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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57597	Shlohavot, or, The burning of London in the year 1666 commemorated and improved in a CX discourses, meditations, and contemplations, divided into four parts treating of I. The sins, or spiritual causes procuring that judgment, II. The natural causes of fire, morally applied, III. The most remarkable passages and circumstances of that dreadful fire, IV. Councels and comfort unto such as are sufferers by the said judgment / by Samuel Rolle ...	Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Preliminary discourses.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Physical contemplations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Sixty one meditations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Twenty seven meditations.	1667 (1667)	Wing R1877; Wing R1882_PARTIAL; Wing R1884_PARTIAL; ESTC R21820	301,379	534

which is said to be quick and powerful as fire its self The fires which God kindleth for the good of the world whereof his word is one of the chief woe be to any that shall go about to quench Quenching of prophecying is next unto quenching of the Spirit yea and is one way of doing it as Divines observe I see cause to blesse the God of heaven who hath created some fires as profitable as others are mischievous namely his word for one a fire that never doth hurt otherwise than by accident neither indeed would other fires kept within their due bounds but so much good as no tongue can express O Lord that through thine insinite goodness I might experiment in my self and others all those excellent properties of fire meeting in thy word of which I have now been speaking that my heart and theirs might burn within us at the hearing of it as did the hearts of thy Disciples that it may be mighty through thee to pull down all the strong-holds of Sin and Sathan that are within us that it might trye us as gold is tryed in the fire and at the same time resined and purisied that it might pierce unto the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow that the sin which is as it were bred in our bones may be gotten out of the very flesh May the fire of thy word have such influence as this upon us we shall then be sure to escape the fire of thy wrath and to arrive to that happiness which is called The inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 MEDITATION XL. Upon the spoiling of Conduits and other Aqueducts by this Fire ME-thinks the several Conduits that were in London stood like so many little but strong Forts to confront and give check to that great enemy Fire if any occasion should be There me-thinks the water was as it were intrenched and ingarrisoned The several Pipes and Vehicles of water that were within those Conduits all of them charged with water till by the turning of the Cocks they were discharged again were as so many Souldiers within those Forts with their Musquets charged and ready to be discharged upon the drawing of their several Cocks to keep and defend those places And look how Enemies are wont to deal with those Castles which they take to be impregnable and dispair of ever getting by storm viz. to attempt the starving of them by a close Siege intercepting all provision of Victuals from coming at them so went the fire to work with those little Castles of stone which were not easie for it to burn down witness their standing to this day spoiled them or almost spoiled them it hath for present by cutting off those supplies of water which had wont to slow to them melting those leaden Channels in which the water had wont to be conveyed to them and thereby as it were starving those Garrisons which they could not take by storm What the Scripture speaks of the Land of Jordan that it was well watered every where before the Lord destroyed Sodom even as the Garden of the Lord like the Land of Egypt made fruitful by the River Nilus the same might have been said of London before this fire It was watered like Paradise its self yea whereas Paradise had but one River though it parted into four heads Gen. 2.10 London had two at least deviding its self or rather devided into many branches and dispersing its self several wayes For besides the noble River of Thames gliding not only by the sides but thorow the bowels of London there was another called the New-River brought from Hartfordshire thither by the industry and ingenuity of that worthy and never to be forgotten Knight Sir Hugh Middleton the spring of whose deserved fame is such as the late Fire its self though the dreadfullest of all that we have known hath not nor will not be able to dry up but continue it will a Fountain of praise and honour bubling up to all posterity As nature by Veins and Arteries some great some small placed up and down all parts of the Body ministreth blood and nourishment to every member thereof and part of each member so was that wholsome Water which was as necessary for the good of London as blood is for the life and health of the body conveyed by Pipes wooden or metalline as by so many veins into all parts of that famous City If water were as we may call it the blood of London then were its several Conduits as it were the Liver and Spleen of that City which are reckoned as the Fountains of blood in humane bodies for that the great Trunks of veins conveying blood about the body are seated there as great Roots fixed in the Earth shooting out their branches divers and sundry wayes But alas how were those Livers inflamed and how unfit have they been since to do their wonted Office What pity it is to see those breasts of London for so I may also call them almost dryed up and the poor Citizens mean time so loth as they are to be weaned from their former place They were lovely streams indeed which did refresh that noble City one of which was alwayes