pulled off and such deformed Visages have appeared to have been disguised under it that it is to be hoped that the People of this Kingdom or City will not be easily cheated again into a Belief of the Honesty or Good-meaning of any Persons who joyn in a Party against the Lawful Government they live under let their Pretences be what they will It is otherwise with True Religion It is quite of another Genius It begets other Tempers and Spirits in Men. The wisdom that comes from above is first pure then peaceable Especially our Christianity is so admirably fitted for the benefit and advantage of Societies that were there no Obligation to the Practice of it from the Considerations of another Life yet all wise Men would think themselves bound to the observance of the Chief Laws of our Saviour were it onely out of respect to our Peace and Security in this present World 2. Since the Publick Welfare depends upon the Manners of Men we may thence conclude how much it is the Interest as well as Duty of all Governours and Magistrates in their several Places to discourage and punish all Vice and Wickedness and to countenance and promote True Religion which is the great Instrument of Political Happiness The more the Fear of God and the Practice of Righteousness prevails amongst the People the more easie and safe will the Government be and therefore Religion doth fully reward the Civil Powers for all the Protection they can give it True Religion tends so much to the Establishment and Prosperity of any Nation that they whose Office it is to look after the Publick Good cannot do any thing better for themselves or for the People committed to their Charge for the securing their own just Authority or maintaining the People in Peace and good Order than by all means to preserve and increase amongst them a Reverence and Obedience to Almighty God and his Laws This will keep them in firm subjection to their Superiours this will unite them one to another in Love and Charity and which is never to be forgotten this will procure Gods Blessing both upon Governours and People And since Christians are unhappily divided into several Denominations and Communions take that Church I beseech you into your especial Care and Patronage whose Principles do most effectually contribute towards Mens orderly and quiet living together in Societies If you can find any Church or Body of Christians in the World whose Doctrines are more Loyal whose Government is better consistent with Monarchy whose Practices have been more peaceable at all times than the Reformed Church of England I would e'en exhort you then to forsake and renounce ours and not onely tolerate but establish and set up that Church amongst us But in this certainly our Church hath no Competitor Peaceable and quiet living under the Civil Government always was and is still the Glory of the Church of England This Praise she stands upon and challengeth as due to her and on this account doth she with confidence recommend her self and all her true Members to the Care and Protection of those who are in Power and Authority that they would be so just as to defend that Religion that Church which doth best defend and support the Publick State 3. Hence we may learn the true Cause of all those Publick Evils and Calamities that have befallen this Kingdom or City of late Years Our Sins have been the Natural Causes of some of them the Meritorious Causes of others Some we have brought upon our selves as the necessary Effects of our own wicked Courses others God in Justice hath inflicted upon us as the Punishment of our Disobedience I shall not now undertake to give in a Catalogue of those many Sins that we in this City have been notoriously guilty of I had much rather leave that Work to your selves for every Man to smite upon his own Breast in which he will find a faithful Monitor I mean his Conscience which will impartially tell him wherein he hath provoked God and contributed to those Judgments and Distractions we have laboured under if so be he will but patiently attend to its Suggestions and give it leave and opportunity freely to speak unto him I am sure it much more becomes us all this Day to give Glory to God and to take Shame to our selves and to charge and accuse our selves than wholly to shift off all the Guilt Blame upon others We are very apt indeed to impute these Publick Evils to other Causes we are very curious in guessing at the immediate Instruments of them and which is worst of all too many amongst us have been on all occasions ready to lay all Publick Miscarriages and Misfortunes at the Door of their Governours and Superiours whereas the true Cause hath been from our selves wherein no one can acquit himself tho' some far more innocent than others But I shall rather chuse to spend that little time your Patience can yet allow me in persuading you all to amend than in ripping up the Vices of this Age or City or several Parties of Men amongst us for which we may justly suppose God hath visited us with the Plague this dreadful Fire and which was no less punishment those unnatural Divisions and Heats which of late so violently broke out amongst us and threatned sudden Ruine both to Church and State 4. And lastly This Doctrine which I have now proved to you teacheth us the best Expedient to prevent such Judgments for the future and to settle us in firm Peace which is a general