notably set forth in the first book of the Macchabees 4. The fourth Beast viz. the Roman Monarchy is worse than all the three former Beasts and that Vision of Daniel fore-mentioned is suited to that of S. John in Rev. 13.1 2. And I stood upon the sand of the Sea and saw a Beast rise up out of the Sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten Crowns and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy and the Beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a Bear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority The reason why Daniel did not liken the fourth to any Beast as the former three were is because it was a Monster compounded of the cruelties of the several beasts sc of a Lion Bear and Leopard this Beast was like them all Now this Beast was some hundreds of years before it came to its full growth and being distant from Judah the Church of God felt nothing of its fury till the Age before Christ came in the flesh The first time that this Beast put forth his Paws against the Church was about sixty one years before the Birth of Christ when Pompey the Roman General taking advantage of the contentions of the two Brethren Hircanus and Aristobulus of the Race of the Macchabees about the Priesthood and Principality took from them the City and Temple of Jerusalem and made them Tributary to the Romans whereupon he and others with him presumed to enter into the Temple and saw such things that was not lawful for them to see after which violence and presumption it is noted of Pompey that was very victorious before above any one Roman that he was very unhappy in his wars afterward and being vanquished by Julius Caesar fled into Egypt for refuge and there was murdered where he looked for succour Crassus committed horrid sacriledge he robbed the Temple in Jerusalem of ten thousand Talents that is two hundred thousand pounds of our money and afterwards being overthrown of the Parthians had molten gold powred down his throat to satisfie his greedy appetite One notable mischief the Romans did to the people of God was the placing of that cruel Herod in the Throne who was made King by the favour of Augustus and Mark Anthony he was a Vassal to the Romans though a cruel Tyrant to the people of God And now the Scepter was departed from Judah and the Law-giver from under his feet this Herod slew the Sanedrin and Grand Council of the Land and murdered the Infants at Bethlehem from two years old and under out of a desire to murder Christ in his Infancy This fourth Beast murdered the Prince of Life and Lord of Glory Pilate the Roman Judge condemning him and the Roman Souldiers putting it in execution And the Jews who formerly had suffered by this fourth Beast as the Church of Christ and now joyning with this Beast against Christ they became the most malignant persecutors of Christ and his Church stirring up the Roman Magistrates in several Provinces and Cities to persecute the Apostles of Christ and the sincere professors of the truth and remaining in their rebellion and enmity against Christ they were unchurched and the Kingdome of the Gospel being translated from them to the Gentiles the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost eleven hundred thousand of them were slain by the Sword Famine and Pestilence at the Siege by Vespasian and Titus his Son and the residue sold for slaves and afterwards five hundred thousand of them ruinated by Adrian the Emperour And because the Soveraign Power was now setled in the Emperours that I may speak further of the fury of this Beast against the Saints of the most High I think fit to the two former descriptions in Daniel and that in Revel 13. to add another out of Revel 17.3 where S. John saith I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns This is explained ver 9. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth Ver. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space Ver. 11. And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition Ver. 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet c. These shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire Ver. 16. and ver 17. The woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the earth The seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sate This Woman is that great City of Rome built upon seven hills viz. Mons Palatinus Capitolinus Caelius Quirinalis Aventinus Viminalis Esquilinus They also signifie seven Kings or seven sorts of Supreme Magistrates by which the City and Empire hath been and is governed Supreme Magistrates in Scripture are called Kings when Israel was formed into a Commonwealth they had Moses set over them Deut. 33.4 5. Moses commanded us a Law c. and he was King in Jesurun when the Heads of the people and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together So the Dukes of the Sons of Esau are called Kings Gen. 36.31 These are the Kings that reigned in the Land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel that is before Israel was delivered out of bondage and was formed into a Commonwealth and had Moses set over them as Supreme Ruler under God Now Rome is famous for these seven Heads or seven sorts of Governours I. Kings II. Consuls III. Tribunes of the Souldiers IV. Decem-viri V. Dictators VI. Emperours VII Popes Tacitus noteth that among other things Rome hath this honour to have Kings for its Vassals And S. John speaking of these seven sorts of Magistrates that did successively rule in Rome he saith five are fallen that is when this Vision was presented to John and the Revelation written by him viz. five of those seven Supreme Magistrates were fallen Kings Consuls Tribunes Decem-viri Dictators For although there were Consuls many hundred years after yet they were no longer Heads as formerly though they had the same name yet they came short of the former Consuls in power and dignity Then Saint John saith one is that is the Heathen Emperours were then in being these were then regnant and had the place of Heads in the Empire These began to head the Beast as the sixth Head about forty years before the Birth of Christ and continued three hundred years after Christs birth I understand it of the Heathen Emperours only not the Christian Saint John addeth And the other is not yet come viz. the
miseries deformities pains sicknesses shall all be abolished the substance that is the foundation being taken away the accidents that cleaves to them whether ornaments or blemishes must needs vanish with them When a goodly Palace is on fire the beauty of it the painting the engraving the carved work and also the decayes and ruines of it will be abolished with it So the substance of these things being destroyed all the materials whether beautiful or uncomely shall be destroyed together As the iron naturally hath its rust to consume it and each tree its worm and rottenness so all living creatures all Cities Kingdomes have their internal causes of decay Consider things above or below all Trades or Liberal Sciences they all ever had and ever shall have their perishings and as the rivers by a continual course do empty themselves into the Ocean so all worldly things do slide into the Channel of destruction as to their mark they aim at therefore labour not after these perishing things SECT VI. Do not expect much from these unstable things do not build your hopes upon them such hopes are but Cobweb hopes as Bildad speaks Job 8.13 14 15. Such a man may lean upon his house but both he and his house will fall together he may hold it fast but his hope will deceive him Every thing under the Cope of Heaven is but ill ground and an ill foundation every thing except God wanteth a bottom and cannot stand alone of it self and therefore can give no support to any one that shall rest or lean upon it Oh how many are there in the world whose hearts would die within them were these temporal things taken from them take away these temporal things from those that have made them their confidence and they have nothing else to rest upon All these visible things have miscarrying wombs and dry breasts that will deceive those that look for much from them the world still makes many fair promises of much good to us and of long continuance with us but in performances proveth contrary it promiseth joy but cometh accompanied with sorrow and when we have most need of its help it will be farthest from us Grapes never grew out of these thorns nor figs out of these thistles It is not good to trust to lying vanities which ever deceive those that trust unto them and God often strips us of these uncertain things these fading helps and weak-hearted runawayes that we might place all our hope and trust in him who never leaveth nor forsaketh them that trust in him CHAP. VII I Come now to