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
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
free-will-offering Moreover they are to make such Laws as all or the generality of men may be able to observe Now all men are not in a capacity to fast frequently yea some it may be so much greater is their leasure can better keep one fast every week than others can keep two in a whole year So that though it may be no fault in our Magistrates to injoyn but one fast in a year in order to imploring mercy for the desolate City yet it may be a great fault in the people to whom it is as lawful to fast as it is to pray without special command from their superiors as having a command for him that is supreme to pray always that is at all opportunities and fasting is but a necessary concomitant of prayer as the case may be to observe no more than one day of religious fasting throughout the whole year upon so great an accompt We read that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah four daies in a year Judg 11.40 Now what was the loss of Jephthahs daughter to the loss of such a City as London was though she were made a sacrifice but if that perpetual virginity whereto she was consigned over by her fathers vow as some understand it from v. 39. Who did with her according to his vow and she knew no man were all they went to bewail four daies in a year one would think that the loss of such a City as London might better deserve four weeks or moneths every year to lament it and which is more to implore mercy for it whereas the condition of Jephthahs daughter was irretrievable whether she were put to death or whether it were only that by her fathers vow and her own superadded consent she was obliged to continue single all the daies of her life Now Davids example may tell us that when our fasting and mourning can do good as he thought it might for his child whilst it lived and we believe it may to our desolate City then chiefly if not only ought we to give way to it How often men should fast upon the loss and for the recovery of such a City as London was can be brought within no rule that will take in every man only so often as God shall afford them real opportunities of which some have ten times as many within the compass of one year as some others have But this may incourage us to be as frequent in prayer and fasting as we can namely that no such service rightly performed shall ever be in vain Physicians need not be farther invited to make frequent visits to their patients that need it than by finding they are always welcom come as oft as they will and do never lose their labour This is just the case let us make as frequent applications as we will or can to the throne of grace for our selves or others in such manner as becometh us we shall be always welcom and not lose our labour once For God is nigh to all that call upon him in truth in all things that they call upon him for Deut. 4.7 What better or more sutable examples of praying and fasting and of the good success thereof in such a case as that of our City I say what better examples can we desire than are afforded us in those two famous men viz. Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra 8.21 Then I proclaimed a fast that we might afflict our selves before our God to seek of him a right way for us Namely when he and others were going from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of God there v. 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this and he was intreated of us Se also Nehemiah 1.4 And when I heard these words I sat down and mourned certain daies and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven viz. when he heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates thereof burnt with fire v. 3. The thing he prayed for was that he might find favour in the Kings eyes to go up to Jerusalem every way furnished to build that desolate City Now v. 8. it is said And the King granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me Now I wish that upon all that I have said the resolution of men may be to keep that Anniversary fast which the Magistrate hath appointed for the City in the most solemn way that can be and over and above that to keep as many more such dayes in private though in publick they cannot without publick leave as they shall have opportunity to do For as Israel prevailed against Amaleck as much by Moses lifting up his hands viz. in prayer as by the peoples brandishing their swords in war Exod. 17.11 for when he let down his hand Amaleck prevailed so it is a real truth how few soever do believe it that those who are builders in the common acceptation of that word viz. Carpenters Bricklayers and other artificers do not more truly contribute to the building of such a City as London is in which religion as having been long known and professed there doth claim a great interest than they do who with tender regard to its recovery do earnestly apply themselves to prayer and fasting The bridegroom of England as in a civil sense I may call London though in a spiritual sense Christ himself likewise is so called being taken away fasting is now in season for saith Christ to which we only allude when the bridegroom shall be taken from them then shall they fast As the mother of Augustin comforted her self with this concerning him viz. That a son of so many prayers and tears should not miscarry so may we comfort our selves concerning London if it be a City as he was a son of many prayers and tears that it shall not miscarry but go out its full time and be brought to its intended perfection DISCOURSE XXXII On Ezra 6.14 And the elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah INtending to treat of all the helps we can think upon as for the rebuilding of London that of good Prophets who in former ages have been very serviceable even to the purposes of building witness the text above mentioned may at no hand be omitted I have shewed before that good Magistrates may contribute very much to such a work as is in hand viz the restoring of the City and now I shall make it as evident that good Ministers also might much contribute thereunto It is said in express terms that the Jews builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai It is like that Haggai did not lay one stone in the building of the Temple and yet all things considered no man was more instrumental in that work than he for he it was who in the name of God put them upon it and incouraged them in it Haggai 1.4 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai