answerableness as these Rules call for Mark what the Prophet saith in a like case Psalm 66. O God saith the Prophet Thou hast proved us and tryed us as Silver is tryed verse 10 and verse 12. We went through Fire and Water that is Thou hast brought us through all manner of Evils For all kinds of Afflictions in Scripture are understood by Fire and Water And we presently find upon this a glorifying of God. I will go into thine House with Burnt-Offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble And verse 16. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul. Now to press you to this Duty let me lay some Considerations before you 1. Unless ye glorifie God in the Fires ye do not answer God's end in kindling these Fires among you Do you think that God kindled these Fires among you for nothing If a Sparrow falls not to the ground without God's Providence do ye think that God would kindle so many Fires in this City and throw down so many Thousand Houses as He did in the great Conflagration for nothing Mark what God saith Mal. 1.10 Who is there even among you that would shut the Doors for nought Neither do ye kindle Fire upon mine Altar for nought The Words may be understood two ways in reference to their Ceremonial Worship Ye do not kindle a Fire upon mine Altar for nought That is every Man had some end that did it which he propounded to himself in the doing of it He brought a Sacrifice to offer Secondly He did it not for nought that is without any profit He should have that which should answer his Charge answer the kindling of that Fire Now as Men shall not kindle a Fire for nought so God will not kindle a Fire in your Houses for nought Ye defeat God of His End when ye glorifie not God in the Fires 2. If ye glorifie God in the Fires these very Fires shall be your Glory Then these Fires are Blessings when we can bless and glorifie God for them It changeth the Nature of these Fires it turneth Evil into Good when we can glorifie God in these Fires When the Cross sits heavy upon our backs and the Fire of Affliction is ready to consume us yet if we can glorifie God and bless Him from the Heart for them it will be as a Crown of Glory upon our Heads 3. To glorifie God in the Fire of Affliction is in some degree a higher Dignity than God puts upon the Angels in Heaven The Angels only glorifie God in a way of Service it is only the Saints on Earth that glorifie Him in a way of suffering 4. If ye do not glorifie God in the Fires that He hath kindled among you you do but put God upon kindling new Fires among you If one be not big enough He can make more and bigger and if one will not do it another shall He will fetch up His Glory one way or other and ye do but make more combustible matter for the Judgment of God if ye do not yield Him His ends in kindling so many Fires among you Josephus tells us That Titus the Son of Vespasian the Roman Emperour was very unwilling to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem that he laboured to quench the Flame after it was set on fire Joseph de bello Judaico and suffered some prejudice in his Wars about it it was done divino quodam impetu by a certain Divine Stroke as the same Author observeth But Joseph being a Jew was ignorant of the main cause of the Destruction of the City and Templeof Jerusalem scil their Rejecting and Murthering the Son of God. 5. Suppose God kindle no more Fires and bring no more such a Judgment upon you yet be ye assured of this that they who glorifie not God in the Fires shall find God Himself to be a Fire unto them Heb. 12.29 Our God saith the Apostle is a consuming Fire Not that He will consume His People He will consume their Dross only But to His Enemies He will be a consuming Fire He will consume them for ever Ye that are Wicked and Ungodly though ye walk all your days in the warm Sun yet God will be a consuming Fire to you at last Who would set Briars and Thorns against me in Battel saith the Lord I would go thorough them I would burn them together Psalm 27.4 Mark what the Prophet saith Isa 33.14 The Sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites Who among us shall dwell with the devouring Fire Who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings God is before His own People as a Fire but they can come near to it and not be burnt But the Hypocrite trembleth at it saying Who shall dwell with devouring Fire It is a sad thing to have Burnings in your Dwellings that last but a few Hours how woful is it then to dwell with Everlasting Burnings Now God will be a Devouring Fire and Everlasting Burnings to all them that are drossy and continue in Sin. Therefore I beseech you study to put this Exhortation in my Text in Practice viz. To glorifie God in the Fires The Apostle saith In every thing give thanks Let God do what He will with His People they have cause in every thing to glorifie Him. Tho. de Kempis de imitat Christi l. 1 3. c. 5. Therefore Thomas de Kempis speaks excellently in his Book of the Imitation of Christ I give Thee hearty thanks O Lord my God that Thou hast not spared my faults but hast visited me with thy Stripes for them Thy Correction shall Instruct me and Thy Rod shall Tutor me unto Salvation Gregory speaks sweetly to this purpose Who can be unthankful even for Blows when as He went not out of the World without Stripes who came into and lived in it