London may be so too such and so bad as the ends of some men may be in the doing of it for bad ends mingled with good actions are like dead flies which cause the oyntment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour Yet mistake not as if I suspected Londoners to have any such ill design as Sanballat and Tobich did insinuate the Jews to have when they attempted to rebuild Jerusalem saying Nehem. 2.19 What is this ye do will ye rebel against the King I dare say they mean nothing less yet from other sinful and unworthy ends in that great undertaking I cannot excuse all of them I wish I could the most or major part Some may design nothing but their own honour in the stately houses which they intend to build as he that said Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my Majesty That is no good end ultimate end I mean as appeareth by what befell Nebuchadnezzar v. 3. Whilst the word was in the Kings mouth there fell a voice from heaven saying O King Nebuchadnezzar the Kingdom is departed from thee Others may aim at nothing but gain and profit as those St. James speaketh of Jam. 4.13 Go to now ye that say we will go into such a City and buy and sell and get gain I cannot say that either of these two ends are unlawful if but subordinate but if sole or supreme they are both so for a higher end than either of them ought to be aimed at in our most inferiour actions much more in so great an undertaking witness 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God Should the glory of God be aimed at and made our highest end even in our common eating and drinking and should it not be so likewise in our building a famous City shall God have no interest in that more solemn work or tribute of glory from it Some it may be would be resolved how the rebuilding of London can make for the glory of God and may think it is but canting to speak of such a thing But they are much mistaken for doubtless God may have a great deal of glory from such a City as that if the Inhabitants thereof and others concerned in it for they it is that must glorifie God be but careful to do their duty and to improve so great and excellent a talent as a City of London is for the honor and service of him from whom they shall receive it As the Justice of God was glorified in the destruction of London so may his great mercy be in the restauration thereof It is the burthen of Davids Song Psa 107.8.15.21.31 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men Now the rebuilding of such a City as London was will give men great occasion and provocation so to do and for that as one great end and reason it should be desired Doubtless it would be a great mercy to thousands of families which are now incommoded in their dwellings and for the purposes of their Trade if London were up again and were they fixed again in their former scituations and setled in their respective Trades they could serve God much more without distraction and with much more chearfulness than nâ—w they can whilst they lie under great inconveniences and discouragements Now for those ends also which are pure and pious ends shall we desire and endeavour that London may be restored Now the thorns of care spring up and choak the good seed which is sown amongst Londoners which care would be over in a great measure if their houses were all rebuilt and themselves replanted and resetled in every of them London hath been as great a bull-work to Religion and as much a Nursing Mother to it as almost any it hath had at leastwise it was in a capacity to have been so and would be so again if it were again what it was Now that is another Christian end which we should propose to our selves in pursuing the restauration of London viz. that it may be a Fortress and Fautrix to Religion and strengthen the hands thereof throughout England Scotland and Ireland if not in other places also London hath been that to Religion that Locks and Sluces are to those parts of the Thames where the water is but low and shallow which by lending a flush of waters to the almost exhausted channels make way for Boats and Barges to pass that otherwise could not Ask Papists if the Protestant Religion would not be much more easily conquerable by them if no City of London either were or might be suffered to be again and whether that hath not been always held for a Maxim amongst the Sages of their Religion one reason of it is this The greatest strength of a Nation doth lye in that part of it in which is far the greatest number and gathering together of people where it may be there are five to one of them that dwell together in any other City I say caeteris paribus if in other things they be equally strong that place must needs be strongest and consequently most able to assist others or secure it self its Religion and other priviledges in which are most people and those of good rank and quality cohabiting and imbodied together in one and the same Corporation for vis unita fortior the main Ocean having much more water in it than any particular River which do all run into it must needs have a stronger tide and more forcible stream than any of them hath So in this case I would have no lower or meaner ends than those which I have now named to be highest or uppermost with me or with any others as in reference to the rebuilding of London I say no lower to be our ultimate and highest ends in desiring another London than that men might be ravished with the mercy of God in restoring a City to them and them to it and give him the glory of it and that Citizens being delivered from those cares and perplexities which are now upon them might serve God without distraction and run the ways of his Commands with chearfulness that undone families might be restored to some good way of livelihood whereby they and those that shall succeed them might be not only maintained but encouraged to maintain good works as the phrase is Tit. 3.8 and be more intent upon their general as they have less trouble from their particular callings and worldly circumstances And lastly that the true Protestant Religion having the Laws of England on its side might have also an able Champion to stand up for it when and so often as Goliah-like Philistims shall bid defiance to it I mean a City able with the blessing of God to secure it self and the Nation from the violence of those that are the sworn enemies
whereas some may think the new houses carry and are appointed to carry their heads too high and rise up to a greater altitude then doth become them after so humbling a judgment good reason may be assigned for that viz. That it was enacted they should do so in order to the gaining of more room and that so much the rather because a great deal of room hath and will be lost otherwise by the new model of the City and particularly by widening of the streets those Latitudinarian streets if I may so call them inforcing as it were altitudinarian houses Now from the three forementioned causes viz. The buildings being of brick the breadth of the Streets and the height of the houses greater then formerly thence I say principally if not only will spring that beauty and lustre which the new City or the major part of it is like to have above the old all which things being necessary for other reasons and having been done upon their account ought at no hand to be found fault with As men may fast and mourn and yet not disfigure their countenances whereby to appear to men to fast but may anoint their heads that day and wash their faces and Christ commendeth so doing as best Mat. 5.16 So may the outward visage of our City be handsome and beautiful and yet we our selves nevertheless truly sensible both of our sins and miseries I Should think a City of London outwardly more splendid then ever might in some respects increase our humiliation rather then inflame our pride even as a poor man clad in a rich habit might from thence have more sad and frequent reflections upon his poverty as thinking with himself how unsutable the fineness of his outward garb is to the meanness of his condition and how much otherwise it is really with him then by his habit strangers would take it to be But that a stately City raised in a short time out of a ruinous heap might conduce to stirr up in us more of thankfulness and admiration of Gods goodness I see not who can deny with this staff said Jacob passed I over Jordan and now the Lord hath made me two bands Gen. 32.10 Which surely he acknowledged with more thankfulness and wonder then he would have done if God had made him but one band no bigger then either of his two Moreover another London more magnificent then the former how great an eye sore would it be to the enemies of that City who most barbarously rejoyced at its flames and triumphed at its funeral and would if they knew how