Reformation of our Lives and Manners Blessed be God the Case is much mended with us since the dreadful Burning of London Our City hath been many Years re-built and that more splendid and glorious than before We miss not that number of Inhabitants who were swept away by the devouring Plague nor hardly now do we feel any of the dismal Effects of that terrible Fire We seem to have weather'd out those sore Calamities And tho' of late our intestine Animosities arose to such an height as that we all feared a woful Interruption of our Peace yet God hath not as hitherto delivered us into our own Hands nor suffered us to destroy our selves Nay things tend at present towards an happy Settlement and Composure and we begin to entertain hopes of living in quiet and safety every man sitting under his own vine and figtree The Face of our Heavens is more clear and serene and the black Clouds that presag'd so dreadful a Storm seem in some measure to be dispersed Yet let us not deceive our selves and rashly conclude that the bitterness of death is now past For as I said at first the same Causes will always produce the same Effects and if the same Sins still continue amongst us they will soon be attended with the same or worse Desolations and Confusions If this be the natural Effect of prevailing Atheism Prophaneness and Contempt of Religion of Hatred and
Tulse Mayor Martis decimo sexto die Septemb. 1684. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli Secundi Angliae c. trigesimo sexto THis Court doth desire Dr. Calamy to Print his Sermon Preached at Bow-Church on the Second of September Instant being the Day of Humiliation for the Great Fire in the Year 1666. before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and Citizens of this City WAGSTAFFE A SERMON Preached before the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor ALDERMEN AND CITIZENS of LONDON At the Church of St. Mary le Bow September the Second 1684. BEING THE Anniversary Fast FOR THE DREADFUL FIRE In the Year 1666. By BENJAMIN CALAMY D. D. Vicar of St. Laurence Jewry and one of His MAJESTY's Chaplains in Ordinary LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir Henry Tulse LORD MAYOR OF THE City of London And to the Honourable COURT of ALDERMEN Right Honourable IN Obedience to Your Lordships Commands I have published this following Sermon and now humbly present it to Your favourable Acceptance The Discourse was suited to the Day plain and serious the Subject Matter of it ordinary and common but highly useful and seasonable And if any of the Inhabitants of this great City are by the reading of it persuaded to or better established in the strict Practise of their Religion in all its several Duties which respect either God or Man I have obtained my whole Design both in the Preaching and Printing of it I beg Your Lordships Pardon if I take this Opportunity to renew my most thankful Acknowledgments of those many particular Favours I have received from Your Lordship by which I am bound ever to remain Your most Obedient and Humble Servant Benjamin Calamy A SERMON Preached before The Lord Mayor On September the Second 1684. ISAIAH LVII 21. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked IT is not to be imagined that the Design of this Anniversary Fast is barely to call to mind those dismal Days wherein this Famous City was laid in Ashes and to hear the doleful Relation of that amazing Providence but it was intended as an Opportunity for the Exercise of serious Repentance and to that purpose we are now met to lament our Sins and humble our Souls in God's presence and to renew our Resolutions against all those Courses which once plucked down such remarkable Judgments upon this Place and will unless we reform them at last prove our utter Ruine And to improve the Consideration of that dreadful Calamity to the same pious purposes is my present Design from the Words now read unto you In the Verses immediately foregoing my Text the Prophet endeavours to revive the drooping Spirits of those amongst the Jews now in Babylonish Captivity who were truly penitent for their past Sins and therefore called v. 15. the humble and contrite ones with the Promise of God's Mercy to them in bringing them back at last to their Native Country assuring those who put their trust in God that tho' now far banished from it yet they should again possess their land and inherit the holy Mountain For God will not contend for ever v. 16. neither will he be always wroth He knoweth our weakness and how unable we are to stand before him when he is angry He observed therefore their Repentance v. 18. and how they amended their ways and would heal them and conduct them safely to their own Land with abundance of Joy and Peace But if after so signal deliverance they should again fall back to their old Courses if forgetful both of those sore Evils God had inflicted on them for their Disobedience and of his wonderful Mercy shewn in redeeming them from their Captivity they should wantonly return when restored to their former Provocations he tells them that they should by sad Experience find that the same Effects would still follow the same Causes that Sin and Irreligion would again destroy their Peace and bring down God's severer Vengeance against them so that they should be like the troubled sea which cannot rest v. 20. always unquiet and unsetled in