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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67145	The rebellious city destroyed being an anniversary sermon in memory of the dreadful fire of London, on the second day of September, 1666, preached at St. Olave's Hart-Street, London, September the second, 1682 / by William Wray ...	Wray, William, 1650?-1692.	1682 (1682)	Wing W3673; ESTC R8957	15,751	42

Holy Place and set up a graven Image in the House of the Lord. Thus Religion was laid wast and a Babel of superstition built upon its ruins Nay to fill up the Measure of Impieties he practis'd Witchcraft and kept a familiar Correspondence 2 Chron. 33. verse 6. with Devils And no wonder if Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness go hand in hand no wonder if they have no regard to the good of Men that have not the Fear of God before their eyes Blood is the usual Cement of every Religion that stands beside the Foundation of Truth and Reason and force the support of that disjoynted Cause that would otherwise tumble and be its own confusion To this Manasseh had Recourse suspecting that his bad Divinity would never propagate and stand but by the help of cruel Politicks Arguments as wicked as the Cause And accordingly you read that he shed innocent Blood very much 2 Kings 21. 16. till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other And this was indeed the grand provocation that incensed the Divine Justice so irreconcileably against that Place and Nation Manasseh's wicked Reign was the ground of all those Prophetick Threats 2 Chron. 34. 23. 2 Kings 21. 10. that open'd the Mouths of Huldah the Prophetess of Isaiah and Jeremiah And for this Cause was Manasseh himself the first of all the Men of Judah delivered into the 2 Chron. 32. 11. hands of the Assyrians as an earnest of the approaching Captivity And from this time forward the Babylonians every day got Ground upon them bating that little Respit in Josiahs time in the latter end whereof chap 35. verse 20. the Egyptians helped to do the work for them After this Nebuchadnezzer retook the chap. 36. verse 5. Cause into his own hands subdued Jehoiakim who for three years held the Crown in Capite of the Conquerour but he revolting became accessary to his own Fall Jehoiachin his Son had scarce Reigned three verse 9. Months when his City was Beseiged his Person seized on his Relations Officers of State Guards and Forces nay all the Artificers of Jerusalem taken to the number of ten thousand Men so that none remained but the Poor and Refuse of the Land that seem'd beneath the Enemies Displeasure over whom Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah verse 11. King But he Rebelled against his Benefactor and called in the Assistance of the Egyptians Which Act of Confederacy and Rebellion so enraged the Enemy that having disperst their Forces and entred the City they put the Inhabitants to the Sword half dead before with Famine and Pestilence Neither the gray Hairs of the Aged nor the verse 17. promising hopes of Youth nor the Charms of Virginity nor the Innocent Oratory of Infant Tenderness could divert the Course of their impartial Fury All places Sacred and Prophane were alike to them and the Sanctuary it self became a Tophet and Place of Execution And those poor Remains that escaped the Fury of the Sword were carried away to Babylon there to partake in the Captivity of their Brethren and bewail their Own Then was the Temple Sacked the Exchequer Plundered and all the Seats of the Nobility Spoiled and Pillaged And having possest themselves of all the portable Treasure of Jerusalem they brake down the Wall set fire of the Temple and left all her goodly Palaces in Flames In this State of Captivity the Jews remained till the seventy years of Jeremiah's Prophesy were accomplished When Babylon being subjected to the Persian Empire God put it Ezra 1. 1. into the Heart of Cyrus to set his People free and to rebuild the City and Temple that the Caldeans had destroyed To this end he gave them leave to go up and restored unto them all the Vtensils of the House of God and ordered them to be furnished out of the places where they sojourned with Silver and Gold and whatsoever else was necessary for the Undertaking And having now with Joy begun the Work chap. 4. 1. the Samaritans of whom I gave you an Account before sollicite the Heads of Judah that they might be joined with them in the Building of the Temple pretending that they Worshipped the same God and Profest the same Religion which the Jews did * So our Sectaries plead for comprehension do we not own Christ his Gospel the same points of Faith the same Acts of Worship see Dr. Owen Plea for Non-Con p. 21. verse 4. But the Fathers of Israel well knowing that such a Comprehension would endanger the Purity of Religion and the peace of the Church utterly reject the Proposal and tell them flatly that they neither had nor should have any thing to do with them in Building a House to their God but that they would do it Themselves as King Cyrus had commanded them This Answer so netled the Samaritans that they resolved if it were possible to hinder what they could not be admitted to have a hand in To which end they had always some States-man or other in Fee to perswade the verse 5. 