the seventy thousand that died of the Plague though Davids sin were the occasion yet the meritorious cause was in them Certainly there is no man that hath been a sufferer by this late dreadful Fire but upon an easie search into his own heart and life he may find matter enough to silence himself and to satisfie himself that though God has turn'd him out of his habitation and burnt up all his comforts round about him yet he has done him no wrong Surely in the burning of the City of London there was more of the extraordinary hand of God than there was of the hand of Papist or Atheist God if he had pleased could have prevented brutish and skilful men to destroy Ezek. 21. 31. and burn by discovering of their hellish plots before they had taken effect as he did Ahitophels 2 Sam. 17. 10. to the 24. and as he did Tobiahs and Sanballats Neh. 4. 7. to v. 16. And as he did the Jews who took counsel to kill Paul Acts 9. 23 24 25. Acts 23. 12. to 25. And as he did that of the Gun-Powder-Treason And God could have directed and spirited men to the use of the means and then have given such a blessing to the means as should have been effectual to the quenching of it when it was first kindled but he would not which is a clear evidence that he had given from Heaven a commission to the Fire to burn with that force and violence as it did till all was laid in ashes Now that you may the better see and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in the late dreadful Fire that has been amongst us Consider seriously with me these ten following particulars First Consider the intemperate heat the drought of the season such a hot and dry Summer as that was has not been known for many years How by this means every mans habitation Nah. 1. 10. Joâ—l 2. 5. By this parching season every mans house was prepared for fuel was as stubble fully dry prepared and fitted for the burning flames Before God would strike fire he made our houses like tinder When fuell is wet and green what puffing and blowing must there be to kindle a fire and to make it burn but when fuell is light and dry it is so conceptive of fire that even the very smell of fire puts it into a flame And this was poor London's case for every mans house had lain long a Sunning under the scorching beams of the Sun and much brightness of weather which made every thing so dry and combustible that sparks and flakes of fire were sufficient to set mens houses all in a flame about their ears Now this finger of God we are neither to overlook nor yet deny 't is our wisdom as well as our work Exod. 8. 19. to see not only the finger but the hand of the Lord in every circumstance that relates to that fore Judgement of fire that we are still sighing under 'T is God that withholds seasonable showers and that causeth it to rain upon one City Amos 4. 7. and not upon another The Earth cannot open her bowels and yield seed to the Sower and bread to the Eater if not 1 King 17. 1 2. Job 38. 31. Doubtless there was much wrath in his that the Water-house which served much of the City with water should be burnt down in a few hours after the fire first began To want a proper â—emedy when we are under a growing misery is no small calamity 'T is sad with the people that have nothing to quench the furious flames but their own tears and blood To be stript of water when God strikes a people with that tremendous Judgement of Fire is wrath to the utmost watered from above nor the Heaven cannot drop down fatness upon the Earth if God close it up and withhold the seasonable showers This the very Heathens acknowledged in their fictions of Jupiter and Juno God only can make the Heavens as Brass and the Earth as Iron and restraiâ—â—â—he Celestial influences Can man bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bonds of Orion Can any but God forbid the Clouds to drop fatness Surely no. Beloved drought and scantness of water upon a Land a City c. is a Judgement of God 'T is no small misery to have the streams dried up when the fire is at our doors Jer. 50. 38. A drought is upon her waters and they shall be dried up for it is the Land of Graven Images and they are mad upon their Idols Jer. 51. 35 36. The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon shall the inhabitant of Zion say and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea shall Jerusalem say Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee and I will dry up her Sea and make her Springs dry Now mark what follows ver 37. And Babylon shall become heaps a dwelling place for Dragons an astonishment and an hissing without an inhabitant When God comes to plead the cause of Zion against Babylon not by words but by deeds by blowes by terrible Judgements When he comes to burn up the inhabitants of Babylon and to turn them out of house and home he first dryes up her Sea and makes her Springs dry Haggai 1 11. And I called for a drought upon the Land and upon the Mountains and upon the Corn and upon the new Wine and upon the Oyl and upon that which the ground bringeth forth and upon Men and upon Cattel and upon all the labour of the hands 'T is God that brings droughts and rain and that opens and stops the Clouds the bottles of Heaven at his pleasure Jer. 14. 2 3 4. Judah mourneth and the gates thereof languish they are black unto the ground and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up And their Nobles have sent their little ones to the waters they came to the pits and found no water they returned with their vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded they covered their heads They muffled up their heads and faces as a token of great grief and sorrow as close mourners do with us Because the ground is chapt for there was no rain in the earth the Plowmen were ashamed they covered their heads There are many calamities that are brought upon us by humane means that are also avoidable by humane helps but drought and want of water â—specially when a devouring fire is kindled in the midst of a people is no small judgement of Heaven upon that people to want water when the house is all in flames is a high evidence of Divine displeasure We had no rain a long time before the fire and the Springs were low and the Water-works at the Bridge-foot which carried water into that part of the City that was first in flames were burnt dowâ— the first day of the fire And was there not wrath from Heaven in this Surely yes Look as 't
