perish if we had been sold for Bondmen and Bondwomen I had held my tongue Look away from me saith the Prophet Esay I will weep bitterly and why so bitterly for it is a day of trouble and that no small or slight trouble but of treading down and perplexity breaking down the Walls and crying to the Mountains It is a doleful sight to behold the Ship tossed up and down by the boystrous waves but to see it sink into the Sea or dash in pieces against the Rock may well cause an Outery The deeper the wound is the greater need of washing it with our tears and the heavier the burden the greater need of our hands to help to bear it up 5. Lastly If the foresight of misery when yet it is afar off much more when it is near and if when it is near much more the sight of it when actually brought upon a person or people ought to move our pity and compassion When Hazael said to Elisha Why weepeth my Lord His answer was Because I know the evil thou wilt do to the children of Israel And much like was the reason of our Saviours weeping here who knew the evil which the Romans would do to Jerusalem But when the evil is really done before our eyes good reason our eye should affect our hearts with sorrow and our hearts fill our eyes with tears This This is that my Beloved which I am this day to press upon my self and you in reference to that doleful destruction which hath actually befallen our Ierusalem the once Renowned but now Desolate City of London and her Inhabitants that being near and having beheld its Conflagration we would weep over it It is not many Weeks since we kept a joyful day of Thanksgiving for the good hand of our God upon His Majesties Naval Forces in causing their Enemies to flee before them and great reason we had to rejoyce in so seasonable a Victory But alas the righteous God hath now turned our laughing into mourning and our singing into sighing whil'st we have been forced to flee from our Houses We read of Marcus Marcellus that having besieged and taken the famous City of Syracus he wept to see such Citizens become his Captives and Slaves And it is storied of Titus Vespastan who was the instrument of Gods vengeance upon this City in my Text That he did not invade it without tears and truly that late burning of the Ships and Goods and Houses of our Enemies though it was very justifiable as an act of Military Iustice done by persons empowred with Royal Authority for the avenging of former injuries and very acceptable as a weaking of our Enemies power to do future Yet as it was an act which brought ruine and destruction upon many private persons and families some of whom might be in some sort innocent as to the publick quarrel it was matter of compassionate grief But oh then what sadness should sit upon our spirits whil'st we behold so great a destruction at home a fire in our own bowels True it is we of these parts have very great cause of joy in our particular preservation since we deserved no less than they to have been devoured by the flame but to use the Psalmists language we have cause to rejoyce with trembling lest the like misfortune befall our Houses ey and to rejoyce with weeping because it hath befallen so many of our Friends Neighbours and Fellow-Citizens Indeed had it been a particular House and Family or some Village Hamlet Town or Burrough it would have been deplorable but magnum momentum est in nomine urbis saith the Orator There is a great deal of weight in the name of a City and consequently the ruine of it most lamentable As among Stars there are of the first and second and third magnitude and among Ships of the first second and third Rate so among Cities there are greater and less and surely by how much the greater the City the sadder the loss What tears then yea Rivers of tears were they like the goodly Thames which runs by can be sufficient to bemoan the downfall of this so ancient and so eminent a City This City was called when in her Glory by Ammianus Marcellinus Augusta the stately magnificent City but how is she now become angusta this large Volume in Folio abridged almost to an Octavo there being as is probably computed scarce a sixth part remaining within the Walls The shape of the City hath been observed to be like that of a Laurel and it was a good wish of him who desired that like the Laurel it might alwayes be green and flourishing But this sad Fire hath spoiled her of her greenness and she is now become as it were one Brand withered scorched nay burnt to ashes One of the names anciently given to her was Troja nova and her Citizens called Troynovanters and behold now she is too like old Troy in her Constagration I pray God it may not be said I am seges ubi Troja fuit Corn groweth where new as well as old Troy stood Chronologers tell us I hat London was 354 years older than Rome and Tacitus speaking of her above 1500 years ago calleth her Londinum copid negotiarum maxime celebre a very famous place for Merchants ever since which time she was rising higher and higher in splendor and glory But alas in a few dayes she is spoiled of all that beauty she had been advancing so many hundred years We have not I suppose forgot that fatal blow by Fire and Gun-powder given to that Ship which did wear her name but the Loyalty of many worthy Citizens in one year repaired that loss by building a better now deservedly called the Loyal London But who can tell how many years may pass before this City of London attain to her pristine lustre Though yet I will not despair but that in Gods good time