have rolled so great a stone over its grave that it should never have been capable of rising again I say when those envious persons shall come to see two staffes in the hand of London viz. Beauty and Bands that is State and Strength alluding to Zech. 11. neither of which they exspected how will that sight abate their pride confront their malice and confound their devices Lastly a stately City should methinks provoke the inhabitants to a generous emulation of being so wealthy and substantial as by it they seem or make shew to be If so goodly a City be to Londoners at the first erecting of it like a garment that is much to big for him that weareth it yet may it put them upon indeavouring to grow so fast that it may be fit for them if it be to them as raiment of needle work or of wrought gold such as the Kings Daughter is said to be Ps 45.13 may it not stirr them up to be like her all glorious within that their inside and outside may well agree together Now Lord though it may be it was not out of pride or affectation of pomp that we have designed to build so fine a City yet possibly we may be proud of so fine a City when it is once built and if so Lord humble us for that our pride but destroy us not again and if like those times of which it was said they had golden challices but wooden Priests it may be said of us we have a rich City but poor inhabitants we shall in that respect have great cause to be humble and Lord do thou make us as humble and lowly as we have cause to be DISCOURSE VIII That all persons imployed and made use of in and in order to the rebuilding of London ought therein more especially to use all care and good conscience WOrkmen do your office and do it like workmen that need not to be ashamed and like honest men If you take building by the great make no more hast with it then good speed but if you take it by the day make as much hast as will consist with good speed Do by Londoners as you would be done by build for them as you would build for your selves we may have a noble City God permitting if you will but play your parts Make no more faults then you needs must that you may make work for your selves to mend those faults which you have wilfully made and put those you build for to a greater charge and trouble The foolish builder is a name of infamy in the scripture and the knavish one is worse Be not you like smoak to the eyes of those you build for as Solomon speaketh of a sloathful messenger that he is so to him that sendeth him Build with such acurateness as Apelles is said to have painted for which he gave this reason Pingo aeternitati so do you build as it were once for all Let London by the universal care and honesty of its builders one and all be made so excellent a structure that it may both now and hereafter be a praise and a renown to any of you to have had a hand in the raising of that Fabrick or to have been any waies related to that work as it is said in reference to the Temple of Jerusalem Psal 74.5 A man was famous according as he had lifted Axes upon the thick Trees viz. in order to the building of that Temple Expresse your kindnesse to London to like effect with what is written in Cant. 8.9 If she be a Wall we will build upon her a Palace of Silver and if she be a Door we will inclose her with Boards of Cedar which are the Words of Christ and of his Church contriving some good for the uncalled Gentiles set forth under Metaphors taken from such improvements of small and rude beginnings as Builders are able to make In this building aim not only at private gain but at publique good at the honour and welfare of the Nation in which your selves will have a share get as little as may be either for work or stuff of them that have lost so much take the over-sight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind which is the advice given to spiritual Builders in a higher case but not unapplicable to this purpose As for those who shall have the
to be good our selves He that is proud of what he hath let me put the Apostles question to him 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it He that gave thee any good thing which thou injoyest could have with-held it from thee given it to him from whom it is with-held Prov. 22.2 The rich and poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all If thou art a rich man he that made thee a man made thee rich and he that made thee rich and thy neighbour poor could and yet can have made thee poor and him rich I suppose thou hast received evil things from the hands of God as well as good the evil thou hast received was deserved so was not the good why then should undeserved good make thee proud and not deserved evil rather keep thee humble Art thou proud of the good and worthy things which thou hast done in one kind and in another no reason for that because it was not thou that didst them as it is not the young scribler that writes a fair copy but his master that guideth his hand but God who performeth all things for thee heare S. Paul 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly than they all saith he yet not I but the grace of God that was with me And Phil. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure If we instance but in temporal things see Deut. 8.18 The Lord thy God it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth If thy good deeds which yet are not properly thine be apt to lift thee up think of thy evil doings and of thy wayes which have not been good Thy good deeds may be like the basons and ewers which are sometimes drawn in lotteries but very sew of them but they evil ones like the small plate or rather like the meer blanks there drawn which are far the greater number Some hours thou hast spent well but how many more hast thou mispent some warm and affectionate prayers thou hast poured out to God but how many more that were cold and heartless set one against the other and see how little cause thou hast to be proud any more than a miser of his liberality who makes a great feast but once or twice a year and pincheth his family all the time besides Think but of the good thou hast left undone that is which thou mightest have done and hast not and then if thou canst be proud of the good which thou hast done or shew cause why thou shouldst be so Some good thou hast done with thy time parts estate power c. But possibly thou couldst have done ten times more if thy heart had serv'd thee Is not then boasting excluded if thou hast done but the tithe of that good which thou hadst power to do whose evil deeds besides are like the stars of Heaven which cannot be numbred Neither hast thou just cause to boast of thy sufferings if thou hast been a great sufferer even for righteousness sake considering first what the Apostle speaketh Phil. 1.29 To you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake We should not take the honour of our sufferings to our selves or be proud thereof fith God hath given us the grace whereby we suffer It is he that hath made us sufferers for his name sake I mean willing to be such and not we our selves We should never have been called to honor God by suffering any more than glorious Saints and Angels had we not dishonoured him by sinning What any of us suffer for Christ is no ways comparable to what he hath suffered for us nay it is far short of what we have suffered for sin or upon the account of sin for upon that accompt are all or the most of our other sufferings and afflictions which are generally more than those that go by the name of persecutions what we suffer for the truth is usually much less than what the truth hath suffered by us viz. by our uneven and uncircumspect walking so that our sufferings may be lookt upon as meer restitution made to the truth and that but in part All which things considered I see no cause any man hath to be proud of his sufferings and if not of what he hath suffered nor of what he hath done nor of what he hath nor of what he is as I have proved particularly then no man hath cause to be proud of any thing whatsoever Admit then a man should take himself to be much better than he is every way better yet from thence no just cause would be ministred to him to sacrifice to his own net which all proud men do Sith the best man in the world is indebted to God for all that good which he either is or hath or hath done or hath suffered and it is thought an unreasonable thing for a man to be proud of his debts especially when he hath not wherewithall to make satisfaction Having then proved that every man hath great cause to be humble and no man hath any cause to be proud from those premises I draw this conclusion viz. That he who thinks soberly of himself and not more highly than he ought to think must needs be an humble person and that the formalis ratio or essence of humility doth consist in knowing and owning our selves to be as mean vile and unworthy as indeed we are and that from that fountain do issue all those streams which are commonly and properly counted the expressions of Humility I may but assign the reasons why God may build a City for those that are humble rather than for those that are proud and so pass on to another Chapter It may well be expected that God should do more for those whom he loves than for those whom he hates Now the text saith Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 16.5 and Prov. 8.15 Pride and arrogancy do I hate Six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him and the first of them is a proud look God hath put a strang enmity into men against the sin of pride so far as it discovers it self in others in so much that the real worth of a proud person is seldom owned and others do what they can to eclipse him just as neighbouring Princes do to weaken any Kingdom or State that grows too great and threatens to overtop them Some bigger stars to us appear less because of their great height and distance from us and those that are less than they as the Moon for one to us appear bigger because they are lower seated and come nearer to us The proud person is as the former who keeping too great a distance from
