humble thy self under the mighty hand of God God has abâ—sed theâ— and therefore make it thy work to bâ— base in thine own eyes Wâ—en Nâ—hemiah understood that the Chaldâ—ans There is nothing more more evident â—n History than this viz. That those dâ—eadful fires that have bâ—en kiâ—dâ—ed amongst the Christian have been still kindâ—ed by Idolatrous hands who were a generation of Idolaters had made Jerusalem desolâ—te by Fire he greatly humblâ—d himself under the mighty hand of God He lookt through all actâ—ve causes to the efficient cause and accordingly he abased himself before the Lâ—rd as you may see Neh. 1. 3 4. And they said unto me the remnant that are left of the Captivity there in the Province are in great â—â—flâ—ction and reproach the Wall of Jerusâ—lem also is broken down and the Gates thereof are burnt with fire And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sate down and wept and mourned certain dayes and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven When Nehemiah â—eard that thâ— Wall of Jerusalem was broken down and that the gates thereof were bâ—rnt with fire his grief was so great that he could not stand under it and therefore he sits down and weeps Who is there that is a man that is an Englishman that is a Câ—riâ—â—â—an that is a Protestant that can beholâ— the Ruâ—nes of Londâ—n and not at least the frame of his Spirit sit down and weeâ— ovâ—r those Râ—inâ—s The way of wayes â—o be truly yea â—ighly â—xâ—lted is to be thoroughly humbled The hâ—gâ—est Heavens and the lowest hearts do both alike please Isaiah 57. 15. the most high God God will certainly make it his work to exâ—lt them who make it their great work to abase themselves Such who are low in their owâ— eyes and can be be content to be low in the eyes of others such are most high and â—onoâ—rable in the eye of God in the esteem and account â—f God The lowly Christian is alwayes the moâ—â— lovely Câ—ristian Now God hath laid your City low youâ— all low he exâ—ects that your hearts should lye low undeâ— his mighty haâ—d All the world cannot long keep up thosâ— men who do'nt labour to keep down their hearts under Judgements inflicted or Judgements feared Remember the sad Catastrophe of Herod the great of Agrippa the great of Pompey the great and of Alexander the great If your spirits remain great under great Judgements 't is an evident sign that more raigning Judgements lye at your doors But Tâ—e seventh Dâ—ty that lyes upon those who have been burnt up is to bless a taking God as well as a giving God 't is to encourage themselves in the Lord their God though he has stript them of all their worldly goods Thus did Job when he had lost his all The Lord gave and the Loâ—d hath Job 1. 21. taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. One brings in holy Job standing by the ruined house under whose Walls his ten Children lay dead and buried and lifting up his Dâ—eâ—ellius in his Gynnasiun Patientâ—ae heart and hands towards Heaven saying Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord. Ecce spectaculum sayes he dignum ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo Deus Behold a spectacle a spectacle worthy of God himself were he never so intent upon his work in Heaven yet worthy of his cognizance When Ziklag was burnt with fire and David plundered by the Amalekites and his Wives carried captive yet then he encouraged 1 Sam. 30. 1 2 3 6. himself in the Lord his God His God notes 1. His nearness and dearness to God Saints are very near and dear to God Psal 148. 14. Ephes 2. 13. 2. His God notes his Relation to God God is the Saints Father 3. His God notes his right to God Whole God 2 Cor. 6. 18. is the believers All he has and all he can do is the believers From these and such other like considerations David encouraged himself in the Lord his God when all was gone and so should we So the believing Hebrews took joyfully the Heb. 10. 34. spoiling of their goods whether by fire or plundering or otherwise is not said knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and more enduring substance And to this duty James exhorts James 1. 2. Count it all joy my brethren when you fall into divers temptations or tribulations or afflictions A Christian in his choicest deliberation ought to count it all joy when he falls into divers tribulations The words are emphatical the Apostle doth not say be patient or quiet when you fall into divers temptations or afflictions but be joyful Nor the Apostle doth not say be joyful with a little joy but be joyful with exceeding great joy All joy The words are an Hebraism is full joy all joy is perfect joy And this becomes the Saints when they fall or are begirt round not with some but with divers that is with any kind of affliction or tribulation An omnipotent God will certainly turn his peoples misery into felicity And therefore it concerns them to be divinely merry in the midst of their greatest misery Oh that all burnt Citizens would seriously consider of these three things 1. That this fiery Rod has been a Rod in a Fathers hand 2. That this fiery Rod shall sooner or later be like Aarons Rod a blooming Rod. Choice fruit will one day grow upon this burnt Tree London No man can tell what good God may do England by that fiery Rod that he has laid upon London 3. That this fiery Rod that has been laid upon London has not been laid on 1. According to the greatness of Gods anger Nor 2. According to the greatness of his power Nor. 3. According to the strictness of his justice Nor 4. According to the dâ—merits of our sins Nor 5. According to the expectations of men of a Romish faith who 't is to be feared Acts 1. 19. did hope to see every house laid desolate and London made an Aceldama a Field of Blood Nor 6. Accordingly to the extensiveness of many of your fears for many of you have feared worse things than yet you feel Now upon all these considerations how highly dos it concern the people of God to be thankful and cheerful yea and to encourage themselves in the Lord under that fiery dispensation that has lately past upon them But what is there considerable in God to encourage the soul under Quest heavy crosses and great lâ—sses and fiery tryals First There is his gracious his special and pecular presence Answ Psalm 23. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow Dan. 3. 24 25. of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Psal 91. 15. He shall