without Faults Therefore He is of a right Judgment who not only glorifieth God in Prosperity but also who blesseth His Name for Calamities If thou shalt by Thanksgiving in Adversity gain the Peace of God with the Things which thou hast lost shall be restored with Multiplication and moreover Eternal Joys for the short time of thy Sorrow shall be surely added Thanks must be given to a Father for his Scourges and severest Discipline for the Blows of a Father are better than the Kisses of an Enemy This is the very Will of God to give Thanks always In every thing to give Thanks argues a Soul rightly Instructed Hast thou suffered any Loss any Evil if thou wilt it is no Evil give Thanks to God and glorifie Him and then thou hast turned the Evil into Good. Say thou also as Job when he had lost all The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. Job then did more deeply wound the Devil when being stript out of all he gave Thanks to God than if he had distributed all to the Poor and Needy For it is much more to be stript of all and to bear it patiently and thankfully than for a Rich Man to give Alms as it here hapned to Righteous Job Hath the Fire taken hold upon your Houses and turned any of you out of your Dwellings and consumed your whole Substance Remember the Sufferings and Losses of Job Give Thanks to God who could though He did not have hindred that Mischance and thou shalt be sure to receive as equal a Reward as if thou hadst put all into the Bosom of the Indigent Therefore let us not rest in this that we bear Afflictions and suffer Losses but labour to bring our Hearts to glorifie God in the Fires of Affliction FINIS Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside A Discourse of Old Age tending to the Instruction Caution and Comfort of Aged Persons By Rich. Steel Minister of the Gospel Conversion of the Soul with a warning to Sinners to prepare for Judgment By Nath. Vincent A True Touchstone which shews both Nature and Grace with sundry Meditations relating to the Lord's Supper By Nath. Vincent Minister of the Gospel A Treatise of Free Grace by David Clarkson Minister of the Gospel Baptismal Bonds Renewed some Meditations on Psalm 50.5 By Oliver Heywood Minister of the Gospel A Discourse on the Sacrament the 2 d Edition with Additions By Rich. Kidder Minister of the Gospel An Alarum to the Unconverted to which is added several Cases of Conscience judiciously answered By Joseph Allen Minister of the Gospel Grand Charter granted by Jesus Christ A Discourse upon Matth. 28.18 19 20. By George Lawson late Rector of More in Shropshire The difference between the Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked By Jer. Burroughs Illustrious Providences Recorded especially in New England By Increase Mather Minister of the Gospel in New England A serious Exhortation to Self-Examination in 5 Sermons 2 Cor. 13.5 By Tho. Wadsworth late Minister of Newington-Butts Southwark
of Fire when heated Seven times botter than ordinary These are the greatest of all Fires and their burnings are the greatest scorchings when the sparks of God's fiery Wrath and Indignation fall into it 2. There is the Fire of Bodily Distempers Such Fires are threatned Deut. 28.22 The Lord shall smite thee with the Consumption and the Fever and with an Inflammation and an extream burning How many Persons both young and old doth God consume by such Fires as these are 3. The third Judgment of Fire may be taken for the Extream Heat and Burning of the Sun such as we had in some part of this Summer And this in Scripture is called by the Name of Fire Joel 1.20 The Beasts of the Field cry unto Thee for the Waters are dryed up and Fire hath devoured the Pastures of the Wilderness This Fire is only the heat of the Sun which scorched and burnt up the Pastures of the Wilderness and this the Prophet calls by the name of Fire And God many times sends a blasting by which the tender Fruits of the Earth are burnt up which the Latines call by the Name of Vredo that is a burning 4. There are extraordinary Fires which God sometimes sends from Heaven Such was the Fire of God that destroyed Job's Sheep Job 1.16 which burnt up his Sheep and his Servants and consumed them such was that Fire that went out from the Lord and consumed Nadah and Abihu for offering strange Fire before the Lord Levit. 10.2 Elijah procured Fire from Heaven to consume the Captains that came to apprehend him from the King 2 Reg. 1.10 12. And it is said That the Lord did raign down Fire and Brimstone from the Lord out of Heaven upon Sodom to consume it Gen. 19.24 and burnt up the Cities of the Plain And the Psalmist speaking of the Plagues of Egypt Psalm 105.32 saith That the Lord sent flames of Fire in the Land. So some Expound that place Psalm 104.4 He maketh His Angels Spirits and His Ministers a flame of Fire i.e. say they He useth flames of Fire for His Ministers for His Messengers He sends a Fire on His Errand to do His Work. But we know that place is applyed to the Holy Angels by the Apostle Heb. 1.7 The Fire of God which burnt up Job's Sheep and Servants is conceived to have been some terrible flash of Lightning which in a moment destroyed and consumed the Sheep and the Shepherds And this is more probable because it is said to fall down from Heaven that is out of the Air for so often in Scripture Heaven is put for the