himself to considerable sufferings as for conscience sake or under that notion To put no trust at all in men of good and commendable lives were to decry the validity of all Humane Testimony and to raze the foundations of all Humane Society Now if we cannot trust men in this case why should we trust them in other things and if we can trust them in other things why not in this Secondly That all such persons who in the judgment and by the principles of Christian charity ought to be deemed and taken as acting from conscience and from a fear of offending God in doing otherwise should at no hand be treated with such severity and rigor as they justly might if we could be certain or rationally presume that what they did were from such base principles or sinister ends as pride contumacy interest or the like Who ever had the heart or the face to deal rigorously with any man pretending conscience for what he did or refused to do especially about indifferent things unless he did think or at leastwise make as if he thought that conscience was but meerly pretended in the case But if conscience be really interessed and ingaged as in the circumstances before put we should take it to be the Apostles tenderness towards those that had a zeal for God though not according to knowledge will tell us how we ought to carry towards them viz. not only with calmness but kindness Rom. 10.1 Thirdly That persons agreeing and consenting with us in the main points of Religion in the sum and substance of Christianity ought not to be punished for their unavoidable dissent from us in lesser matters at so great a rate much less at a greater then those that vary from us in Fundamentals and go about to subvert the faith if such be not temporally undone and deprived of all wayes of subsisting for their perswasion much less ought these so to be Fourthly That they who believe or profess to believe so much truth as to Salvation is necessary to be believed and who in their general course practise accordingly who are also peaceably disposed and will give or have given the highest assurances that men can give that so far as in them lieth they will preserve the peace of Church and State I say that such men should be accounted worthy to live and have wherewithall so to do they and their families and if able for publick imployment should be intrusted therewithall specially at such a time as the Church or State or both have apparent need of their service and for want thereof are forced to imploy many worse and less useful in their room Fifthly That men should make no more divisions in Church or State then are of absolute necessity and cannot be avoided and least of all such as tend to the ruine of others though to the raising of themselves considering what the Apostle saith Rom. 16.17 18. Mark them which cause divisions and offences for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly Doubtless the way to the Church and to the Communion thereof should be made plain and accessible as God appointed of old those wayes should be which led to the several Sanctuaries or Cities of refuge to be sure no needless stumbling blocks or unnecessary hindrances should be laid in that way neither ought any member principal member especially to be cut off from the Church without urgent and inforcing cause any more then an arm or leg or eye to be severed from a natural body if it and the body can possibly be preserved together Sixthly that no man should be tempted to separation or division by suffering such things as may seem if not more then seem to plead for such a practise as namely by allowing and intrusting ignorant insufficient and scandalous Ministers Divisions or rather Dividors will be quite out of countenance when they have no plausible thing to plead for themselves but if they can say the Blind are set to guide them and they to feed them who for bread gave them a stone and for fish a Scorpion who have neither the Urim in their doctrine nor Thummim in their lives so long will they divorce themselves and rest perswaded that in so doing they do God and their own Souls good service This notion is so obvious as may make us hope it will not alwayes be overlookt if not speedily taken into serious consideration Seventhly That the paying tithe of Mint Anniss and Cummin and mean time omitting the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith for which Christ denounceth a wo to the Pharisees Mat. 23.23 that is a rigorous insisting upon lesser things whilst those of higher importance are slightly past over which is no other then a straining at Gnats and swallowing of Camels is a practise that will make any Church obnoxious not only to the all discovering eye of God but to the observing eye of men such especially as have little affection for them If they can say we do place the kingdom of God in meats and drink in which it consisteth not rather then in righteousness wherein it doth consist they think they have enough against us to justifie their separation that we make nothing of their Souls feed them with meer husks and chaffe and have zeal for nothing but unscriptural rites and traditions Eighthly A little time time cannot but discover that to prefer men according to the largness and hardiness of their consciences rather then the tenderness thereof is no good rule to proceed upon It was the commendation of Josiah that his heart was tender and of Nehemiah that he did not do as others because of the fear of the Lord. The worst of men have the widest consciences and such a faculty at swallowing that nothing can choake them like some bewitched persons I have read of they can swallow needles and bodkins and knives and when they see their time cast them up again in the faces of their owners Ninthly It cannot be long hid from the eyes of men who now do least see it that to lay more load upon the consciences of men even such as are thought best able to bear it then they needs must to cause them Issachar like to couch down betwixt several burthens to scrue up the strings of mens consciences till they are ready to crack again to increase their task as Pharaoh did by the Israelites as if they feared conscience would otherwise be idle in a word to gorge the consciences of men till they are ready to spue up all again is no good policy Consciences that are overstretched like cloth that is so will be apt to shrink again and Ostriches which they say can digest Iron have anill report as creatures more then brutish both for folly and unnaturalness Job 39.14 18. I say it cannot long be hid that that is no good policy and therefore if any such thing hath been a cause of division when a
