Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	french_a	great_a	king_n	16,597	5	4.3459	3	true

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

as some men did and dost now mourn for the loss of them as Micha did for the taking away of his gods Judges 18.24 Consider that the best of knowledge and that the Scripture is sufficient to instruct thee in is that Saint John speaks of John 17.3 This is Life eternal that they might know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent MEDITATION IX Upon the burning of the Royall Exchange IT is but a few moneths ago that one who had never seen the Royall Exchange before would have beheld the glory of it with admiration as one or more of the Disciples of Christ did the Temple of Jerusalem Matth. 13.1 saying See what manner of stones and what manner of buildings are here But behold that which Christ spake of the Temple saying Seest thou these great buildings There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down is already almost fulfilled in and upon that stately Pile the destruction whereof we little dream't to have been so near at hand Some stones there are yet standing one upon another but so as that they must be taken down and had they fallen without breaking themselves it had but saved a labour What a princely soundation was that Royal Exchange and of how great use Was not that the Center in which those lines met that were drawn from all parts of Europe rich Merchants I mean and other eminent Trades-men and great Dealers not onely English but Spanish French Dutch Portugueze Danes Swedes Was not the place a little Epitomie or rather Representative of all ●urope if not of the greatest part of the trading World renewed every day at such a time and for so many hours As London was the glory of England so was that Royal Exchange one of the greatest Glories and Ornaments of London There were the Statues of the Kings and Queens of England set up as in the most conspicuous and honourable place as well receiving lustre from the place where they stood as giving lustre to it How full of Riches was that Royall Exchange Rich men in the midst of it rich goods both above and beneath There men walk't upon the top of a Wealthy Mine considering what Eastern Treasures costly spices and such like things were laid up in the bowels I mean the Cellars of that Place As for the upper part of it Was it not the great Storehouse whence the Nobility and Gentry of England were furnished with most of those costly things wherewith they did adorn either their Closets or themselves Here if any where might a man have seen the glory of the world in a moment as the Devil shewed it to Christ from a high mountain What artificiall thing could entertain the senses and fantasies of men that was not there to be had Such was the delight that many Gallants took in that Magazine of all curious varieties that they could almost have dwelt there going from Shop to Shop like Bees from flower to flower If they had but had a Fountain of Money that could not have been drawn dry I doubt not but a Mahometan who never expects other than sensible delights would gladly have accepted of that place and the treasures of it for his heaven and have thought there were none like it About the space of ni●neteen months was that Royall Exchange in building viz. from June 7th til November in the year following So that the Sunne had finished his annual course once and almost a second time ere that work was finished but was it so many hours in burning as it was months in building How obnoxious are all earthly things to destruction How easily are the works of our hands brought to nought How little a time will serve to ruine those things that did require a long time to raise them I finde this noble Structure had stood about a hundred years before Destruction overtook it for it is said to have been erected in the year 1566 and the time of its conflagration we know too well to have been 1666. One sixty six built it another sixty six burnt it so one Philip founded the Macedonian Empire another Philip ruined it one Constantine built Constantinople and another of that Name lost it an Augustus was the first established Emperor of Rome and another Augustus the last So many times the World goes round like a Circle where it begins there it ends Did that Structure come down in a day or lesse which had continued a hundred years and might in all probability have lasted one Century more I see then there may be more in the womb of one day or night than was in the womb of a hundred years before and the law of providence may in a few hours over-rule the prescription of a whole Age. Though the destruction of Places and so of Persons set out late yet when it once sets out it may ride post and come as upon the wings of the wind He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed Prov. 29.1 The sins of that place had deserv'd this judgment sooner but he that bore with the old World one hundred and twenty years after warning given bore with it towards an hundred though the provocations thereof were great As nature hath placed the weightiest things below and lighter things above them as Air above Earth so the more solid persons and parlyes as well as the more bulky Commodities had wont to be in the lower Rooms of that Exchange where Merchants met to discourse their affairs The sins of that lower part we may suspect to have been craft and covetousnesse over-reaching and going beyond one another Many did not so because of the fear of the Lord as Nehemiah said of himself Neh. 9.5 So did not I because of the fear of God but others did And were there not other kinds of sin which did abound in the upper Region of that Exchange which like so many Comets or blazing Stars did portend or threaten the destruction of it Oh the pride and prodigality that was there to be seen How few could be charitable that were so expensive as many were in that place And how much of that which was there expended might well have been put to charitable uses How unlikely was it that they should be humble who were so curious and phantastical as the things that were there bought shewed them to be They that wrought to that place had need of as good a phantasie for Metamorphosis in Habits as Ovid had in other Things that they might please customers so insatiable after novelties So fell that noble structure undermined by craft and covetousnesse and over-laden with pride and prodigality above and great was the fall thereof Though there was in that place an Inssurance-Office which undertook for those Ships and Goods that were hazarded at Sea either by boisterous winds or dangerous enemies yet could it not secure it self when sin like Sampson took hold of the pillars

