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"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me:

I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there

any that can deliver out of my hand." Deut. 32:39

All diseases and sicknesses are under the command of God;
they are all His sergeants, His servants, to execute His pleasure.

We must acknowledge God's sovereign power and authority
over the rod of affliction—to break it, or burn it, or take it off,
or lay it on—as He pleases. 

When God bids diseases . . .
            'Go and afflict such a man.' They go!
            'Go and torment such a man.' They go!
            'Go and kill such a man.' They go!
When He calls them off—they come off at His call!

God is the author of all the diseases, maladies, and sicknesses
that are in the world. He sets them on and calls them off at His
own good will and pleasure. "…shall there be evil in a city,

and the LORD hath not done it?" Amos 3:6

(Thomas Brooks, "The Privy Key of Heaven" 1665)

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