them that do well Put not a sword into the hands of madmen least they sheath it in your own bowels know that Moses as well as Aaron should have a kind of Urim and Thummim or what those words signifie viz. light of knowledg and integrity of life They that have both of them will doubtless contribute their utmost help to the rebuilding of our City For they that are such will concern themselves for the good of their Kingdoms yea of the whole protestant World which I have proved doth much depend upon the being and well being of London And verily it is much that Magistrates with the blessing of God may do towards the welfare of a nation much more of one City when they are generally set upon it they having the power of a nation in their hands as High Sheriffs are said to have the posse comitatus or power of a county As the other spheres are carried about with the primum mobile so are the people by the Magistrates They are as it were the muscles of a nation which move the body politick how and which way they please Rulers in Scripture are called shepherds and good shepherds will no doubt provide a fold for their flock They are also called builders as where we read of the stone which the builders refused and questionless they will be found to be master-builders of our ruinous London who are indeed good Magistrates You may elect such men into places of power and authority as would more rejoyce to see London burn't than built again for such spirits there are abroad witness the triumphs of some after the last fire You may again elect others as places shall be vacated by death or otherwise who will be as intent upon the building of the City as the Jews were of old upon the building of Jerusalem and the Temple of God therein I have presented you with both chuse you whither DISCOURSE XXIII That one good way to promote our City would be to oblige our Governors all we can to put to their helping hand I Would not have Rulers be sinfully disobliged upon any terms We ought not to provoke them that are in authority over us unless conscience provoke us to do what will accidentally but not intentionally provoke them that not only for wrath but for conscience sake Rulers are parents patres patriae and if children must not be provoked to wrath by their parents much less ought parents to be so served by their children Away with those Chams who are all for uncovering their fathers nakedness and those scurrilous Pamphlets which design nothing else tell not those things in Gath publish them not in the streets of Ashkelon though with Cham you had seen them which you never did Take the garment of love and dutifulness lay it upon your shoulders and though you go backward and the face of your practice cannot be towards them or answer to theirs as doth face to face in a glass yet cover their nakedness in a sense alluding to what you read of Shem and Japhet Gen. 9.23 To restore those that are overtaken in a fault one or more with a spirit of meekness is a very obliging thing especially when Inferiours shall do this to Superiours for this is for children to have the heart of a Father which is more than for Parents to have a heart like themselves for it is harder for love to ascend than to descend Mourn for their sins in secret but proclaim them not much less aggravate them It may be they will cover your offences more easily which are such to them if you will cover theirs and will do more for you if you will speak less against them that good rule speak evil of no man will justifie your silence as to such matters There are greater obligations that may and ought to be laid upon those that govern us than is our forbearance to speak evil of them or to upbraid them with whatsoever men think they are upbraidable for over and above that it behoveth us in the first place to take thankful notice and make an open acknowledgment of all the good that either we see in them or receive from them God who is infinitely our Superiour doth so by us for speaking of Abijah he saith That in him only there was found some good thing towards the Lord in the house of Jeroboam If God do this to his inferiours ought not we to do the like to our Superiours this being a point of honour and of respect which to superiours from inferiours is much more due than to inseriours from superiours Many would do more good than they do if the good they have done were more generally owned and incouraged Admit we should put the best construction the nature of the thing could bear upon those actions of Rulers which seem liable to more constructions than one would not that our candour oblige them We hold our selves ingaged to those that will make the best that can be made of what we say and do Charity be lieveth all things hopeth all things which there is any colour of reason to believe and hope and charity questionless is due to superiours as well as from them to inferiours It was unkindly said by Eliab to his Brother David I know thy pride and the haughtiness of thy heart for thou art come down to see the battel 1 Sam. 17.28 when indeed he came upon no worse a design than to bring provision to his Brethren from Jesse their Father and by his Command Overmuch jealousie expressed doth but prompt and provoke men to those evil things which they did never before intend and deter them from doing that good which they might and would have done if it had been manifestly expected from them When Paul would invite Agrippa to the Faith see how he insinuates Act. 26.27 King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest Then Agrippa said to Paul almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Ingenious persons are loth to frustrate that expectation of good which others have from them and count it a point of gratitude for the good opinion they have conceived of them to fulfil what they expect The smallness of our expectance from God is one reason why we receive no more good from his hand for saith God open thy mouth wide and I will fill it and it may be a cause sometimes why men do no more for us I am sure mistrust sometimes brings that evil which else had never come So the Israelites mistrusting they should never get through the wilderness was that which provoked God to let their carcasses fall there They could not enter into the good land and why but because of their unbelief There is doubtless a good medium betwixt being too suspicious and too secure and the less needlesly suspicious of them that govern us and the more candid we are in construing their actions and intentions the more we do and shall oblige them As the
to the generation following So may I say walk now about London mark yee well her pallaces c. that yee may tell the generation to come how many goodly buildings were in London within less than two years after the greatest part of it was burnt to the ground This is the Lords doing and should be marvellous in our eyes Have not men as instruments contributed something and that considerable towards the rebuilding of the City such I mean as had no houses there of their own to build and ought they not to be thankfully acknowledged for what they have done I doubt not but many had a hand in the forementioned Act that had no private concern in London So to eye men as to overlook God is the greater fault of the two but to overlook men when and wherein they deserve to be thankfully eyed is likewise a fault Ezra hath set us a good pattern Ezra 7.27 Blessed be the Lord God which hath put such a thing as this in the Kings heart to beautifie the house of the Lord v. 28. And hath extended mercy to me before the King and his counsellors and before all the Kings mighty Princes c. Here though the chief honour and praise was ascribed to God yet the King and his Counsellors and Princes were owned also The King is said to have beautified the house of God though God to have put it into his heart so to do Whensoever favours are received be they great or small thanks becomes a debt and it is but just to pay it How should they look to prosper who can pay what they owe and will not and when it is but thanks that is owing or expected who cannot pay it It is a perverse thing to withhold thanks from them that have deserved at our hands out of a conce it they might have deserved more They that do for us more than they might have done be it more or less have earned our thanks and more it is like they will do if they find us thankful Some will scatter their bread upon the waters by way of trial whether they shall find it again I mean they shew lesser kindnesses at the first to see if they shall find men thankful and when they have found them so they open the hands of their bounty much more wide and their latter favours are such as speak the former to have bin but a kind of earnest It is like that Leaper who alone of all the ten that were cured did return to give thanks had some favour above all the rest added to his cure it being usual with God to thank men I mean to reward them for their thanks And who knows but that our Rulers may have farther intentions of kindness towards the poor City exceeding all that they have done for it already I had almost said as the last cloud which Elijah saw did exceed the first 1 Kings 18. if such a thing were possible if they shall but experiment that they are owned and acknowledged as I hope they will be in and for what they have done already Tertullus that great orator spoken of Acts. 24. may inform us of the best rhetorick wherewith to prevail for future kindness who being about to court Felix to be his friend against Paul bespake him as followeth v. 2 3. Seeing that by thee we injoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence We accept it always and in all places most noble Felix with all thankfulness DISCOURSE XXXI That to seek much unto God by Prayer and Fasting for success would be one of the best wayes to promote the City ALL great undertakings and such is the building of our City should be usherd in and carried on with prayer and fasting In every thing by prayer and supplication let your request be made known to God is the rule given Philip. 