saying is it time for you O yee to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lie wast v. 8. Thus saith the Lord go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it v. 13. Then spake Haggai in the Lords message to the people saying I am with you saith the Lord. And Haggai 2.4 Be strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong O Jeshua the high priest and be strong all ye people of the land for I am with you saith the Lord. In like manner we find the prophet Zechariah incouraging the people Zech 8. from v. 7. to 15. and Zech. 12.2 3. Now as it is in war they that beat the drums and sound the trumpets thereby animating those that ingage in the battle and drowning those doleful noises of shriekes and groans which would otherwise dishearten the Souldiers do or may do as much service though themselves do not strike one stroke as those that fight most skilfully and valiantly yea each of them is or seemeth to be of greater use than any one single souldier because what they do hath an influence upon the whole company or regiment putting heart and spirit into every man even so may it fall out in building and every other undertaking of great consequence viz. that Gods Prophets or Ministers though it be not proper for them to be mechannically imployed therein yet may each of them more advance and promote the business than any ten men that are so imployed They if I may so allude are the greatest builders of all who as is said of God do build without hands Tongues may either help or hinder more than hands help if united and ingaged for the work but hinder if divided as in the case of Babel There was a prophet Jeremy who lived a great while since Haggaies time and much nearer to ours whose influence upon the people was so great for the exceeding veneration they had both for his life and doctrine that I verily think that the interest of ten such prophets as he were enough to build such a City as London if all England could but afford men and monies wherewithall to do it Doubtless Haggai and Zechariah were men of eminent holiness and that brought them into so much esteem with the people It was not meerely as they were prophets nor yet as men of good abilities that they were so much had in honour Hophni and Phineas were priests and able men it is like being the sons of Eli but yet the people had no respects for them yea for the greatness of their sin men abherred the offering of the Lord 1 Sam. 2.17 Sanctity is so essential to a prophet to a minister that where it is not in truth or in appearance at leastwise where at leastwise it is not thought to be it is as it were natural to men to withold from such persons that veneration and esteem which as prophets is fit for them both to deserve and have not men of the greatest parts and abilities but men of the greatest zeal and holiness or reputed for such are generally they who carry the greatest stroke with the people as if they thought that such Elijah's could take up others to Heaven in the same chariot with themselves or that the Ship in which those Pauls do sail must needs come safe to land at leastwise all the passengers be spared and therefore would chuse to imbarque with them The very semblance of sanctimony where it may be it hath not been in truth hath made a greater interest for some men and made them greater leaders of the people than the substance and manifest reality of parts and gifts could ever make others But then suppose a Minister to have the true Thummim the truth of grace and holiness I mean which one would think should be more universally owned than the meer shew or shadow thereof and besides that to have the Urim also I mean a fair proportion of parts and gifts as for his work a man so qualified would compel a very Herod to pay him reverence and to be much perswaded by him as he was by John the Baptist for the very reason Mark 6.20 For Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly We read that John was a shining light as well as a burning light John 5.35 but it was for his burning and not so much for his shining light that Herod did reverence him and do many things by his direction Herod was no less than a Prince John but a mean man to see too The same John had his raiment of Camels haire and a leathern girdle about his loins Mat. 3.4 Yet for that he was a just and a holy man Herod feared him who doubtless would not have feared a loose unholy prophet one that he had known to be such no not in all his pontificalibus if for the gravity majesty and glory of his habit he had outvied the most reverend Pope A holy prophet commands more respect in a hairy garment and a leathern girdle and his word shall go farther than shall the word and authority of an unholy one were his habit as rich as a very Prince and his titles of honour more than are the grand Seigniors I see then if a Zerubbabel would have his word to prosper he must have holy prophets about him as was Haggai and Zechariah or those that are generally esteemed and reputed such For otherwise it is little service that can be done for Princes by those that serve them in the capacity of Ministers or Prophets unless those prophets of theirs are generally in request as good and holy men whose lips the people are willing should preserve knowledg for them and to receive the law from their mouths Now every such prophet as Haggai and Zechariah was is able to do a Prince more than knight service whether he have a City to build or any other great design to carry on The hands of Moses had flagged and so Amaleck prevailed if Aaron Exod. 17.12 had not held them up and what is Aaron called but the Saint of the Lord. They must be Aarons or such as he in point of repute viz. Saints who shall be found able to bear up the hand of Moses whilst he is conflicting with Amaleck I mean with any great opposition or difficulty nor can our Aaron be well spared whilst Amaieck is yet unabdued No persons more able to make the people for any good purpose than those prophets for whom they have great respects which can be only such as are generally owned and accounted of as good and holy men Therefore they that are such ought in Point of prudence as well as upon other considerations to be obliged and incouraged when any great work is in hand that by their means and by virtue of their interest others may be brought in even the
without money in the case as is generally too evident how should houses Haud facile emergunt quarum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domus is as true as if it had been domi that is it holds as certain in houses as in men It is mony must raise them But what shall they do that have it not nor can by any means procure it I know no way but one viz. they must fell their ground but there is the misery who will give them to the worth of it They that know they must or are forced to sell think to buy it as they list or at some such rates as too many have bought Debenters it may be at a Noble for the worth and value of each pound Thus poor men are bought and sold as the Prophet expresseth it for a pair of shoes Amos 2.6 A rich commodity in a poor mans hand is nothing worth so barbarously are men upon the catch taking their utmost advantages one against another which is to make a vice instead of a vertue of necessity I mean a vice to themselves out of the necessity of others For doubtless he that buyeth out poor men so cheaply selleth himself to work wickedness Well what said Ahab to Naboth 1 Kin. 21.2 Give me thy Vineyard and I will give thee for it a better Vineyard than that or if it seem good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money He offered a valuable consideration for Naboths ground will you be worse than that Ahab If your Brethren be hungry will you take occasion thereby to purchase their Birth-right for a mess of pottage as Jacob did who was many wayes crossed afterwards in one kind and in another What blessing can be expected or rather what curse may not be lookt for upon those houses the foundations of which are laid in oppression and grinding the faces of the poor who in order to bread are forced to suffer their own faces to be ground Are no merciful men to be found who in consideration of the necessity of poor men will give them for their ground rather more than it is worth at leastwise full as much yea why should not every man be so far forth merciful sith the latter of the two is but to be just Art thou in a purchasing case buy poor mens ground at a full rate build upon it and when that is done if they be able to pay a moderate Rent and it may be a courtesie to them become their Landlord He may prove a sufficient Tenant who is not able to build his own house and his Landlord may have a blessing for his sake for blessed is he that considereth the poor Psa 40.1 Be not you discouraged if you cannot build your selves another mans house may be as commodious for you as one of your own erecting and if there happen to be inconveniencies in it they will not so much upbraid and vex you as if they had been contracted by your own misbuilding as they might have been Nam quae non fecimus ipsi haud ea nostra voco you are not chargeable with the faults of those houses which you did not make or build your selves I have one thing more to say to such as must sell their ground and are dejected at the thoughts of so doing Were you not so far undone that you could not attempt to build who knows whither you as many others have been and it is supposed will be might not be undone by building DISCOURSE XI That a strict observation of the Lords day might greatly promote