at work pouring out its self when the rest lay still As if the Fire had been angry with the poor old Tankard-bearers both Men and Women for propagating that Element which was contrary to it and carrying it upon their shoulders as it were in State and Triumph it hath even destroyed their Trade and threatned to make them perish by fire who had wont to live by water Seeing there are few or none to suck those Breasts at this day the matter is not so great if they be almost empty and dry at present may they but sill again and their Milk be renewed so soon as the honest Citizens shall come again to their former scituations O Lord that it might be thy good pleasure to let London be first restor'd and ever after preserved from Fire and when once restored let it be as plentifully and commodiously supplied with water as ever it was formerly Make it once again as the Paradise of God but never suffer any destroying Serpent any more to come there MEDITATION XLI Upon the Retorts and Reproaches of Papists occasioned by this fire ME-thinks I hear some Reman-Catholicks as they are pleased to call themselves saying Some of your Protestants did confidently foretel That within this present year 1666 Rome should down Babylon should fall Antichrist should be destroyed But now your own City is destroyed in the self-same-year which according to you doth show that London was the true Babylon and that the true Antichrist is amongst your selves Yet upon due examination it will be found that there is as little strength in the Argument which they have brought as there is sense in the name whereby they are called viz. Roman-Catholicks which is as much as to say Members of the particular

with his earnest prayers that assisted by the spirit of God they may kindly co-operate together with the late judgment and all others upon the heart both of the writer and readers The Author doubts not but there is a great deale of hay and stubble in the superstructure of this work of his as in and with all other his performances and it may be thine too though not so much Pray for the pardon of his defects and miscarriages as he would do of thine cover them with love which covereth a multitude of infirmities if there be any passage in this work one or more that God shall make to thee as Gold Silver or precious Stones give God the glory of it for he it is must make it so and take to thy self these following words on the unworthy Author his behalf viz. that though all that hay and stubble which is found upon him or upon any service of his must be burnt up yet himself may be saved though as by Fire in which and all other needfull requests he desireth heartily to reciprocate ●●●h thee who is Yet an unprofitable Servant to Christ and his Church but desirous to be otherwise S. R. THE Heads of the ensuing Discourses Meditations and Contemplations PART I. Discourses 1. OF the great duty of Considering in an evil time Discourses 2. Of Gods being a consuming Fire Meditations 1. Of the sins for which God sent Fire upon Sod●m and Gomorrah Meditations 2. Of destroying Fire procured by offering strange Fire Meditations 3. Of Fire enkindled by murmuring Meditations 4. Of Rebellion against Moses and Aaron procuring a destructive Fire Numb ●6 Meditations 5. Of Sabbath-breaking mentioned in Scripture as one great 〈…〉 God 's punishing a people by Fire Meditations 6. Of Gods 〈…〉 by Fire for the sins of Idolatry and S●●●r 〈…〉 Meditations 7. Of 〈…〉 Theft Deceit false Ballances mention● 〈…〉 Scripture as causes of Gods contending by Fire Meditations 8. Of lying s●●aring and for-swearing as further causes of Gods contending by Fire Meditations 9. Of the abounding of Drunkenness as one cause of the Fire Meditations 10 Of Gods punishing a People by Fire for their great unprofitableness Meditations 11. Of the universall Corruption and Debauchery of a people punished by God with Fire Meditations 12. Of Gods bringing Fire upon a people for their incorrigibleness under other Judgments Meditations 13. Of the Aggravations of the sins of London PART II. Contemplations 1. COncerning the Nature of Fire and the use that may be made of that Contemplation Contemplations 2. Touching the Nature of Sulphur which is the principal matter and cause of Fire and how it comes to be so mischeivous in the World Contemplations 3. Concerning the true cause of Combustibility or what it is that doth make Bodies obnoxious to fire together with the improvement of that consideration Contemplations 4. Of Fire kindled by Fire Contemplations 5. Of Fire kindled by Putrefaction Contemplations 6. Of Fire kindled by the collision of two hard bodies Contemplations 7. Of Fire kindled for want of vent as in Hay c. Contemplations 8. Of Fire kindled by pouring on Water as in Lime PART III. Meditations 1. OF the weight of Gods hand in the destruction of London by fire Meditations 2. Upon sight of the weekly Bill since the fire Meditations 3. Vpon the discourses occasioned by the late fire both then and since Meditations 4. Upon the dishonest Carters that exacted excessive rates Meditations 5. Upon those that stole what they could in the time of the fire Meditations 6. Upon unconscionable Land-lords demanding excessive Fines and Rents since the Fire Meditations 7. Upon the burning down of many Churches Meditations 8. Upon the burning multitudes of Books of all sorts Meditations 9. Upon the burning of the Royal Exchange Meditations 10. Vpon the burning of Hospitals and Rents thereunto belonging Meditations 11. Vpon the burning of publick Halls Meditations 12. Of the burning of publick Schools Meditations 13. Vpon the burning of Tombs and Graves and dead bodies that were buried therein Meditations 14. Upon the burning of Writings as Bils Bonds c. Meditations 15. On the burning of St. Pauls Church and the unconsumed body of Bishop Brabrooke Meditations 16. Upon the visibleness