office of Magistracy God charges him no less then three times in a Josh 1. 6 7. 9. breath as it were to be very couragious A Magistrate that is timorous will quickly be treacherous A Magistrate that is fearful can never be faithful Solomons Throne was supported with Lyons to shew that Magistrates should be men of metal and courage The Athenian Judges sate in Mâ—rs Acts 17. 22. street to shew that they had Martial hearts and that they were men of courage and metal The Grecians placed justice betwixt Leo and Libra to signifie that as there must be indifferency in determining so there ought to be courage in executing Where there is courage without knowledge there the eye of justice is blind and where there is knowledge without courage there the Sword of justice is blunt A Magistrates heart a Judges heart and his Robes must be both dyed in grain else the colour of the one and the courage of the other will quickly fade Why should not the Standard be of steel and the chief posts of the house be heart of Oak It hath been long since said of Cato Fabricius and Aristides that it was as easie to remove the Sun out of the Firmament as to remove them from justice and equity they were men of such couragious and magnanimous spirits for justice and righteousness No Scarlet Robe doth so well become a Magistrate as holy courage and stoutness doth As bodily Physitians so State-Physitians should have an Eagles eye a Ladies hand and a Lyons heart Cowardly and timo râ—us Magistrates will never set up Monuments of their Victories over sin and prophaneness It is very sad when we may say of our Magistrates as the Heathen did of Magistrates in his time they were very good si audeant quae sentiunt if they Cic. de Mil. durst but do what they ought to do My Lord had not the Lord of Lords put a great spirit of courage boldness and resolution Rev. 1. 5 6. Chap. 1â— 14. upon you you had never been able to have managed your Government as you have done counting the various winds that have blown upon you and the several difficulties and discouragements that have risen up before you My Lord once more give me leave to say that in a Magistrate justice and mercy justice and clemency ought to go hand Truth in Scripture is frequently put for Justice in hand Prov. 20. 28. Mercy and truth preserve the King and his Throne is upholden by mercy All justice will not preserve the King nor all mercy will not preserve the King there must be a mixture both of justice and mercy to preserve the King and to uphold his Throne and to shew that mercy is more requisite then justice the word Mercy is doubled in the Text. Justice without mercy turns into rigour and so becomes hateful Mercy without justice turns into fond pity and so becomes contemptible Look as the Rod of Aaron and King John thought to strengthen himself by gathering a great deal of money together but neglecting the exercise of mercy and justice clemency and lenity he lost his peoples affections and so after many endless turmoyls he came to an unhappy end he Pot of Manna were by Gods own Command laid up in the same Ark so must mercy and justice be preserved intire in he bosom of the same Magistrate mercy and justice mildness and righteousness leniâ—y and fidelity are a safer and a stronger Guard to Princes and people then rich Mines Munitions of Rocks mighty Armies powerful Navies or any warlike Preparations It is very observable that Christ is called but once the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah in the Book of the Revelation and that is in Chap. 5. vers 5. But he is called a Lamb no less then nine and twenty times in that Book and what is this but to shew us the transcendent mercy clemency lenity mildness and sweetness that is in Jesus Christ and to shew that he is infinitely more inclined to the exercise of mercy then he is to the exercise of justice It is true Magistrates should be Lyons in the execution of justice and it is as true that â—hey should be Lambs in the exercise of mercy and clemency mildness and sweetness and the more ready and inclinable they are to the exercise of mercy where mâ—rcy is to be shewed the more like to Christ the Lamb they are God is slow to anger he abounds in pity though he be great in power Seneca hath long Psal 68. 18. Psal 103. 13 14. Hosea 11. 8. Vide Aug. de civit Dei l. 5. cap. 26. Orosius lib. 7. cap. 34. since observed that the Custom of anointing Kings was to shew that Kings above all other men should be men of the greatest sweetness and mildness their anointing being a sign of that Kingly sweetness and mildness that should be in them Theodosius the Emperour by his loveliness and clemency gained many Kingdoms The Goths after the death of their own King beholding his temperance patience and justice mixt with mercy and clemency gave themselves up to his Government When Cicero would claw Caesar he tells him that his Valour and Victories were common with the rest of his Souldiers but his clemency and goodness were wholly his own Neroes Speech hath great praise who in the beginning of his Reign when he was to subscribe to the death of any condemned person would say Uâ—inam nescirem literas I wish I did not know how to write I know there are a thousand thousand cases wherein severity is to be used But yet I must say that 't is much safer â—o account for mercy then for cruelty 't is best that the sword of justice should be always furbisht with the oyl of mercy My Lord in the management of your Government you have been so assisted and helpt from on high that stoutness and mildness justice and mercy justice and clemency hath like a silver thred run through all your Mayoralty and by this means you have very signally served the Interest of the Crown the Interest of the City the Interest of the Nation and that which is more then all the rest the Interest of your own Soul Rigour breeds rebellion Rehoboam by his severity by his cruelty lost ten Tribes in one day 1 Kings 12. 16. My Lord your prudence justice and moderation your burning zeal against the horrid hideous heady vices of this day your punishing of Oaths Drunkenness and the false Ballance your singular Sobriety and Temperance in the midst of all your high Entertainments your Fidelity and Activity your eminent Self-denial A self-seeking Magistrate is one of the worst of Plagues and Judgments that can befal a people he is a Gangrene in the head which brings both a more speedy and a more certain ruine then if it were in some inferior and less noble part of the body in respect of your Perquisites your unwearied Endeavours to see London raised out
