and people saying with a loud voice fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come If this judgment that is come upon you will not prevail with you to give glory to God God will curse your blessings Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart If you ask how and wherein you should glorifie God under this affliction which he hath laid upon you I answer 1. Accept of the punishment of your iniquity and acknowledge that the Lord is just and righteous in all that is come upon you Then we give God the glory of his Judgments when we confess him to be just and righteous therein Rev. 15.3,4 Just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name Thus Daniel gave glory to God when Jerusalem was laid waste and the Jews spoiled of their goods and carried captive into Babylon Dan. 9.14 The Lord hath watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works that he doth for we obeyed not his voice Yea do not only confess God to be righteous but also acknowledge him to be gracious in this dispensation say whereas our Houses and Estates are consumed by this Fire it is of the Lords mercies that we our selves are not consumed even because his compassions fail not Thus Lot gave glory to God when his house and goods were consumed in Sodom he looked upon it as a great mercy that he himself was not consumed also Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life 2. Though your sufferings have been very great yet give God thanks and praise his Holy Name for what he hath done for you by so doing you shall glorifie God Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me Isa 42.12 Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands This relates to a time of Judgment I will destroy and devour at once I will make waste mountains and hills ver 14. 15. Even when God is rising up to judgment and devouring and destroying we must declare his praise and so give him the glory of his Judgments Let not this seem strange to you that I exhort you that have suffered great lostes by this Fire to praise God and give him thanks for 1. Job did thus when God had taken away all his Estate and Children he blesseth God Job 1.21 The Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord and Job did not sin or act imprudently in blessing God for his losses for it is said in the next words In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly 2. It is the will of God that in every estate and condition and under every dispensation of his providence we should give thanks 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you 3. There is much mercy mingled with the affliction it is mercy that your Estates were consumed and not your Lives it is mercy that your Houses only were burned whereas you might have been cast both body and soul into everlasting burnings and if you cannot give God thanks for the affliction it self yet at least give him thanks for the mercy that was mingled with the affliction 3. Let this affliction put you upon searching and trying your wayes and renewing your repentance and returning unto God of which you heard before for in so doing you shall give glory to God Rev. 16.9 They repented not to give him glory 4. Let this Judgment awaken in your souls a more lively fear and dread of God let it cause you to stand in such awe of God as to be afraid to offend him for then we give glory to God when we are afraid to sin against him Rev. 14.7 Fear God and give glory to him 5. You shall give glory to God by this Judgment if you be stirred up by it to live a more holy and righteous life Isa 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous that I may be glorified If also it make you fruitful in good works John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit 6. Let this Judgment awaken you to a more diligent practice of what is commanded 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God It was your duty ever since you were born to make Gods glory the highest and chiefest end of all your actions if you have not done so you have great cause to humble your souls before God for you have neglected the great end of your Creation Isa 43.7 Every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory If you did seek to advance the glory of God before this Judgment came upon you yet now be awakened hereby to seek Gods glory more zealously with more singleness of heart and do all your works both the works of your Calling and your natural Actions as your eating and drinking and your Religious Actions with more explicite intentions to glorifie God SECT 8. 8. Let the losses which you have sustained by this dreadful Fire take you off from laying up your Treasure upon the earth and put you upon laying up treasure in heaven That treasure which you lay up on earth may be taken from you several wayes you may lose it all in one day or if you do not lose it you must leave it all behinde you when you dye But that treasure which is laid up in heaven can by no means be taken from you but you shall enjoy the benefit of it to all eternity Remember therefore and follow the counsel and command of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Mat. 6.19,20,21 Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also If you ask What is that treasure which we should lay up in heaven I answer All the good thoughts which you think and all the good words that you speak are treasure laid up in heaven Mal. 3.16 They that feared the Lord speak often one to another and the Lord hearkined and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name You see here that God treasureth up in his book of remembrance all the good words which we speak when