handle the second Proposition which is this Prop. 2. That Heaven is a continuing City In the prosecution of this point I will shew you first how it is a City then how it is a continuing City That it is a City will appear by these demonstrations 1. In a City there be divers streets divers houses in those streets wherein some are bigger some are lesser a City is large and spacious so our Saviour saith In my Fathers house the City of the great King are many Mansions Joh. 14.2 It is a most magnificent City no greatness in the world can be compared with the greatness of it it is the Royal Palace of the great God who inhabiteth Eternity whom the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens are not able to contain there he vouchsafeth to dwell and in a most glorious manner to communicate himself to his Angels and his Saints 2. Heaven is populous as a City If you desire to know the number of the Inhabitants of this City S. John will tell you Revel 7.9 that he saw in Spirit such a great company of blessed Saints that no man was able to reckon them gathered together of all kinds of Nations people and tongues which stood before the Throne of Almighty God and of the Lamb apparrelled in white garments and with Triumphant Palms in their hands singing praise unto Almighty God Hereunto doth that of the Prophet Daniel agree Dan. 7.10 Thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand-times ten thousand stood before him 3. It is full of glorious riches as a City It is said of Tyre that the Merchants thereof were Princes so all the Inhabitants of this City are Noble Personages there is no one among them of base Lineage or extraction forasmuch as they be all the Sons and Daughters of the Lord God Almighty and instated into a rich and glorious Inheritance 4. It is a City compact and at unity within it self We must not think that the greatness of the number of these Citizens causeth any disorder among them for there the multitude is no cause of confusion but of greater order there must needs be good agreement there being none but God and good company there there is no matter of discontent or discord among the Citizens for these commonly arise about partition and division either of honors or offices here is ambition or else of goods or possessions here is covetousness Now neither of these shall ever come there for heavens happy excess shall not be diminished nor any whit impaired by reason of the multitude of sharers in it for as S. August tells us the glory of heaven shall be Tanta singulis quanta omnibus such to every one in particular as it shall be to all in common and although there shall be dispar gloria singulorum yet there shall be communis laetitia omnium they all live so lovingly together that they are all as it were one heart and one soul All the Citizens of heaven live so harmoniously and peaceably together that the very City it self is called Jerusalem the Vision of Peace Although all the Saints shall be like Christ in glory yet one Saint will exceed another in glory God will cloathe all his children alike yet their garments shall be made proportionable to their stature all the Saints shall be Vessels of Mercy yet one Saint shall be a larger and a more capacious Vessel than another Christ in his answer to that curious request of Zebedees wife Mat. 20.23 Granting that some shall sit at his right hand and others at his left in his Kingdome implieth that there shall be degrees of glory to some more to others less they all shall have the same glory and happiness Ratione objecti faelicitat is gloria non ratione participationis In regard of the object of happiness God in Christ is the object of happiness they shall all enjoy God but in regard of the participation of the object one may and shall see him more clearly than another In my Fathers house are many Mansions saith our Saviour Patris Domus the Fathers House is put for one and the same object of glory Pluralitas Mansionum there be many Mansions that sheweth there are divers degrees of glory saith Aquinas This is his comparison there is but one Center unto which all things tend but some bodies are neerer than other bodies so God in
Christ is the Center of all our happiness Seneca calleth God Animae Centrum the Center of the Soul But one Saint tendeth more neer to God than another one shall partake more of glory than another yet notwithstanding they shall be all full of glory and happiness as Christ is Christ will give to every Saint his measure of glory Danaeus saith well the Saints in heaven shall want envy one Saint shall not envy another Saints greater measure of glory because they shall be all full of glory and there shall be no want of whatsoever pertaineth to make a creature happy Every Saint shall have and enjoy such fulness of happiness that nec plus quaeret quam habebit nec minus habere se dolebit quam habet He that hath the least measure of glory shall seek for no more nor grieve that he hath so little 5. The end of building Cities was that people might be free from the fear of their Enemies abroad and live quietly among themselves at home Now this heavenly City is too high for any Adversary to approach to and therefore free from being assaulted with any Forreign Enemy There is no Enemy can shoot an arrow into this City nor scale the walls nor incamp against it nor make any battery in it nor set it on fire nor so much as draw a line about it great is their peace and nothing shall offend them 6. It is a City in respect of its Government A City is a Corporation of men enjoying the same priviledges living under the same Government Heaven is a City saith St. August whereof the holy Angels and Saints are the Citizens the Eternal Father the Temple the Son the Brightness the Holy Ghost the Love How can it be ill in that City where God himself is the Governour his will and pleasure the Law and none but the good Angels and Saints the Inhabitants thereof In this City God manifesteth himself gloriously and ruleth immediately not by outward compulsion but by taking full possession of the soul and body of every Saint and Citizen they esteeming it to be their glory and happiness to be subject to him fully he ruling in love and they obeying in love he governing them as a Father and they yeelding filial subjection to him CHAP. VIII NOw this City hath a high priviledge above all other Cities it is a continuing City The Apostle gives the reason why it is a continuing City because it is a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 1. It hath foundations in the Plural number it hath many foundations firm and immoveable foundations that cannot be shaken 1. It is built upon the foundation of Gods eternal good will and pleasure to his people 2. It is builded upon the foundation of Gods Election to eternal glory 3. It is built upon the foundation of Christs Eternal Merits and Purchase 4. It is built upon the foundation of Gods everlasting Covenant of Grace 5. It is built upon the foundation of Gods great and faithful promises Oh what a continuing City is heaven that is founded upon such strong immoveable rocks and mountains of love II. It is said Whose builder and maker is God All other Cities are builded by mortal corruptible dying men but this City is made and builded by the eternal and immortal God who will uphold it by the word of his power for ever and ever it is the place where he will dwell where he will govern for ever The Psalmist tells us God by his excellent wisdome made the heavens Psa 136.5 There is no tongue able to express the workmanship of that curious building for if that work that appeareth outwardly to our mortal eyes be so goodly and glorious what is there to be supposed of all the rest that is there reserved for the sight of immortal eyes And if certain works of mortal men are made here so beautiful and sightly that they do even amaze the Spectators what a work then must that be that hath been wrought by the immediate hand of God himself in that Magnificent House that Royal Palace that City of joy and comfort which he hath built for the glory of his chosen Ones This City therefore shall continue for ever and they that are once in possession thereof shall never be cast out of those Mansions which God hath appointed them in this heavenly City CHAP. IX Use 1. Vse 1 THese things being so let us not think our selves Cosmopolitae Citizens of the world as the Heathen Phylosophers did but Our anopolitae Burgesses of heaven as all the faithful have done and carry our selves as S. Paul professeth of himself and all his fellow-believers saying Our conversation is in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our City-like Conversation Phil. 3.20 We carry our selves as the free Denizons and Inhabitants of Heaven so Beza renders it In a word