57. The first Part of the Book Of Atheism Gross Atheism practical Atheism brings desolating Judgments upon a people pag. 67. to pag. 70. The first Part of the Book In a strict and proper sense there was never such a Creature in the world as an Atheist pag. 71 72 73 74. The first Part of the Book There are the seeds of Atheism in the best and holiest of the sons of men pag. 74 75. The first Part of the Book B. Of the Ballance of Deceit Such as use the Ballance of deceit such run counter-cross to eight things pag. 89. to 92. The first Part of the Book Of the Blood of the Just Shedding the blood of the just brings the judgment of Fire and lays all desolate pag. 154 155 156 157. The first Part of the Book There are nine things that speak out the preciousness of the blood of the just pag. 157. to 168. The first Part of the Book Of Bribery Bribery brings desolating and destroying judgments both upon persons and places pag. 87 88 89. The first Part of the Book C. Of a City that hath Foundations Burnt Citizens should make sure a City that hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God pag. 227 228. The first Part of the Application Heaven is a City that is built upon a fivefold foundation pag. 228 229. The first Part of the Application The resemblance betwixt Heaven and a City holds in nine particulars pag. 229 230 231. The first Part of the Application D. Of the Devil Four Reasons why the imprisonment of the Saints is attributed to the Devil pag. 147 148 149. The first Part of the Application Quest What are the Duties that are incumbent upon them that have been burnt up Answ First to see the hand of the Lord in this late dreadful Fire pag. 131 132 133. The first Part of the Application Secondly To justifie the Lord in all that he has done pag. 133 134 135. The first Part of the Application Thirdly In patience to possess their own Souls pag. 166 167 168. The first Part of the Application Fourthly To set up the Lord in a more eminent degree then ever as the great Object of their fear pag. 168 169 170. The first Part of the Application Fifthly To be content with their present condition pag. 170 171 172 173. The first Part of the Application Sixthly To lye low to keep humble under this dreadful judgment of fire under the mighty hand of God pag. 173 174 175 176. The first Part of the Application Seventhly To encourage themselves in the Lord their God pag. 176 177. The first Part of the Application Eighthly To keep in their hearts a constant remembrance of the late dreadful Conflagration eight Arguments to encourage to this pag. 181 182 183. The first Part of the Application Ninthly To see the vanity mutability and uncertainty of all worldly comforts and enjoyments and accordingly to set loose from them pag. 184 185 186 187. The first Part of the Application Tenthly To be very importunate with God to take away those sins that have laid our City desolate pag. 217 218 219 220. The first Part of the Application The eleventh Duty is to prepare and fit for greater troubles and tryals pag. 220 221 222. The first Part of the Application The twelfth Duty is to secure the everlasting welfare of their precious and immortal Souls pag. 222 223 224. The first Part of the Application The thirteenth Duty is to get a God for their portion pag. 224 225 226. The first Part of the Application The fourteenth Duty is to make God their habitation to make God their dwelling-place pag. 226 227. The first Part of the Application The fifteenth Duty is to make sure an abiding City a City that hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God p. 227. to pag. 232. The first Part of the Application The sixteenth Duty is for the burnt Citizens to sanctifie the Sabbath and to keep it holy all their days pag. 232. to 263. The first Part of the Application Quest What are the Duties that are incumbent upon those Habitations are yet standing as Monuments of divine Wisdom Power and Grace Answ These eight as follow First To take heed of those sins which bring the fiery Rod pag. 263 264. The first Part of the Application Secondly Not to think those greater sinners then your selves whose Habitations have been laid in Ashes pag. 264 265. The first Part of the Application Thirdly To be much in blessing of God pag. 265. Fourthly To take heed of security do not say the bitterness of death is past pag. 265 266. Fifthly To shew much love pity and compassion to those who are burnt up and turned out of all pag. 266 267. Sixthly To lift up a prayer for all those who are fallen under the heavy judgment of fire pag. 267 268. Seventhly Seriously to consider that some mens escaping of very great judgments is not properly a preservation but a reservation to some greater destruction pag. 268 269 270. Eighthly Not to rejoyce or glory in your Neighbours ruines pag. 270 271. E. Eternal Every thing that is conducible to the torments of the damned is eternal this is proved five ways pag. 105 106. F. Of Fire How the word Fire is used in Scripture pag. 10 11 12. The first Part of the Book First Consider the intemperate heat before the Fire pag. 5 6 7. The first Part of the Application Secondly Consider the suddenness and unexpectedness of the Fire pag. 7. to pag. 12. Thirdly Consider the force violence vehemency and irresistableness of it pag. 12 13 14. Fourthly Consider the swiftness of it it flew upon the wings of the wind pag. 14 15 16 17. Fifthly Consider the extensiveness of the Fire pag. 22 23. Sixthly Consider the impartiality of the Fire pag. 23 24. Seventhly Consider the greatness of it pag. 24 25 26 27 28 Eighthly Consider the terribleness of it pag. 28 29 30 31 32. Ninthly Consider the time when the Fire first began pag. 32 33 34 35 36. The first Part of the Application Tenthly Consider the Fire the burning of London is a National judgment pag. 36 37 38. That the Fire of London was not so great nor so dreadful a fire as that of Sodom and Gomorrah is proved by five Arguments pag. 88 89 90 91. Of the fire of Hell pag. 102 103 104 105 106. Four Arguments to prove that 't is very probable that there is material Fire in Hell pag. 106 107 108. Object If it be material Fire then it may be quencht c. Five Answers to this Objection pag. 108 109 110 111. Six differences between our common Fire and Hell-fire pag. 112. to 125. Object How will it stand with the unspotted Holiness Justice and Righteousness of God to punish a temporary offence with eternal punishments with eternal fire c. This Objection is answered seven ways pag. 125. to 131. F. Of Fornication Fornication is a sin that brings the
Judgment of Fire pag. 128. to 132. The first Part of the Book Several Reasons to prove that this sin of Fornication cannot groundedly be charged upon any of the precious Servants of the Lord that did truly fear him in the City of London p. 132. to 137. These Expressions of giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh implies six things pag. 134 135 136 137. G. Of God His God notes three things pag. 176. The first Part of the Application There are three things in God to encourage Christians under all their fiery tryals pag. 178 179. Of the Gospel The slighting of the Gospel brings desolating judgments pag. 100. to 104. The first Part of the Book Six sorts of slighters of the Gospel pag. 104. to 108. Saints no slighters of the Gospel of Grace and of the Graces of the Saints proved by seven Arguments pag. 108. to 112. God by fiery tryals designs the reviving quickning and recovering of the decayed Graces of his people pag. 41 42 43. God by fiery tryals designs a further exercise of his Childrens Graces pag. 43 44 45 46. God by fiery tryals designs the growth of his peoples Graces pag. 46 47 48 49. God by fiery tryals designs the tryal of his peoples Graces and the discovery of their sincerity and integrity to the world pag. 49 50 51 52 53. Many Christians Graces in London were withering before the fiery Dispensation pag. 61 62. H. Of Heaven Heaven is a City that is built upon a fivefold foundation pag. 228 229. The first Part of the Application The resemblance betwixt Heaven and a City holds in nine respects pag. 229 230 231. Hand See the Hand of the Lord in this late fiery Dispensation Ten Arguments to work you to this pag. 1. to 38. Of Holiness In these days of the Gospel all Holiness of places is taken away pag. 141. to 146. I. Of Intemperance Intemperance brings desolating judgments pag. 75 76 77 78. The first Part of the Book Six things Intemperance robs men of pag. 78. to 84. Of Judgments In eight respects great judgments are like to fire 7 8 9. The ends of God in inflicting the late judgment of Fire in respect of the wicked are seven pag. 12 to 31. The ends of God in inflicting the late judgment of Fire in respect of the Righteous are at large discovered pag. 31 to 53. The Sword is a worse judgment then that of Fire pag. 91 92. The first Part of the Application Famine is a more dreadful judgment then that of Fire pag. 92 93 94 95. Dreadful Earth quakes are a more terrible judgment then that of Fire pag. 95 96 97 98. That judgment that befel Korah Dathan and Abiram a more terrible judgment then that which befel the burnt Citizens pag. 98 99. That judgment that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah was a worse judgment then that was inflicted upon the burnt Citizens pag. 99. Eight Arguments to encourage the burnt Citizens to commemorate the late judgment of Fire pag. 182 183 184. There are seven sorts of men that have cause to fear worser judgments then any yet have been inflicted on them pag. 222 L. Lamentation Lament and mourn that London is laid in Ashes pag. 38 39 40. Ten Considerations to work you to lament over London's ashes pag. 40. to 57. Of a Little The righteous mans little is better then the multitude of Riches that many wicked men enjoy this blessed truth is made good by an induction of eleven particulars pag. 197. to 212. Five ways shewing how a righteous man improves his little pag. 203 204. Of London The burning of London was ushered in by sad Prodigies anâ— dreadful fore-runners pag. 40 41 42. London was an ancient City a City of great Antiquity pag. 42 43. London was an honourable City a renowned City pag. 43 44 45. London was the Bulwark the strong Hold of the Nation pag. 45 46 47 48. London was a Fountain a Sanctuary a City of Refuge to the poor afflicted and impoverished people of God pag. 48 49. London was a City compact a City advantagiously situated for Trade and Commerce pag. 49 50. Englands worst Enemies rejoyce and triumph in London's Ashes pag. 50. London was once the City of our solemn Solemnities pag. 50 51 52. Hubert confest the fact of firing the first house in London pag. 52 53 54 55 56 57. Of Losses Seven great losses an inordinate love to the world will expose a man to pag. 59 60 61. The first Part of the Book Eight ways whereby the burnt Citizens may know whether in this world God will make up their losses by the late Fire or no pag. 76 77 78 79 80. The first Part of the Application There are ten choice Jewels that a Christian can never lose in this world pag. 156 157 158 159. Of Luke-warmness There was much Luke-warmness among many Professors in London pag. 57 58. Of Lying A trade or course of Lying brings the judgment of Fire pag. 112 113. The first Part of the Book The School-men reduce all sorts of Lyes to three pag. 113 114 115 116. The greatness of the sin of Lying exprest in four particulars pag. 116. to 123. Eight Arguments to prove that this trade this course of Lying cannot by any clear evidence be charged upon those that truly feared the Lord whose Habitations were once within the Walls of London pag. 123. to 128. M. Of Mercy It was a very great mercy to six sorts of men that they had their lives for a prey when London was in flames pag. 60 to 70. O. Objections Object I would say the Lord is righteous but by this fiery Dispensation I am turned out of house and home Answ Four ways pag. 135 to 148. Object I would justifie the Lord but I have lost my all as to this world Seven Answers you have from pag. 150 to 159. Object I would justifie the Lord though I am turned out of all but this is that which troubles me that I have not an Estate to do that good which formerly I have done Four Answers you have from pag. 159 160 161. Object I would justifie the Lord though he hath turned me out of all but God hath punished the righteous with the wicked this fiery Rod hath fallen heavier upon many Saints then upon many sinners How then can I say that the Lord is righteous Six Answers are given to this Objection pag. 161 to 166. P. Of Punishment Quest How will it stand with the unspotted Holiness Justice and Râ—ghteousness of God to punish a temporary offence with eternal punishments Seven Answers to this Question pag. 125 to 131. Q. Quest What are those sins that bring the fiery Dispensation upon Cities Nations and Countries Answ From pag. 53 to 168. The first part of the Book Quest What sins were there among the professing people in London that might bring down the fiery Rod upon them Answ Seven pag. 55 to 63. Quest Four Questions proposed pag. 63 64.
