106:29–30. (Psalms 73-150: Old Testament,
ed. Herman J. Selderhuis and Timothy George [Reformation Commentary on
Scripture 8; Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2018], 189)
Further Reading:
Response
to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness (contains a discussion
of Num 25 and Psa 106:30-31 and the justification of Phinehas)