4.6 And if by prayer in every thing then doubtless by fasting also in things of greater weight and moment ought our requests to be made known Prayer alone can do much but joyned with fasting it may prevail yet more Our Saviour speaking of a sort of Devils saith This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fâ—sting Mark 9.29 He saith not by prayer only but by fasting also Satan is the great obstructer of every good work 1 Thes 2.18 We would have come unto you even I Paul once and again but Satan hindred us Never had that fowl fiend a greater mind to obstruct the building of any City in the world Jerusalem only excepted than I believe he hath to obstruct the building of London How shall we cast him out but by prayer and fasting Six other evil Spirits there are if I may not call them Devils which do vehemently oppose the rebuilding of London and must be cast out by the means forementioned First the spirit of Fear Discouragement and Despondency Nehemiah 4.10 And Judah said the strength of the bearers 〈◊〉 burthens is decayed and there is much rubbish so that 〈◊〉 are not able to build the Wall And our adversaries said they shall not know neither see till we come in the widst amongst them and slay them and cause the work to cease v. 11. This one spirit should it so rage and domineer as God might suffer it to do might utterly prevent the building of London But what think you of the Spirit of Envy and malice is not that as bad That Spirit opposed the building of Jerusalem and so it will of London so far as it can or dare Nehemiah 2.10 When Sanâ—allat and Tobiah heard of it it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel Nehem. 4.9 The breaches began to be stopped then they were very wroth and conspired all of them to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it Another evil Spirit which doth or may hinder the building of London is that of Jealousie and suspicion not only in but of and concerning that City This Sanballat made great use of to hinder the building of Jerusalem Nehem. 6.6 It is reported among the heathens said he that thou and the Jews think to rebel for which cause thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their King c. So some men have the unhappiness to be jealous of their wives though as chast women as are in the world and others are so wicked as to perswade them to it now this impertinent as well as evil spirit must be kept or cast out by prayer and fasting that London may be rebuilt A spirit of anger and discontent may obstruct the building of London as much as any of the rest if God should leave that spirit to do its worst So sullen as the discontents of men do sometimes make them they will enterprize nothing but will hide their hands in their bosomes and not so much as bring it to their mouths again as is said of the slothful man Prov.
body of a nation to help forward with it Such men are certainly the Chariots of a Nation and the horsemen thereof as was said of Elijah They that have a great interest of their own they and they only can make a considerable interest for others also if obliged thereunto They that are really holy can do much with God and men they that have but a great name to live or for holiness can do much with men they that can do either are or may be of great use to them that shall imploy them but they that can do both will where they take be incomparably serviceable If any shall object and say that they of all men are most dangerous if touched with the least dissatisfaction who for their piety and parts are had in great veneration with the people and that ubi mali nemo pejus is most applicable to them that if they have an ill resentment of things none can do worse things than they nor yet so bad to that objection I reply We ought not to look at what men can do and to use them accordingly but at what men will or are inclined to do Doubtless God himself could do more hurt to the world than all the Devils in Hell put together in respect of his omnipotency but because of his unchangable holiness righteousness and goodness he can do the world no injury at all Good men will not dare to do the hurt they could yet neither should they be tempted to do it if they durst Ministers that are pious and capable of doing worthy service should be treated as friends and to be sure they will never hurt their friends who are taught of God to love their very enemies they will never render evil for good who make conscience of rendring good for evil Paul and Apollo and Cephas are yours if you be Christs use them as your own and you will never have cause to fear them nor much cause to do it howsoever they be used sith they have learnt to pray even for them that use them despightfully Good men have a power to do mischief but no will but to do good they have both will and power therefore the mischief they can do is not so much to be feared as the good they are able to do is to be hoped for and incouraged Surely a blessing from Heaven is wont to attend the labours of a good Ministry and the incouraging of those labours as well as a curse to wait upon the contrary And if the blessing of God will not help to build the City I know not what will Time was that David himself was afraid of the Ark of God and therefore would not remove it unto him into the City of David but carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom 2 Sam. 6.10 but in three months time he saw that he was worse scared than hurt v. 11. It was told King David saying the Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth is him because of the ark of God So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the City of David with gladness He concluded that that which had blessed the house of Obed-Edom would bless his City and doubtless so it did That building work may be promoted by good prophets or ministers I shall prove by one text more and so conclude this Chapter viz. Ezra 5.2 Then rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshuah and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and with them â—ere the prophets of God helping them DISCOURSE XXXIII That to be deeply affected with the hand of God in burning the City is one good way to have it built again TO be affected with the burning of the City is one thing and to be affected with the hand of God in burning it is another They may lament the City with a great lamentation who take no notice at all of the hand of God that was stretched out against it but altogether cry out upon men as if evil instruments could have burnt such a City without the great God concerning himself in it more or less Whereas the truth is if men were instruments in the burning of it which for me shall rest upon proof yet God had the principle hand in it for wicked men are but Gods hand and sword Ps 17.14 Deliver my soul from the wicked which are thy sword from men which are thy hand Now God would that his hand should be taken notice of for he loves to be acknowledged as the authour of those judgments that are inflicted by him Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robber did not the Lord Isa 42.24 Is there any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 That passage Isa 26.11 sheweth us that God cannot indure to be overlooked when he smiteth Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed yea the fire of thine enemies shall consume them That we may be duly affected with the burning of the City there are several things to be taken notice of besides that which I have suggested in the first place viz. that God did it Now that such a God should burn such a City a God slow to anger gracious merciful long suffering abundant in goodness I say that such a God should burn so antient so famous so professing a City is a very affecting consideration Another is this viz. that God did never burn any City but when he was greatly angry God did never burn a City in cool blood if I may so speak of him after the manner of men Isa 42.25 He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart I knew a good gentlewoman who beholding the flames of London by which she lost not one pounds worth of her estate did thereby receive so great an impression of the wrath of God against he City as her self told me that she presently fell into a languishing distemper though before of a healthful chearful constitution and in despight of all the remedies which her loving husband one of the most eminent Physicians in England could supply her withall which the bills I have seen have assured me to have been as effectual as could be used she out-ran her husband to the grave whose many infirmities made it probable he would have arrived there many years before her If she were too much affected with the manifestation of Gods wrath I doubt that most others are but too little Another affecting consideration is this that God is never angry without a cause nor yet above the cause given or more than he hath cause for There is never anger on Gods part but there is provocation on ours and provocation proportionable to that anger Ps 107.17 Fools because of their transgression and because of their