as English Merchants or Citizens of London travelling in France Spain Italy Venice have their hearts and minds at home with their Wives and Children where their friends and freedomes be so should we from these and the like examples learn to have heavenly minds in our earthly Mansions and to fix our hearts and hopes upon our heavenly City even while we be finishing our earthly Pilgrimage The hopes of this happiness sweetens our present discontents and there is not any holy Pilgrim on earth who takes not courage when he thinketh that after his tedious Pilgrimage he shall enjoy an endless felicity in that heavenly City What was a station in the Wilderness among Sands and fiery Serpents to a settled abode in Canaan What is an Inne upon earth to a mans own home in the City of the great King How should every one of us hasten to this City travelling thither with all his might and longing to be there Labour with a spiritual eye to take an exact view of this heavenly City and of the beautiful order that is therein walk about this Celestial Sion daily in thy Contemplations go round about her tell the Towers thereof walk thorow all the streets and wayes therein consider well the beauty and glory of this City the nobleness and worthiness of the Inhabitants thereof salute this sweet and pleasant Country the Land of Immortality the glory of all Lands the Haven of Security the House of Eternity the Garden of never-fading Flowers the Store-house of all Treasures the Crown of the Blessed Ah dear City for thee have I sighed after thee have I thirsted for a long time for thee have I often wept and mourned in thee have I a treasure more worth than the whole world which all the world is not able to deprive me of I have long fate weeping by the waters of Babylon my Harp hangs upon the Willows and is now silent my mind now is all upon that heavenly City Lord I am greatly desirous to be with thee Thy Court and House O Lord is safe enough and large enough
GOD'S SOVERAIGNTY DISPLAYED From Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him c. OR A discourse shewing that God doth and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth as to the matter what the place where the time when the means and manner how and the reasons thereof With an Application of the whole to the distressed Citizens of London whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the FIRE An excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal the ends that God aims at in it with directions how to behave themselves under their losses By William Gearing Minister of the Word LONDON printed by R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst at the Golden Bible on London Bridge 1667. TO THE Right VVorshipfull Sr. John Pelham of Laughton Sr. John Fagge of Wiston in the County of Sussex Baronets TO Herbert Morley of Glyne in the same County to John Gell of Hopton in the County of Darby and to Gervaise Pigot of Thrumpton in the County of Nottingham Esquires FRom that dreadful fire that consumed a great part of the City of London about the beginning of September last I may take occasion to shew that the greatest chances alterations and most notable changes have commonly hapned in the month of September Bodinus hath collected many remarkable instances to this purpose Great earth-quakes wherewith oftentimes great Cities and whole Countries have been destroyed have happened in the month of September Such was that Earth-quake at Constantinople wherein thirteen thousand men were lost in the year 1509 in the month of September In the same month of September wherein the battel was fought at Actium ten thousand men perished in the Land of Palestine with an Earthquake The Victory of Augustus also against Antonius in the battel of Actium was by him obtained on the second of September by which victory the Empire both of the East and West fell into the power of Augustus himself alone The third day of the same month the Macedonian Empire which had so long flourished was by Paulus Aemilius changed from a great Kingdom into divers popular Estates the King Persius being by him overcome and taken prisoner Sultan Soliman on the like day took Buda the chief City of Hungaria with the greatest part of that Kingdome The same day and month Rhoderick King of Spain was by the Moors overcome and driven out of his Kingdom which wrought a strange alteration in the state of that Monarchy On the same day of the month revolving Lewis the twelfth the French King took the City of Milan with Lewis Sphortia Duke thereof whom he deprived of his Estate On the like day the Emperour Charles the fifth passed over into Affrica and invaded the Kingdome of Algiers On the same third day of September in the year 1658. dyed O. Cromwel on that very day of the month wherein hee had gotten two notable Victories the one at Dunbar in Scotland 1650. the other at Worcester Anno 1651. On the fourth day of September dyed Sultan Solyman before Sigeth which being one of the strongest holds of Christendome was by the Turks taken the seventh day after the City of Jerusalem was taken about this time of the month of September by the Romans as Xiphilinus declareth On the ninth day of September Alexander the Great at Arbela overthrew Darius King of Persia with his Army of four hundred thousand men and so joyned the Kingdome of Persia unto his own On the same day in the year 1544. James King of Scots was by the Englishmen slain and his Army overthrown On the tenth of September John Duke of Burgundy was slain by the commandment of Charles the seventh whence arose great Wars throughout all France On the like day and month was Peter Louys the Tyrant of Placenzza slain by the Conspiratours On the eleventh of September the Paleology the Greek Emperors tooke the Imperial City of Constantinople and drave out thence the Earls of Flanders who had there possessed the Empire 560 years On the fourteenth day of September the Switzers were with a great slaughter overthrown by the French in the Expedition of Merignan which self-same day also the Turk's great Army besieged Vienna the Metropolitical City of Austria On the seventeenth day the French Army was overthrown at Poictiers and King John himself taken Prisoner by the English On the same day of the month A. D. 1575 the Christian Fleet with a great slaughter overthrew the Turk's great Fleet in the battel of Lepanto On the same day of the same month Charles the ninth King of France was by his Subjects assailed near unto Meaux where by speedy flight and the help of the Switzers hee hardly with life escaped the hands of the Conspiratours A. D. 1567. On the which self-same day month and year Henry King of Sweden was by his rebellious Subjects dispoiled of his Estate and cast into Prison On the eighteenth day of September Bulloign was surrendred to the English Vpon the like day of the month Bajazet at Nicopolis overthrew a great Army of the Christians of three hundred thousand men And on the same day Saladine took the City of Jerusalem on which Pompey had before taken it On the twentieth day of September was that sharpe sight at Newbury in that late unhappy War in England A. D. 1643. On the four and twentieth day of September Constantine the great in a bloody battel overcame Maxentius the Emperour A. D. 333. and so became a great Monarch which wrought a notable change almost throughout the whole World from thenceforth he commanded the year to bee begun in September and to the Greek Feasts unto that day is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In this month Pope Boniface 8th A. D. 1303. was taken Prisoner and deprived of his Papal dignity On the third day of the same month A. D. 1556. such a Tempest of rain and Thunder hapned at Lucern as that a greater as was reported was never seen On which self-same month day the Town-Hall of Maidenburg in Germany with the Citizens dancing therein were altogether with lightning consumed About the beginning of this month A. D. 465. such an horrible fire brake forth in Constantinople by the water-side which raged with that fury for four daies together that it consumed the greatest part of the City and such was the force thereof that as Evagrius saith the strongest Houses were but like so much dried stubble before it And how hath the Lord sent a dreadful Fire upon London and it hath consumed the lofty buildings and Palaces thereof in September last We read also that many of the greatest Princes and Monarchs of the world to have dyed in this very month of September Viz. Augustus Tiberius Vespasian Titus Domitian Aurelianus Theodosius the great Valentinian Gratian Basilius Constantine the fifth Leo the 4th Rodolph Frederick the 4th Charles the 5th all Roman or Greek Emperors And of the French Kings Pepin Lewis the younger Philip the 3d.