she may become more illustrious than before A late Writer having first given a full and particular account of this City goeth on to parallel it not only with all the Cities of these three Kingdoms but of the whole World and prefers it before them For having reckoned up about twenty several kinds of Ornaments belonging to a City he proveth by an induction of particulars That though in some one or few of those Ornaments many other Cities out-go her yet all taken together she surpassed them all And to all those excellencies which he mentioneth I shall add one in which I am sure no City could equalize her the number of her Learned Religious and painful Preachers upon which account the title which the City of Quinzie in China attributed to her self for her high Walls might have been given her she was an heavenly City or to use our Saviours language of Capernaum a City lifted up to heaven And now who can refrain from weeping to see this City almost stripped of all her Ornaments and her Honour laid
to pass And as we must acknowledge it was the merciful and powerful word of our God which said to the Fire as he doth to the Sea Hitherto thou shalt come and no further So it was no other than the angry and revengeful hand of God which caused the Fire with the wind to bring upon the City such a generally destructive Calamity Upon this consideration it will be fit for us as we look upon the burning to be the effect of Gods wrath to bewail the sins which have incensed it and thereby procured this Constagration So that whereas all this while I have called upon you for tears of compassion I must now exhort you to tears of compunction I do not design Beloved to upbraid London in this day of her calamity far be it from me but I think it a very fit season for London to be put in mind of her iniquity I would not confine the sins which have deserved this devastation only to London nay rather enlarge the accusation against the whole Kingdom and as both Prince and People will find themselves concerned in the sad effects of the flame so all have reason to charge themselves with the kindling it But as the Judgment is fallen more immediately and most heavily upon the City so doubtless it concerneth the City more especially to remember and bewail her own sins And whereas there were several Parties and Men of various perswasions in that once populous City I could heartily wish that instead of throwing Dirt in each others Faces they would throw each the first stone at themselves and instead of railing and reviling they would all of them with weeping eyes bemoan first their own sins and then the sins of one another We read of Josephs Brethren when their Brother had put them in Ward they said one to another We are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us I would to God it might be so with all the Inhabitants of this City now that so great distress is come upon us to hear the voice of Conscience which if not quite seared will speak at such a time and to say one to another We are verily guilty of these and these sins Now that God hath overthrown some among us as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah it is time surely for those who have been guilty of Sodoms sins to accuse themselves for their pride fulness of bread abundance of idleness and not strengthning the hands of the Needy Now that so many houses of God are burnt up and laid waste in the City and their Teachers are removed from them it is time for those to bethink themselves who either out of Prophaneness have neglected or out of Schism vilified the houses of God and if not like this City of Jerusalem killed and stoned yet disheartned and contemned those who were sent unto them Now that many of our wealthy Citizens are much weakned and impoverished in their Estates it is time for them to call to mind how forward they were to part with their Wealth for raising a Rebellious War against their Soveraign which at last most Tragically ended in His Murder Now that such a Well-ordered Society as the City of London was is broken and Neighbors and Friends are scattered up and down in several parts and that the Fire hath run through and thrown down her goodly Structures it is a fit season for those cursed Incendiaries to condemn themselves who delighted in division made wide breaches in Church and State between the King and His People and when time was set the whole Kingdom on flames yea I fear still would had they the like opportunity Now that their Shops and Tables Chambers and Houses are demolished their Wares and Goods either removed or consumed it concerneth those to call themselves to an account who have sequestred and plundered their Neighbors Goods and Houses and Lands ey and those also who have kept Houses of Riot Chambers of Wantonness Tables of Surfeit and Shops of Lying Deceit and Perjury This this is that my Brethren which the Lords voice crieth at this time to the City and which he expects from the Inhabitants thereof that we should every one so seriously and speedily reflect on his own sins as to bewail them with proportionable grief and so much the rather now because we did it not before not this last year when his hand of Pestilence was so heavy upon us and we so insensible of it Then he consumed our Persons by the burning Plague and now our Houses with the burning Fire Then he removed us from our Habitations now he hath taken away our Habitations from us and because there was not enough weeping then therefore there should be the more weeping now