the rebuilding of the City THe Lords Day is not that Sabbath which was first so called for that was the last day of the week whereas it is the first yet a Sabbath it is and doubtless injoyned in and by the same Commandment that the Jewish Sabbath was viz. the fourth for whosoever doth not acknowledge it so to be must either say that there is no Sabbath at all or day of holy rest to be kept under the New Testament and consequently that there are now but nine Commandments in the Moral Law the fourth being abrogated and expired whereas Christ hath told us That till heaven and earth pass one jot shall in no wise pass from that Law Mat. 5.18 or else they must say that the last day of the week is that which ought alwayes to be observed by Christians as it is by Jews for the only Sabbath and weekly holy day that is for ever to be celebrated in obedience to that Command Most Christians are averse from Judaizing in taking Saturday for their Sabbath chusing rather to imitate the practise of the Apostles whose manner it was to observe not the last but first day of the week which we conclude they would not have done but by Warrantie and Commission from Christ who alone was Lord of the Sabbath so to do Yet some few Christians there are who symbolize with the Jews in their Saturday-Sabbath and keep the same day as holy as they can And verily if in this case I may speak my mind freely they are much less too blame who keep a Saturday Sabbath than they who keep none at all who understand that Commandment as the Jews do than they who make as if it were abrogated and disannulled But he that shall fall into neither of the extremes aforesaid but shall confess that the first day of the week is that which was instituted for Christians by the fourth Commandment must needs own it to be a Sabbath because instituted and appointed by and under that name Exod. 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and v. 11. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it That it was necessary I should prove there is a Sabbath yet in being and that the day which men ought weekly to observe as holy to the Lord thoroughout all Ages is called the Sabbath to the end I might shew that the Promises made and incouragements given to such as have kept or shall keep holy the Sabbath day are not insignificant and out of date as to us who live under the New Testament Having done that it will be easie to prove what I have affirmed in the Title of this Chapter viz. that a strict observation of the Sabbath for so is the Lords day to Christians would greatly promote the building of the City witness that pregnant promise which of its self were a sufficient testimony Isa 58.12 13. And they that shall be of thee shall build the wast places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in If thou turn away thy foot from my Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words v. 14. I will cause thee to ride
so to be yet have I taken no such liberty when the matter before me was divine and spiritual as being a professed enemy to any thing like a jest in any thing like a Sermon or mingled with any matter which otherwise might become a pulpit If thou art altogether a stranger to the art of Divine Chimistry or of extracting moral and spiritual considerations out of mechanical and ordinary things like good Spirits out of lees and dregs thou thou mayst learn something of it here for though some heads of this book be very unpromising and such as some would wonder what good could come out of them as they said of old can any good come out of Nazareth yet thou wilt find the application somewhat practical and profitable which may reconcile thee to it as a good Moral might do to a fable that at the first hearing did seem but slight There are instances of this in Discourse 5 6 7. the Titles whereof promise little or nothing Wouldst thou have thy mind to be filled with good and useful thoughts as thou passest to and fro the ruins of London as many do very often and as thou takest a view of the new buildings either begun or finished this Treatise may furnish thee with seasonable meditations with some of which if thy heart be in too light a frame thou mayst make it more serious and with others thou mayst make it more pleasant if it be too sad These are all the uses which this Treatise pretendeth it can serve for and these thou wilt say are enough if it perform accordingly now whether it do so or no is and must be left to the reader to judg but if it do not the Authour hath failed of his design in whole or in part Mispointing and misprinting have disturbed the sense now and then and made it unintelligible but if thou pleasest to have recourse to the table of Errata thou wilt there see what the Authour intended the smalness and swiftness of whose hand hath doubtless exposed the Printer to more mistakes than otherwise he had been guilty of I have closed this book with a Discourse of the Resurrection of our bodies those houses of clay in which we dwell which is that Article of our Creed which the resurrection of London doth most naturally and easily put us in mind of as the destruction of that City did most genuinely lead us into the thoughts of our own death and dissolution And thus thou hast an account of the drift and purport of the whole work I am conscious to my self that this Treatise carrieth with it the stamp and impression of many of the Authours weaknesses though the proverb be The eye seeth not its self but if no man shall throw a stone at the Authour till one be found that hath no weaknesses of his own or shall be thought to have none when ever he appears in print though not guilty of or charged with so many as he I say if the Authour escape till then he is like to sleep in a whole skin for good and all I verily think that this poor despicable book will in the main approve its self to every mans conscience and though not to every mans private humour and dishonest interest yet to the interest of the publick and good of the community and that there is not one expression in it but may be taken in a sense that shall give no offence or by which there shall be no scandalum datum or offence justly given whatsoever may be unjustly taken Let those that never exposed themselves in print suspend their censure but till they do and let those that are in print already read these lines but with so much candor as they would desire their own should be read especially if they have treated of matters hard to be treated of and sailed as the Authour hath done from first to last betwixt Scylla and Caribdis that is amongst rocks on every side of him I say let them who would themselves be construed as well as ever their words will bear but do as much for me and it is all the favour in that kind I shall intreat He that doth but glance upon a book his eye may light unhappily upon some passage one or more which singly and by its self considered may prejudice him against the rest and make him resolve to read no more whereas if the same person had read the whole book over he would have liked it well and been no more offended at those very passages than skilful Apothecaries are at the vipers which are in the receit of Venice Treacle which with such and such corrective ingredients wherewith it is compounded makes it a more soveraign antidote than it would otherwise be Reader Thou hast my pains and earnest indeavours on the behalf of London that it may rise and flourish again let me have thy pardon for whatsoever is or seemeth to thee to be amiss in and throughout so well intended a work and which is more let me have thy prayers that God would pardon all the defects and miscarriages of this work as to matter or manner and forgive the Authour those ten thousand talents in which upon other accounts he stands indebted to the great God as who can know the number of his transgressions as also that whatsoever in this book is of real tendency to personal or national civil or spiritual good may be duly considered entertained without prejudice and so far as is possible brought into practise Now my hearts desire and prayer to God is that he would please to say concerning London and Londoners as concerning Israel and Ephraim of old Since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him Jer. 31.20 and v. 4. I will build thee and thou shalt be built O virgin of Israel thou shalt surely be adorned c. and v. 10. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock and v. 11. And they shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oile and v. 12. Their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all and v. 24. Turn again O virgin of Israel turn again to these thy Cities and v. 28. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict so I will watch over them to build and to plant and v. 23. for I may not recite all As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the Cities thereof when I shall bring again their captivity the Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice and mountain of Holiness I say that God would use the like expressions concerning London and Londoners as here concerning Israel and Ephraim is the hearty desire and earnest