6. 7. King to revoke his Grant and countermand what he had Decreed At length Cyrus being personally engaged abroad in Forreign Enterprizes and in the mean time consigning the Administration of the Government to his Son Cambyses otherwise called Ahasuerus Joseph de Antiqu. Judaic l. 11. c. 3 Tirin in loc Alii and Artaxerxes the Samaritans looked upon this as a fit Juncture to work their Designs in Wherefore pretending themselves mightily concerned for the Honour verse 14. and Peace of the Government they send a Letter to the Vice King to let him know of what dangerous Consequence the Building of Jerusalem might be that the Jews were a factious unquiet People and if once their Hands were strengthened and their City Fortified they would in all likelihood Revolt and refuse to pay Toll and Tribute and Custome and by this means the Revenues of the Crown would be impared for the Probability and Truth whereof they refer him to the ancient Chronicles where he should find that this City had been a Rebellious City and hurtful unto Kings c. Which Accusation though spiteful and invidious was not altogether false For upon Enquiry Artaxerxes found it was as they had said that the City had formerly made Insurrection against Kings and that Rebellion vers 19. and Sedition had been made therein So that all the Untruth if there be any must lie in the Misapplication For which Cause this City was destroyed when indeed their Destruction was the Execution of God's Sentence upon the Sins of Manasseh but we do not find that Sedition or Rebellion are any where reckoned in that Catalogue But notwithstanding that this was the Original Cause of God's displeasure yet Sedition and Rebellion were in a great measure the proximate Cause of its Execution For the Revolt of Jehoiakin and Zedekiah hastened their Ruine and effectually brought the final Judgment upon them They

Schismaticks Jeroboams Proselites in Samaria And that our Saviour refused to 2 Kings 1. do so too was more upon the account of that Mercy and Loving-kindness which he was so eminent for himself and by his example and Doctrine recommended to his Church than either the Merit of the Men or their Cause And though Christianity allows not that persons should be proceeded against by Fire and Faggot upon a Religious account in Foro Humano Yet this is no Abrigement of the Divine Authority but that he may still thus Visit us for our Schisms when he pleases Once more That Last irraparable Destruction which caused Jerusalem to be no more was every way the consequence of their Faction and Rebellion They rejected their Messias and would have none of him to Reign over them But served Their King as we did Ours And this was the primary Cause of all their after Miseries In less than forty years when the Measure of their Iniquity was filled up and they were dropping-ripe for Vengeance as if it came not fast enough they Rebelled agaiust Joseph de Anti● Judaic l. 18. c. 2 Cestius Florus their deputed Governour and so brought the Empire about their Ears which never gave them over till they were totally destroyed And in the De Bell● Jud Ib. l●● c. 50. very last Siege by Titus though they were oppressed by the Enemy without and the Famine and Plague raged within their Walls they ceased not to create Intestine Factions among themselves Three several Parties whereof the Zealots were One contending Battle-Royal with one another And this gave the Enemy an Advantage equal to that of their own Strength At length the City being Storm'd an accidental Brand set Fire o' the Temple which no endeavours could Ibid. l. 12. c. 10. quench till both the City and Temple were level'd with the Ground Indeed this City hath been Guilty of many other Popular and provoking Sins that doubtless were Accessary to her Ruin But then they are for the most part the Monstrous Off-spring of the former and begot between Schism and Rebellion Atheism hath made its Party strong by our Diivsions in the Church Many have been tempted to be of no Religion because there is so much controversy about the True Popery that we are so willing should bear all the Blame has taken hold of the Advantage and perswaded many over to that side because Babylon forsooth is a City more at Vnity in it self Prophaness has enter'd at the same Breach and the Service of God hath been miserably neglected through the suspension of the Laws in Favour of squeamish Consciences neither hath the Grace of God had its due effect upon the minds of Men in such a divided State for that is ordinarily restrained to the Communion of the Church and hath no where engaged to follow Runnagates in all their extravagant Rambles and Flyings-out So that Men have been left Defenceless both by God and the Law to the Temptations of the Devil and the Incentives of their own Lusts and no marvel then that they are so Licentious and Prophane And that Rebellion hath been as good a Friend to Vice as Schism we need not