To draw to an end I have I think said enough by this time to put you upon sprinkling your heads with ashes girding your loins with sackcloth filling your eyes with tears and breaking your hearts with sorrow but I must withall tell you that all is not done when this is done Our weeping of compassion must be attended with a ready contribution towards their relief whom this Fire hath undone I hope there are not and yet I would there were not any so cruel as to exact upon their necessity who come to hire Lodgings or Houses of them this were to add affliction to the afflicted nay rather use them kindly And to those who are not able to hire give entertainment yea let us willingly embrace whatsoever Overtures may be proposed for repairing the breaches and raine of our Metropolis Our weeping of compunction must be accompanied with reformation Oh let the heat of that flame not only thaw our frozen hearts into tears of godly sorrow but melt away the dross of our corruption that the Fire which was consuming to our Houses may be as a Refiners fire unto our lives Let us pull down the strong holds of Atheism and Prophaness Luxury and Uncleanness blow up the Turrets of Pride and Ambition Envy and Faction burn up the Thorns and Bryars of Hatred and Malice Covetousness and Oppression the chaffe and rubbish of all manner of wickedness that so God may be entreated to spare the remnant of our Habitations and make up the ruines of those that are demolished to give us beauty for ashes and the oyle of gladness for the spirit of heaviness when we shall behold a new London like the Phenix rise more gloriously out of the ashes of the old Amen Amen FINIS Chap. 6. 25. Eccles. 12. 11. Acts 10. 38. Revel 18. 4. 2 Cor. 6. 14 15. Mal. 4. 2. Luke 15. 1. Mat. 19. 13. Mat. 9. 12. Jonah 1. 3. Acts 20. 22 23. Mat. 10. 23. Luke 21. 5. Chap. 3. 7. Prov. 22. 3. 23. 12. Eccles. 2. 14. James 1. 5. Prov. 2. 7. 2 Pet. 2. 6. Prov. 22. 3. John 13. 21. Chap. 11. 35. Heb. 5. 7. Cant. 7. 4. Joel 2. 17. Phil. â—â— 18. ver 36 37. Ps. 23. 5. Eccles. 3. 4. Res est soliciti plena timoris amor Ovid. John 11. 37. Matth. 5. 44 Psal. 58. 10. Prov. 24. 17. Rom. 12. 20. ver 42 43 44. Matth. 21. 37. Mark 3. 5. 2 Pet. 2. 8. Ps. 119. 136. 158. Ezek 9. 4. Matth. 7. 5. Rom. 12. 15. 2 Cor. 11. 27. Matth. 7. 12. Job 19. 21. 32. 25. Coloss. 3. 12. Luke 6. 36. Jer. 9. 1. Nehem. 1. 4. Hester 7. 4. Isa. 22. 4. 2 Kings 8. 12. Psal. 2. 6. Cic. Howels Lond Matth. 11. 23. Rev. 18. 16. Chap. 1. 16. Chap. 1. 4. 7. 12 16. Isa. 10. 3. Job 38. 12. Gen. 42. 12. Amos 4. 11. Ezek. 16. 46.
Lamentation Mourning and Woe Sighed forth in a SERMON Preached in the Parish-Church of St. MARTIN in the FIELDS On the 9 th day of September Being the next LORDS-DAY AFTER THE Dismal Fire IN THE CITY of LONDON By Nath. Hardy D. D. D. R. Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty and Vicar of the said Parish-Church Lam. 1. 12. Is it nothing to you all you that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb for William Grantham at the Sign of the Black Bear in Westminster-Hall 1666. To the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS ADAMS Knight and Baronet SIR I First preached and have now published this Discourse as a Testimony of my sorrow for Londons Ruines If the phrase and composure be as I am conscious they are very defective my Apology is That it was a time of Distraction besides broken Language is the best Rhetorick upon a mournful occasion And considering those manifold Relations and Obligations I have to that once illustrious City it will not I hope be looked upon as a presumption that I have thus publickly expressed my sorrow for that cloud of smoke which hath covered her or rather that flame of fire which hath laid her honour in the dust London was the place of my Birth Baptism Education and excepting those years which I lived in the University of Oxford in and about the City hath been the place of my abode and habitation to this day It is now full Twenty and seven years since I entered into Holy Orders Eighteen whereof I exercised my Ministerial Function in that one Parish Church of St. Dyonis which together with many more proh dolor is now laid waste And though I must confess my self highly obliged as in special to many persons of Honour and Quality so in general to all sorts of Inhabitants in this Parish where by Gods Providence I now am and have according to my slender ability officiated well nigh Six years whose merciful preservation in this late imminent danger I heartily congratulate and praise God for Yet I cannot but acknowledge those many and great kindnesses which in those years I received and that not only though chiefly from that particular Parish but several other Citizens as well of the upper as the lower sort So that though I wanted not some Enemies I bless God I found many Friends with whom if I should not affectionately sympathize in this their Calamity I should justly incur the odious brand of ungrateful and obdurate Nay if I forget thee O London let my right hand forget her cunning if I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth Being upon these considerations honoured Sir resolved as to the publication of the Sermon I know not to whom more sutably than your self I should make the Dedication and that both in reference to my self in particular and the City in general Among my numerous acquaintance in the City I have great reason to look upon you as a singular Friend as well as a prime Parishioner in that place where I lived so long