of the loyns of those few persons that did remain of the old Who knows but that God may have pleaded all that controversie which as yet he meaneth to plead with us in and by the burning of that one City The destroying of Cities and the not suffering of them to be restored is no other then continued destruction as they say of Conservation that it is continued Creation is not work that God doth do every day it is his act indeed but his strange act he is usually long about it and as it were deliberating with himself as when he said of old How shall I give thee up O Ephraim c. True it is that sin had overspread the City like a Leprosie and like that disease gotten into the very walls of the several houses thereof but when the walls of the most leprous house were once pulled down or the house its self demolished as this poor City hath been there was an end nor do I any where find that it was forbidden or spoken of as dangerous to build another house in the same place or upon the same ground Levit. 14.45 Let men charge what they can upon the late City as some in spight do charge upon it what it never deserved what is now in hand is not that City nor shall it ever partake of its plagues and punishments unless it be afresh polluted with its sins or some others as great That God was pleased to spare a remnant of the City of London that it might not be like to Sodom and Gomorrah in point of total destruction for the present is to me a further argument of hope that it shall not be like those places in point of perpetual desolation for the future that it shall not suffer the vengeance of eternal fire in such sense as that phrase is applyed to the places themselves meaning they should alwayes lye in ashes God having spared eight and no more of mankind when he brought the Deluge and but seven of any other kind of Creature reared up a new World out of that small remainder of the old which he had reserved as a seed for that purpose which it is like to Noah and his Family was also a pledge that God intended so to do Methinks London ever since the Fire hath been like a person frighted into a swoun whose vital spirits are for the present concentrated and contracted into a narrower room as are the Inhabitants of that Relique of a City at this day and if it be but so why should we dispair but it will come to its self again or shall I compare it to one that hath a dead Palsie who hath sense and motion in some parts of his body though he have little or none in the rest The remainder of the old City as small as it is doth not a little facilitate and incourage the building of that part that must be new according to the old saying Facile est inventis addere it is easie to add Give me said Archimedes but where to set my foot in the mean time and I will turn the World round Londoners by virtue of that remainder of a City have where to set their foot which is no small advantage I cannot but reflect upon that passage Isa 65.8 Thus saith the Lord as the new Wine is found in the Cluster and one saith destroy it not for a blessing is in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all The meaning seemeth to be this as when a Vine is grown so barren that scarce any good Cluster of Grapes seemeth to be discerned on it whereby it may be deemed to have life in it and the Husbandman is above to cut it down if one chance to espy some one cluster that hath Grapes with liquor in them whereby it may appear there is life yet he may thereby be induced to forbear the utter rooting out or hewing down of it being told there is a blessing in it that is to say some life and sap giving hope of its recovery and growing fruitful again This is the case of London at this day though the greatest part of it be withered and burnt up yet there is some new Wine found in a Cluster so that one may say there is a blessing in it and may hope from thence that God will not destroy it but will say concerning it as of Jacob v. 9. I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob that is those who shall be as seed which though small is apt to grow numerous and great Neither is it less pertinent to this occasion to allude it to that Prophesie of David concerning Solomon and his Kingdome Psa 72.16 There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the Mountains the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the City shall flourish like grass of the earth Say London be at the present but as a handful of Corn in the top of a barren Mountain whereas it is rather as so much Corn in a fruitful Valley yet may it hereafter by the blessing of God come to shake like Lebanon and flourish like the grass of the earth Is London the first City that ever was burnt and built again I rather think that most of the famous Cities in the world that were of antient foundation have passed thorough the fire first or last it may be more then once and Phoenix-like have been raised out of their ashes The Scripture tells us of the burning of Jerusalem by the King of Babylon besides the captivity of the people and yet in that self-same place was there so goodly a City and Temple in our Saviours time as did move his Disciples to admiration He that shall but glance upon History may furnish himself with instances enough of that nature nor will I so far prejudge my Reader as to enumerate them seeming thereby to think him ignorant of a thing so obvious Who knows not that London its self hath been burnt several times formerly as in my Treatise of the burning of London I have shewed and yet how Noble a City was it before it was burnt the last time viz. in 1666. One while it lay in ashes above 80 years and by that time one would have thought it should have been buried in perpetual filence and forgetfulness and some other place have been unalterably possessed of the preheminence but after that in all likelihood it was a body not only dead but rotten the very bones and ashes whereof are scare to be found yet did it lift up its head again and became greater then ever as it lately was Now what Maxime in Logick more evident then this A fuisse ad posse valet consequentia What hath been may be again God hath raised London out of the dust several times he is raising it and let us trust in him that he will in due time compleatly raise it again I have charity and respect enough for
Londoners whatever others want to fetch an argument of hope even from themselves the real piety and integrity of many of them I say not of all for where but in heaven are all Saints that for their sakes God will return on high and say of London that it shall be built again He that would not have destroyed Sodom for the sake of but ten righteous persons if there had been so many there will I trust not give up London to a perpetual destruction out of the regard he bears to those many tens and hundreds of righteous persons that are found there if persons that live righteously soberly and godlily if they that do generally practise only such things as are honest just pure lovely and of good report as it is Phil. 4.8 if they that seem to be afraid of whatsoever they know to be sin and to make conscience of every known duty I say if men and women of such a character may and ought to be taken for persons truly religious as our Saviour tells us that a tree is known by its fruits if they that bring forth fruits meet of faith and repentance ought to be esteemed to have both and not censured for hypocrites then are there I presume several hundreds in and belonging to London whom we are in duty bound if the exercise of rational charity be a duty to own for good Christians and that they are such I dare appeal to the consciences of their greatest enemies or the most of them who when upon a Death-bed or in great distress shall desire and value their prayers to God for them much more then the prayers of those that have been their most intimate associates I had almost said if there were less Religion in London then indeed there is though God knows there is not that which ought to be some would love it more and give a better report of it then now they do They count it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you Could I speak with their enemies and themselves not over-hear me thereby to be tempted to something of pride I would say that if God have a people in the world that love and fear him he hath some such in London yea I hope he hath much people in that place whose habitation himself is in the sense intended Psa 90.1 and as for other habitations shall in due time be provided for by him I will not now determine in what sense it was spoken but in Exod. 1.21 it is thus written It came to pass because the Midwives feared God that he made them houses For once I 'le venture the scoffs and scorns of this the profanest of Ages by making bold to say that the many fervent prayers which have been daily are and will be offered to God on behalf of this desolate City that it may be revived once again is to me a further ground of hope that it shall be so I have evinced already that there are considerable numbers of good and gracious Christians in and about the City to ply the Throne of Grace for the welfare of it and the Scripture telleth us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much I must first doubt whether there be a God at leastwise whether God be a lover of righteousness and righteous persons which the uncontroulable dictates of my conscience will not suffer me to do before I can think that the prayers of good men signifie nothing and are but as water spilt upon the ground Prayer hath prevailed for greater things then is the building of a City in the use of ordinary means Did it not shut and open heaven in Elijah's daies though himself who offered those prayers were a man of like passions with our selves Can it do the greater and not the lesser Did I know the man that would say let no man trouble himself to pray for the success of my building I shall do as well without as with all the prayers that can be made on that behalf