of Gods hand in the destruction of London Meditations 17. Upon burning of the Sessions-house in the Old-Baily Meditations 18. On the Gates and Prisons of London that were burnt Meditations 19. Upon the Conflagration of the Universe Meditations 20. Upon the Fire of Hell Meditations 21. Upon the coming of that most dreadful Fire in so idolized a year as 1666. Meditations 22. Upon the Fire its beginning on the Lords day Meditations 23. Upon the place where this dreadful Fire began viz. at a Bakers-house in Pudding-lane Meditations 24. Upon the great pitty that ought to be extended to Londoners since the Fire Meditations 25. Upon those that have lost all by the Fire Meditations 26. On those that have lost but half their Estates by this Fire or some such proportion Meditations 25. Vpon those that have lost nothing by the Fire Meditations 26. Vpon those that were gainers by the late Fire Meditations 27. Upon the enducements unto rebuilding of London and some waies of promoting it Meditations 28. Upon the Wines and Oile● that swa●● in the streets and did augment the flames Meditations 29. Upon the water running down hill so fast as that they could not stop it for their use Meditations 30. Upon mens being unwilling there should be no Fire though Fire hath done so much hurt Meditations 31. Upon the usefulness of Fire in its proper place and the danger of it elsewhere Meditations 32. Upon the blowing up of houses Meditations 31. Upon preventing the beginning of evils Meditations 32. Upon the City Ministers whose Churches were saved from the fire Meditations 33. Upon those Ministers whose Churches were burned Meditations 34. Upon the killing of several people by the fall of some parts of ruinous Churches Meditations 35. Upon the Fire it s not exceeding the Liberties of the City Meditations 36. Upon the Suburbs comming into more request than ever since the Fire Meditations 37. Upon the Tongue its being a Fire c. Meditations 38. Upon the Angels their being called flames of fire Meditations 39. Upon the Word of God its being compared to Fire Meditations 40. Upon the spoiling of Conduits and other Aqueducts by this Fire Meditations 41. Upon the retorts and reproaches of Papists occasioned by this Fire Meditations 42. On the pains which the Kings Majesty is said to have taken in helping to extinguish the Fire Meditations 43. Upon meer Worldlings who lost their All by this Fire Meditations 44. Upon that forbearance which it becometh Citizens to use one towards another since the Fire Meditations 45. Upon such as are said or supposed to have rejoyced at the comming and consequences of this Fire Meditations 46. Of the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah compared with the burning of London Meditations 47 Of

thou hast considered this no more Much less know I what to think of those that have not considered it so much as seeming to think of nothing else but how they may make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof How many thought they could have said when time was If I forget thee O London let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth which yet have almost forgotten poor London and now God hath burned it round about scarce lay it to their hearts Methinks we are in an age in which are more Pharaohs than of any other sort of men infinite wisdome can scarce invent judgments that will awaken and make us look about us and consider The Iron age is a name too good for us Fire with the addition of some small matter besides as vinegar c. will melt Iron but will not melt us it will make that capable of any impression or to be cast into any mould but it will not do so by us Lord I see the heart of man will yield to nothing but thy self It can play with judgments and plagues though they were greater than those which came upon Pharaoh and so far forth contemn them as scarce seriously to consider of them at leastwise when past and gone Nor yet whilst present and incumbent as they ought to do Thou who hast created a day of great adversity such as we never lookt for create I beseech thee in me and in others a heart duly to consider it and together with it the things that do belong both to our present and future to our temporal and eternal peace DISCOURSE II. Of God's being a consuming Fire THree several times do I call to mind the holy Scripture saying expresly besides what it mentioneth elsewhere to the same effect that our God is a consuming Fire twice in the old Testament and once in the new First by way of caution Deut. 4.23 24. Take heed to your selves least you forget the Covenant of the Lord your God which he hath made with you and make you a graven Image or the likeness of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee For the Lord thy God is a consuming Fire even a jealous God Secondly by way of comfort Deut. 9.3 The Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming Fire meaning to their enemies as the next words do show he shall destroy them viz. those children of Anak of whom they had learn'd to say who can stand before them vers 2. them and their Cities great and fenced up to Heaven as they are called vers 1. Thirdly by way of counsel or positive exhortation unto serving God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 For saith the text vers 29. Our God is a consuming Fire And well may God be so stiled not only effectivé as he is the first cause and authour of all those fires that consume houses Towns and Cities as God is pleased to own Isa 42.25 That he had set Jacob and Israel on fire round about nor careth the great God who knowes yea he would have all the World to know that all evil of punishment as such and so far forth as it is only such is from himself Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it But not only in that sense may God be called a consuming Fire for that he is so essicienter as Christ upon such an accompt is called the resurrection and the life but also and chiefly because the fire of all Elements yea of all inanimate creatures seemes to bear the greatest resemblance of God in respect of more than one of his glorious attributes as namely of his irresistible power his awfull presence and affrighting Majesty his impartial and devouring severity his consuming anger c. Of the strength and power of Fire What creature here below so powerfull as fire who or what can stand before it how applicable unto fire are many of those expressions whereby God in his answer to Job sets forth some of the most untameable creatures as that which is spoken of the wilde Ass Job 39.7 He scorneth the multitude of the City Did not the fire do so and that of God concerning Behemoth Job 41.4 Will he make a Covenant with thee wilt thou take him for a servant for ever Who can master fire though it be never good but when it is as a servant also in some sense those words in the 27. vers may be applied to this powerful Element It esteemeth Iron as straw and Brass as rotten wood also those words in the last verse He beholdeth all high things He is a King over all the children of pride Methinks some lofty expressions which are used concerning God himself are more applicable to fire than to any other creature It is said of God Isa 40.15 That he taketh up the Islands as a very little thing So doth fire though not whole Islands yet things of great bulk as houses Churches and such like which are easily blown up by it as it were at one breath or puff It darts them up into the aire in an instant like a fleete arrow shot from a strong bow Cranes though made on purpose to mount heavy things yet are long in doing it yea seem to squeek and groan in raising one great beam at a time as if the burthen were more than they could well bear whereas this Giant Fire if I may so call it makes nothing of it to take whole houses upon its back with all their weighty beames massy stones leaden roofes lumbering goods and mount them into the aire presently Moreover it is said of God vers 16. That Lebanon is not sufficient for him to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering Surely London was far before Lebanon and yet when the most of it was burnt up did the fire say it was enough Could not that ravenous Lion have devoured the Suburbs presently with as great an appetite as it had done the City if the great God had not stopt its mouth or pluckt away its prey Doth not Solomon rank fire amongst the Cormorants that are never satisfied Prov. 30.16 Who can write or almost think what Fire can do what building so high be it beacon or steeple that fire cannot presently climbe to the top of it What mettle so hard that fire cannot melt it such as the fire may be It was only for hast that it left the out-sides of Churches standing pickt out the meat as it were and left the bones untouched In length of time it could have so calcined those bricks and stones as to have made them good for nothing but ready like the Apples of Sodom presently to crumble to dust But should I think of all that fire can do I must think of nothing else I less wonder at those Heathens that did worship fire than at those who worshiped any other creature sith no visible creature is

lavished them upon their pride exhausted them by their luxury spent them upon their uncleanness which as so many Cormorants devoured that which might and ought to have been given to the poor I see then there are moral causes of evil as well as natural and these are some of them He is bruitish that thinks otherwise Do not the ends and interests of men sway the World next to God himself and what are they but moral causes and if such be to be taken notice of why not sin which is more considerable than all the rest Then O yee late Inhabitants of that famous City which is now in ashes as ever you desire it should flourish again repent of your pride fulness of bread abundance of idleness neglect of the poor and abominable uncleanness so many of you as were guilty of all or any of these for all were not and let others mourne over them that have sinned and have not repented that God may repent of the evil which he hath brought upon you and may build up your waste places in his good time Continue not in the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah lest their punishment be either not removed from you or if so again revived upon you MEDITATION II. Of destroying Fire procured by offering strange fire WE read concerning Nadab and Abihu that there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord Lev. 10.2 Why that heavy judgment befell those two Sons of Aaron the Saints of the Lord the preceding verse will tell us viz. because they took their censers put incense therein and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Their fault was this God had sent down fire from heaven upon his Altar Levit. 9.24 It should seem it was the pleasure of God and doubtless they knew it that his sacrifice which one calls his meat as the Altar his Table should be kindled and prepared with that fire only which by continual adding of suel as need required was to be kept from ever going out as is supposed Levit. 