question For it is a Sin of that prodigious Bulk that where it enters it makes an Inrode into the Conscience and leaves an open Passage to all the lesser Fry to enter after it Besides it is a Propagating Sin and Many are the natural Issue of it Such as Fierceness Revenge and Murder c. For they that have been Flesh'd and Blooded in an unnatural War and have seen Thousands Wallowing upon the Spot are past trembling at a single Man's Fall especially such as have been Murderers by Profession and Espoused THE unrighteous Cause To these we may add Rapine and Injustice for what can come amiss to those Mens Hands that have been used to Plunder Palaces Rob Churches and Prey upon the sequestred Rights of Gods Inheritance Lastly Cursing and Swearing Whordom and Drunkenness are no where so aptly taught as in an Army the School of Debauches Nor were they ever so openly practised in this Nation as they have been since that unhappy time And what else could be expected but that wickedness should break in like a Torrent upon us when all the Bonds of Restraint were broken and every Man left to do what was Right in his own Eyes And now our Sins have taken such hold upon us that they were not easily to be broken off Custom has made them Familiar and Familiarity is improved into Delight that we pursue our Lusts with infinite Desire and Greediness not being lyable to the checks of Shame or the fears of Disgrace Because the worst of Sins are now but common Failings and every Day produces Instances of the like kind And for all this we are unfortunatly Beholden to our Schism and Rebellion So that if this City was destroyed upon the account of our Sins then doubtless Schism and Rebellion had the Principle and Leading hand in the Judgment And now what will the Samaritans say to these things why they will call us Rebels to our Teeth and Laugh at the Misery and Shame we have brought upon our selves When we tell them of the Henries of France or the Powder-plot nearer hand The Tragick History of the Martyr'd Charles will Strike us Dumb For the Children of Babel were never guilty of a more bloody Deed For which Cause this City was destroyed Well But they are only the Samaritans that say so those Babylonians that helped to destroy it Yes our own Consciences if they be soundly put to it will tell us so too and would often have told us so er'e this if we had not stifled their Clamours being loath to ascribe our Ruine to that which we are so ready to do again The Babylonians say we set Fire to our Habitations I should be loath to wrong them and add the Sin of an uncharitable Censure to those I am called to Repent of This Day But suppose it were so our Sins Alas betrayed the City into their Hands If we had not lost our Charter and forfeited our Right in the Divine Protection the Flames of Hell could not have prevailed against it That we may say in this Case as our Saviour did to Pilate in another They John 19. 11. could have had no power at all against this place had it not been given them from above therefore we that delivered it unto them have the greater Sin And now having discovered to you the true Cause or what we have too much Reason to suspect was so of that dreadful Calamity we are this Day met together to Commemorate and deplore let me exhort you to a serious Repentance of those Sins that in all probability occasion'd it For if they escape us we Fast and keep the Day to no purpose Sedition and Rebellion are sins of that formidable Look and of that monstrous Size that if they do not pain our Consciences and put

The Rebellious City Destroyed Being an Anniversary SERMON In Memory of the Dreadful Fire OF LONDON On the Second Day of September 1666. Preached At St. Olave's Hart-Street London September the Second 1682. By WILLIAM WRAY M. A. Chaplain to the Right Honourable John Lord Berkley Baron of Stratton LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. A SERMON Preached September 2. 1682. EZRA IV. 15. So shalt thou find in the Book of the Records and know that this City is a Rebellious City and hurtful unto Kings and Provinces and that they have moved Sedition within the same of old time for which cause was this City destroyed THE Pious design of your present Meeting is to testifie unto God and the World what Humiliation his severe Judgment upon this City yet fresh in your Thoughts and yet felt in many of your Fortunes hath begot in you That it ill behooves you now to dissemble or proudly to insist upon Self-justification God has signally manifested his Displeasure and does not use to scatter such Plagues as these at random nor suffer his Vengeance to fall so heavy and Epidemically but where he has been out of measure provok'd Indeed private Calamities often light upon particular Men for other Reasons and are not always intended for the Punishment of Sin neither are they infallible Symptoms of the Wrath of God against those that are thus visited But where a City a Metropolis and in that a whole Nation is concern'd and where the Judgment is so dreadfully remarkable so full of Terror and Amazement as that of this Day we must not think that