iniquity are afflicted If we can slight their anger who will be angry for nothing and they know not why themselves to be sure his anger is not to be slighted who is never displeased but there is a just cause and a good reason for it God would that we should be more affected with that wrath of his which is the cause of judgments than with those judgments which are the effects of his wrath As Joab doubtless was not so much troubled for the loss of his corn as for the displeasure of Absalom which was intimated thereby Surely David was grieved at Sauls throwing his javelin at him though it hit him not because it did betoken the displeasure he had against him David doth not deprecate chastisement but anger Ps 6.1 Rebuke me not in thine anger chasten me not in thy hot displeasure and it is said Be ye afraid of the sword for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword Job 19.29 as if the wrath of God were the very edge of the sword but for which we should have no cause to fear it God sendeth judgments on purpose to make his anger known against sin and sinners therefore saith the scrip God is known by the judgments which he executeth Ps 9.16 and Rom. 1. it is said The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness of men Judgments are the revelations of Gods wrath and as such they are most of all to be taken notice of How angry was God think you when he burnt our City It is an expression that importeth much wrath when the anger of God and his jealousy is said but to smoke against a man Deut. 29.20 But in this case it did not only smoke against London but flamed out Now to be sensible of the fury of Gods anger which hath set us on fire round about and to lay it to our hearts more than any thing else like ingenious children who are more troubled at their parents frowns than at the smart of the rod I say thus to do might conduce very much towards the building of our City For saith the scripture Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 DISCOURSE XXXIV That greatly to bewail those sins both of our own and others which helpt to burn the old City would help to build the new one WHat those sins were I have shewed at large in my Treatise concerning the burning of London whereunto for the avoiding of Tautologies I refer thee Some it may be can cry not guilty in their own persons as to several of them saying as he I thank thee O God I am not so nor so viz. no Idolater no Adulterer c. but who can wash his or her hands in innocency as to every of them or throw the first stone at another as being himself without any sin therein mentioned As the Prophet Oded said to the men of Israel who dealt severely with their brethren of Judah whom God for their sins had delivered into their hands 〈◊〉 Chron. 28.10 And now ye purpose to keep under the â—â—â—â—dren of Judah and of Jerusalem for bondmen â—â—d bondwomen to you but are there not with you 〈◊〉 with you sins against the Lord your God so say I 〈◊〉 any that shall think themselves so righteous as â—â—t they need no repentance But are there not â—ith you even with you sins against your God Let us then in the first place bewail our own sins 〈◊〉 David did that man after Gods own heart sayâ—ng as he Ps 38.18 I will declare mine iniquity I â—ill be sorry for my sin and doing as he Ps 6.6 All 〈◊〉 night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with â—â—y tears viz. of repentance for his sins whereby â—e had provoked that anger of God which in the beginning of this Psalm he deprecates Let us in the next place bewail the sins of others â—â—â—ch we were bound to do though we had none of â—ur own much more being as it were brethren 〈◊〉 iniquity with other men having been partakers in the sins of others and made our selves by one means or other accessary thereunto This did not â—ot yet vexed he his righteous Soul from day to day with the filthy conversation of the wicked Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. â— And as for David he tells us that he beheld the transgressâ—rs and was grieved and in Ps 119.136 he saith Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law Thus Ezra mourned for the sin of the people in marrying Cananitish wives Ezra 9.1 though he had done no such thing himself And thus Nehemiah bewailed the sins of all sorts of men Nehemiah 9.33 Thou hast done right but we have done wickedly neither have our Kings our Priests nor our fathers kept thy law c. It is better than nothing to be affected with the judgments of God themselves not to be as if we were seared with a hot Iron or past feeling it is better than that to be affected with the displeasure of God manifested in and by those judgments but it is best of all to be grieved at the causes of that displeasure whether in our selves or others viz. our own and the sins of other men It is some ingenuity in a Child to resent a correction and to be ashamed when his Father hath as it were spit in his face it is more to resent his parents anger and frowns but it is most of all to be troubled for his faults unless it be more than that to be troubled even for the faults of others which shall never be laid to his charge A child may be sorry his father is offended and yet not be sorry for the fault as such whereby he gave him the offence Therefore to lament the causes of Gods anger which I am now exhorting to is more than to lament the effects or the anger it self But the question is how the doing of this would help to build our City Now to that I answer that our City blessed be God is in a fair way to be built if our sins hinder not neither shall they hinder it how great soever our former provocations have been if our hearts do but serve us duly to lament our own abominations and the abominations of one another Ezek. 9.4 And the Lord said unto him viz. unto the man with the inkhorn by his side Go through the midst of the City and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof This mark was for preservation and deliverance whilst others were devoted to ruin and destruction like that bloud which was sprinkled upon the posts of the Israelites that their doors might be passed over and the destroying Angel not come into their houses Exod. 12.23 Lot who vexed his soul with the â—â—thy conversation of the wicked had a Zoar a â—â—â—tle City provided for him and his when
fire â—ame down upon the Zodomites where in 1 Pet. 2.9 â—â—e Apostle inferreth The Lord knows how to deliver 〈◊〉 godly viz. from those flames and calamities â—â—ich destroy others Though the houses of wicked â—en like these in Sodom should suffer the vengeance â—eternal fire that is be condemned by God alâ—ays to lye in the dust which yet is more distinction â—an God doth ordinarily make in this world yet doubt not but such as mourn in Zion shall have â—ave to build the wast places and shall have beauty 〈◊〉 their ashes Now is Londons seed time the City it self is to â—esown Sow in tears and you shall reap in joy He 〈◊〉 goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall â—â—â—btless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves 〈◊〉 him Ps 126.5 6. DISCOURSE XXXV â—â—â—t to reform throughout England whatsoever is manifestly amiss and can be reformed would admirably promote the City Have discoursed of Humiliation upon several 〈◊〉 accounts but what signifieth Humiliation withâ—â— Reformation for who was ever truly humbled â—â—t did not truly reform A thorough Reformaâ—â—on hath been a work so long spoken off and so â—â—ttle perfected that some may be apt to think of â—at as of the Philosopher stone which for so â—â—ny ages hath baffled the most ingenious chymists that there is no such thing attainable I say of Reformation as Divines do of sanctification Therâ— is a perfection of degrees which cannot be attained in this life but then there is a perfection of parts which may some reformation there may be oâ— all things or kinds of things that are amiss all oâ— a compleat reformation can hardly be expected in this life of any one thing or kind of things which is not as it should be Solomon placeth it amongst the vanities