of its Ruines and to see the Top-stone laid your great readiness and willingness to spend and be spent for the publick Good these are the things that have made your Name as a precious Oyntment and that have erected for you a noble living Monument in the breasts and hearts of all sober serious Christians these are the things that have made you the Darling of the people Let all succeeding Lord Mayors but manage their own Persons Families and Government as you have done by divine assistance and without a peradventure they will have a proportionable interest in the hearts and affections of the people For my Lord 't is not barely the having of a Sword of Justice a Sword of Power but the well management of that Sword that makes most for the interest both of Prince and People and that gives the Magistrate a standing interest in the hearts and affections of the people My Lord the generality of people never concern themselves about the particular perswasions of this or that Magistrate in the matters of Religion their eyes are upon their Examples and upon the management of their Trust and Power for publick Good and they that do them most good shall be sure to have most of â—heir hearts and voices lâ—â— their private opinions in the matters of Religion be what they will My Lord I have not so learned Christ as to give flattering Titles to men the little that I have written I have written in Job 32. 22. the plainness and singleness of my heart and for your Lordships comfort and encouragement in all well doing and to provoke all â—thers that shall succeed in your Chair to write after that fair Copy that you have set them which will be their Honour London's Happiness and Englands Interest Plutarch said of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy Acts of his Ancestors but not so at imitating them The Lord grant that this may never be made good of any that shall succeed your Lordship Carus the Emperours Motto was Bonus Dux bonus Comes A good Leader makes a good Follower The complaint is ancient in Seneca that commonly men live not ad rationem but Seneca de vita beata cap. 1. ad similitudinem Praecepta docent exempla movent Precepts may instruct but Examples do perswade Stories speak of some that could not sleep when they thought of the Trophies of other Worthies that went before them the highest Examples are very quickning and provoking O that by all that shall succeed your Lordship in the Chair we may yet behold our City rising more and more out of its Ashes in greater splendour and glory then ever yet our eyes have seen it that all sober Citizens may have eminent cause to call them the Repairers of the Breaches Isa 58. 12. Chap. 61. 4. Amos 9. 14. Ezek. 36. 33 34 35 36 38. Dan. 9. 25. and Restorers of our City to dwell in Concerning Jerusalem burned and laid waste by the Assyrians Daniel foretold that the streets and the walls thereof should be rebuilded even in troublesom times Though the Assyrians have laid our Jerusalem waste yet even to a wonder how have the Buildings been carried on this last year My Lord the following Treatise which I humbly dedicate to your Lordship has been drawn up some years the Reasons why it has been buried so long in oblivion are not here to be inserted the Discourse is sober and of great importance to all that have been burnt up and to all whose Houses have escaped the furious Flames Whilst the remembrance of London's Flames are kept alive in the thoughts and hearts of men this Treatise will be of use in the world My Lord I do not dedicate this Tractate to your Lordship as if it stood in need of your Honours Patronage I judge it to be of Age both to plead for it self and to defend it self against all Gain-sayers Veritas vincit veritas stat in aperto campo Zeno Socrates Anaxarchus My Lord some sacrifice their labours to great Maecenas's that they may be aton'd to shield them from potent Antagonists but these Sermons which here I present to your Honours perusal being only the blessed Truths of God I hope they need no arm but his to defend them c. sealed the lean and barren truths of Philosophy with the expence of their dearest blood as you may see in the Heathen Martyrologie O how much more should we be ready to seal all divine Truths with our dearest blood when God shall call us forth to such a Service My Lord I humbly lay this Treatise at your Lordships foot to testifie that Love and Honour that I have in my heart for you both upon the account of that intrinsecal Worth that is in you and upon the account of the many good things and great things that have been done by you and publickly to testifie my acknowledgment of your Lordships undeserved Favours towards me My Lord of right this Treatise should have been in your hands several months since and in that it was not it is wholly from others and not from me If your Lordship please but to favour the Author so far as to read it once over for his sake he doubts not but that your Lordship will oftner read it over for your own Souls sake and for Eternities sake and for London's sake also My Lord by reason of my being remote from the City several weeks I have had the advantage but of reading and correcting two or three sheets and therefore must beg your Lordships pardon as to all the neglects and escapes of the Press A second Impression may set all right and straight My Lord that to your dying day you may be famous in your Generation and that your precious and immortal Soul may be richly adorned with all saving Gifts and Graces and that you may daily enjoy a clear close high and standing Communion with God and that you may be filled with all the fruits of Righteousness and Holiness and that your Soul may be bound up in the bundle of Life and crowned with the highest Glory in that other World in the free full constant and uninterrupted Enjoyment of that God who is the Heaven of Heaven and the Glory of Glory is and by divine Assistance shall be the earnest prayers of him who is Your Honours in all humble and due Observance Thomas Brooks The Fiery Jesuits Temper and Behaviour I Fain would be informed by you what ails These Foxes to wear Fire-brands in their tails What did you teach these Cubs the World to burn Or to embottle London in its Vrn Are Hugonots as rank Philistins grown With you as dwelt in Gath or Askelon Bold Wretches must your Fire thus antedate The General Doom and give the World its Fate Must Hells Edict to blend this Globe with Fire Be done at your grave Nods when you require THE TABLE A. Of strange Apparel OF the Vanity of strange Apparel Page 56