his fury like fire when like a flaming fire he devours all our pleasant things and lays all our glory in dust and ashes we may safely conclude that his anger is fierce and that his wrath is great against us and therefore what eminent cause have we to fear and tremble before him God is a great and dreadful God Dan. 9. 4. A mighty God and terrible Deut. 7. 21. A great and terrible God Nehem. 1. 5. He is so in himself and he has been so in his fiery Dispensations towards us that the world by such remarkable severities may be kept in awe of him Generally fear doth more in the We are worthy saith Chrysostom of Hell if for no other cause yet for fearing Hell and the evil of punishment more then Christ Chrys Hom. 5. in Epist ad Rom. world then love As there is little sincerity so there is but little ingenuity in the world and that is the reason why many very rarely think of God but when they are afraid of him Many times Judgments work where Mercies do not win That famous Thomas Waldo of Lions the Father of the Waldenses seeing among many met together to be merry one suddenly fall down dead in the street it struck so to his heart that he went home a penitent it wrought to a severe and pious reformation of his life and he lived and dyed a precious man Though Pharaoh was not a pin the better for all the heavy Judgments that God inflicted upon him yet Jethro taking notice of those dreadful Plagues and Judgments that fell upon Pharaoh and upon his people and likewise upon the Amalekites was thereby converted and became a Proselyte as Rabbi Solomon noteth upon that 19. of Prov. 25. The world is so untractable that frowns will do more with them then smiles That God may keep wicked men in awe and in subjection to him he sees it very needful to bring common and general and over-spreading Judgments upon them Rev. 15. 4. Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name for thou only art holy for all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy Judgments are made manifest O Sirs when the Judgments of the Lord come to be made manifest then it highly concerns all ranks and sorts of men to fear the Lord and to glorifie his Name How manifest how visible has the raging Pestilence and the bloody Sword and the devouring Flames of London been in the midst of us and O that our fear and dread and awe of God were as manifest and as visible as his Judgments have been and still are for his hand to this very hour is stretched out against us Isa 9. 12. But Thirdly God inflicts great and sore Judgments upon the Sons of men and upon Cities and Countries to express and make known his Power Justice Anger Severity and Indignation against sinners and their sinful courses by which See Jer. 14. 15 16. Lam. 4. 11. Jer. 4. 15. to verse 19. he has been provoked Deut. 32. 19. And when the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters Vers 21. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities and I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation Vers 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains Vers 24. They shall be burnt with hunger and devoured with burning heat or with burning coals and with bitter destruction There is a knowledge of God by his Works as well as by his Word and by his Judgments as well as by his mercies In his dreadful Judgments every one may run and read his Power his Justice his Anger his Severity and his Indignation against sin and sinners 'T is irrevocable sins that bring irrevocable Judgments upon sinners whilst men hold on in committing great iniquities God will hold on in inflicting answerable severities When God cannot prevail with men to desist from sinning men shall not prevail with God to desist from destroying of them their habitations and all their pleasant things Jer. 2. 15. The young Lions roared upon him and yelled and they made his Land waste his Cities are burnt without Inhabitant Vers 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way When Nicephorus Phocas had built a mighty strong Wall about his Palace for his own security in the night time he heard a voice crying out unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O Emperour though thou buildest the wall as high as the clouds yet if sin be within it will overthrow all Sin like those Traitors in the Trojan Horse will do Cities Countries more hurt in one night then ten thousand open enemies could do in ten years Cities and Countries might flourish and continue as the days of Heaven and be as the Sun before the Almighty if his wrath be not provoked by their prophaneness and wickedness So that it is not any divine Aspect of the Heavens nor any malignant Conjunction of the Stars and Planets but the loose manners the ungracious lives and the enormous sins of men that lay Cities and Countries desolate Jer. 13. 22. And if thou say in thine heart wherefore come these things upon me wherefore hath the Lord sent plague sword famine and fire to devour and destroy and to lay all in ashes The Answer is For the greatness of thine iniquity God will in flames of fire discover his anger and indignation against sin and sinners The Heathen Herodotus Historian observes in the ruine of Troy that the sparkles and ashes of burnt Troy served for a lasting monument of Gods great anger and displeasure against great sinners The burning of Troy served to teach men that God punisheth great sinners with great plagues and certainly Londons being laid in ashes is a high evidence that God knows how to be angry with sinners and how to punish sin with the sorest of Judgments The Gods of the Gentiles were senseless stocks and stones not able to apprehend much less to revenge any injury done unto them Well therefore might the Philosopher be bold with Hercules to put him to his thirteenth labour in seething of his dinner and Martial with Priapus in threatning him to throw him into the fire if he looked not well to his Trees A child may play at the hole of a dead Asp and a filly woman may strike a dead Lyon but who dare play with a living Serpent who dare take a roaring Lyon by the beard O that Châ—istians then would take heed how they provoke the living God for he is a consuming fire and with a word of his mouth yea with the breath of his mouth he is able to throw down and to burn up the whole frame of Nature and to destroy all Creatures from