16.10 There 't is said Aaron shall take a censer full of Coales of fire from off the Altar and his hands full of incense and bring it within the vaile Now they presumed to offer incense to God with common fire which came not from the Altar before the Lord and for this they were burnt to death Upon this passage Bishop Hall worthily called our English Seneca reflects thus It is a dangerous thing saith he in the service of God to decline from his own institutions we have to do with a power which is wise to prescribe his own worship just to require what he hath prescribed powerful to revenge that which he hath not required MEDITATION III. Of fire enkindled by murmuring IN Numb 11. the first and third verses I read these words When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed them that were in the utmost parts of the Camp And he called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the Lord burnt among them It doth not much concern our present purpose to enquire what the cause of this their murr●uring was which yet is thought to have been want of meat in the Wilderness and thence the place where they were punished to have been called the graves of lust as our Margents do English kiberoth hattaavah neither need we be infallibly resolved what kind of fire it was that God sent amongst them for their murmuring it is all we need observe at the present that they were punished by fire and that murmuring was the sin they were punished for Our punishment I am sure hath been by fire as well as theirs ought we not then to examine whether cur provocation was not much-what by murmuring even as theirs was were we contented when the City was standing yea did we not grumble and repine at one thing or other every day and yet we think we should be more than contented that is to say very thankfull and joyfull if we had but London again if that great City Phenix-like might but rise out of the ashes and our places know us once more It should seem then we had enough then to be contented with and thankfull for but we knew it not as it is said of husbandmen Faelices nimium sua si bona norant If some were in worse condition than formerly would that justify their murmuring were not the Israelites in the Wilderness when they were punished for murmuring and had they not enjoyed a better condition than that in former times Do we murmurers think that men are to blame and was not Shimei to blame when he cursed Daivd and yet David looking higher viz. unto God submissively replied it may be the Lord hath bid him curse me The Robbers and spoilers of Israel were in fault Yet seeing it was God that gave Jacob to the spoile and Israel to the robbers that was reason enough why they should be dumb as a sheep before the Shearer and not open their mouths in any way of murmuring If we so remember our miseries as to forget our mercies if we aggravate our evil things and extenuate our good if we be so vexed and displeased with men as if they were sole authors of all our troubles and as if God who owes and payes us such chastisements had no hand in them If in our hearts we quarrel with God as if he were a hard master and had done us wrong if when we had food and raiment we were not content if when we had something and that considerable and how could our loss have been considerable if our enjoyment had not been so we were as unsatisfied as if we had just nothing If so do not these things plainly prove that we were murmurets many of us and whose experience doth not tell him that these things were so how many things have we repined at that men could not help as namely the pestilence now in such cases it is evident that we have not murmured against men but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 Nay if men be punished far less than their sin● deserve and yet will not accept of that their punishment but fret at him that inflicted it what must we call that but murmuring And was not that our case I had almost said that England even before this fire was so full of discontent whatsoever the cause were as if all the plagues of Egypt had been upon it and how after this i● can swell more without bursting is hard to conceive So little had we learn'd good Eli's note It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good to him Now if the Law of retaliation be burning for ●urning as we read it was Exod. 21.25 How just was it with the great God to send a Fire upon us for our grievous discontents and murmurings Murmurers are full of

sort ought not to be bad in contempt or to be needlesly put into a combustion Alas were it not that God had put a divine stamp upon Magistrates as he hath been pleased to call them Gods surely they could no more rule the people when in the calmest temper that ever they are in some being alwaies too rough then they could rule the Sea What wisdom can it then be to put so unruly a body into agroundless commotion If this Sea once become troubled work and rage and foam and swell how much is it to be feared it may overflow all its banks and invade us with a ruining inundation It was not cowardize but prudence in Herod to decline putting of John to death for fear of the people because they accounted him a Prophet Matth. 14.15 Likewise in the chief Priests and Elders of the people not to reply unto Christ that the Baptism of John was of men because of the people who all held him as a Prophet Matth. 21.26 For my own part I dread the Insurrection of people no less than the consequences of Fire it self the beginnings whereof have appeared very contemptible so that it hath been said as is reported that such a fire as that was at the first might be pissed out but the conclusion fatal beyond all imagination Now do I long to be at the end of this Meditation but having promised to shew what the matter of those particles is whereof Fire consists and considering with my self that some good morall may be gathered and infer'd from thence as I have already hinted that sulphurious or oily particles are those whereof Fire doth altogether or mostly consist so I shall now undertake to prove that so it is and consider how we may improve it It is manifest that all mixt bodies here below are compounded of five Elements or principles viz. Spirit otherwise called Mercury Water or Phlegme Sulphur or an Oily kind of substance Salt and Earth For each natural body be it of vegitables Animals or Minerals is by chymical art reduced or resolved into these five From any such bodie may be drawn a spirit or generous subtile liquor an Oile a