Air the middle Region of the Air where Satan hath great Power Eph. 2.2 therefore he is called the Prince of the Power of Air and he can do Mighty things command much in that Magazine of Heaven where the dreadful Artillery which makes Men tremble those fiery Meteors Thunder and Lightning are lodged This Fire that consumed Job's Sheep and Servants is called the Fire of God not only because it was sent from God as all other Afflictions are but it may be called the Fire of God because of the strangeness of it it was a Wonderful an Extraordinary Fire And so it is usual in the Hebrew to use the Name of God as an Epithete as an Additional Word to heighten the Excellency Greatness and Rareness of things We find that Phrase often A Man of God. The Hebrews say to call one a Man of God is as much as to say he is an Extraordinary Man a Man of an Excellent Spirit a Prophet an Holy Man a Man inspir'd of God. In that Psalm where the Church is shadowed under the similitude of a Vine it is said She did send forth her Branches like the goodly Cedars so we translate it It is in the Original She sent forth her Branches as the Cedars of God that is Excellent Cedars tall and Extraordinary Cedars The Psalmist in Psal 36. comparing the Love of God to great Mountains saith Thy Righteousness is like the great Mountains Psal 36.6 The word is like the Mountains of God. So in Psalm 65.9 Thou visitest the Earth and waterest it thou greatly enrichest it with the Rivers of God that is with an Excellent River So here the Fire of God that is a strange Fire a vehement Fire an extraordinary Fire an unusual and unheard of Fire Therefore the Hebrews call Extraordinary things the things of God because all the Wonders and Excellencies all the Beauty and Glory that is in Creatures is but a foot-step and drop of that Excellency Glory and Power that is in God therefore every thing that is most Excellent is ascribed unto God. This Fire being a strange and Extraordinary Fire is said to be the Fire of God. But here it may be demanded why Satan chose to consume Job's Sheep with Fire Why did he not rather make use of Spoilers and Robbers to take them away He could have drawn the Sabeans to have carryed away the Flocks of Sheep as well as the Droves of greater Cattle he could easily have procured them why then doth he cause Fire from Heaven to come down even the Fire of God to consume them I Answer The Reason of it was to make the Affliction more sharp and grievous He would not have the Sheep to be taken away after the same manner that the Oken and Camels were that he might aggravate Job's Trouble and stir him up to murmur against God yea and to blaspheme His Holy Name for that was his Design and thereby to beget an Opinion in God that God was become his Enemy as well as Man. Those Afflictions are most grievous wherein God appeareth to be against us It may be demanded further Why the Sheep were consumed with Fire rather than any other of his Cattle Expositors answer this in two things 1. The Sheep were used in Sacrifice when the days of the Feasting of Job's Children were ended Job 1.5 Job offered Sacrifice he offered Burnt-Offerings according to the Number of them all And the Sheep chiefly were offered in Sacrifice Now Satan by consuming the Sheep hoped to fasten this upon Job if he could possibly do it that God was not pleased with his very Sacrifices that He was angry with his Duties and Services As if he should say Dost thou think that the offering up of thy Sheep in Sacrifice hath been acceptable unto God Doubtless if the Fire of those Sacrifices had been pleasing to God if he had smelt a savour of rest in them as He is said to have done when Naah offered Sacrifice after the Deluge Gen. 18.11 He would never have sent a Fire from Heaven to consume them But Origen brings in Job excellently retorting this suggestion upon Satan I sacrificed now one and then another of my Sheep to God but now blessed be God who hath accepted all my Flock as one Burnt-Offering Moreover Job's Sheep were consumed by Fire as to make Job think his former services were rejected of God
LONDONS Remembrancer OR A SERMON Preached at the CHURCH of St. MARY LE BOW ON September the 3d 1688. The Second Day being the Lord's Day which was appointed by Act of PARLIAMENT for the CITIZENS of LONDON and their Successors to retain the Memorial of the sad Desolation of that CITY by FIRE in the Year of our LORD 1666. By WILLIAM GEARING Rector of Christ-Church in Surrey LONDON Printed by J. Richardson for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1688. Licensed September 10th 1688. To the Right Honourable Sir JOHN EYLES Kt. LORD MAYOR of the CITY of LONDON My Lord GOD hath inflicted many Judgments upon this great City and kindled many Dreadful Fires among us which have at several times overthrown and consumed many Thousand Dwellings and yet most People are regardless of this Judgment There be three Duties to be done in respect of God's Judgments 1. When they fall out there must be special Notice taken of them They must be observed Marked and Commented upon both in our Meditations and Conferences Psalm 9.16 The Lord is known by the Judgments which He executeth or the Lord maketh Himself known by His Judgments what a Just and Powerful God He is God complains of some Isa 5.12 That they regard not the Work of the Lord nor consider the