continual distraction and confusion And now that they might not in the least doubt of the truth of all this he confirms it by the Authority of God himself There is no peace saith my God to the wicked They must never look to be an happy flourishing People as long as their Lives and Manners were so corrupt and degenerate This some Learned Men take to be the strict meaning of the Words and thus I shall now understand them Under this Word Peace in Scripture is often comprehended all manner of outward Happiness and Prosperity and taking it in this large sense the Words do not then respect wicked men considered singly by themselves but as they are joyned together in Society and Community to whom the Prophet declares from the Mouth of God That there is nothing so destructive of the Political Happiness or Welfare of any People as prevailing Vice and Wickedness Religion doth not onely secure the inward Peace and Tranquillity of our Minds and provide for our future Felicity in the other World but doth mightily promote the temporal Prosperity of any Kingdom or City in this And on the contrary Vice and Wickedness especially where it abounds and is become fashionable and creditable and hath infected all Sorts and Ranks of Men doth certainly undermine and will by degrees overthrow the Peace and Happiness of any Society or Community There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Many and weighty are the Arguments by which men may be moved to Repentance and Amendment of Life There is no Capacity we can be consider'd in no Relation we can stand in but Religion is of mighty use and advantage to us in it and on the contrary Sin and Wickedness infinitely prejudicial and mischievous But I cannot think any Consideration more proper to this Assembly or to the Occasion of this Solemnity than what my Text suggests to us viz. the serviceableness of True Religion to the Publick Good and Interest and the malign Influence that Vice and Impiety hath upon any Kingdom City or Body Politick whence we may learn to what Causes ought to be imputed that dreadful Judgment of Fire which once laid this City waste as also what is the most successful Expedient to preserve this City and the whole Kingdom from any such Publick Calamity for the time to come In the prosecution of this Subject I shall first demonstrate the Truth of what is here affirmed and then make such particular Application to our selves as may be most suitable to the Occasion of our meeting at this day In order to the proving of this That Wickedness doth obstruct the Peace and Happiness of any People or Society I shall insist on these three Arguments 1. The natural tendency of Vice and Wickedness 2. The Consideration of God's Providence and his righteous Government of the World 3. The Experience of
to the Publick Peace and Happiness and on the contrary Irreligious Practises do naturally lead to Disorder and Confusion so that there is hardly any Vice but what bringeth some notable Damage to the Publick So saith St. James c. 4.1 Whence come wars and fightings amongst you are they not hence even from your lusts which war in your members Unbounded Avarice and Ambition implacable desire of Revenge unmeasurable coveting of what is other Mens unjust Oppression of those whom we have at any advantage these are the fruitful Parents of Publick Disturbances and Confusions Luxury and Sensuality and Prodigality consume the Wealth and Treasure of a Nation Idleness Intemperance and untamed Lust effeminate and enfeeble the Minds of Men destroys their Courage and Spirit and so lays them open to the Assaults of their Enemies Irreligion and Prophaneness break in pieces the Bands of Community and they who make nothing of those Obligations which God's Laws have laid upon them will not be held by any that Men can make and their Allegiance to their Earthly Sovereign is always to be suspected who have cast off all Subjection to the Lord of Heaven and Earth Lying Falshood Injustice Uncharitableness and contempt of an Oath which is the certain Effect of vain Swearing in common Discourse these destroy all mutual Good-will and Faith and Trust amongst Men which are the great Joynts and Ligaments by which the Members of any Body Politick are knit and fastned together Unreasonable Appetites and Passions make Men uneasie and troublesom one to another and are the necessary Causes of Enmity Division Strife and every Evil work and by disuniting of Men one from another they apparently make way for the dissolution of any Society Pride and Discontent naturally make Men Factious and Unpeaceable dispose Men to endeavour Changes and Alterations in hopes of bettering themselves and the Sin of Schism and unnecessary breach of Christian Communion even as a Physical Cause doth usher in the Ruine of the State as well as of the Church Thus I might run over all manner of Sins and shew how they all more or less weaken the Sinews and Strength of the best-constituted Government where they are commonly practised So that should God Almighty stand Neuter and not concern himself in the Affairs of this lower World had he left Mankind as the Epicureans thought wholly to their own Counsel and Conduct and should never trouble himself to inflict any Evils upon us for our Disobedience to him yet the natural Consequences of our own Sins the ill Effects they have upon the Kingdom or City we live in would be no