Water a Salt and a kind of Earth saving that the two last are rather said to stay behind than to be drawn now if each body that is burning be as it is both its own fire and its own fuell both that which burns and that which is burnt then one or more of the fore-mentioned principles so modified must be the matter and form of fire As for the Watery and Phlegmatick part of each body no man will so confound two Elements so contrary each to other as to say that is the Fire which consumes Then as for that Salt and Earth which belongs to bodies they are not the Fire that burns them up for that which burns so far forth consumes and flies away but Salt and Earth they remain after the greatest burnings under the form of Ashes True it is that spirit or spiritous Liquor which is in Bodies is capable of taking Fire as we see spirit of Wine will burn and Feavers arise in the bodies of men by vertue of their spirits being inflamed but then we must consider that there is but little of that which is called Spirit or Spirits in Timber and such like materials of houses as are destroyed by Fire neither is the Fire of any great duration which hath only Spirits for its fuell as we see in the bodies of men that those Feavers which only fire the Spirits never last above three or four daies and many times not above one day and are therefore called Ephemeral Having therefore quitted Water Salt and Earth from being the causes of Fire and also proved that the Spirits of such kind of bodies which have but little of Spirits in them cannot contribute much to the maintenance of a desolating Fire Sulphur or the oyly part of each body will appear to be the great Incendiary and to be more the matter fuell and fomenter of Fire than any thing else And that it is so doth yet further appear in that such bodies of all others are most apt to take Fire and to burn fiercely when they have so done in which there is most of a sulphurious or oily substance as Oile it self Pitch Tarre c. Moreover we see that when any body is thoroughly burnt the sulphurious parts are all or most of them gone as if conscious of what they bad done they had fled for it and which is most of all demonstrative when those parts are once gone all or most of them what remains will burn no longer as you see we cannot make a fire with Ashes for that they consist only of Salt and Earth with little or no commixture of Sulphur Sith then Sulphur or Brimstone though in an acceptation somewhat different from that which in commonly called by that name is the great matter of Fire and the Agitation Commotion and Flight of it is the very Form of Fire I shall the less wonder hereafter to finde the Scripture still joyning Brimstone and Fire together So Gen. 19 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom Brimstone and Fire Psal 11.6 On the wicked he shalt rain Fire and Brimstone And Isa 30.33 The Pile whereof is Fire much Wood. The breath of the Lord like astream of Brimstone kindleth it viz. Tophet Fire most usually kindleth Fire A stream of Brimstone in violent motion is Fire and here you see the breath of the Lord is said like a mighty stream of Brimstone to kindle Tophet which kinde of expression is more genuine and philosophical than most men know it to be and may hint unto us that thorough our ignorance it comes to pass that many expressions in Scripture seem to us no more proper and significant than they do it faring with us in the reading of holy Writ as with those that ignorantly walk or ride over precions Mines little do they think what a world of Treasure they tread upon nor if they did could they be content till they had gotten within the bowels of that ground which now they flightly trample upon But I have been too long in this Philosophical contemplation because it was such and must endeavour to compensate my prolixity in this with greater Brevity in the rest at leastwise of that sort if any such shall occur CONTEMPLATION II. Touching the Nature of Sulphur which is the principal matter and cause of Fire and how it comes to be so mischievous in the World BEing credibly informed that the Element called Sulphur hath had the greatest hand under God in the late dismal Fire as it hath had in all other whereby Towns and Cities have been laid waste it is but fit we should take him under serious examination and strictly enquire what he is by what waies and means he brings such great desolations to pass Sulphur that is Brimstone so called by Chymists because it hath some assinity with that which

milk that is sowred or turned which were before perfectly united Then the sulphurious or oily part of the blood thus set at liberty flies thorough the body with great violence and sets all into a combustion And this is the great instance as from within our selves of Fire arising from Putrefaction As for an experiment from without one may suffice viz. that of Dung which lying together in heaps and so putrifying more and more doth sometimes wax so hot that it sets fire on the straw that is mingled with it which is long of its sulphurious parts by putrefaction set at liberty and flying away in great troops and with much violence And is there nothing to be made of all this besides matter of Speculation You know what corruption and putrefaction doth signifie in a moral sense and sure I am that kind of corruption is the cause of all the mischievous fires that are in the world Did God drown the old world because all flesh had corrupted its self and did he not burn Sodom and Gomorrah for the same cause So likewise Jerusalem Jer. 9. v. 13. The Scripture calls sinful communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is rotten or putrified Eph. 4.20 and saith of it that it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is corrupt or putrifie good manners Many fires are kindled by such communication viz. fires of lust and fires of anger