likewise Now where shall I begin my discourse of Londons calamity Or how can I do it without premising those words of the Prophet Jerem. 9.11 Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears c. If my eyes be not a fountain my heart must needs be a Rock and Lord smite thou that Rock that waters may gush out whil'st I mention those things that should be bewailed even with tears of blood That which first presents its self is the consideration of what London was nor can it be better expressed than in those words Lam. 1.1 The City that was Great amongst the Nations and Princesse amongst the Provinces Sure I am London was the glory of England yea the glory of Great Britain yea the glory of these three Nations if not in some sense the glory of the whole World But as the Prophet speaks of Ierusalem ver 9. She came down wonderfully the same may be said of London But alas What is London now but another Sodome lying in ashes What is it but a heap of dust and rubbish The greatest part of it seems to be convered into so many Church-yards as consisting of nothing but the Reliques of Churches with waste ground round about them full of open Vaults or Cellers like so many uncovered Graves and fragments of houses like so many dead mens bones scattered on every side of them I had almost called it another Smithfield ●alluding to the use that place was put to in the Marian dayes for that every house was a kind of Martyr sacrificed to the flames and that as is vehemently suspected by men of the same Religion with those that burnt the Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes Witness that Frenchman that was convicted and executed upon his own acknowledgement of having begun the Fire in London whose confession tels us that he was instigated by Papists one or more and the choice of his Confessor that he was one himself We can now no longer say of London Here it stands but Hie jacet as we say of one that is dead and buried Here it lies not that here it is but that here it was May we not go on with those words of Ieremy Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a Widow Where are those multitudes that inhabited London a few moneths since How are they dispersed and scatte●ed into corners some crowded into the Suburbs others gone into the Country disabled in all likely hood from ever returning again to settle as before Who complains not that they scarce know where to find any body even those that they had wont to converse and trade with for that their former places know them no more yea they hardly know the places again where they dwelt formerly or can find where those houses stood which they inhabited many years together To see a populous City so wofully depopulated in a few dayes time and the late Inhabitants driven away as stubble before the wind Whose heart would it not cause to bleed How oft have I heard men say since the Fire we have occasion to use such and such tradesmen that use to work to us but know not were to find them we should speak with such and such Friends but know not what is become of them or whether they are gone How many thousand houses that were lately such do not now contain one Inhabitant nor are sit to do it This also should be for a lamentation Did the Egyptians mourn when but one was missing in every house and shall not we when multitudes of whole housholds and houses are swept away all at once Why should I doubt to say that a great part of the strength and defence of all England yea of all the three Kingdomes is lost and taken away in and by the destruction of London Was not that great City able to have raised a mighty force in a short time wherewith to have opposed an invading Forreigner Was it not a Mine of Treasure able to supply vast summes of monie for the use of King and Kingdome at a short warning and found as willing as able to do it If a vast and stately Ship as most that swim in the Ocean had been lost how soon could and did that famous City build such another Surely London was the sinews and the very right hand of all great and publick undertakings and that they knew full well that said in their hearts Rase it Rase it to the very ground Are we not now like Sampson when his hair was cut and should we go out to shake our selves as he did Judg. 16.20 should we not presently find it Yea are we not become like the men of Sechem when they were fore presently after their being circumcised whom Simeon and Levi flew Gen. ●4 25 Who can be a friend to England or have any true English blood running in his veins and not lament to see so much of the strength of the Nation taken away at once As Jerem● speaking of what God had done to Jerusalem as in his own person saith He hath made my strength to fall Lament 1.14 and then adds He hath delivered me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up That is not our case as yet but how soon may it be our present weaknesse and obnoxiousness considered Is it not worth taking notice of that the beauty and splendor of England is defaced and lost by the destruction of London How deformed is a body without a head and was not London the head of England in that sence that Damascus is said to have been the head of Syria and the head of Ephraim to have been Samaria Isa 7.8 That is the head City for we acknowledge a head Superiour to that yea Supreme under God viz. our Sovereign as it is ver 9. the head of Ephraim is Remaliahs Son As the face is to the body so was London to England viz. the beautifullest part of it and look how men reckon it a great prejudice to their bodies when their faces are marred by any great deformity so is it to the whole Land which is to be considered as one body and all the parts of it as members of each other when scarce any thing of that is left which was the very face of it They that saw only the other parts of England saw as I may allude with reverence but it 's back parts Was not London as it were the Throne of the Kings of England successively and other places in comparison of it but as it were their Footstool you know to what I allude Now London is gone may we not write Icabod upon the Nation for that the honour of it is departed Now who can be a true Englishman and unconcerned for the honour of his Nation and not troubled to see it lie in the dust How is the honour of a Nation insisted on How many wars are commenced and continued in the world to