shaking Ague makes the strong-bodied and the stout-hearted men to tremble so likewise the Fever is of Gods appointment which wasteth the spirits dries up the radical humor and puts men into a scorching flame The like is threatned Deut. 28.22 The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and with a Fever and with an Inflammation and with an extreme burning And ver 27. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the Emerods and with the scab and with the itch whereof thou canst not be healed Ver. 28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart Ver. 59. The Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance Ver. 60. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou wast afraid of and they shall cleave unto thee Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book will the Lord bring upon thee Thus you see every disease in the world is the stroke of God Men may attribute it as Pagans do to ill luck you may attribute it to the unseasonableness of the weather to extremity of heat or cold to drought or moisture to the illness of the seasons All these are of God it is he that changeth times and seasons it is he that maketh the constellations of the Heavens to meet in such and such conjunctions it is he that causeth a distemper in the air it is not the unseasonableness of the year the illness of diet that can bring diseases upon the body unless God appoints them over a sinful people Yea sometimes God imployeth Angels to execute his wrath upon mens bodies he permits the Angels to infest the air and so plagues and pestilential diseases are over a people it is the Lord that sends forth these destroying Angels sometimes he suffereth the Devil to smite men as he did permit him to smite the body of Job with sores whom or whatsoever you may look upon as the causes of diseases they are of Gods appointment it is he that taketh away the health and strength of any person or people SECT II. He takes away life Psa 90.3 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye Children of Adam to the dust dust ye are and to dust ye shall return When the living God saith Return there is no nay in his hand is our life and breath and all our wayes Dan. 5.23 The Chaldee Paraphrast renders my Text thus Si rapuerit hominem è mundo If he shall snatch man away out of the world So S. August if he will stop thy breath and deliver thee up to death who can hinder him as if Job should have said thus He hath taken away my Children my Cattel my substance my health my strength and all my outward comforts and if he now come and take away my life too I cannot hinder him God threatned the old world Gen. 6.6 7. I will destroy man from the face of the earth The Original word signifies as Pareus observeth upon the place I will steep him as a man steepeth a piece of earth in water till it turn to dirt man is but clay a speaking piece of clay and is apt to forget his Maker and the matter whereof he is made none but God can reduce man to his first principles and original matter whereof he was made there is no dust so high but the great God is able to give it a steeping In the City of Jerusalem during the time of the siege by the Romans there died and were killed eleven hundred thousand and there were taken by the Romans ninety and seven thousand at which time there were slain in all Judea in several places to the number of twelve hundred and forty thousand Jews besides an innumerable multitude who perished with famine exile and other miseries In the second Carthaginian War in Italy Spain and Cicily in seventeen years fifteen hundred thousand men were consumed The Civil War of Caesar and Pompey swallowed down three hundred thousand Pompey the Great wrote it upon the Temple of Minerva that he had scattered chased and killed twenty hundred eighty and three thousand men and one Cains Caesar gloried in it that eleven hundred ninety and two thousand men were killed by him in the Wars King Mithridates by one Letter caused eighty thousand Roman Citizens to be slain who were dispersed through Asia for traffique In Judea in the time of King David one Pestilence in a very short time swept away seventy thousand men Under Gallus and Volusianus Emperours a Plague arose from Ethiopia and invaded the Roman Provinces and emptied them for fifteen years together and sent an innumerable company of mortals to their graves In the time of Justinian the Emperours in the City of Constantinople and the places adjoyning the Pestilence raged so much that every daylit dispatched five thousand and some daies ten thousand to their long home In Numidia eight hundred thousand persons died of the Plague in the Sea-Towns of Africa two hundred thousand In Greece Anno Christi 1359 there was such a Pestilence that the living were scarce able to bury the dead In Athens the Pestilence raged for twelve years together When Italy was wasted by the Gothes in Picene only fifty thousand persons were starved with hunger At Fidenae under Tiberius the Emperour by the fall of the Amphitheatre there perished the number of twenty thousand Spectators How many thousands were swept away the last year in the great City of this our Land by the Pestilence and yet in many other Cities Towns and Villages of this Kingdome the Plague devoureth at noon-day the Plague cries with a loud voice still to us Death is neer Death is in your streets Death is creeping in at your houses and entring in at your windows Now whosoever or whatsoever be the Instrument of Death it is God only that takes away the lives of men at his pleasure See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive Deut. 32.39 SECT III. He takes away the spirits and courage of men that albeit they have opportunities put into their hands of doing this or that yet their hearts shall fail them and they shall not be able to effect it He is said to cut off the spirits of Princes Psa 76. ult Princes are usually men of the stoutest spirits but God sometimes cuts off the spirit of Princes When Belshazzar that Babylonish Monarch was in the midst of his jollity drinking Wine with a thousand of his Princes in the Vessels of gold which his Father brought from the Temple of Jerusalem he suddenly saw a hand-writing upon the wall at which sight the King was amazed so that his countenance was changed and the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smote one against the other What was the cause of
it Luke 10.42 This worlds goods will do you good no longer than you live in this world but godliness will make you happy and the fruit of it will remain with you when the goods and the world it self shall have an utter end Leave then this worlds goods to the children of this worlds whose names are written in the earth they are the only portion of worldly men So Abraham said to Dives Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things God gives unto Esau's the fatness of the earth but denies them the dew of heaven Indeed God sometimes promiscuously scatters these outward things upon the godly and the wicked he gives the wicked some share of his goodness yet it is worth your observing that Isaac would not vouchsafe to call Esau's Portion a blessing yet he gives him the fatness of the earth the worlds goods are the influences of Gods Providence not of his love only the riches of his Grace is the influence of his love and favour Ah! what pity it is to see how Satan layes upon many men a burden of cares above a load and makes a Pack-horse of their souls when they are wholly set upon the world we owe the Devil no such service it were wisdome then to throw off that heavy load into a mire and to cast all our cares upon the Lord Oh never seek warm Fire under cold Ice this world is not a field where true happiness groweth CHAP. VII THe work which now remains to use 2 be done is the application of this to the distressed Citizens of London in special many of whom have had their goods and houses taken away and consumed to ashes by that late sad and raging fire that hapned among them 1. I beseech you enquire into the procuring cause and that you will find to be sin if sin be in the City and in the house vengeance may quickly be seen at the door and at the gate sooner or later God will visit iniquities sin shall never go unpunished This was Davids resolution when God took away his subjects Behold it is I that have done wickedly but those sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24.17 This was Hezekiah's confession for his own life I have cut off like a Weaver my life Isai 38.12 Thus did that godly Widow of Zareptha acknowledge at the death of her Son What have I to do with thee O man of God art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 Kings 17.18 She verily thought that either some of her former sins or else the not using of so holy a man according to his place was the cause of this present punishment A harsh string to be touched but will be tuneable enough in the ears of the Childe of