and of revenge besides those fires of judgment and vengeance which God sends upon the world for the same James 3.6 The tongue is a fire a world of iniquity and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell Moreover if we take the word putrefaction strictly for a secession or separation of principles or elements formerly united in that acception it is capable of a good moral and may serve to teach us how great the danger of perfect separation and disunion is even amongst those whose principles do so far forth disagree that they cannot be together but refractly as fire and water in mixtion Yet these in natural bodies as contrary as they seem do much better in a convenient mixture and composition than they ever can singly and apart yea when they fall in pieces though one bear a greater sway for the present than before and that the worthiest of all the rest as it might be the spirits in Ephemeral Feavers yet as well that part which rules more absolutely than ever for the time being as those parts which are more than ever subjected to it is quickly destroyed and brought to nothing Natural bodies cannot be mistaken about their own party which are really such but by a kinde of infallible instinct do draw those parts out of other bodies which are for kinde the same with themselves as the kindled fulphur that is in one body kindles and drawes forth that sulphur which is in another and yet it proves unhappy and fatal to those bodies as to sulphur in particular that they divide from all others and will unite only amongst themselves though they are all perfectly of the same species and no more than just numerically differenced How it should be more safe for men to do the same thing viz. to abstract and divorce themselves from all but those that are of their perswasion whilst mean time divers may be such only in pretence and for their own ends for ought they know and others whom they reject may heartily symbolize with them in more things I say how that can be prudent or safe I am yet to learn Those that affect that simplicity which is poculiar to God and his alone prerogative let them conceive a displeasure against the composition of their own bodies and try conclusions to make them consist but of one Element and that the noblest of all Let them quarrel four of those five principles which are the ingredients of our bodies and resolve to turn sulphur salt Earth and Water out of doors and that they will consist of meer spirits and to that end let them exalt those spirituous liquors that are in them to the greatest height that may be that so they may be able to turn those four inferiour principles out of possession and live alone in and throughout the whole body all the veines and arteries being henceforth filled with spirits only in stead of blood Try how this experiment will succeed If it do well attempt the like thing upon the Church and State bring them to the same pass But if you finde this likely to set on fire the whole course of nature to set you in a violent feaver that will soon burn you to death be so just as not to wish that should be done to others that you would by no meanes have done to your selves and suspect that may be bad for publick bodies which would be so destructive to your own private Let one principle bear rule over all the rest as in good Wines the spirituous parts are predominant and let the noblest Element sway the Scepter else things will degenerate as Wines do into Vinegar when the spirits are kept under and the saline or saltish particles exalted but let the less noble Elements not be excluded but fairly comprehended in a due mixtion and subordination otherwise if it fare with men as it doth with fire that which aspires to be all in all will soon vanish and be as it were annihilated CONTEMPLATION VI. Of Fire kindled by the collision of two hard bodies AS obvious almost as any of the former is the way of kindling fire by the collision or smiting together of two hard bodies as when slint steel are struck one against the other the reason why fire issues from thence is because by the blow given the sulphurious particles of the steel and flint are put in motion Now inward they cannot move because these bodies being hard and of close parts do suffer nothing to get within them for as much as there can be no penetrating of dimensions Therefore our they must come and if they could come out leisurely and by degrees they would produce no fire or scarce so much as heat but sallying forth in great haste and all at once as if they were affrighted with the blow they had received by virtue of their number union and violent motion they ingender sparks produce that fire which we discern to come from them Just thus it is betwixt persons of stout and sturdy spirits when they happen to clash one against another retreat and retire into themselves they cannot to deliberate and consider what they had best to do so full are they of themselves that is of their pride and passion but out they come being once put into a commotion and with all the spirits they can make muster together assaile each other and with their drawn glittering swords do as it were fire at one another and with greatest eagerness pursue a bloody duell Now oh the folly of men Do they not know that the