I should expect some Eminent Judgment to fall upon that man as hath done upon some other eminent Builders that have gone by the name of Atheists Tush 't is in vain to contradict experience they that have received many signal answers of prayers and on the other hand have met with great rebukes at such times as they have restrained prayer from the Almighty or prayed as if they prayed not will never believe to the contrary but that any good undertaking may and will be much promoted by the ardent prayers of those that have interest in God of which I doubt not but there is a great Stock going for London at this day and it shall stand for one of the Pillars of my hope in this as in other cases that God hath never said to the seed of Jacob Seek ye my face in vain Next unto the prayers and tears of good men the triumphs and insultings of bad over a famous City laid in ashes gives me some of the greatest hope and confidence that it shall not alwayes lye there Was it not publickly observed that Papists up and down the Land were never more jolly and jocund then they shewed themselves soon after the burning of London Some hellish Persecutors in the Marian daies did not more rejoyce in those flames which burnt the holy Martyrs then some of them are said to have done in those which burnt the City But will the great God alwayes feed and cherish such mirth as that Shall not their laughter be turned to mourning and their joy to heaviness Hath not the Lord seen it and it displeased him and will it not invite him to turn away his wrath from the City Prov. 24.16 God will not alwayes suffer Philistines to make sport with Sampson but will cause the house at last to tumble about their ears and grind them to powder who made him grind in derision Another City which therefore we now hope for would spoil the insolent mirth of Popish enemies above any thing else and put them quite out of countenance God speaking after the manner of men Deut. 32.27 speaks as if himself did fear the insolency of enemies Were it not that I feared the enemy would behave him self haughtily c. And if so doubtless he will take a time to suppress both it and them And now methinks I my self am almost weary of this so long a Chapter though consisting only of incouragements and grounds of hope and though I have stayed and rested my self upon thirteen several Pillars by the way and those Pillars of hope I shall more easily be pardoned because the Subject is lightsome and we know that the length of daies useth not to be complained of though that of nights be troublesome howsoever Solâ—mon telling us that it is not good to eat too much honey Prov. 25.27 advertiseth that shortness may be wanting where sweetness is not saving as want of shortness may somewhat imbitter
of our prosperity that it will never be removed But we are often mistaken so was Asaph when he did thus expostulate Psa 77.7 Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious hath be in anger shut up his tender mercy will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more is his mercy clean gone for ever and adds v. 10. I said this is my infirmity v. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders And v. 19. Thy way is in the Sea and thy footsteps are not known Hear the moans of Sion and the answer given by God thereunto Isa 49.14 But Sion saith the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her â—omb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me ver 15 16. Little did the Israelites think when their task of brick was doubled that deliverance was at hand which sense became a Proverb Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses but so it was but the Text saith The children of Israel hearkened not to Moses viz. prophecying of deliverance for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage Exod. 6.9 Little did Abraham think that Isaac should be spared though he came so near unto being sacrificed as that he was laid upon the Altar whence sprung that consolatory saying Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen I shall not extenuate the badness of our present circumstances it is too too evident that we look like a Land meeted out for destruction the face of things at this day is as it were facies Hippocratica as Physitians call it that is we look like death Never was poor Nation more convulst and pulled this way and that way backwards and forwards and other while made or endeavoured to be made more stiff and inflexible by a painful Tetanus as they call that kind of Convulsion that braceth the body so straight it can stir no way It must be confessed these are ill Symptoms but no grounds of despair possibly it is now a critical time with England and the Crises of diseases are often attended with horrid Symptoms even when Nature gets the upper hand at last Are we now in any more danger to be destroyed by our divisions then we were in 65. to be devoured by Plague but thence hath God delivered us He that hath said unto the Sword of War with other Nations Put up thyself into thy Scabbard rest and be still can say the same to the Sword of home divisions which are a kind of intestine war Surely England hath been in a worse condition then now it is and yet saved from thence First in the Marian daies when the weapons of warfare against the true Religion were no other then Fire and Faggot when the Scarlet Whore made her self drunk with the blood of Saints and Martyrs were not those daies shâ—rtned for the Elects sake Matth. 13.20 Afterwards in 88. when the Spanish Fleet called the Invincible Armado came against England in how desperate a case did it seem to be but how soon did that black Cloud blow over Then succeeded the hellish Powder Plot in the next Kings Reign which had it taken effect had rooted the Protestant Interest out of England as in the twinkling of an eye or whilst a small Paper could be burned but that also came to nothing that snare was broken and this poor Land delivered Who doubts whether Popish Archers have not shot at us many times since then and yet our Bow abideth in strength thorough the mighty God of Jacob O England so often saved by the Lord why shouldst thou despair of any more deliverances Is it because thy sins are so many and great call to mind what God saith Ezek. 36.33 In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wasts shall be builded v. 35. And they shall say This Land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden and the desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced and inhabited Look back to v. 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel See also v. 22 23 29 36 38. of the same Chapter Or is it because the Lord seemeth for a time to have forsaken thee having given thee up to flames that thou O London despairest of ever seeing good daies again I see not why thou shouldst cast away the Anchor of thy hope for all that what if thou shouldst cast it upon that Text and others of like import Psa 60.9 10. Who will bring me into the strong City wilt not thou O God which hadst cast us off And Lam. 3.31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Who seeth not the inference plain from such Texts as those that God may cast off a people for a time and yet not cast them off for ever Is it from a fear of being burnt again that you have no heart to build that fear in all likelihood ariseth from a mistrust you have that the former burning came to pass by Treachery if so be of good chear God will discover it in due time it cannot be alwayes hid and when that secret if it be yet a secret shall be brought to light when the true Incendiaries shall once be known London is like to be more secured from fire then ever it was and that fire which consumed the old City will be as a wall of fire that is a defence about the new If the great divisions discontents and heart-burnings that are now in England be alledged as they have been as a main discouragement of the rebuilding of London I would take leave to say I hope one day to see an end of those things Surely there will come a time when passion and fury will hold their peace and give way to reason and conscience to interpose and when ever that time shall come such Rules and Principles as I would now suggest will be hearkened to and cannot but offer themselves being so obvious as they are and whensoever they shall take place we may expect to see England a quiet habitation and all good people therein of one heart though not of one mind The first principle which I would hope will be received in time is this That every man pretending conscience constraining him to what he doth or restraining him from what he refuseth to do if generally trusted and thought worthy to be believed in other cases ought to be trusted and believed in that also and not to be changed with pride prejudice interest faction as the true reasons of those actions for which he pretendeth conscience yea it may be exposeth
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