God that is already touched with the feeling of sin whose heart is still rather in the house of mourning than in the house of mirth it is the Unison of Gods people We have sinned and dealt wickedly Our Saviour prophesied Mat. 24.12 that iniquity shall abound c. and do not the times wherein we live tell us that iniquity doth abound It hath abounded and doth abound exceedingly among us in all our Country Towns and Villages but I had almost said it cannot abound more than it hath among you in London I wish I could draw a veil over the sins of these times and cover the iniquities of the City and Country as Constantine did over the errours of learned men in his daies But the sins of our times and the iniquities of your City cannot be hid they are too publick too common among us See whether all manner of sins do not abound among you the iniquities of the head the iniquities of the heart iniquities of the tongue iniquities of the life do abound in the midst of you have not the streams of all iniquities fallen into your City as all waters and rivers run into the Sea There are some particular sins for which God threatens to poure down fiery showres of wrath and indignation upon a people 1. The first I shall set before you is Sabbath-breaking the profanation of the Lords day Jer. 17.27 See how God threatens the City of Jerusalem for this sin But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devoure the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Examine now whether there were not many among you that neglected and despised the publick worship of God and others that as soon as they came out of the House of God laid aside all thought of the Word preached to them either spending the rest of the day in the Alehouse or in some idle recreations yea many suffering their children and servants in the close of the Publick Worship to turn Gods Ordinances sc prayer singing of Psalmes hearing the Word into shouting and clamors idle sports and foolish loud laughter and that in such a rude manner as if they would profess themselves open despisers of God and of his Ordinances Is this to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Is this to do like Abraham to command your children servants to keep the way of the Lord Is it a wonder to see Gods Judgments upon your City to see the Plague raging among you destruction wasting at noon-day poverty encreasing and a fire kindled in your Gates and devouring the stately houses and Palaces thereof SECT II. A second sin is a general contempt and rejection of the Gospel and a despising of his faithful Messengers We read Mat. 23.37 38. that our Saviour prophecieth of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem for killing and crucifying and stoning some of Gods Prophets for scourging others in their Synagogues and persecuting them from City to City therefore saith he Behold your house is left unto you desolate His Disciples were troubled to hear that so goodly a Structure should be made a ruinous heap wherefore they shewed him the goodly buildings of the Temple wishing him but to look on them vainly imagining that he could not but admire the stateliness of the house and sumptuousness of the buildings and would call in his threatning and prevent the desolation of it but Christ who regardeth not the magnificence of buildings or persons but will stain the pride and glory of man was so far from revoking his threatning as he doth assure them by an oath that the stately Temple so much admired for its curiousness so strongly seated and enriched should not only be left desolate but should be totally demolished Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down Mat. 24.2 This was for their contempt of the Word and their cruelty toward the Prophets This sin God hath alwayes
avenged and will avenge with the forest destruction the Temple in Jerusalem was afterward burnt and utterly overthrown by the Romans no flame is more fierce than when oyl wine or sugar are fired if you will know when the sins of a people are at the full and ripe for the sickle of destruction it is when the Gospel is rejected and his Messengers despised and misused They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy Therefore he brought upon them the King of the Caldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden old men or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the House of God great and small and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King and of his Princes all these brought he to Babylon and they burnt the house of God and brake down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the Palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof 2 Chron 36.16 17 19. Whether you are guilty of this sin you best know SECT III. A third sin is the sin of oppression when men grinde the faces of their needy Brethren and make the necessities of others their advantages to oppress them the more how can the love of God dwell in such hearts I may say to such you rob the poor because they are poor and grieve their sad hearts rather than relieve them dealing with them as the Jews did with our Saviour in their extreme sufferings give them gall and wormwood to drink instead of waters of comfort their own poverty like Solomon chastiseth them with whips and your oppression like Rehoboam whips them with Scorpions and as he told the oppressed people that his finger should be heavier than his Fathers loins it is most true of your oppression it is far more tyranny than their wants whereas you should pour oyl into their hearts you pour in vinegar to aggravate their calamities whereas you should shew mercy to them in misery you shew all cruelty to the miserable your bounty should relieve them your cruelty draws more from them Oppression is like unto a Grindstone yea it is as a Milstone hung about the necks of the needy and sinks them deeper and deeper into want and misery the poor are the grapes and you are the Wine-pressers squeezing out the blood of the poor It is a notable phrase of Solomon Prov. 12.10 The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel it is in the Hebrew the bowels of the wicked are cruel The tender mercies that is when men seem to shew mercy to their needy brother their words and actions carry fair shews of compassion as lending money to them in their necessity yet there is much cruelty in those mercies in the event ensuing thereupon How often do Oppressors fetch home their money lent to needy brothers with a vengeance and unconscionable exactions How often do they take the garments which should cover the nakedness of their needy brethren for a pledge aad instead of cloathing the naked they expose them to nakedness Exod. 22.22 23. God threatens if thou afflict any stranger widow or fatherless childe and they cry at all unto me I will surely hear their cry Oppression is a crying sin it cries for vengeance yea Gods anger will burn against such merciless men And my wrath saith he shall wax hot and I will kill you with the sword God threatens to meet with the Oppressor by one judgement or other and God will make your Wives and Children to be in the same extremity that your needy Brethren are The stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it Habak 2.11 Suppose the poor and needy whom you oppress do not cry against you yet these dumb inanimate creatures will cry out against your oppressions for vengeance upon you Amos 5.11 Forasmuch as your treading is upon the poor and ye take from him burdens of wheat ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them God threatens to take away the habitations of such as oppress the poor and needy SECT IV. A fourth sin I will set before you is incorrigibleness under former judgements God sent the Plague to the great City of this Land the last year which swept away many thousands of the Inhabitants week after week for a great while together and even to this day the Plague rageth in many Towns Cities and other places in this Land But my Brethren who is the better after this sore Visitation Did not sins of all sorts and kinds abound in the great City before God consumed great part of it with fire Oh what wicked and profane practises hath over-spread it since the late devouring Plague like the Sluggards Field that Solomon speaks of that was all over-spread with thorns and thistles and not only so but persons of all ranks and conditions and estates it is to be feared have been Actors Factors and Abettors of sin most men have run into sin with more greediness than before As Noahs flood covered hills dales mountains vallies so the flood of ungodliness hath covered high and low rich and poor Though God justly punished us yet in the time of his just wrath he remembred to shew mercy Habak 3.2 The mercies of God are over all his works even over his penal judiciary works Psa 145.9 his mercy is most conspicuous in times of judgement to command deliverance when we are in the mouth of danger in the Den of Lions in the Burning Furnace is mercy indeed to save a people being in the very jaws of death is mercy indeed it is the Lords mercies you were not utterly consumed the Sword would have consumed the Plague would have devoured all these judgements like fire and water are merciless had not God interposed his own mercy you had been utterly consumed if mercy had not rebuked his judgements they had swallowed you up quick you can no more resist an overflowing judgement than a level of Sand can withstand the inundation of the Sea The Lord gave you a respite after the last years wasting plague he moderated his wrath and did not make a full end of you the Lord would make tryal whether you would act according to your resolutions vows and promises made in the day of your distress When the plague of Frogs was upon Pharaoh when the Frogs were crawling on his bed on his table in his chamber when he heard Frogs every where croaking and saw all Egypt to be filled with them then he sent for Moses and Aaron and begs them to pray for him Entreat ye the Lord to remove the Frogs and then he promised to let Israel go and they should serve the Lord Moses prayed and