them lâ—b de superstitione Sun and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire And the men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repâ—nted not to give him glory Vers 10. And the fifth Angel poured out his vial upon the scent of the Beast and his Kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds The top of the Judgment that is and shall be upon the wicked is this that under the sorest and heaviest Judgments that shall come This will be the case of all the worshippers of the Beast one day Deut. 8. 2. 15 16. upon them they shall not repent nor give glory to God they shall blaspheme the Name of God and they shall blaspheme the God of Heaven and they shall be scorched with great heat and they shall gnaw their tongues for pain but they shall not repent of their deeds nor give glory to that hand that smites them The fierce and fiery Dispensations of God upon the followers and worshippers of the Beast shall draw out their sins but they shall never reform their lives nor better their souls God kept the Jews forty years in the Wilderness and exercised them with many sore and smart afflictions that he might prove them and make a more full discovery of themselves to themselves and did not the heavy tryals that they met with in their wilderness condition make a very great discovery of that pride that unbelief that hypocrisie that impatience that discontent that self-love that murmuring c. that was wrapt up close in all their souls O Sirs since God has turned our renowned City into ashes what discoveries has he made of that pride that unbelief that worldliness that earthliness that self-love that inordinate affection to relations and to the good things of the world that discontent that disquietness that faint-heartedness that has been closely wrapt up in the spirits of many thousands whose habitations are now laid in ashes We try metals by fire and by knocking and God has tryed many thousands this day by his fiery Dispensations and knocking Judgments that have been in the midst of us I believe there are many thousands who have been deep sufferers by the late dreadful Fire who never did think that there had been so much sin and so little grace so much of the Creature and so little of God so much earth and so little of Heaven in their hearts as they now find by woful experience and how many wretched sinners are there who have more blasphemed God and dishonoured Christ and provoked divine Justice and abused their best mercies and debased and be-beasted themselves since the late Fire then they have done in many years before But Sixthly God inflicts great and sore Judgments upon Persons Cities and Countries that others may be warned by his severities to break off their sins and to return to the most High Gods Judgments upon one City should be advertisements to all other Cities to look about them and to Heb. 12. 29. tremble before him who is a consuming fire The flaming Rod of correction that is laid upon one City should be a Rod of instruction to all other Cities Jer. 22. 6 7 8 9. I will make thee a wilderness and cities which are not inhabited and many nations shall pass by this city and they shall say every man to his neighbour Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this great City Then shall they answer Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them God punisheth one City that all others Cities may take warning There is no Judgment of God be it Sword Pestilence Famine or Fire upon any People City Nation or Country but what is speaking and Mich. 6. 9. teaching to all others had they but eyes to see ears to hear and hearts to understand Thus Tyrus shall be devoured with fire saith the Prophet Ashkelon shall see it and fear Zach. 9. 4 5. Gaza and Ekron shall be very sorrowful When Ashkelon Gaza and Ekron shall see the destruction of Tyre by fire it shall make them afraid of the like Judgment they shall be a little more concerned then some were at the Siege of Rhodes and then others were at the Ruine and Desolation of Troy by fire London's sufferings should warn others to take heed of London's sins London's Conflagration should warn others to take heed of London's abominations it should warn others to stand and wonder at the patience Rom. 2. 4 5. long-suffering gentleness and goodness of God towards them who have deserved as hard things from the hand of God as London have felt in 1665. and 1666. It should warn others to search their hearts and try their ways and break off their sins and turn to the Lord lest his anger should break forth in flames of fire against them and none should be able to deliver them It should warn others to Lam. 3. 40. fear and tremble before that Power Justice Severity and Soveraignty that shine in Gods fiery Dispensations towards us Ezek. 30. 7 8 9. And they shall be desolate in the midst Exod. 15. 14 15 16. Isa 13. 6 7 8. â—f the countries that are desolate and her Cities meaning Egypt shall be in the midst of the Cities that are wasted And they shall know that I am the Lord when I have set a fire in Egypt In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Aethiopians afraid and great pain shall câ—me upon them as in the day of Egypt for lo it cometh God by his secret Instinct and Providence would so order the matter as that the news of the Chaldeans inrode into Egypt laying all their Cities and Towns waste by fire and sword should be carried over into Aethiopia and hereupon the secure Aethiopians should fear and tremble and be in pain as a woman is that is in travel or as the Egyptians were when they were destroyed at the Red-sea or as they were when the Lord smote their first-born throughout the Land of Egypt Now shall the Aethiopians the poor blind Heathens fear and tremble and be in pain when they hear that Egypt is laid waste by fire and sword and shall not Christians all the world over fear and tremble and be in pain when they shall hear that London is laid waste that London is destroyed by fire What though Papists and Atheists have warmed themselves at the flames of London saying Aha so would we have it yet let all that have the Name of God upon them fear and tremble and take warning and learn righteousness by his righteous Judgments upon desolate London Isa 26. 8 9. London's murdering-piece should be Englands warning-piece to awaken them and to work them to
bethink themselves and to turn to him who is able by a flaming fire quickly to turn them out of all The Jews have a saying That if war be begun in another Country yet they should fast and mourn because the war is begun and because they do not know how soon God may bring it to their doors O Sirs London is burnt and it highly concerns you to fast and mourn and pray and to take the Alarm for you do not know how soon a fire may be kindled in your own habitations Now God has made the once famous City of London a flaming Beacon before your eyes he expects and looks that you should all fear before him Secure your interest in him walk humbly with him and no more provoke the eyes of his jealousie and glory The design of Heaven by this late dreadful Fire is not to be confined to those particular persons upon whom it hath fallen heaviest but 't is to awaken all and warn all When a Beacon is fired it gives warning as much to the whole Country as to him who sets it on fire or as it does to him on whose ground the Beacon stands We can neither upon the foot of Reason or Religion conclude them to be the greatest sinners who have been the greatest suffererâ— for many times we find that the greatest Saints have been the greatest sufferers both from God and men Job Job 1. 