as an instrument of mens ruine though but temporal how abominable was the saying of those Persian Princes Dan. 6.5 We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the Law of his God Their own consciences would have been better satisfied if they could have found occasion against him concerning the kingdome for that they first sought for but they could find none forasmuch as he was faithful neither was there any errour or fault found in him How devilish was that policy that aimed at throwing such a man as he into the Lions den by commanding him to restrain prayer from the Almighty for so many daies together which kind of policy strikes with a two edged sword for if men yeild against conscience they are in danger of Hell-fire if they yeild not they are almost sure of being temporally undone They that shall make a net of Religion in any other sence than to catch Souls for Heaven will make the Church a mountain of prey and the waters of the Sanctuary to be stiled meribah or waters of strife Dan. 6.24 and may themselves in time be cast into a Den as they have cast others and those Lions have mastery over them and break all their bones which before were Lambs till they made Lyons of them Make the yoke of Religion as light and as easy as you can and let it not be only tollerable or not more than men can make a shift to bear for when the wayes of wisdom are ways of pleasantness then assuredly will her paths be peace He whose master puts him to as much work as ever he can do and what is next to that would exceed his strength will never have his ears bored in the service of such a master thereby resigning himself to be his servant for ever A man had better accept of less work with more good will and chearfulness I pity that old man that said he did so and so but with a trembling hand and an aking heart and that he thought every conscientious man did the same thing in the same manner To them that desire the uniting of all worthy and sober men give me leave to say that such would swallow gnats if they might be exempted from Camels I say for the sake of publick work and publick peace they would swallow such things as to them seem inexpedient which I mean by Gnats though they cannot but strain at Camels that is such things as to them seem unlawful Publick countenance and maintenance would outweigh matters of indifferency with many men to whom such things are more than indifferent even very necessary One good way to make the yoke of Religion easie is to make use of as few spiritual cords as may be to tye men with but rather of such as are of a civil nature for thereby the Church and State are more secured and the minds of men less exasperated It is well known what Churchwardens have sworn to do by the oaths which they took at their entrance into that office but whether it be that they fear to perform what they did fear not to promise or whatever the reason is we find the intended obligation hath little influence upon them and they are generally the same as if they had taken no such oaths which confirms what I was saying viz. that Religious obligations as from some men give the Church and State but little security yet do they vex and disquiet the minds of men more than those of another nature would do and greatly imbitter them against those by whom they are imposed upon them against their wills It would yet further conduce to the Church its peace which is the thing I am earnestly in pursuit of throughout this Chapter though in order to the restauration of the City if it might be taken for a sufficient proof of mens obedience to the Church and the Officers of it when men observe all the Commands of God seconded by their Authority whosoever doth what is manifestly his duty having the Authority both of God and man to induce him thereunto should be presumed to have respect unto both in the doing it Lastly Superiours should study all they can to give satisfaction in matters of Religion and Inferiours what in them is to receive it So Paul became all things to all men that he might win some He saith he studied to please all men for their good to edification Superiours should impose nothing but what upon a true accompt is necessary Act. 15.28 It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things c. and inferiours should oppose nothing but what they judge unlawful That which I aim to prove in all that I have herein said is that such principles and practises as I have here recommended as modestly as I could and with humble submission to better judgements would much incourage and further the building of the City which conclusion I draw from these two premises viz. what would pacifie and satisfie men as to matter of Religion would much promote the restoring of the City But the things suggested would much pacifie and satisfie men as to matter of Religion The minor I have proved at large the major or first Proposition I shall briefly speak to and so put a period to this Chapter which for the length of it beyond any other formerly compared to the Antediluvian Patriarchs we may call Methuselah That quieting the minds of men as to matters of Religion would promote the building of the City I shall briefly prove as followeth Joy is the strength of men as one Text saith The joy of the Lord shall be your strength Joy makes men like Gyants refreshed with Wine mighty to run their race Now certain it is that to give men content in point of Religion would fill them with joy and make the greatest Jubilee that hath yet been kept If it be said that some will never be pleased with liberty granted to themselves unless the same be denied to all others not of the same opinion in all things though of the same Religion in the main Charity would that I should think there are but a few such ill natur'd people and they of all others have and do forfe it their own liberty I have heard of a Senator much condemned for putting a bird to death at a time when it was accounted a Piaculum to destroy the life of any creature but he alledging if my ill memory do not misrepresent the story that the bird he killed was one that would not suffer other birds to live by him was thereupon acquitted and well he might I hope there are but few birds of that feather at this day since men have seen what pecking at and preying one upon another hath brought us to let him be as the speckled bird Jer. 12.9 who would have all others made to fly the light and the Sun to shine upon none but
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
Papists play least in sight I mean whilst the exercise of their Religion is very obscure and private so long that proverb is made good What the eye seeth not the heart rueth not but if it should chance to shew its head in publick if it came forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber deckt and trimmed to take the eyes of its beholders if it come forth with its luscious musick tempting the people to dance after it then will the mouths of mens fears and complaints also be wide opened then will they suspect it will bear down all before it Sith then their Religion is impure and the people extremely jealous of them and it let them with the Adulterer seek the twilight yea the black and dark night Let them steal their waters if they will have any and eat their bread in secresie so it may be as sweet to them and not so bitter and vexatious to others so shall they not need to fear others neither will others be afraid of them Lastly if there shall appear a forwardness in those whom it concerns to make as much as can be made of all hints and intimations given them of danger impending from the designs of Papists I say if all such informations shall from time to time â—esifted to the very bran and the very bottom of them dived into that they may dispair of ever carrying any design undiscovered and hid under slight pretences thereby will the hearts of men be greatly secured against the fears of Papists being â—o dealt with as the Psalmist prayes that wicked men might be when he saith Ps 10.15 Search out his wickedness till thou find none i. e. no more The more â—ealousy magistrates do or shall express of Papists the less will the people be afraid of them When Magistrates are awake and watchful people will venture to lye down and sleep The fifth of November Plot had certainly taken effect if King James had not been possessed with a great jealousie of Papists and their designs which led him to such an interpretation of that letter whereby he found it out as others did not give nor himself would otherwise have given so that fear and suspicion are as we see good keyes to open the cabinet counsels of Papists and but for them we had been lost long ere this I deceive my self if I have not now treated of one of the most singular expedients whereby to incourage the English nation to any worthy undertaking and particularly that of rebuilding the City viz. by securing the minds of men against that fear and dread of Papists and of their designs which is so generally upon them that being once done as I have propounded the best and most moderate ways that I know for the doing of it men will go forward with their work like giants refreshed with wine mighty to run their race DISCOURSE XXX That to be thankful to God and men for the good beginnings of a new City is one good way to perfect it WE are doubly indebted for that part and proportion of another London be it a tenth or whatsoever it is which we see already First to the great God of whom it is said Ps 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it Nextly and subordinately to men for whatsoever they have contributed thereunto by their advice authority bounty industry or otherwise and particularly for that excellent and prudent Act of Parliament which was quickly made in the case besides an additional Bill for that purpose which had passed the honourable House of Commons and seemed to meet with no obstruction in the honourable House of Lords but want of time to pass it and which we doubt not when the two houses shall come together again will be readily agreed to and made into an Act. How noble a precedent of thankfulness for a good beginning and no more is that we read of Ezra 3.10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord they set the Priests and the Levites to praise the Lord v. 11. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid Though the ancient men who had seen the first did weep at the same time with a loud voice because the latter was not to be compared with the former yet the rest of the people gave thanks and shouted for joy And certainly they took a right course to have another Temple brought to perfection in being so thankful for it whilst it was yet but imperfect They that will see a mercy finished before they give thanks for it resolve to trust God no further man they can see him The sacrifice of praise whereby God is glorified is not to be defer'd till such time as the work of mercy hath brought forth but is to be offered so soon as there is but a conception or at leastwise any life and motion in it to discover that it hath conceived As the hearty sucking of a child brings down more milk into those breasts in which there was but little at the first so a thankful heart brings down more and more mercy and fills those breasts more full which by our daily receivings we are as it were emptying What Christ said to Nathaniel in reference to his believing John 1.50 Because I said I saw thee under the figtree believest thou thou shalt see greater things than these may be applied to thanksgiving If for a little mercy we have received already we can be daily thankful we shall be sure of more We should be thankful for the least of mercies for that we our selves are less than the least What better copy can we write after than that of Ezra that holy scribe Ezra 9.8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewn from the Lord to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place that our God my lighten our eyes so Jonathans were with a little honey and give us a little reviving in our bondage You see he was thankful for a remnant for a nail for a little reviving and God gave more afterwards The seed of mercy always prospereth when it lights upon the valley of an humble heart and is soakt with the warm showrs of affectionate thanksgivings So as the great God could have hindred the work we are now in hand with either by invading us with the Plague or plagueing us with an invasion or otherwise not one house might have been built at this day of all that were burnt nor so much as one foundation laid whereas now thanks be to God some hundreds of houses are already finished several of them more stately than before so that now we may allude to what the Psalmist speaketh Ps 48.12 13. Walk about Zion and go round about her tell the towers thereof mark ye well her bulwarks consider her pallaces that ye may tell it
19.24 and say as he Prov. 22.13 There is a Lion without I shall be slain in the streets Men in high discontent grow desperate and care not what becomes of any thing This Spirit also must be cast out or kept within some bounds by prayer and fasting There is also a private selfish self-seeking spirit which must be disposessed that any great and good undertaking may be carried on Were all people of that spirit none would contribute to the building of London but such as had private ends and particular concerns of their own But if compassion and good will towards others and a regard to publick good do not quicken that work it will go on but slowly or but little of it be for the use and advantage of those who have most need of it How easy were it to reckon up yet more evil Spirits which by prayer and fasting should be cast out that the building of London may not by them be obstructed One is a Spirit of Strife and contention a wrangling Spirit as I may call it a Spirit averse unto composing and agreeing of matters upon just and equal terms when the case is clear and easy to be decided If the reverend Judges must determine all and every controversy betwixt Landlord and Tenants and none of them will agree amongst themselves neither can they begin to build till they are agreed how many hundreds of houses will by that means be retarded nor will so much as the foundations thereof be laid so soon as otherwise the houses themselves might have been compleatly finished Some are of that humour that they never think well of a private de 〈…〉 not in the plainest case and when they are offered better terms than the Law would give them but to Law they will whatsoever it cost them and how long soever the controversie be like to deâ—end how much more in this case where they â—â—n have Law for nothing and are sure to have â—â—ick dispatch when they once come to a hearing â—et may some for ought I know wait another whole â—ear or upward ere their turn will come to have â—â—eir cause heard before the Judges all which time â—â—eir houses must lye in ashes and if such be their â—â—mour there let them lye If none but Moses will â—erve their turns to end every small difference let â—â—em stay till he can be had but in Moses his time â—â—e rulers of thousands and the rulers of tens as it might be our tithingmen they judged every small matter and only greater matters were brought before him Exod. 18.22 26. Not one brick had been â—id as I suppose in many scores of houses that are â—ow built if they that were concern'd therein as â—andlords and Tenants had not agreed of themselves their time for hearing before the Judges being 〈◊〉 may be not yet come So that if God will cast 〈◊〉 keep out that Spirit of contention which is in â—â—me men and which might possibly enter into â—ore which disposeth men to admit of no determination but that of the Law and Judges which â—â—ey cannot avoid which shews they would never â—gree if they could help it I say if that Spirit were â—â—st out and men would save the reverend Judges 〈◊〉 labour and themselves so much time by making â—â—ir propositions on both sides and mutually accepting of them then a much greater dispatch might â—e made with our City than is otherwise like to be Now that Spirit must be cast out like all the rest by prayer and fasting 2 Thes 3.16 Now the Lord of â—â—ce give you peace always by all means Seventhly here is a spirit of slumber spoken of Rom. 11.8 which if it have not ceased upon Londoners as yet it soon may for what more incident to men when they are sad and heavy hearted than to grow heavy eyed and to fall asleep Christ having told his Disciples that his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26.38 which words it is like filled them with sorrow too presently they dropt asleep though he had besought them to watch with him but one hour There is a great sadness and discontent upon people at this day and thence no small danger of a Spirit of slumber and sleepiness to insue which is an evil spirit a spirit that would never suffer the City to be rebuilt for who can build in his sleep this spirit also should be kept out by fasting and prayer unto him who never slumbreth or sleepeth And now it appeareth that if London be built again in any competent time there are as many evil spirits to be cast or kept out of it as there were Devils cast out of Mary Magdalen viz. seven Mark 16.9 which I have called by their names Nay give me leave to conclude that I am verily of opinion that all the Devils in Hell God permitting them would set themselves to oppose and withstand the building of London which shews how great need there is of fasting and prayer to carry it on and make it fail as it were before the wind I may not stand to discourse the reason and use of fasting in conjunction with prayer or why prayer alone might not do as well Fasting is a practical acknowledgment of our unworthiness of those good creatures of God which on such daies we abstain from and by consequence of all others for there is par ratio which are as good as they By fasting we acknowledg that we are unworthy of meats and drinks and if of meat to eat much more of houses to dwell in which to be deprived of were the less punishment of the two Now they that have deserved the greater punishment to be sure have deserved the less Now a hearty acknowledgment both in word and deed of our great unworthiness is one of the main and most prevailing things upon a day of humiliation If then their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled saith God and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity Levit. 26.41 Then will I remember the land By confessing we deserve no house or home as by our fasting we do if we fast sincerely what do we but accept the punishment of our iniquity which is the way to find mercy But sith our rulers have appointed an anniversary fast upon the account of the City some may think all that I have said touching this matter to be needless but really it is not so For first it doth not thence follow that the fast they have appointed will be religiously and strictly kept and as good never a whit as never the better saith our proverb or that by a great many it will therefore be kept at all Neither secondly doth it thence follow that one fast in a year is as much as need to be or as God doth expect from us upon so solemn an occasion Rulers may think it not fit to anticipate the piety of the people by leaving nothing at all to be done by them of their own accords and as a
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