the Scripture when it saith that temporal afflictions are but light 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction saith Paul which is but for a moment c. Read but St. Pauls perils 2 Cor. 11.26 27. and his sufferings v. 23. In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft thrice stoned c. and then tell me if his temporal afflictions were light whose can be called heavie Add to what I have said that the pangs of conscience and the pains of hell which I have made appear do so infinitely outweigh all the troubles of this life are no other than what our sins have deserved and therefore our outward afflictions may be said to be light not only if compar'd with what is come upon others but also with what might justly have been inflicted upon our selves So that we may here take up those words of Ezra chap. 9.13 Thou Lord hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve If one that deserves to be put to a painful and shameless death comes off with a burn in the hand who saith not his punishment is light compared with his offence I am deceived if by this time I have not plainly proved all temporal afflictions to be but light though some are nothing like so light as others Now Lord what I have proved by Scriptural arguments let not me or others ever seem to disprove by anti-scriptural practices whilst we affirm Temporal afflictions to be but light let us not groan under them as if they were unsupportable or to be overwhelmed by them Oh mix not Spiritual afflictions with temporal If thou wilt rebuke me seem not to do it in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy sore displeasure Let me ready thy love in and with my temporal afflictions and I shall ever acknowledge that in comparison not only of eternal torments but even of inward and spiritual troubles they are but light DISCOURSE XVIII Of the shortness of Temporal Afflictions THough afflictions be not sweet in themselves yet it is one comfort they are but short And how can the troubles of this life be otherwise than short when this life it self is not long Paul exhorting Christians to weep as if they wept not 1 Cor. 7.29 promiseth this Brethren the time is short v. 28. and to shew the exceeding shortness of it he calls it a moment 2 Cor. 4.17 Our affliction which is but for a moment Persons under affliction are apt to think the time long as those that are in great pain be it but for a day or a piece of a day In the morning they cry Would to God it were evening Deut. 28.67 and in the evening would to God it were morning They are ready to exp●●st●late with the Sun saying why stay the wheels of his chariot so long though he be as a mighty giant that runs a race They would make morning and evening meet if they knew how and have it night so soon as it is day and day again so soon as it is night But is time long because men think it so is a Summer-day short because they that spend it in pleasure think it is night quickly and wish it were twice so long shall we say the time is long when God saith it is short Let God be true and ever man a liar We our selves shall say the same thing if we compare time with eternity as the Apostle did when he said Our affliction which is but for a moment is not worthy to be compared with the eternal weight of glory A thousand years with God because eternal are but as one day or as a watch in the night what then is fourscore years which few exceed yea few arrive to There are eternal sufferings how long are they and how short are these if compared with them If our miseries may end with our lives we shall have no cause to complain they have been long God hath made our daies as a span and our years are as nothing before him Why should we think that we are long deprived of those things that we could not have long enjoyed Do not persons that have the world at will bemoan themselves to think how soon their souls will be required of them and then whos 's all these things will be Had the City been standing had trade been flourishing had waters of a full cup been wrung out to you and had God given you a lease of all that mercy during life how soon would that life expire how soon must you be gathered to your fathers and go the way of all flesh how close doth eternity follow you at the heeles how suddenly will it swallow you up They that had but a little time to come in their leases and no hopes of renewing them count not their loss so great Thou hast but a little time to come in thy life which is without hope of being renewed and therefore what great matter is it that thou hast lost within a few years they that have great estates yet left will enjoy no more of them than thou dost of thine which the fire hath consumed Is it an eternity of ●●●piness that thou believest to be reserved for thee wait but a little while and thou wilt be in possession of it and then thou wilt have no more need of those things O Lord I shall not presume to ask how many daies or moneths or years my sufferings must last or whether all the residue of my life only be pleased to say that they shall be but temporal then shall I thankfully acknowledge that the sufferings of Time are mercifully short if compared with the joyes of eternity DISCOURSE XIX Of the needfulness and usefulness of Affliction VVE commonly say that a rod now and then is as good for children as their meat and God knows that it is so for his should he spate his rod and should his soul spare them for their crying he should spoil his children 1 Pet. 1.6 For a season if need be ye are in heavinass If God do not correct us for his own pleasure as it is certain he doth not for judgment is his strange act neither doth he willingly afflict the children of men then surely it is for our profit We read in Psa 55.19 Because men have no changes viz. from prosperity to adversity but the mountain of their bappiness stands strong therefore they fear not God And another Text saith Put them in fear that they may know themselves to be but men As if men but for Gods terrifying them by affliction would conceit themselves to be more than men It is tendered as a reason why the Moabites were so wicked because they had no affliction at leastwise of a long time Jer. 48.11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth and he hath setled on his ●ees and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither hath he gone into captivity therefore his ●aste remained in him and his sent is not changed Agur gives this reason why he