committed in the great City of this Land than it hath been within these few years past The Lord might now take up the same complaint against many wanton Gallants as he did by the Prophet Jeremiah of old When I had fed them to the full they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses They were as fed horses in the morning every one neighed after his Neighbours wife shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 5.7 8 9. The Lord chargeth the people of Jerusalem that they had committed fornication with the Egyptians and with the Assyrians and multiplied their fornication in the Land of Canaan unto Chaldea and yet they were not satisfied therewith Ezek. 16.26 28 29. Therefore the Lord threatens to give them up into the hands of those that should strip them of their cloaths and take away their fair jewels and leave them naked and bare ver 39. and ver 41. saith he They shall burn thine houses with fire and execute judgements upon thee in the sight of many women and I will cause thee to cease from playing the Harlot and thou also shalt give no hire any more It had been well if London had not been too true a Comment upon this Text both in the sin and in the punishment SECT VI. A sixth sin is the sin of drunkenness and intemperance How many might have been seen in every corner of the great City who drank daily till they could drink no more who rose up early in the morning to follow strong drink and continued until night till the Wine enflamed them whose frequent walks were from their own Beds and Houses to the Alehouse and from the Alehouse to the Tavern whence being not able to stand by themselves they were led or carried to their Beds again reelling to and fro staggering and being at their wits end and so they who had something of men in them when they arose in the morning were when they came to lie down at night turn'd into Beasts their understandings being departed from them and themselves at their wits end As the old world was swallowed up with the flood so are many mens bodies and souls with liquor as those waters prevailed exceedingly so that all the high hills and mountains were covered and every man as well as Beast that was not in the Ark died so doth the deluge and flood of drink prevail upon drunkards not only their bellies but their brains are covered not only the valleys of their sensitive powers but also the mountains and high hills of their rational faculties are over-topt their reason and understandings are drowned and all their wisdome is swallowed up Every thing of a Drunkard dies in him every thing of a man and for the present he gives up the Ghost nor is there any Resurrection or reviving till the next morning when these strong waters are asswaged and these floods decayed and dried up Sad it is to think how this deluge of excess in drink hath drowned the face of City and Country and risen many Cubits above the highest mountains of Religion and wholesome Laws Oh what swarms of drunkards might be seen in some great Town or City in one day Go but to some great Fair or Market and you may see drunkards lye in ditches or upon the high-way at the Towns end where a Fair is kept as if some field had been fought here lies one there lies another even like unto men that are slain in the field and are stark dead I have read that there was a street in Rome called vicus sobrius because there was never a Drinking house in it but where should a man have found such a street in the great City or in any other populous Town or City in England Multitudes there are who take a pleasure in drinking till their bellies and throats can hold no more yea many there are who by accustoming themselves to frequent acts of immoderate drinking have gotten an habit of being able to drink excessively without being distempered by it notwithstanding that woe that is denounced against them that are mighty to drink wine and strong to pour in strong drink that is woe unto them that by repeated Acts of drunkenness have made themselves like brewers horses able to bear away a greater quantity of drink than other sober healthy persons are or themselves at first were It is a sign of destruction and desolation approaching upon a people when they are not ashamed of such a swinish sin but drink and stagger and reel to and fro in the face of the Sun O fearful condition of those that are not ashamed to go on in drunkenness which is one of the most shameful sins and most contrary to the light of reason Certainly God hath his times of visitation for this as well as for other sins and then the drunkard shall be cast down and shall bee able to stand no longer SECT VII A seventh sin I shall set before you is the sin of Pride especially pride of apparel and to what height of pride in this kinde were people grown every where especially in the great City of this Land who knoweth not it is a note of levity and vanity of minde to be still devising and following new fangled fashions it makes the world beleeve the Moon to be our Mistress and predominant Planet and then it will plainly appear we are no better than lunaticks It is a great reproach to the English Nation to follow all new devised fashions and especially to bee the Frenchmens Apes who are generally haters of our Nation therefore in Forreign parts they paint an English man naked with a piece of cloath under his arm and with a pair of shears in his hand seeking a Taylor to finde him out a new fashion The use of Apparel is 1. for necessity to cover our nakednesse 2. for ornament and comlinesse 3. for distinction of age of sexe of quality for great personages may and should wear rich apparel so it be grave sober and seemly but now people of all ranks almost are grown to an excess in this kind and the servant can hardly be distinguished by his apparel from his Master nor Gill from a Gentlewoman Apparel sheweth what most people are that wear it it uncovers their hearts to the world you may know whether people are chaste or wanton proud or grave sober or fantastical by the apparel they wear Is not he condemned for a very fool that takes more care to be comly proud and rich in apparel than to he healthy Is not he a fool to be laught at that will brag of a clean Band and hath a foul dirty face and will not wash it Strange it is to see the folly of men whose special care is to adorn their bodies with costly apparel that they might appear comely and glorious in the sight of men but regard not how
equal with his Lord it is honor enough that the servant fareth no worse than his Master Christ thereby sheweth what measure they must expect in case they will be his Disciples Are you rich expect to be poor for my sake Have you houses and Lands expect to forsake all these if I require it This is the Motto of Christs Disciples Domine reliquimus omnia te sequuti sumus Lord we have left all and followed thee Christ deals plainly with his people and tells them in the world ye shall be poor ye shall have tribulation ye shall endure the loss of all things Our Saviour requireth of all that will be his Disciples that they do not set their affections on earthly things that they should set their affections on heaven Christ and he alone must dwell in us Moreover he requireth of his people that quoad praeparationem animi affectum in respect of the preparation of the heart and the affection they be alwaies ready cordially to part with houses lands and livings to forsake all persons and things which are near and dear to them for his sake and for the Gospel-sake Yea Christ doth sometimes put some of his people upon the actual abdication of all their worldly goods and to become as poor as Job as Lazarus for his sake yea to rejoyce they have houses riches goods lands to lose for Christ such undoings are their makings such losings are savings this