“And although that in so great varietie of Circumstances, Rules for every singular thing cannot be set down; yet is it no hard matter to give certain General Precepts agreeable unto the Word of God, by the which, as by a certain Rule, singular Cases may afterwards (as they say) be tried; Let them therefore which think to tarry, know, that it is the Commandment of God, Thou shalt not Kill, and that therefore neither their own, nor the Lives of any belonging or depending on them, are rashly to be put in danger of deadly Infection. Let them on the other side, which think to Go away, know, that no man ought to have so great regard either of himself, or of his Family, that he forget what one oweth unto his Countrie, and Fellow Citizens. To be brief, what he oweth unto another, whether they be bound by the common bond of Humanitie and Societie, of by any other kinde of Friendship; for Love seeketh not the things which are her own: Wherefore, I confess, that I cannot see by what reason at all any man is forbid to depart, which either by reason of Age, or of Sickness, past hope of Recovery, cannot help others; and if they tarry, they may therefore seem onely to be stayed, that they may die, to the great losse of the Common-wealth; for as their Crueltie can never enough be blamed, which thrust them out of their Cities, especially if they be of the poor sort; so both the pious natures of Parents in time providing for the preservation and life of theirs, without prejudice or hurt to any man, seemeth unto me to be greatly commended; And also the providence of the Magistrates is much to be praysed, where their care shall be extended (without dammage to the Common-welfare) to see that those weak ones, as seed-plots of Citizens, be well looked unto.”
“First of all I think it is to be proivded, That every man do summon himself unto the judgment seat of God, unto the Plague as the coming of news of the wrath of God, condemning himself, that he may be acquitted by him, and that withall he weigh with himself, that he is called to stand forth and plead his own Cause, and that this Rod cannot be avoided by change of place, but of manners; and that if he must die, that this is decreed for the good of them which die, forasmuch as they are blessed which die in the Lord.”
Bèze, Théodore de, 1519-1605., 2007,
A learned treatise of the plague wherein the two questions, whether the plague be infectious or no, and , whether and how farr it may be shunned of Christians by going aside, are resolved / written in Latine by the famous Theodore Beza Vezelian.
