De peste quaestiones duae explicatae

merely of those who are to die whenever God sends the plague, than when He shoots other arrows? If those do not sin against the providence of God who, leaving to the judgment of God the things that are hidden from us as is right, use prophylactic and therapeutic physical remedies, why shall we not do the same while the plague rages? Just as God has ordained that some will not die from the plague, so He has also prescribed remedies by which men may, as much as lies in them, avoid the danger of the plague. There is, however, one and the same providence of God in every kind of disease by which He has sanctioned by immutable decree what is to be, however much the natures of the diseases differ among themselves. Indeed, the very power and reason of the name contagion demonstrate that timely withdrawal is deservedly reckoned among the primary physical precautions against contagion, even though neither are all who flee saved, nor do all who remain perish. The Lord had certainly decided, while sending famine upon the Egyptians and the regions of that coast, who would die from that scarcity, and yet Joseph does not for that reason cease to provide for the Egyptians with the wisest counsel: which the Churches themselves also did when they had understood from the Prophet Agabus that a famine was to occur under the Emperor Claudius. The Lord also knew who were to perish in that most bloody Assyrian war under Hezekiah: and yet Hezekiah himself and Isaiah protect the city walls. What more? When Paul had certainly known that neither he nor anyone of those who were with him would perish in the shipwreck, nevertheless, when the sailors were preparing to flee from the ship, he said, You cannot be saved unless these remain. Christ also, although He knew His hour had not yet come, nevertheless more than once withdrew Himself when He was being sought for death.