to such as seek it in the first place and by patient continuance in well doing for that I must adde out of Rom. 2. Should adde any promise of things so much inferiour to it as are the good things of this life the giving whereof might so easily have been inferred and concluded from the promise of that kingdom with a quanto magis as the Apostle in another case If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5.10 He that hath assured us of an heavenly kingdom if we seek it and the righteousness thereof will certainly in that case not deny us an earthly City or any thing of that nature seeing it to be good for us But as young Virgins can hardly perswade themselves their suitors do love them unless they ever and anon present them with one thing or another that might be spared over and above the solid offers they make of setling great and liberal joyntures upon them So the great God by way of condescention to our weakness knowing us to be much what of the same temper hath promised us the little things of this life for so they are comparatively over and above his kingdom if we will but seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof in the first place It is too apparent that the generality of men have a jealousy they shall lose other things whilst they seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof therefore when men have any great and important work in hand the generality do borrow more time from religion for and towards it than from any thing else I mean proportionably to the time they had wont to spend in it ex gr when they have building work in hand possibly they will pray but half so long or so often read but half so much meditate of good things but a fourth part so much as at other times so that the great tax towards such occasions lieth generally upon Religion as if that could best admit of a defalcation of any thing else for few men content themselves with but half so much sleep half so much recreation as they had wont to use at other times But say I never pinch thy general calling to promote thy particular calling but rather hope to promote thy particular calling by giving full scope to thy general for in this as in other senses the lesse is blessed of the greater Borrow time for thy building from thy rest or recreation not from thy devotion Prayer and other duties are a help to building but so is not superfluous sleep or needless recreation Don't build first and pray afterwards but pray first from day to day and fall to building afterwards neither ask the first blessing upon thy temporal building be it an house or City but upon the building up of thy Soul in thy most holy faith First that thy Soul may prosper and be a habitation for God through his spirit and after that thy house It was a bitter Irony of him that said O cives cives querenda pecunia primum est virtus post nummos that is that the Citizens of his time sought money in the first place and virtue afterwards The kingdom of God at this day I mean the state of religion in the world and in the hearts of most professors is much what in such a condition as is the City of London viz. low and ruinous and very imperfect to what it shall be when the seventh Angel shall sound saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 Let us labour in our several capacities to advance the kingdom of God and if another London be needful for us as who thinks it is not he will certainly advance our City DISCOURSE XLVI Upon the observation of that full imployment which Carpenters Bricklayers and all other Artificers who relate to building have at this day compared with the condition of scholars under various revolutions IT is an ill wind saith our proverb that bloweth no body good Artificers who relate to building have at this day more work than they can turn their hands to Surely Aristotle saith true viz. that Privation is a principle and that the corruption or destruction of one thing is the generation or production of another The burning of London hath made way for all or most poor trades to live but not for Scholars they are the Camelions that must live upon the â—aire if they know how unless they can be Camelions in another sense viz. assume the colour of all things which they come near Water-men tell us they can earn twenty shillings a week with ease if they be good husbands that many excellent scholars cannot do nor half so much though they ply their learned oars ever so hard They are the only men who under several revolutions have bin forced to stand idle in the market place for that none would hire them or set them at work If poverty and necessity that ingens telum may be compared to Lions as by the fright some have taken at the very roaring of them at a great distance one would think they might they and their families have time after time been consigned to the Lions Den and erruditos instead of Christianos ad Leones that is away with Scholars as heretofore with Christians to the Lions hath bin the great out-cry under several changes They have bin the only men who did they live ever so soberly peacably piously and might they have lived ever so usefully and for publick good if not otherwise qualified have not been thought worthy to live They might not eat because they might not work nor might have leave to work least they should eat They might not tread out the corn because if they did do so their mouths must be unmuzled and they have leave to feed It was no matter what their talents were though the talents of a Holdsworth a Featly c. Talents of lead will give some men as good content if not better than talents of gold The world hath thought that Scholars pains might best be spared which is such a paradox as if they should tell us that Souls are less worth than any thing else which Christ tells us are more worth than the whole world for saith he what shall it profit a man c. It is incredible what shifts Scholars under several changes have been put to one while because they would not take the Ingagement forsooth out they must Let it be no more a proverb that Quaevis terra alit artes that is every country cherisheth learning for there is no truth in it Musculus was an excellent Scholar and yet forced to dig in the town ditch as some others of his profession have bin in Cole-pits and Tin-mines Alas how many Schollars have bin tempted to wish themselves poor mechanicks or handicrafts-men and that when their parents
own ruines and ashes I say that the means and causes thereof should be inquired into Nay how great a care did the Law of God take to satisfie those husbands one way or other upon whom the spirit of jealousie came though there were no witness to prove that against their wives which they were jealous of Yea if the husband were jealous of his wife and she were not defiled Numb 5.13 14. Though the thing he was jealous of could not be proved yea though the woman was not guilty nevertheless she was to offer the jealousy offering v. 18. to purg her self by an Oath v. 19. and to drink of the bitter water v. 18. and all this was no prejudice to the wife in case she were innocent nay it was an advantage to her for v. 28. it is said If the woman be not defiled but be clean then she shall be free viz. First from the curse or mischief which the bitter water would otherwise have brought upon her v. 19. If thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness be thou free from this bitter water which causeth the curse v. 19 Secondly from the jealousy and suspicion of her husband which would not otherwise have been taken off And one benefit more she was to have by it expressed v. 28. And shall conceive seed that is if she were barren before she should after that have a Child and if she had any formerly she should have more If so much were done to satisfie the jealousy of one private man may nothing reasonably be expected to satisfie and take off the jealousies of thousands if not millions of men and women in City and country in a matter of higher consequence than is that injury which a husband receiveth by the unchastness of his wife though that injury be very great yet this I say was greater For this was a fault not to be pardoned if proved whereas Joseph though a just man when he suspected his espous'd wife to have been unlawfully with Child thought to have past it by and not to have made her an example Mat. 1. How desirous were the Philistines that were smote with Emrods to know whither God had done them that great evil or whether it were not some chance that had hapned to them 1 Sam. 6.9 Was their Plague of Emrods greater than our plague of Fire If not why should we less inqure after this how it came than they after that To inform our selves how the Fire came to pass is not a point of curiosity but of great use For could it be made out at leastwise with great probability that it was the immediate hand of God and as it were Fire from Heaven that did consume our City that circumstance would so much promote our humiliation to think that rather than suffer us to go unpunished God should work a miracle to destroy us And then again upon other accounts it might make much for our comfort to know that men had no hand in the doing of it For if God himself did do it immediately we may hope the like will not be done again in many ages to come For as God after he had once drowned the world did presently promise he would do so no more so it is scarcely to be paraleld amongst the providences of God that he should burn the same City twice in a short time He useth to pause and as it were to deliberate long upon such strange acts of Judgment as those are expostulating with himself and with them as of old How shall I give thee up O Ephraim how shall I make thee like Admah and like Zeboim my bowels are turned within me c. But they that suspect it was burnt by men till that jealousie be removed will always be in fear that they whom they mistrust to have