which hâ— had seen under the Sun that that which is crookeâ— cannot be made streight and that which is wanting can not be numbred Eccles 1.15 Seeming thereby tâ— mean that there are some evils in the world anâ— those not a few that will never be mended thaâ— are like incurable diseases or like those defects iâ— nature which can none be supplied Ex. gr if a man be born blind or deaf c. But he would noâ— have us to think that none of all those things thaâ— are amiss in the world can be rectified or reformed There are a great many moral and political diseases as well as natural that may be cured though some are incurable Some bones that are out of joynt may be set and some that are broken may be made whole again though all cannot I mention that all and every thing that is amisâ— in the world cannot be mended to the end people may not be discontented and say with Jonaâ— they have reason to be angry to the death so long as they see any thing in Church or state that is not as it should be or that would be better otherwise For they that live by that principle shall be always and in all times restless and male-content Men must be more than mortal men before they cease to be guilty of any failings and oversights or of turning aside more or less either to the right hand or to the left But on the other hand it is as certain that there are many wilful miscarriages and presumptuous iniquities in the world which men might avoid as well as unavoidable infirmities So much David intimates when he saith keep back thy servant from â—esumptuous sins Many things are left unreformed not because men cannot reform them or do think they ought not or need not so to do but because they will not and because they love darkness better than light and evil more than that which is good Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only 〈◊〉 the same but have pleasure in those that do them I meddle not with the reforming of those things which men may rationally doubt whether they be amiss or no or with those peccadillos which are like smaller faults in pointing or printing which no ways disturb the sense or make it unintelligible but with the greater Errata's that are committed even so great that it is hard to be understood whether they that do such things have any thing of Christianity besides the name and profession Let men pluck the beams out of their eyes first and then they will see to pull out the motes afterwards I exhort not to the reforming and altering of every thing that any body shall find fault with for then we shall never have done then we shâ—ll make as â—ald a business of our reformation as befel the man in the fable whose young wife pulled out all his grey hairs and then come an old one afterwards and pluck of all that were not grey viz. all that were lest or as a Limner who having hundreds looking on as he is drawing a picture should put in and put out according to every ones fancy and suggestion But if there be things which every body finds fault with and which the consciences if not the tongues of all people do condemn and cry out upon which they that run may and do read the evil of and the iniquity that is in them doubtless such things ought to be reformed As the boy said to his Father Father is that true that every body saith is true so say I is not that evil which every body confesseth to be so or cannot deny so to be and ought not that which is manifestly evil to be reformed if it can be so will not otherwise our sins separate between God and us and hinder good things from us will not those Achans our wilful unreformed sins trouble us continually and cause God to say as to Joshua of old There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee therefore ye cannot stand Josh 7.13 Neither will I be with you any more unless you destroy the accursed As for the persons concerned in reforming they are as many as are concerned in the rebuilding of London for therein is its rebuilding concerned or as many of them as have any thing that stands in need of being reformed and who hath not more or less of that For in many things we all offend Here I could mention divers sorts of reformation necessary to be pressed and practised viz personal and that both internal and external domestical national It were endless to point at all things which it were needful for us to reform But first of all if men declare their sins like Sodom if they publish them in the face of the Sun as did Absalom if they swear and curse in all companies and in the open street not caring who hears them if men women and children do grosely and notoriously profane the Sabbath by working or playing if they that be drunk will be drunk in the day time and reel along the streets as if they had eaten shame and drank after it as our
thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel and when he had committed that folly and came to reflect upon it how out of countenance was he how mad with her and surely more with himself for the fault was not hers but his If sinners have not done foolishly why do they repent when their eyes are opened Or why is repentance called by the latines Resipiscentia that is a return to wisdom and by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who should say an after wisdom Awakened sinners have plaied the fools themselves being judges and having so done have great cause to be humbled and as it were to lay their mouths in the dust or cover their faces He that can view his sins and not be humbled at the sight thereof can see his Saviour pierced and not mourn To bring down the pride of man besides natural defects and moral defilements which he that knoweth himself cannot be ignorant of there are Divine Rebukes which most men have fallen under one time or other Now the chastisements of God are intended for the hiding of pride from man Job 33.17 19. As God said to Moses concerning Miriam If her father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven dayes Numb 12.14 So it is intended that when God by his Judgments doth as it were spit in the faces of men it should put them to shame and shame is an humbling passion So good a Father had never beaten us with so many stripes had never fetcht the bloud on us as he hath sometimes done if we had been good children yea if we had not bin very bad Our sufferings may therefore humble us because in them we may read our sins as comming from his hand who doth not willingly or without cause afflict the children of men but if the living man complain it is for the punishment of his sin Hath God smitten us yea is he smiting and shall we mean time be supercilious shall we knit our brows in pride whilst he bends his brows in anger shall we nourish haughtiness under Gods frowns Say unto God how terrible art thou in thy works Psal 66.3 God is terrible in his doing toward the children of men v. 5. it followeth v. 7. Let not the Rebellious exalt themselves Fear is an humbling affection Put them in fear saith the Psalmist that they may know themselves to be but men Now when the Lion roarâ—th who will not fear Amos 3.8 That is when God displaieth his anger ought not every one to tremble at it Notable is that passage Job 9.13 If God will not withdraw his anger the proud helpers do stoop under him So far are men from swelling with pride when they take notice of Gods rebukes that David saith When thou that is God dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Psal 39.11 He that shall often look his face in that glass which shall represent to him those three things which I last mentioned viz. his natural and spiritual defects which are many and great in themselves though not in comparison of other men his moral defilements and pollutions that is his innumerable sins and lastly those many rebukes wherewith God hath corrected him for sin I say he who in the mirror of serious â—ontemplation shall frequently behold these three things and whilst he layeth all his endowments and enjoyments in one scale shall lay these in the other cannot easily be lifted up or think of himself more highly than he ought I have evinced that every man hath much to be humbled for and under If I can also prove that no man hath any thing to be proud of or cause to be proud of any thing when that is made good I shall then have demonstrated that he must needs be humble that doth but throughly know himself and that doth judg himself no better though no worse neither than indeed he is There are but four sorts of things that any man in the world can take a pride in viz. What he is what he hath what he hath done And lastly What he hath suffered upon a good account As for the first of these a man may know what he is as that he is a child of God c. and yet not be proud of it John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life c. 1 Joh. 5.19 We know that