Nor must I forget to own not only that liberal bounty those free entertainments but those sage advices and forward encouragements which I received from you in the late perilous times when it was a Crime to own a Prelatical Clergy-man Among the Inhabitants of the City you are the principal Mourner The Kingdom calls the City her Mother and the City calls you her Father as being the eldest among the Aldermen not only in respect of years but office none now surviving who before you had the honour to have the Sword carried before them And who should be chief Mourner at the Daughters Funeral but her Father And though I easily believe your particular losses are great yet I dare say such is your compassion That you are much more affected with the publick misery than your own damage and such your devotion that you are most afflicted with those iniquities which have procured this misery Upon this account I am confident you often turn aside in your meditations to see this sad fight and probably have prevented me in what I cannot but take notice of how within the revolution of less than seven years we have lived to see a most joyful and a most doleful sight The one of the Sun breaking forth the other of the Fire breaking out That of the King in his beauty this of the City in its ashes That a representation of Heaven and this of Hell That in the Spring of the year 1660. this in the Autumn of the year 1666. It cannot be imagined with what gladness of heart all Loyal Subjects beheld their Native lawful King after a Twelve years tedious Exile return to his Throne and not in an hostile but amicable manner pass through His chief City to His Royal Palace welcomed with the multiplied shouts and acclamations of all sorts Nor can it be expressed with what sadness of heart all good people beheld the flaming Fire as it were a Conqueror riding upon the wings of the wind from street to street with a triumphant rage through that great City eating up her Habitations casting down her goodly Structures to the earth and not ceasing till He that said to it Go said also to it Stay Had the sight of that wonderful and merciful Restauration quickned us as it ought to sutable Returns of Gratitude and Obedience we probably had never beheld this dreadful and woful desolation And since the former could not allure us to our Duty I would to God this latter may yet at length affright us from our sins Then I should comfortably hope what I doubt not we all earnestly desire a resurrection of this City out of her Rubbish to a more glorious estate than before Which worthy Sir that if it be Gods blessed Will your Age may be prolonged to see and thereby prevent the bringing of your grey hairs with sorrow to the grave and however that whensoever you go hence the blessings of Heaven may rest upon the heads of your Posterity And as you have been a vigilant diligent prudent and faithful Senator in this Terrestrial City so you may after a long course finished on earth be a Triumphant Citizen and have an everlasting habitation in that heavenly City of the living God where the Moth frets not the Rust eats not the Fire consumeth not is the uncessant prayer of Sir Your most affectionate Friend Nath Hardy Lamentation Mourning and Woe St. Luke Cap. 19. ver 41. And when he was come near he beheld the City and wept over it I Have no sooner read the Text but I suppose you all reflect upon the doleful occasion of handling it How forcible are right words saith Job and much more when they are sutable The words of the wife saith Solomon are as nails and as
goads to make a deep impression upon the Auditors but then especially when they are fitted to the season Such is this Scripture I have now read seasonable ey be it spoken with submission to the Divine appointment too seasonable whil'st that late dismal Conflagration of our Neighbour City calls upon nay crieth aloud to us all to tread in the footsteps of our Saviours deportment toward Jerusalem Who when he came near beheld the City and wept over it Caesar said vaingloriously of himself Veni Vidi Vici I came I saw I overcame Here our Evangelist saith of Christ what he did piously Venit Vidit Flevit He came He saw He wept And these three acts of Christ are the three parts of the Text. His Approach When he was come near His Aspect He behold the City His Tears And wept over it These three did one make way for the other He came near that he might behold and beholding he weepeth Indeed the last is the principal to which the two other are preparatory and therefore passing through these I shall chiefly insist upon that I. The first act here mentioned is Christs coming near Appropinquation is a local motion wherein there is terminus à quo a place from which we depart and terminus ad quem a place to which we draw near and this is here affirmed concerning Christ. Surely then Christs body as well as ours is circumscribed in one certain place so as it cannot be simul in utroque termino in many places at once To what purpose else those various peregrinations of our Saviour who as St. Peter saith Went about doing good if he could at once have been in those several places whither he went And if he could not be at once in many places on earth much less can he be in heaven and earth together When he was on earth he was not in heaven saith Vigilius and now he is in heaven he is not on earth And if he cannot be in many much less can he be in every place it being impossible that he should come near to any place whereas he was there before