destroyed it once if undiscovered will attempt to destroy it again as soon and as often as they can Now in case the bitter water of a through examination shall confirm the thing they were jealous of viz. that London was fired by Instruments and it shall come to light who those Instruments were it is all the reason in the world they should be made examples that others may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly I reckon the danger would be over for one Age at least as to that sort of men that should once be proved and owned to have burnt the City so firmly as they would be bound to their good behaviour and so watchful an eye as would be held over them from that time forward All opposition made to the sifting out that business doth vehemently encrease the jealousies of men for he that doth well cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest but they that have done evil hate the light lest their deeds of darkness should be reproved One would think that whotsoever is suspected being indeed innocent should be more earnest than any other persons to come to a strict scrutiny that themselves might be vindicated Methinks the chast Wife that had a jealous Husband should and could not but long for the bitter water as knowing it would be so far from causing her belly to swell and her thigh to rot that it would keep her name from rotting and make her of a sorrowful suspected Wife to become a joyful Mother If all men can wash their hands in innocency as from the burning of London I heartily wish that God would bring forth their righteousness as the light and their judgement as the noon day It is pity they should suffer so much as in their names who had no hand in it and if any had besides that poor Hubart who was executed upon that accompt the strangest instance that ever was if he burnt such a City alone to suffer in their names only is not sufficient But now I think of it there lately came down a Command or Commission to the City to take examinations upon oath of all matters relating to the fire which was done accordingly and the injunction to do it was I know accepted with all humble thankfulness and as well resented by many as ever any thing was That considered I must excuse what I have said with that of the Poet He that recommends what is done already thereby commends him that did it Qui monet facias quod jam facis ille monendo laudat What Solomon saith in another case I shall allude to in this After so much enquiry as hath been made already upon the oaths of sufficient persons many of whose depositions are now extant and after all that are like to be hereafter made by vertue of the Authority then granted if there be any guilt at the bottom Whosoever hideth it hideth the wind and the oyntment of his right hand which bewrayeth it self Prov. 27.16 DISCOURSE XXI That the countenance of Rulers expressing much zeal and earnestness to have the City up again and a sad sense of its present ruines would put much life
into the work BLessed be God and blessed of the Lord be they for all that countenance which by those that are in Authority hath been given to the rebuilding of London and particularly by that most prudent Act of theirs which was made for that end and purpose That by that Act Londoners were allowed but a Copy-hold Lease of time viz. the term of three years for rebuilding of the City was enacted upon no evil design such as to surprize and take advantage against them for not being able to finish the work in so short a time but with a full intent to renew their Lease at or before the expiration of it if need should be and that upon better conditions than the former as experience should inform them of any thing that might be better Sure I am London had hitherto been like a Tree that stands in the shade if the beams of Authority had not shone upon it so as they have done it had not been in that good forwardness that it is at this day What if it be the true interest of our Rulers and Governours as doubtless it is that London should be rebuilt with all convenient speed are they therefore neither praise nor thank worthy for contributing their assistance If Magistrates espouse the interest of Religion and cherish it both in themselves and others in so doing they shall pursue their own interest upon the best terms for God will honor those that honor him yet for so doing all good men will acknowledge we ought to praise and thank them more than for any thing else I need not tell our Rulers whose interest I have elsewhere proved it is that London should be rebuilt that great works go on but slowly without countenance from Magistrates and ordinarily as swiftly with it when they afford not only permission and connivance but Commission and countenance Our Proverb saith The Masters eye makes the horse fat Of the Temple it is said Ezra 6.14 They builded and finished it according to the Commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes King of Persia How vigorously Cyrus though a Heathen Prince did bestir himself for and towards the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem We are told almost throughout the sixth Chapter of the Book of Ezra and as if Artaxerxes had vyed with Cyrus for zeal in that matter or laboured to out strip him We read as much of him in the seventh Chapter from the 11th verse till towards the end If either of them had had a Palace of his own to build which his heart had been greatly set upon I see not how he could have promoted it more than both of them did the Temple Ezra 7.23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be diligently done said Artaxerxes in his Decree for the House of the God of Heaven for why should there be wrath against the Realm of the King Under those benigne aspects and influences of great ones the Temple went up amain and so doubtless with the blessing of God may our City if the like countenance and encouragement from such as are in chief Authority shall always be afforded to it And what should make us doubt but so it will be For first our Rulers know full well that nothing will be rescented as a greater demonstration of their love and care than an earnest forwardness expressed to see London up again or of the contrary man a want of that nothing will beget a greater confidence of the people in them and affection towards them than that would do Besides that it is more their own concern in point of Honor and profit that London should be built again than it is the concern of any ten men whatsoever as his Majesty was pleased to say in print That his loss by the burning of London was greater than any mans else and certainly it was Was not his Majesty the great Landlord to whom all the houses in London had wont to pay a kind of Quit-Rent othergise than a Pepper-Corn viz. so much yearly for every Chimney Private men may call this or that or some few houses in London theirs but only the Kings of England can call London their City as they use to do though not in such a sense as to destroy the propriety of particular owners But though owners have more interest in some houses Kings have some in all which cannot be said of any Subject Neither is that of profit which Kings have had by the City of London so great but the interest of honor and reputation which hath accrued to them by their dominion over so famous a City the very quintessence of their Kingdoms hath been as great or greater All which things considered it were not unreasonable or effeminate if a King should openly lament the loss of such a City in some such language as David did the loss of Absalom when he cryed out O Absalom Absalom my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son O London London my City my City c. I should think the loss of London to be as great as was that of Callice which one Queen of England laid so much to heart Should then our Rulers express such a passion for London as David did for Absalom or as Rachel is said to have done for the loss of her children as hardly any case would better bear it or should they say concerning London as Rachel concerning children before she had any Give me children or I die Methinks I easily foresee how the generality of the people would do as Davids valiant men did who brake through an Host of Philistims and drow water out of the Well of Bethlehem and brought it to David because he longed for it 2 Sam. 23.15 My meaning is if Rulers shall express such an earnest longing after another London as David did after the waters of Bethlehem people would adventure life and all but they should soon have it and the reason is because Rulers in so passionately wishing for another City would express kindness to the people as well as to themselves and people in pursuing so good a work would shew kindness to themselves as well as to their Rulers the grateful sense of whose love they are ambitious to express and when all those things should meet together it would be as when stream and wind and tide and that a Spring-tide too do all concur to promote a Vessel that is sailing or Galley that goes with Oars When the incouragement of Magistrates together with the interest and inclinations of a people do all run one way then are people like Gyants refreshed with wine who though mighty of themselves are made thereby more mighty to run their Race Had David been to build such a City as London I know what Absâ—lom would have said and many people would have believed him by what I read of him 2 Sam. 15.4 viz. that if it were as much in his as in the power of some other they should not stay long for
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