little Punishment for them And this we learn from the Mouth of God himself Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Where God is pleased to represent it as a Learned Man observes on that Place as a thing e'en quite out of his own power to make it well with an impious people O that they would fear me that so it might be well with them as if it were impossible from the very Nature of the thing for God to make a People happy whist they continued vicious and unreformed So necessary so indispensible are Piety and Vertue to the Establishment of a Nation Religion inspirits Men with all those good Qualities and Dispositions that tend to Peace and Unity which is the Life and Soul of all Society It extirpates all those Vices and Passions which are the Causes of Enmity and Division teacheth every Man to keep his own Rank and Place to mind his proper Duty to give to every one his Due and to prefer the Publick Good before his own Private Advantage It inclineth and obligeth Men to all mutual Offices of Love and Kindness It maketh Magistrates just and merciful Subjects faithful and obedient out of Conscience for God's sake It secureth every Mans Interest and Fortune and Reputation every Man in his particular Station contributing his best to the Common Welfare We cannot possibly frame in our Minds the Idea of a more happy State of things than would presently be if the Fear of God and Love of Righteousness and general Practice of Religion did every where prevail amongst us There would be then no Discontents nor Complaints heard in our Streets no Jealousies or frightful Suspicions no Sidings or Parties or divided Interests no Separations and opprobrious Nick-names of Distinction which are the mortal Diseases of the Body Politick and the never-failing Symptoms of a decaying State How safely and pleasantly should we all live A Kingdom or City bless'd with such Inhabitants what would it be but an Heaven upon Earth And tho it is hardly to be hoped that ever such an happy Change should be found amongst us that Religion should gain such an universal Conquest over the Minds of all Men yet let me say That to those small Reliques of Vertue and Piety which are yet to be found amongst us it is chiefly owing that Mankind live together in any tolerable Peace and Security Thus Sin hath a natural tendency to make not onely the Sinner himself miserable but the Society also of which he is a Member whilst as Solomon tells us Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a nation raiseth it to the highest degree of Prosperity and Glory To which I shall onely add the Observation of that great Roman General Scipio That it was impossible for any State or City to be happy stantibus moenibus ruentibus moribus tho' their Walls were never so firm and good if their Manners were decayed and corrupted But this is not all 2. We must consider that God Almighty is no idle and indifferent Spectator of the Actions of Men. He is no such soft and delicate Being as some have imagined him taking his own Ease and Repose within the spacious Circuits of Heaven whilst unconcerned at the Affairs of Mortals he lets this lower World go as it will No his careful Providence is extended even to the meanest thing which his Power created much more it is conversant about whole Kingdoms Cities and great Societies of Men And this is the setled Course and Method of his Government Tho' he often suffers some particular Men to thrive and flourish in their Sin and Impiety and doth not always call single Persons to an Account in this Life but reserves them for the future Vengeance yet he dealeth otherwise with Bodies Politick He will not permit them ordinarily to pass unpunished in this State this Life being the onely time wherein he can reckon with Men as joyn'd together in Civil Societies and therefore besides all the Evils Men bring upon themselves by their Wickedness the Great Sovereign of the World doth by way of Exemplary Justice inflict sore and desolating Calamities such as Plague Fire Sword Famine and the like as the due Reward of their incurable Obstinacy in Sin and
Disobedience Prevailing and crying Sins of a Nation or City without timely Repentance never scape Publick Judgments And indeed it is in a manner necessary for the Government of the World and preserving some good Order in it and keeping up in Men the awe of an Invisible Power upon high and publick Provocations when Men insolently bid open Defiance to the Laws of God I say it is necessary that God should manifest his Power and Displeasure by some remarkable Punishments inflicted on Places generally infamous for their foul Ingratitude towards and horrid Contempt of his Divine Majesty When Sin and Irreligion mightily abounds and hath gained reputation amongst foolish people and like a great Flood carries all before it when it hath once got an Head and formed a strong Party and Men of all Conditions and Qualities are engaged on the side of Vice and Profaneness all Reason and Argument shall at such a time be easily run down and the soft voice cannot then be heard God must appear in a great Storm with Thunder and Lightning as he did of old to the Israelites if he would have the Inhabitants of the Earth look up to him or would convince them of their Folly and Danger Such publick Judgments are rightly compared to publick Executions which are sometimes necessary for the Support of the Government and making People to stand in dread of the Laws They serve especially to excite in the generality of Mankind a more quick and lively sense of God's Power over and Presence with them to rouse Men out of that Stupidity and dull Lethargy which long and prosperous continuance in Sin betrays them into I will cause you to pass under the rod saith God by the Prophet and then shall you and all that hear and see it know that I am the Lord. Thus did not that miserable Fate which befel Sodom and Gomorra serve to awaken the neighbouring Cities Countries when they beheld the bright Flames to ascend towards Heaven to inquire into the Causes of such Severity and to examine themselves whether they were guilty of the same Sins which had so highly incensed God And would not they have been glad to have been at good terms and at peace with that Almighty Being who hath such dreadful Punishments in store for the Refractory and Impenitent And was it not thus with us at the the time of the late terrible Conflagration which we are this day more particularly to call to our minds I appeal to all amongst you that were then present at it Did you not then humbly acknowledge the Hand of God in it Did you not then accuse your selves and did not your Consciences loudly charge you with those Sins that you could not but think did fully deserve so severe Vengeance Did not some of you blame your Covetousness and niggardly hoarding up those many Goods which now suddenly perished in the merciless Flames Did not others of you curse your Injustice and Falseness in your Trades others your Intemperance and Riot and many in this City their odious Hypocrisie and base prostituting Religion to unworthy Ends which with other Sins provoked God to so great Anger Did you not then make many serious Promises of better living should you any ways escape or ever recover so great a Calamity What would you not then have undertook nay performed onely to have been assured that in so short a time you should be again restored to your Dwellings Trades and Possessions that this City should so soon rise out of its Rubbish and Ashes and all of us return to live in greater splendour and ease than we did before And O had we lived answerably to those Vows and Promises which this surprising Providence did then extort from us in the day of our Fears what an holy what an happy City had this been But alas do not the same Vices to say no worse reign amongst us which did before Sixty six So that we have great cause to fear tho' I am loth to speak it that it is e'en now time for God to think of some more smarting Punishment more grievous than any we have yet felt which may give some check to the overflowing Atheism and Wickedness of this Age. And doubt not but he will do it in his due time unless we stop his Hand by a general Reformation God doth not take any delight in such Severities It is no pleasure to him to make such havock in the World This is his strange work He is very loth to be brought to it He doth not willingly grieve any particular Man much less doth he love to exercise his Power in laying whole Cities and Kingdoms waste But onely when he is concerned in Honour to vindicate his Authority his Laws his Name from bold Profanations and open bare-fac'd Affronts then neither our Wealth nor Power nor Policy can secure us from the Omnipotent Arm of Divine Justice And indeed it is very great Impudence for us to expect or hope that God should bless or protect that People who live in open Rebellion against him By all this it appears that Vice and Wickedness is not onely by its own Malignity apt to destroy us but also where it prevails and abounds doth as it were necessitate God Almighty to visit such a People especially when they are irreclaimable by any gentler Methods with such signal and remarkable Judgments as may keep the World in some awe of him and make them confess That there is a God who judgeth the earth Whereas the general Practice of Religion recommends and intitles us to the Almighty's Protection engages him on our side secures to us the constant Succours and Aids of Divine Providence God will watch over our Cities and Houses will bless our Land with Increase will deliver us from all our Enemies and think nothing too much or too good for us Seek ye the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof in the first place and all these things shall be added to you 3. In the last place I appeal to the Experience of all Ages and we shall certainly find the State and Condition of any Kingdom or Society to have been more or less prosperous according to the Manners that have prevailed amongst them Which was of old acknowledged by the Orator in that known Saying Omnia prospera eveniunt colentibus Deos adversa spernentibus The People that have a care of Religion are always successful but unhappy when they are Irreligious God indeed may defer pouring forth his Wrath for a while to give Men time and space of Repentance but at last when their iniquities are full as the Scripture expresseth it Divine Vengeance hath overtaken them which hath commonly been so much the sorer the longer it hath been delaied If we look therefore upon any one whole Kingdom or great City as joyned together in one Society we shall generally find that according as Vertue Justice Temperance Sincerity and Fidelity hath flourished amongst them so long have they thrived