poverty is riches he loseth nothing who gaineth Christ by losing all the world Christ's Discipleas did actually forsake all things and persons to follow him Did you often think of the poverty and low estate of Christ while he was in the world your hearts would bee quiet under your losses Bee not too much dejected at your removal from your habitations the whole earth is your Fathers ground the Lords lower house while you are lodged here you have no assurance to lye ever in one chamber but must bee content to remove from place of the Lords nether house to another resting in hope that when you come to the Lords upper City Jerusalem that is above you shall remove no more because then you shall be at home and for the present remove to what house or place you will if the most high God the possessor of heaven and earth be with you you are still at home and your lodging is ever taken up before night so long as he who is the keeper of Israel is your home and habitation in this dwelling House are many spacious rooms and pleasant lights Oh lay down your heads by faith in the bosome of Christ till this bee done you shall never sleep soundly nor rest in a quiet and settled habitation FINIS NO Abiding City IN A Perishing World BUT Heaven only the continuing City which we must diligently seek Set for in a Discourse on Hebrews 13.14 For here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come OR Meditations occasioned by the late sad and lamentable Fire in the City of London Published by William Gearing Minister of the Word Isaiah 24.15 Glorifie ye the Lord in the Fires c. Quicquid in mundo aut praesens hoc instabile aut praeteritum hoc jam nihil aut futurum hoc incertum August LONDON Printed by R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst at the Golden Bible on London-Bridge 1667. NO Abiding City IN A Perishing VVorld Heb. 13.14 For here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come CHAP. I. THe Particle for invites me to look back upon the verses foregoing The Apostle tells us ver 12. that Jesus that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate Then he exhorteth ver 13. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach Christ was figured by the Sacrifices under the Law as the Beasts were burnt without the Camp so Christ suffered without the gate being cast out of the world as an accursed thing if Christ suffered without the gate how should the Saints be content to go out of the world and bear the reproach the world casteth upon them knowing that they shall be graciously received not only into the Camp of Christ but into his Royal Court the world shall not cast so much scorn upon them as Christ will shew them love and favour it is better to be out of the Camp with Christ than without Christ at the worlds head Quarters Moses chose to forsake all rather than not to follow Christ So let us willingly bear the reproach of Christ and know that he will willingly receive all those that for his sake are content to bear the reproach that the world casteth upon them This exhortation of the Apostle is directed 1. To the Jews to bid an eternal farewel to all the Levitical Ceremonies and Ordinances and to go to Christ who suffered without the gate his suffering there was to put an end to Temple-worship in Jerusalem Calvin thus paraphraseth it Think not that God will now be pleased with this typical worship but now he expecteth that you should go to Christ and suffer injuries banishment and all manner of persecutions for his sake 2. To Christians to bid an adieu to the customes to the fashions to the courses to the lusts of this world and to resolve to go forth to Christ and follow him notwithstanding the vile reproaches cruel mockings that ever did and ever shall fall upon all both Hebrews and Christians who sincerely follow and cleave to Christ for the Ceremonious Jews did reproach such as did shake off the yoke of Mosaical Rites and observe the Evangelical Ordinances of Christ and the wicked among Christians do to this very day load such with reproaches who cast off the yoke of worldly lusts and practises and walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ Now he that will go forth to Christ must resolve to bear his reproaches which are better than all the magnificent Titles of Honour the vast treasures of wealth the world can give and though they render us ignominious before the world yet they render us as honorable before God My Text is a reason of the Apostles exhortation or a strong motive to encourage us to go forth to Christ bearing his reproach For or because we have here no continuing City but we seek one to come Wherefore slight the reproaches of the world as Travellers do the barking of dogs in your journey to the City of glory It is a probable conjecture made by some as Estius observeth that S. Paul speaks Prophetically of the destruction of the City of Jerusalem which was then at hand and that in a short time neither that City nor the Country about it would be an abiding place for them but driven from thence they should be and be forced to wander up and down and therefore they were to look for no other abiding place but heaven CHAP. II. IN the words of my Text you have
a Position and an Opposition or a Position and a Conclusion 1. The Position is Here we have no continuing City 2. The Opposition or Conclusion is But or therefore we seek one to come for the present we have no abiding City but there is an abiding City to come which we seek This earthly Jerusalem is no abiding City for you Hebrews this world is no abiding City for you Christians But Jerusalem that is above the heavenly City the City of the King of Kings that is an abiding City that let us diligently seek after This world is to believers as the Wilderness was to the Israelites they were Pilgrims in it So are believers in the world strangers and Pilgrims they abode not long in the Wilderness but passed through it to Canaan there they made their abode so this world is not a place for believers to abide in but must pass thorow it to an heavenly Canaan that is an abiding Country an abiding City and there all believers shall abide to eternity The general point of instruction to be drawn from hence is That the consideration that there is no abiding place in this world should forcibly move us to seek out for heaven This was that which moved Abraham Isaac and Jacob those renowned Candidates of Eternity to be as Pilgrims in the world wandring from place to place now sojourning here then sojourning there but abode no where and wheresoever they went they dwelt not in Palaces or Fortresses strongly built but in Tabernacles which they could pitch down and take up and carry them whether they pleased and so they used to do to mind them that there was no abiding for them here but they must look after a City wherein they should abide for ever Heb. 11.9 10 14 16. By faith Abraham sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise for he looked for a City which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God They confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country But now they desire a better Country than that from whence they came out that is an heavenly Here ye have a full proof of the point the Holy Ghost calling believers sojourners pilgrims strangers what is it but to convince them that there is no abiding for them in this world this world is not their Country their City their home their habitation here they are not to place their hopes to set their affections to seek a lasting happiness but heaven is their City their Country their home their habitation there all our hopes should be placed thither should all our desires aspire there we are to seek everlasting happiness there we shall be sure to find it and to abide in the possession of it to eternity CHAP. III. FOr the better prosecution of this point I shall draw from it two Propositions and make use of them Prop. 1. That here is no abiding City I need not seek proof for this for there is none of us but his experience evidenceth it 1. Take City here for our houses we dwell in they are no abiding places for us death turneth every man out of his own doors and carrieth him from his house to the grave it turneth Princes out of their stately Palaces and great men out of their strong-built houses and Castles and poor men out of their Cottages The poor mans Cottage the rich mans House and the Princes Palace are of no continuance how many stately Houses Edifices and Castles have we seen in our daies to be made ruinous heaps and consumed to ashes your continual repairing them sheweth them to be of no long continuance 2. Take City for the Towns and Cities wherein we inhabit with others they are no continuing places for us to abide in for ever See we not how one Generation passeth and another cometh and the Generation that is coming is going and though the Stages stand a while when the Actors are gone off yet at length the Stages are