1 2 3 4. was a non-such in his day for holiness uprightness and the fear of the Lord and yet by the wind and fire from Heaven on the one hand and by the Sabeans and Chaldeans on the other hand he is stript of all his children and of a fair estate in one day so that in the morning it might have been said Who so rich as Job and in the evening Who so poor as Job Job was poor even to a Proverb Look as wicked men are very incompetent Judges of divine favours and mercies so they are very incompetent Judges of divine tryals and severities and whatever they may think or say I dare conclude that they who have drank deepest of this Cup of sorrows of this Cup of desolation and fire in London are not greater sinners then all others in England who yet have not tasted of this bitter Cup. But more of this when I come to the Application of the Point O Sirs I beg upon the knee of my soul that you will not slight this dreadful warning of God that he has given to the whole Nation in turning London into ashes To that purpose seriously consider First Divine warnings slighted and neglected will certainly bring down the greater wrath and vengeance upon you Levit. 26. 16 17 18. 21 23 24. 27 28. Amos 4. 7. 8 9 10 11. Jer. 25. 4. to the 12. vers Isa 22. 12 13 14. as you may clearly see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margine together Secondly Slighting of Judgments is the greatest Judgment that can befal a people it speaks out much Pride Atheism Hardness Blindness and desperate Security and Contempt of the great God To be given up to slight divine warnings is a spiritual Judgment and therefore must of all Judgments be the greatest Judgment to be given up to Sword Famine Fire Pestilence burning Agues and Fevers is nothing so great a Judgment as to be given up to slight divine warnings for in the one you are but passive but in the other you are active Thirdly Heathens Jonah 3. have trembled and mended and reformed at divine warnings and therefore for you to slight them is to act below the Heathens yea 't is to do worse then the Heathens who will certainly one day rise up in Judgment against all such who have been slighters of the dreadful warnings of Heaven Fourthly Slighting of divine warnings lays men Prov. 1. 24. to vers 32. open to such anger and wrath as all the Angels in Heaven are not able to express nor all the men on earth able to conceive Fifthly Slighting and neglecting of divine warnings speaks out the greatest dis-ingenuity stoutness and stubbornness that is imaginable The ingenuous child easily takes warning and to an ingenuous Christian every divine warning is as the hand-writing upon the wall Sixthly Slighting of divine warnings provokes God many tâ—mes to Dan. 5. 5. give up men to be their own Executioners their own destroyers Saul had many warnings but he slighted and neglected 1 Sam. 31. 4. Joh. 6. 70 71. Mat. 26. 21 22 23 24 25. Mat. 27. 5. them all and at last God leaves him to fall on his own sword Christ cast Hell-fire often into Judas his face Thou hast a Devil and wo to that man by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed it had been good for that man that he had never been born But Judas slights all these warnings and betrays his Lord and Master and then goes forth and hangs himseâ—f It was a strange conceit of the Cerinthians that honoured Judas the Traitor as some divine Irenaeus Aug. de Haeresi and super-humane power and called his Treason a blessed piece of Service and that he knowing how much the death of Christ would profit mankind did therefore betray him to death to save the race of mankind and to do a thing pleasing to God Judas withstood all divine warnings Some report of Judas that he slew his father married his mother and betrayed his Master from within and without and you know how the Tragedy ended he dyed a miserable death he perished by his own hands which were the most infamous hands in all the world he went and hanged himself And as Luke hath it he fell head-long and burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out In every passage of his death we may take notice of divine Justice and accordingly take heed of slighting divine warnings It was but just that he should hang in the air who for his sin was hated both of Heaven and Earth and that he should fall down head-long who was fallen from such a height of honour as he was fallen from and that the halter should strangle that throat through which the voice of Treason had sounded and that his bowels should be lost who had lost the bowels of all pity piety and compassion and that his Ghost should have his passage out of his midst He burst asunder in the midst saith the Text and not out of his lips because with a kiss of his lips he had betrayed our Lord Jesus But seventhly By slighting divine warnings you will arm both visible and 2 Kings 6. 8 9 10 11. 16. 17. Exod. 14. Judg. 5. 19 20. Isa 37. 7 8 9. 36. invisible Creatures against you Pharaoh slights divine warnings and God arms the winds against him to his destruction Sisera slights divine warnings and the Stars in their Course fought against Sisera Sennacherib slights divine warnings and an Angel of the Lord destroyed a hundred fourscore and
will send a fire on the Wall of Tyrus which shall devour the Palaces thereof So he doth to Edom verse 12. But I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the Palaces of Bozrah So he doth to Ammon verse 14. But I will kindle a fire in the Wall of Rabbah and it shall devour the Palaces thereof with shouting in the day of battel with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind So he doth to Moab Chap. 2. vers 2. But I will send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour the Palaces of Kirioth and Moab shall dye with tumult with shouting and with the sound of a trumpet So he doth to Judah vers 5. But I will send a fire upon Judah and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem By all these remarkable Instances t is evident that God by his fiery Dispensations tells all the world that the sins of that people are great and many upon whom the dreadful Judgment of Fire is inflicted in its fury and therefore 't is high folly and madness in many men that makes them impute this heavy Judgment of Fire to any thing rather then to their sins O Sirs 't is sin that burns up our habitations and that turns flames of love into a consuming fire And this the Parliament in their Act for the Rebuilding of the City of London well observes the Clause of the Act is this And that the said Citizens and their Successors for all the time to come may retain the Memorial of so sad a desolation and reflect seriously upon their manifold iniquities which are the unhappy causes of such Judgments Be it further Enacted That the Second of September unless the same happen to be Sunday and if so then the next day following be yearly for ever hereafter observed as a day of publick Fasting and Humiliation within the said City and Liberties thereof to implore the mercies of Almighty God upon the said City to make devout Prayers and Supplications unto him to divert the like Calamity for the time to come So Sir Edward Turnor Knight in his Speech to the King upon the Prorogation of the Parliament We must saith he for ever with humility acknowledge the Justice of God in punishing this whole Nation by the late dreadful Conflagration of London We know they were not the greatest sinners on whom the Tower of Siloam fell Luke 13. 