Operation of His Hands And Psalm 64.9 All Men shall fear and declare the Works of God for they shall wisely consider of His doings 2. God's Works of Justice must be magnified and God magnified in them Job 36. Remember that thou magnifie His Work which Men behold Every Man may see it and behold it afar off It is one thing to see God's Work which a Man cannot avoid if his Eyes be open another thing so as to see and agnize God's Greatness in them so as to cry out as Moses and the Children of Israel did when God drowned Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea Exod. 15.11 Who is like unto Thee O Lord among the Gods glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises and in doing Wonders We must observe and glorifie the Justice of God especially considering how His Judgments are many times sutable to Mens Sins 3. God's Works of Justice must be remembred Psalm 111.4 He hath made His wonderful Works to be remembred Therefore we ought always to keep them in mind Remember Lot 's Wife c. Obj. But is it not an easie thing to remember any strange Judgment that a Man hath tasted of seen or heard of Who is there that doth not remember such things Resp The Remembrance that God calls for is not a bare Historical Remembrance It is common and easy enough to remember the Story of Lot's Wife or any other on whom God's Judgments have been Executed The Remembrance that is required of us is an Operative and Practical Remembrance so to remember them as to be warned by them and to take heed of the same or such like Sins as such Judgments came for so to remember them as to be quickned to the Fear of God and to Obedience to His Precepts and to glorifie His Name in His fiery Dispensations towards us God hath not wrought such great things in the World whether respecting Persons or Nations nor kindled so many Fires in this City that we should write them upon the Water or in the Sand which the next blast of Wind defaceth and blows out But He hath made such wonderful Works of His to be remembred He will have them written in Brass as it were with the Pen of Iron and the Point of a Diamond And indeed all God's Works are so made that they are worthy to be remembred by us My Lord I humbly dedicate this ensuing Sermon to Your Lordship and present it to the touch and test of Your Judgment My utmost Ambition in this mean Tender is no more than that Persians was who having nothing to present the King Artaxerxes with ran to the River and brought him his handful of Water I hope this poor Present shall find acceptance with You and that my good Intentions stamped upon it may advance the Price of it as the poor Widows Charitable Mind in the Gospel did raise the Value of her Mite The Lord Direct and Assist You in all Your weighty Affairs in the Government of this City And so recommending You to the Rich Grace of God I humbly take my leave and remain September 13. 1688. Your Lordships in all Gospel-Services to be Commanded WILLIAM GEARING LONDONS Remembrancer OR A SERMON Preached at the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow On the 3d of September 1688. Isaiah xxiv 15. Wherefore glorifie ye the Lord in the Fires even the Name of the Lord God of Israel in the Isles of the Sea. IN the former part of this Chapter ye have the Description of a terrible consuming Judgment Behold the Lord maketh the Earth empty and maketh it waste and turneth it upside down and scattereth abroad the Inhabitants thereof The Effects here spoken of are like those that follow a Terrible Fire they make the Earth empty overturn Houses and scatter abroad the Inhabitants driven out of their Habitations The Prophet shews that this Judgment should make no difference in regard of any outward Estate or Condition of Men namely in reference to their outward Conditions The Judgments of God look upon all alike therefore saith the Prophet verse 2. It shall be As with the People so with the Priest as with the Servant so with his Master as with the Maid so with her Mistress as with the Buyer so with the Seller as with the Lender so with the Borrower as with the taker of Vsury so with the giver of Vsury to him They shall be all wrapt up in one bundle of Judgments without discrimination Then the Prophet goes on to describe the Consequents of it verse 3. The Land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled for the Lord hath spoken this word The Earth mourneth and fadeth away the haughty People of the Earth do languish And so on to the end of the Twelfth Verse But now though the Judgments of God go thus forth and consume all sorts alike who be alike in their Sins yet the Lord knows how to make a difference and in the most common Calamities he usually hath a Reserve But the Reserve is made not upon any outward Consideration but the difference is in reference to the Spiritual Estate and Internal Condition of Man. Therefore he saith in the Thirteenth Verse When thus it shall be in the midst of the Land among the People there shall be as the shaking of an Olive Tree and as the gleaning of Grapes when the Vintage is done They shall lift up their Voice they shall sing for the Majesty of the Lord they shall cry aloud from the Sea. That is there are some though possibly they may be much afflicted and in great distress yet their Comforts shall not be quite removed It shall be with them as is expressed verse