taken down What is now become of Jerusalem of Athens of Corinth and of those famous Cities of Asia How many famous Towns and Cities are become ruinous heaps Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit Behold there now is good Corn-land Where once the City Troy did stand The like may be said of many Towns and Cities in the world Cato the Censor boasted that he had taken more Towns and Cities in Spain than he had been daies in it Plutarch saith he took four hundred Sempronius Gracchus destroyed in Spain three hundred more as Polybius relateth Pliny saith that Coneys destroyed a great City in Spain and that Moles destroyed another in Macedonia Many have been destroyed by fire many by inundations of water and others have been swallowed up by earthquakes here we have no abiding City We read Gen. 19.24 That the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those Cities and all the Plain and all the inhabitants of those Cities and that which grew upon the ground Josephus saith that five Cities perished and we read of five Cities of that Region named Gen. 14.2 viz. Sodom Gomorrha Admah Sebojim and Bela which is Zoar. Moses besides the two principal Cities mentioneth the place of their scituation but Admah and Sebojim were destroyed by fire as well as Sodom and Gomorrah Deut. 29.23 these the Lord overthrew in his anger and fury As for Zoar Theodoret Lyra and others think it was preserved upon the request of Lot but that after Lot went out of it it was utterly over hrown But this cannot be made evident from Scripture that this fifth City was either overthrown together with the rest or a little afterward but the contrary rather appeareth from the speech of the Lord to Lot Gen. 19.21 He said unto him see I have accepted thee concerning this thing that I will not overthrow this City for the which thou hast spoken And mention is made of it Isa 15.5 where it is said that the Moabites being overcome by the Assyrian should flye unto Zoar Babylon and Nineveh those great Cities are long since utterly laid waste 3. Take City for the Countries wherein we live they shall not abide neither shall any man continue in them for ever Fruitful Canaan is now become a barren wilderness how hath the Country cast out all her Inhabitants Kingdomes Countries Nations Common-wealths have their deaths and burials as well as the Inhabitants of them 4. Take City for the world it self and this is no continuing place Though it hath continued a most six thousand years yet 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the works
the heat thereof scorcheth the earth and maketh it to become iron under our feet whose light and heat was created to comfort and cherish the earth it now scorcheth the creatures yea man himself the Ethiopians are so scorched with it that for anger they shoot arrows against the Sun The Moon besides her Eclipses and Changes doth also emit sad influences on the creatures below witness the Lunatick the Paralitick the Moon causeth many humors in the body to stir You read in the book of Job of the sweet influences of Pleiades but these also do sometimes send out their maligne influences the ayr is oftentimes very contagious and pestilential as we have seen by sad experience of late and yet is manifest in many Towns and Cities and other lesser places of this Kingdome at this day Now the ayr scorcheth then it cooleth now it is calm then boisterous The earth bringeth forth bryars and thorns and unwholesome weeds instead of wholesome fruit In all living creatures you shall see how sin hath put into them an hatred and antipathy and opposition the one seeking to destroy each other the curse of vanity hath put the whole Creation out of order Hence are all those mutations alterations corruptions and destructions among the creatures and of the creatures Quest Here it may be demanded Why doth God inflict this punishment of vanity and corruption on the creature for mans sin without any fault in the creature Resp 1. It is no injury to the creature at all Chrysostome saith well Ratio aequi iniqui non ad creaturas inanimatas transferenda est The consideration of right and wrong justice and injustice is not to be transferred to the creatures void of life but only to the rational who were subjects capable of both 2. Because the creatures were made for man therefore if man rebelled against his Soveraign Lord they shall suffer for man also Chrysostome saith Si propter me factae sint nihil admittitur injustitiae si propter me patiantur If they were made for my use and service there is no injustice if they suffer for me to my shame and vexation and the reason is because seeing they were made for the use and service of man therefore the change to the worse which is now come upon them is not their punishment but a part of the punishment of man CHAP. V. R. 3. A Third reason why we have no abiding City here nor any thing of long continuance is taken partly from the love of God to his people and partly from his wrath to the wicked The wicked shall not have a continuance here and nothing durable because God will put an end to sin and sinners and clear the world of sin and sinners wherefore he will dissolve all these things As long as wicked men live they will continue in sin should a wicked man live a thousand years so long would he live in sin a drunkard would continue in his drunkenness a swearer in his swearing so long as there is any continuance of his City Oh to what an height of wickedness would men arrive if they and their Cities were of long continuance on the earth they forget God already and should God lengthen out their time to continue for ever or for some thousands of years they would be ready to think themselves were Gods and not dying men therefore the Lord doth not suffer sinners nor their Cities to be of long continuance and many times he cuts off notorious sinners in the midst of their daies Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies God ruineth their Cities and habitations they moulder away and are not of long continuance It is likewise in love to the godly that neither they nor their Cities shall be of long continuance here because God will quickly put an end to their sufferings their reproaches their persecutions their calamities and deliver them from the body of death which makes them miserable and will ere long take them up to their desired and expected happiness laid up in heaven for them In a word God will have no long lasting worldly City or other worldly thing that the miseries of his children may be short and their happiness may be of eternal duration and that the joy and prosperity of the wicked may be short and their sorrow and torment may be eternal CHAP. VI. SECT I. IF here we have no continuing City Vse 1 then be exhorted in the first place not to fix the eyes of your souls upon these transitory things Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 for riches make themselves wings and flee away toward heaven All flesh is grass and all the glory of man is but as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth 1 Pet. 1.24 All flesh is as grass it is but as the Earths Summers garment put off before winter cometh and all the glory of man or whatsoever man is apt most to glory in is but as the flower of the field a fading ornament that within a day or two withereth and cometh to nothing We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal saith S. Paul 2 Cor 4.18 We are not restrained from the seeing of these things for the senses were made for use and their use is to be applied to their several objects the words there used by the Apostle are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We look not at the things that are seen as at a mark the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a mark and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to look at things as at a mark Now when a man aimeth at a mark he seeth many things between his eye and the mark but he slightly looks upon them but he looketh fully upon the mark his eye staieth at and is fixed upon the mark now the mark that the Apostle professed hee looked at was Jesus Christ Phil 3.14 I forget that which is behinde I press toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I conceive he alludeth to those games and acts of hostility used among the Greeks where there was first a mark secondly a price a mark which they look'd at a price which they aimed at in their exercises of shooting wrestling running on foot or on horse-back c. So the Apostle he had his mark that he aimed at that was the Lord Jesus Christ that hee might know him and be found in him and be made conformable to him and the price that he ran for was the high calling of God in Christ Jesus the Crown of eternal life and glory that high price to which Christians are called of God in Christ Jesus Now on the contrary the Apostle sheweth that these visible and temporal things were not the mark that he aimed at that was but