Providence plays at small-games and onely recreates it self with these sportive Tragedies designing nothing worse than its own Diversion No God does not use so seriously to Trifle nor Jest with Nations when he destroys them Such signal Judgments are ev●dent Signs that he is solemnly Angry and in good earnest That we do but fondly delude our own Consciences and aggravate the Provocation by wipeing our Mouths and pleading Innocence This is plainly to give his Vengeance the Lie and to contradict that woful Truth which he knows better than our selves 'T is as vain to dissemble our Guilt to the World also For God hath made us Notorious to all that are round about us and they must be very dull and inadvertent that do not observe our Shame with a very distinct and Judicious Notice and the City in Flames has Beacon'd and Blaz'd it abroad to the whole World And how shall we Justifie our selves before Men whom God has so publickly and formally Condemned If we say that we have no Sin they may justly alledg his Judgments to our Faces that there is no Truth in us an Argument of more undoubted Credit than any that we can Forge in our own Defence for the Matter is come to this Issue whether it be Right to hearken unto God or Vs Let us therefore deal sincerely with God the World and our own Consciences and Ingenuously confess and soberly Repent those manifest Sins which we cannot hide and not Ridicule the Divine Justice with a Mock-fast and so our Incense become as great an Abomination as any of those Evils for which we suffer Which that you may the better do I shall endeavor to direct your Consciences in the way of a Self-discovery by laying before you the grossest of those Sins that we of this City and Nation have been most Emphatically guilty of and which God hath infinite Reason to be Angry at And doubtless those of the Text are the very Rubrick and stand in the front of the Kalendar These are they for which our Infamous Names are deservedly Posted for which the World hisses at us and all the Babylonish Samaritans at home and abroad upbraid us saying This this is the Rebellious City and hurtful unto Kings for which cause this City was destroyed In handling of which words we will First Give you an account of the Story to which they relate and Secondly See how far it is applicable to the present occasion For the History we must look back at 2 Kings 17. the least as far as the Reign of Hoshea Jeroboams Successor over the ten revolted Tribes which dwelt in Samaria whose Dominions Shalmeneser the King of Assyria invaded and made the Land Tributary But they neglected to pay the Annual Duty and maintain'd a correspondence with the Egyptians which the Israelites in all their Distresses were too apt to do Which Affront Shalmeneser so highly resented that he sent his Forces again into Samaria took Hoshea Prisoner and at three years end possest himself of all the Cities and carried the Inhabitants Captive into his own Land Into whose Estates and Dwellings he transplanted some of his own Country-men and they possest Samaria verse 14. and dwelt in the Cities thereof But these Babilonians did not change their Religion with their Climate neither Worshipped they the true God but served the Abominations of their Fathers and walked in all the superstitious ways they had been severally brought up in For which Cause God let vers 24. loose the wild Beasts of the Field upon them and many of them were destroy'd by Lions By this means they were brought to understand verse 25. their Errour and sent to acquaint the King of Assyria what had befallen them because vers 26 27. they knew not the manner of the God of the Land Hereupon the King sent them a Priest from among those of the Captivity to instruct them in the Knowledge and Worship of the true God But so strong and invincible were the the Prejudices of their Education that the true Religion found but cold Entertainment among them and though the Interests of self-preservation indispensably necessitated them to profess it yet all that God could by his Judgments force or the Priest perswade them to was onely to admit Him among their other Deities and to make One in their heathen Catalogue For they feared the Lord and served verse 33. their own Gods after the manner of the Nations from whence they came And by this medly of Religion they were seperated and distinguish'd from them of the Jewish Communion unto the very time of our Saviours coming into the World and from thence forward till the final Dispersion The Assyrians having thus got Footing in Israel and open'd the way into a more entire Conquest made their next Attempts upon Judah and Jerusalem But good King Hezekiah by his own personal Integrity 2 Kings 18. and his Zeal for Gods Glory and the Interests of Religion kept off the stroke all the time of his own Reign But when the Date of his Life was out Piety died and was Buried with him And Manasseh his Son confounded the Reformation his Father had made revived all the ruined Monuments of chap. 21. Idolatry rear'd up Alters for Baal Worshipped all the Host of Heaven brought the Abomination even into the