or go from it since he must be there still so that it were easie from this Scripture to confute the Multipresence of the Romanists and Omnipresence of the Lutherans But Controversies ill befit the Pulpit at any time especially in such a dolorous time as this and therefore I pass it over And yet I must not leave this first act of Christs coming near to Jerusalem till I have taken notice upon what account it was and what might be the reason of his approach For First Jerusalem was at this time a very wicked City a Sink of Filth a Den of Thieves and a Cage of unclean Birds and therefore one would think most unfit for the holy Iesus to draw nigh to The voice from heaven said concerning Babylon Come out of her my people not come near to her and it is St. Pauls question intending a Negation and thereby a confirmation of the Dehortation What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial But we must know 1. On the one hand That as the Historian saith of the River Dee in Wales that it passeth through a Lake called Pimble Meere but mingleth not with its waters or as the Fish which remaineth fresh notwithstanding it doth not only swim but suck in the salt water So our blessed Lord drew near to wicked persons and places and yet was not defiled or infected by them He is called by the Prophet Malachy The Sun of righteousness and as the Sun though it cast forth its beams upon the filthy Dunghil receiveth no pollution from it No more did Christ from those noisom places to which he approached and 2. On the other hand He was sent by his Father especially to the Jews Iis primò missus quibus promissus and that among others to discharge the office of a Prophet nay in respect of the personal performance of that office he was not sent but to them Accordingly we find him in the subsequent Verses reproving their Iniquity and foretelling their Calamity which he could not have done had he not come near to them for this reason he drew near to and suffered Publicans and Sinners in Jerusalem to draw near to him since as he saith himself he came to call sinners to repentance It is not absolutely unlawful for good men to approach wicked places and it is not only lawful but expedient for men of God to converse with that people to whom they are sent though never so wicked Indeed since it is not with us as it was with Christ He was not but we are too capable of Infection and more apt to receive evil than do good we have therefore the greater need to be watchful and circumspect But since the whole need not the Physitian but the sick those who are appointed by God to be the Physitians of Souls not only may but ought upon just occasion offered to draw nigh and visit the most desperate Patients But Secondly Jerusalem was the place where Christ was to suffer He knew how maliciously they were bent against him and how greedily they thirsted after his blood and therefore the greater wonder that he should come near such a people But the answer is easily returned He was sent to them and no dangers could divert him from the errand about which he was sent Thus ought we to run all hazards in the discharge of our duty It was a great crime in Jonah to flee to Tarshish when he was sent by God to Nineveh And it was a singular fortitude in St. Paul to go to those places whither he was sent though he knew that bonds and afflictions did abide him in every City We must not needlesly put our selves upon dangers nor can we take comfort in such sufferings Christ gave leave to his Disciples when persecuted in one City to flie unto another And wisdom teacheth us not to draw near to but avoid those places which threaten our Ruine except we have an express call from heaven and then Piety obligeth us not to consult with flesh and blood but as Luther when cited to Wormes to answer for himself though much disswaded by his Friends resolved to go thither though all the Tiles of the houses were Devils So ought we to encounter with all perils not fearing to follow Gods call be the danger never so great upon which account it was that Christ came near to Ierusalem And yet there was more than this in it Christ did not only approach Jerusalem notwithstanding but because he was and that he might suffer there He was as a Prophet so a Priest and such a Priest as was to offer himself a Sacrifice Now all Sacrifices were to be offered at Jerusalem that being the place which God had chosen for that end and therefore the time of
in the dust Let the Merchants weep for the downfall of that Royal Exchange where they used to drive on their mutual Commerce with the several Wharfs and Keyes which were so commodious for landing their Goods Let the several Companies weep for the ruine of their Halls where they were wont to meet each other in love and amity Let the poor Orphans weep for the loss of that Hospital where so many Thousands of them have been nourished and educated Let the Priests weep not as of old between the Porch and the Altar but that now there are so many Churches where there is neither Porch nor Altar to weep between Let the Parishioners weep that they have now neither Churches nor Preachers whil'st those are so demolished as unfit for use and these as well as themselves forced to look abroad for shelter Finally Let all the Inhabitants of this City and her adjacent parts weep to consider how many Families have not where to hide their heads but are scattered up and down the Fields for want of their Habitations Yea how many wealthy Citizens are very much impoverished