we are of God c. For why should a man be proud of what he is by the meer grace and favor of God It was no pride in St. Paul to say By the grace of God I am what I am viz. a Saint an Apostle who was before a Persecutor 1 Cor. 15.10 He that seeth that there is some good thing in him towards the Lord but yet more evil than good more flesh than spirit more dross than silver more sin than grace hath no more cause to be proud of that little Grace and holiness which he hath than a man cause to be proud of beauty who hath only a white hand or a handsom leg all the rest of his body being ill favoured and deformed If our sins preponderate our graces I mean if they be more and greater than they as in this life they alwaies are if there be in us a more general indisposedness than there is promptness and readiness to what is good more earthly than heavenly mindedness more self-seeking than self-denyal more bad thoughts than good more unruly than well governed desires and affections as who can say there is not then have we more cause to be humble than to be proud yea to be humble and not proud If that grace wherein we most excel be it patience or whatsoever else be more deficient than it is perfect more remote from perfection than it is near to it then we who have but as it were put on our harness have no cause to boast which is for them only who have put it off How imperfect are those graces in which we are most defective if that grace be so defective in which we are most perfect Neither have we cause to be proud of what we have or possess any more than of what we are for if we might be proud of either we might with more reason be proud of what we are than of what we have I mean of those good things which are within us and are as it were part of our selves than of those which are without us A good descent a good estate a good report a great and good office doth constitute no man good that is possessed of any or all of them for a bad man may happen to have them all and seeing such things do not make or denominate men good they cannot redound so much to any mans praise as inward goodness doth and therefore no man can pretend so much reason to be proud of those things for it is less honourable to injoy what is good which the worst of men may do than
tollerable evil rather than an indispensable good or rather as if all Religion were persecuted and driven into corners If Religion be exercised only in private places vice hath as much liberty as that comes to drunkenness and whoredom take their freedom in private houses and shall Religion appear no more publickly than they as if it also were a work of darkness and ashamed to shew it's head If I thought that all the reasons I have alledged would not prevail with men of estates to contribute freely towards the building of Churches I could upbraid them by telling them that which is no news for were it news I would not tell it them viz. that several places of good capacity have been erected by a sort of people that are generally none of the richest and who when they did it had cause to fear least some creature or other would cause their ground to wither and expose them to the scorching Sun I say some persons have adventured under those perillous circumstances to build larg places for the exercise of their Religion all their discouragements notwithstanding if then the people who are richer than they who have leave and incouragement to build publick Churches and may have many thanks for their labour who have the law of the land on their side and all the power of the nation divided amongst them whose Churches are as like to stand as the City it self is or will be when rebuilt I say if they have not so much love for the nation for themselves and for Religion as to build us more Synagogues in lieu of those that were burnt the Chappels of ease I spake of or shrines what shall I call them will rise up in judgment against you If you will not build publick Churches who are like to have the greatest interest in them when they are built I was about to say those poor people I mentioned but now as hardly as they are thought of would I am perswaded spare money from their backs and bellies to build more Churches if they might be sure they should be theirs as much as yours when they are built again nay be it how it will be such is the love the soberer sort of them do bear to publick ordinances that I question not but they will bear their full proportion whensoever trial shall be made what every man will freely contribute to the building of publick Churches If those that speak little of the Church should do more for it than some that have the Church the Church ever in their mouths as the Jews of old the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 it would be a woful shame But why should I seem to mistrust or doubt of the piety and bounty of the true sons and daughters of the Church towards their distressed mother who hath not heard of that noble Lady whether now living or dead I know not who out of her own estate hath given some thousands of pounds towards the rebuilding of the Church of S. Dunstans in the East now in a good forwardness and of what the liberal Minister of that place is said himself to have given towards that good work even more than many good Ministers have in all the world Their zeal I hope will provoke many I hope it will and I do earnestly desire it may for a sad climax runs in my thoughts and I am much perswaded if it should come to be tried it would prove to true viz. no publick Churches no legal maintenance no legal maintenance in time no able Ministers for who will study to be starved no good ministry no good preaching no good preaching no conversion no conversion no salvation But I hope beter things than that the Churches which are demolished should not be rebuilt much less the Churches that now stand should be demolisheâ— That sun of charity or piety rather which hath begun to rise in the East will I hope visit all the dark and desolate corners of Londons hemisphere for that I take to be the figure of it and not give over its circuit till having refreshed every dolesome and gloomy place at length it set in the west where the other Church of that name of S. Dunstans I mean is standing at this day I am loath to say that the rebuilding of Churches in London if it be not done by voluntary contribution and by way of free-will offerings it will certainly be done by constraint and compulsion from authority and if authority be forced to interpose in a matter of this nature it will be no small shame and reproach to us and seem to signifie that we would not be religious but upon force which is to be no more religious than they may be said to be honest who never pay their creditors but when they strain upon them or make distress which is indeed for creditors to pay themselves Time was when the bounty of men towards the Church was such and so great that Laws were made to limit and restrain it for that men were ready to say to a father or to a mother as the Pharisees did Mat. 15.5 It is a gift Corban viz. to the Church by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and we find Moses was fain to set bounds to the sea of the peoples liberality towards the tabernacle in his time saying hitherto should it go and no farther Exod. 36.5 And they spake unto Moses saying the people bring much more than enough and Moses gave commandment and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp saying let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary so the people were restrained from bringing I wish that at this day there were an overplus of liberallity towards the demolished Churches I mean more contributed than would serve to rebuild them that like as the oinment which was poured upon the head of Aaron ran down upon his beard and upon the skirts of his garment so that what is more than enough for the re-edifying of Churches might go to the rebuilding of Hospitals and publick Schools and of one place more viz. the late famous but now desolate foundation of Sion Colledge DISCOURSE XLVIII That the people of England are most unworthy to see another London THe rebuilding of London would be a national mercy but how unworthy is this nation of it Never did people more justly sorfeit a City and every other mercy than we have done As Africa is full of monsters in nature so is England in manners As if we had traded for vice instead of other commodities with all forreign parts we have amongst us the drunkenness of Germany the pride of Spain but not so grave the levity and lasciviousness of France the atheism hypocrisy reveng and the unnatural lusts of Italy We have much of the Indian disease amongst us for so some say it was at first and are forced to spend a great deal of their commodity I mean their Lignum