and London what ever you please to call it or any thing else wherewith you shall think fit to delude them by those artifices which you call Pious-Frands which is as proper an expression as Pious-Devils but our people converse with the Sun I mean the light of Scripture They have read the book of the Revelations of Saint John and though they do not pretend to understand every thing therein conteined yet they doubt not what is meant by the beast's having seven heads and ten horns Rev. 13.1 because they find Saint John himself expounding it Rev. 17.9 The seven heads are seven mountains And there are seven Kings that is Forms of governments Five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come c. These passages agree quadrate to Rome exactly It was built upon seven Hills yet to be seen though some of them be now without the walls of the City It had seven forms of Government whereof five were fallen in Saints John's time viz. Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvir's Dictators one is saith he that is Emperors were then in being the other was not yet come viz. Popes But do these expressions all or any of them agree to London as they agree to Rome Doth that stand upon just seven hills Hath that had just seven forms of Government five whereof were fallen in Saint John's time and one other in being With what face then can you affirm London to be Babylon But I see Those men have impudence enough to assert any thing who have taught their followers to believe every thing they please to assert A faith of Legends and only that may be sufficient to assure men that London was Mystical-Babylon for that I take to be more than a faith of Miracles the latter being a saith of Possibles the other of Impossibilities and contradictions Therefore though some of the sillier sort of Papists may believe and others may boldly assert the same though they believe it not as they do in many other cases yet Protestants can never be perswaded to it whilst the world stands nor any other persons that are from under the power of gross Ignorance or Prejudice As for the name Antichrist Who knows not that it imports one that sets himself in the stead or place of Christ as well as against Christ the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying both pro and con that is as well For as Against Now Who amongst those that are called Protestants can be charged with setting himself in the place of Christ as if he would be taken for Christ himself But that do the Popes of Rome successively whilst they affirm to themselves those things which are peculiar to Christ alone as namely Forgiveness of sin c. I had forborn this discourse but that I have been advertised of the reproaches of some of the Papists who after the Baptism of fire we have lately undergone go about to Baptize us and our City with their spittle by the names of Babylon and Anti-christ due only to Rome and Romanists and God forbid that whilst Papists do unjustly asperse Protestants whose Religion is that which the Laws of England doth establish Protestants should not have leave and take heart enough to vindicate themselves In a word if London be Mystical Babylon so confident am I it is not let it never rise again if Rome be not let it never fall and on the other hand let Rome so fall as it proves to be Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth Rev. 17.5 and let London so rise and flourish again and only so as it shall be found to be otherwise MEDITATION XLII Upon the Pains which the Kings Majesty is said to have taken in helping to extinguish the Fire I Was no eye-witness but have been informed that when the Fire came near to Cripplega●t His Majesty being then and there present did in His own Person take great Pains no less as was told then if He had been a poor Labourer to promote the extinction of it Possibly some weak and inconsiderate persons that saw His Majesty at that time stooping so low might in their hearts despise Him for it as Michal did David for leaping and dancing before the Ark 2 Sam. 6.16 and 20. saying in derision How glorious was the King of England to day as she How glorious was the King of Israel c. But wise and religious persons that had seen David in that posture would have spoken the same words in good earnest which she spake in scorn meaning as they said How glorious indeed was the King of Israel whilst transported with holy zeal he leapt before the Ark which is called Dancing before the Lord The like can I say from mine heart of our Dread Soveraign How glorious was He in truth and in reality when He took upon Him the form or rather the work of a mean-man and vouchsafed His helping Hand to stop that dismal Fire when it was in its full carreer Had I seen Him with His Crown upon His Head His Scepter in His Hand His Noble Senators all waiting upon Him in their Parliament-Robes or in all the State in which He could have been seen Cant. 3.11 either on the day of His Coronation or of His Espousals I could not have reverenced Him more than I should have done if I had beheld Him with a Bucket in His Hand pouring water upon the Flames or than I do so often as I think of Him in some such posture of most kind and obliging condescension Me-thinks it was but equal that Christ should be more loved but not less honoured when he humbled himself so far as to take a Towel and therewith to wash and to wipe his Disciples feet John 13.4 Kings never act more like themselves than when they are doing good to their Subjects and are snatching them or their Concerns as fire-brands out of the Fire forasmuch as the Scripture saith That Magistrates are the Ministers of God to those that are under them for good Rom. 13.4 The Roman Emperors had wont to issue out their Commands to their Soldiers not in the third but in the first Person So Pertinax his Word and Motto was Militemus not March ye but Let us March on including himself So Septimius Severus his word was Laboremus Let us be doing In like manner our Gracious Soveraign is said to have stretcht forth His own Royal Hands to assist the putting out of those Aspiring Flames which seemed to expect a Princely Extinguisher That was such a kind of Royal Aid as all Subjects must needs be in love with and Why not more free to that other which goes by such a name in the remembrance of this One of the Ancients did wish to have seen Christ in the Flesh Paul in the Pulpit and Rome in its ancient Glory Much rather at lest-wise than the last of these would I have seen that sight I am now speaking of viz. His most Excellent Majesty