they are houseless monyless breadless friendless tradeless as ever they were when they were most surrounded with all the comforts of this life Wo wo would be to the people of God if their happiness should hang upon the comforts of this world which like a Ball are tost from man to man a Ball of fire a storm at Sea a false Oath a subtle enemy a treacherous friend may easily deprive a man of all his earthly blessings at a clap Now who so miserable as that man whose blessedness lyes in earthly blessings But The Fifth Support to bear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery dispensation is this viz. That the Lord will certainly one way or another make up all their losses to them Sometimes God makes up his peoples outward losses by giving them more of himself more of his Son more of his Spirit more of his favour more of his John 16. Grace as he did by the Disciples of Christ When God takes away your carnals and gives you more spirituals your temporals and gives you more eternals your outward losses are made up to you Now this was the very case of those believing Hebrews who were turned out of house and home and who were driven to live in holes and caves and dens of the earth and who had lost all their goods not Heb. 11. having a Bed to lye on or a Stool to sit on nor a dish to drink in and who had lost all their Apparel not having a ragg to hang on their backs and therefore cloathed themselves in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Ver. 3 4. Heaven a better and an enduring substance When under outward When God takes away Christians estates in this world Manet altera Coelo he looks for a better in Heaven losses God shall seal to his people a Bill of Exchange of better and greater things than any they have lost their losses then are made up to them If a man should loose several baggs of Counters and have a Bill of Exchange sealed to him for the receiving of so many baggs of Gold would not his loss be abundantly made up to him When God takes away our earthly treasures and seals up in our hearts a Bill of Exchange to receive all again with interest upon interest in eternal treasures then certainly our losses are abundantly made up to us If men should take away your old cloathes and give you new your Raggs and give you Robes your Chaff and give you Wheat your Water and give you Wine your Tinn and give you Silver your Brass and give you Gold your Pibble and give you Pearls your Cottages and give you Royal Palaces certainly you would have no cause to complain you would have no cause to cry out undone undone If God takes away your houses your goods your Trades your honors and gives you more of himself and more Grace and more Assurance of Glory he dos you no injury It is an excellent change to get eternals for temporals If God takes away your earthly riches and makes you more rich in Grace in spiritual comforts in holy experiences in divine employments then you are no loseâ—s but gâ—eat gainers What are all the necessary comforts of this life to union and communion with God to interest in Christ to pardon of sin to peace of conscience and to that loving kindness that is better than life or better Chaiim Psal 63 3. than lives as the Hebrew runs If you put many lives together there is more excellency and glory in the least discovery of divine love than in them all Many a man has been weary of his life but never was any man yet weary of the love and favour of God The least drop of Grace the least Cant. 2. 3 4 5 6 7. smile from Heaven the least cast of Christs countenance the least kiss of his mouth the least embrace of his arm the least hint of his favour is more worth than ten thousand worlds That Christian cant be poor that is rich in Grace nor that Christian can't be miserable that has God for his Rev. 2. 8 9. Lam. 3. 24. John 14. 1 2 3 4. Heb. 11. 37 38. Rev. 2. 17. John 4. 30 31. portion That Christian can't be unhappy who hath a mansion prepared for him in Heaven though he hath not a cottage to hide his head in in this world nor that Christian has no cause to complain of want of food for his body whose soul is feasted with Manna with the dainties of Heaven with those rarities that are better than Angels food He that hath but raggs to cover his nakedness if his soul be cloathed with the garments of salvation and covered with Isa 61. 10. the Robe of Christs Righteousness he has no reason to complain When Stilpo the Philosopher had his Wife and Children and Countrey all burnt up before him and was asked by Demetrius what loss he had sustained answered That he had lost nothing for he counted that only his own which none could take from him to wit his virtues Shall blind Nature do more than Grace Shall the Heathen put the Christian to a blush Again Sometimes God makes up his peoples outward losses by giving in greater outward mercies than those were that he took from them as you may see by comparing the first Chapter of Job and the last Chapter of Job together Job had all doubled to him I have read of Dionysius how he Pluâ—arch took away from one of his Nobles almost his whole estate and seeing him as cheerful and contented as ever he gave him all that he had taken from him again and as much more God many times takes away a little that he may give more and sometimes he takes away all to shew his Soveraignty and then he gives them all back again with interest upon interest to shew his great liberality and noble bounty That is a lovely loss that is made up with so great gain But Sir How shall we know or probably conjecture whether Quest in this world God will make up our worldly losses to us or not If you please to speak a little to this question it may be many wayes of use unto us Now that I may give you a little light to the Question give me leave to put a few Questions to such who have been sufferers by the late fiery dispensation First Did you make conscience of improving your estates to the glory of God and the good of others when you did enjoy them or did you only make them subservient to your lusts If you have laid out your estates for God and for his Deut. 32. 15 16. Hos 4. 7. James 4. 3. childrens good 't is ten to one but that the Lord even in this world will make up your losses to you But if you mis-improved your estates and turned your mercies