you Prov. 23.10,11 Remove not the old land-mark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless for their redeemer is mighty he shall plead their cause with thee By managing your work in truth and righteousness you shall prosper in what you take in hand Psal 45.4 Ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness 5. Before you enter upon building sit down and consider your cost and charge consider also your own ability whether you have sufficient to defray the charge of Building lest you be necessitated to leave your work imperfect or to run your selves into debt and bring great and unnecessary incumbrances upon your selves Luke 14.28,29,30 Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Especially be careful that you do not exceed your ability to build your houses in a more stately and magnificent manner than becometh your rank and quality The calamities of the present times and the many objects of charity call for frugality and moderation in this kinde Overmuch curiosity and expensiveness in Building is taxed as a sin Jer. 22.14 We may and many do transgress by too much cost and curiosity in adorning our Bodies 1 Tim. 2.9 1 Pet. 3.3 If not lawful to bestow too much coft in adorning our Bodies then surely we must use moderation in adorning our Houses for our Bodies are of more worth and value than our Houses 6. Follow your work with a willing minde and with diligence if you would have it go on successfully A willing minde will carry on difficult work with great ease Nehem. 4.6 So built we the wall and all the wall was joyned together unto the half thereof for the people had a minde to work Diligence and industry will effect great things but slothfulness and negligence will spoil and bring to nought good undertakings Eccles 10.18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through Yet here is need of caution that you do not immerse your hearts and spirits too much in your worldly business so as to forget or unfit your selves for the coming of Christ either by death or judgment Many men are so immoderate in their use and management of worldly things that they fall into a spirit of slumber and security so that the day of death and of judgment will come upon them as a snare when they neither think of or are prepared to meet the Lord Luke 17.28,29,30 As it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed It is not building or planting any more than eating or drinking but the inordinate affections of men and their worldly spirits their security and sensuality in the management of their worldly business that is here condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ 7. Aim at Gods glory in this work and not your own and so manage the whole business that nothing of reproach or dishonour may redound to the name of God but that God in all things may be glorified That general rule 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God should take place in this as well as any other of your works You should not look only or chiefly at your own conveniences in Building but at the glory of God so the Jews did in building Jerusalem Ezra 4.3 We our selves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel If you be tempted from a vain-glorious painciple to be overcostly and curious in building your Houses consider 1. God would not have us do any action whatever for the procuring of vain-glory Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory Yea God would have us so far from doing any action for vain-glory that he would not have us so much as desirous of it Gal. 5.26 Let us not be desirous of vain-glory 2. With what mean Habitations were our fore-fathers contented Jacob who was a great man a Prince in the estimation of the Angel that wrastled with him Gen. 32.28 contented himself to dwell in a tent which was both a mean and a moveable habitation Gen. 25.27 Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents so did his Father Abraham Heb. 11.9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange Countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise Yet Abraham was a great man he was the heir of the world Rom. 4.13 and the father of all the faithful ver 11 16. 3. If that which is expended by many persons in superfluous and needless adorning of their houses were given to the poor how much good might they do would it not be much to their comfort at the day of judgment wherein they must give an account for all their talents how they have used them and what improvement they have made of them 8. It is of much concernment to you whilest you are about this work of Building or when you are about any other work of moment to give good heed to the Word of God for thereby you will be helped much to carry on your undertakings successively When you faint and are discouraged Gods Word will put strength into you when you are under doubts that will resolve you when you turn aside to the right hand or to the left Gods Word will restore your souls and lead you in paths of righteousness it is of great use in these and divers other resnects to help you to carry on your civil employments successfully Deut. 29.9 Keep the words of this covenant and do them that ye may prosper in all that ye do That is a remarkable passage which you have Ezra 6.14 The elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah the Son of Iddo and they builded and finished it according to the Commandment of the God of Israel The preaching of the word by these two servants of God was a means of carrying on this work of building Jerusalem successfully When God sent forth Joshua about a great work he gave him a special charge to take heed to his word and to read and meditate therein night and day which would be a sure way to be successful Joshua 1.8 This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have