and some of them brought to a morsel of bread Nor do I only call upon the City her self but the Court the Countrey the whole Kingdom to weep over the Cities destruction and that not only in regard of the particular losses which several persons throughout the Kingdom undergo upon this account but of the Concern which the misfortune of this City is to King and Kingdom The City of London was as it were the Dominical Letter by which the whole Nation reckoned how the year would go about or as the Golden Number by which we were wont to cast up our Accounts It was the saying of a judicious Forreigner That England might rather be said to be in London than London in England Sure I am the welfare of England was very much concerned in Londons prosperity Some have enviously resembled her to the Spleen whose high swelling made the rest of the body lean But I doubt we shall find she may more truly be compared to the stomack and the Apologue made good whil'st the stomack wants supply the rest of the members cannot thrive If England be as the heavens London was as the Sun in those heavens must not darkness needs cover the whole heavens when the Sun is so much eclipsed If England be as the Ring of Gold London was as the Diamond How little is the value of the Ring when the Diamond is if not wholly lost yet very much cracked If England be as a goodly Tree London was as the root and when the root is withered how can the Tree flourish London was wont to be called Camera Regis the Kings Chamber ey and it might have been called the Kings Coffer since besides the great Income which her Custom Excise and Chimnies brought to the Crown she was ready to fill his hands with present Coin upon all occasions well may the King weep nay we need not call upon Him I would to God all his Subjects were as deeply sensible of this sad blow as He. London is called in the Law Cor Reipublicae totius Regni Epitome the Heart of the Commonwealth and Epitome of the whole Kingdom And she is no less justly than usually stiled the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mother-Mother-City of the Kingdom well may all the Daughter-Cities yea all the People of the Land take up a bitter wailing for this blow which hath as it were stab'd them at the heart and killed their Mother Ey and especially at such a time as this when by reason of our Forreign War her assistance was so useful Sad indeed to have the Milch Cow dry when most need of Milk and the Cloud vanish when most want of Rain yea as it were the Fountain to be empty when most occasion for water How stupid is that Man How hard is that heart which these considerations do not affect And yet this is not all since the doleful influences of this calamity in some sort reach not only to the whole Kingdom but to all the Protestant Churches There have not wanted daring Prognosticators who have presumed to foretell the destruction of Rome and the downfall of the Pope this year no doubt if they repent not of their Superstitions and Idolatries Vengeance will pursue them but it is not for us to know the times nor to build positive Predictions upon our Interprepretations of dark Prophecies In the mean time we sadly behold the most famous Protestant City of the World become an heap of Rubbish I easily believe our Romish enemies rejoyce at this flame and cry among themselves O pulchrum spectaculum O goodly sight And perhaps our Protestant Adversaries rejoyce also but I doubt they will have little cause for it when they weigh all things in a right balance Whither by that Babylon mentioned in the Revelation be understood Pagan or Papal Rome I shall not now dispute but sure I am all Protestant Princes and Churches have reason to make the like Lamentation over London which is said to be made over Babylon Alas Alas that great City which was clothed in sine linnen and purple and scarlet with gold and pearls and precious stones for in one hour at most a few dayes she is made desolate All this while I have only set before you the sadness of the Ruine together with the doleful effects which attend it but now give me leave to enlarge and increase your sorrow by minding you of the causes as well as the effects entreating you to consider by whom and for what it is that this great desolation is befallen this great City We read in the Book of Job That the fire of God sell from heaven and consumed his sheep And God threatneth by his Prophet Amos against Damascus Gaza c. That he would send a fire which should devour their Palaces And surely no other was this Fire which hath laid waste so many beautiful Churches goodly Fabricks and Houses than the fire of God a fire of his sending If there were any sons of the Coal who kindled or fomented the flame yet they were the Rod of Gods anger and the Fire-balls in their hand his indignation and I both pray and hope that if there were any such Rods they may themselves be cast into the fire and receive their deserved punishment for so horrid a villany If it were an accidental fire occasioned by negligence and inanimadvertency yet even that casualevent was of divine appointment Nor was it only the hand but a special signal hand of God which appeareth among other things chiefly in the concurrent wind by which the Fire was carried on with an impetuous violence for who was it but God who was pleased at once both to stop the Windows of Heaven that it rained not and brought forth the wind out of his Treasuries that it continued till the Fire had done that work which he determined should come