4. and doubtless all our sins did contribute to the filling up that measure which being full drew down the wrath of God upon that City So much the King in his Proclamation for a General Fast on the Tenth of October observes The Words of the Proclamation are these His Majesty therefore of out a deep and pious sense of what Himself and all His People now suffer and with a Religious care to prevent what may yet be feared unless it shall please Almighty God to turn away his anger from us doth hereby Publish and Declare His Royal Will and Pleasure That Wednesday being the Tenth of October next ensuing shall be set apart and kept and observed by all His Majesties Subjects of England and Wales and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed as a day of solemn Fasting and Humiliation to implore the mercies of God that it would please him to pardon the crying sins of this Nation those especially which have drawn down this last and heavy Judgment upon us and to remove from us all other his Judgments which our sins have deserved and which we now either feel or fear Thus you see that not only the blessed Scriptures but also King and Parliament do roundly conclude that 't was for our sins our manifold iniquities our crying sins that God has sent this heavy Judgment upon us His Majesty also well observes that there are some special crying sins that bring down the fiery Judgment upon us Now this Royal Hint leads me by the hand to say Secondly That though sin in the general lays people under the fiery Dispensations of God yet if we will but diligently search into the blessed Book of God which never spoke Treason nor Sedition we shall find that there are several sins that brings the heavy Judgment of Fire upon Cities and Countries As First Gross Atheism practical Atheism is a sin that brings desolating and destroying Judgments upon a people Zeph. 1. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time that I will Atheism denieth God in either 1. in opinion saying there is no God or 2. in affection wishing there were no God or 3. in conversation living as if there were no God Rev. 22. 12. search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are setled upon their lees that say in their heart the Lord will not do good neither will he do evil What horrid Blasphemy what gross Atheism is here How do these Atheists ungod the great God How do they deny his Omnipotency and Omnisciency What a God of Clouts what an Idol-god do they make the great God to be when they make him to be such a God as will neither do good nor hurt Epicurius denied not Gods Essence but only his Providence for he granted that there was a God though he thought him to be such an one as did neither good nor evil but certainly God sits not idle in Heaven but has a sharp and serious Eye upon all that is done on the Earth and this both Saints and sinners shall find by experience when in the great day he shall distribute both his rewards and punishments according to what they have done in the flesh Atheism is the main disease of the Soul not only pestilent to the person in whom it is harboured but also to the whole Land where 't is practised and permiâ—ted Atheism is worse then Idolatry for Idolatry only robs God of his Worship but Atheism robs God both of his Attributes and Being and therefore mark what follows verse 13. Therefore their God shall become a booty and their houses a dâ—solation they shall also build houses but not inhabit them and they shall plant vineyard but not drink the wine thereof So Ezek. 20. 47 48 49. And say to the forest of the South Hear the Word of the Lord thus saith the Lord God Behold I will kindle a fire in thee and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree the flâ—ming flâ—me shall not be quenched and all faces from the South to the North shall be burnt therein And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it it shall not be quenched Then said â— Ah Lord God they say of me doth he not speak parables Here was a pack of Atheists that did mock and scoff at the Prophet and his Parables they told him that he taâ—kt like a mad man and that he spoke of such things that neither himself nor others understood for he talkt of the South and of the forest of the South and of fire and of flaming fire and of
that cryed out if you take away our liquor you take away our lives Austin brings in the Drunkard saying Malle se vitam quà m vinum eripi He had rather lose his life then his wine And Ambrose speaks of one Theotimus who being told by his Physitians that much quaffing would make him blind answered then Vale lumen amicum farewel sweet light farewel sweet eyes if ye will not bear wine ye are no eyes for me Were there none within nor without thy Walls O London that did abuse the good Creatures of God so profusely so prodigaâ—ly so prodigiously as if they had been sent into the world for no other end but thus to abuse themselves reproach their Maker and destroy those choice blessings which God had given for more noble ends then to be spewed against the walls for these last six years a drunken health like the conclusion in a Syllogism must not upon any terms be denied especially in the company of such Grandees whose age whose place whose office should have taught them better things yea the custom of high drinking hath been these last six years so great within and without thy Walls O London that 't is no wonder if the Lord for that alone has laid thy glory in the dust yea and that shameful Hab. 2. 16. spewing is upon all thy glory considering what shameful spewing have been in thy Streets Taverns Haâ—ls Ale-houses and other great Mens houses where Temperance Righteousness Justice and Holiness should have dwelt in glory and triumph Ah London how many within and without thy Walls have been drinking wine in bowls when they should have been mourning over their sins and grieving for the afflictions of Joseph and sighing over those distressed Christians whose drink was nothing but sorrow and blood and tears These are the men that have kindled a burning upon all thy glory O Sirs that you would for ever remember that Intemperance Luxury is a sin an enemy that First Robs God of his glory it denies him all service and obedience Intemperate persons are neither fit for praying to God nor praising of God nor receiving from God Intemperance turns the Temple of the holy Ghost into a Sepulchre a Kitchin a Hog stye and what glory then can God have from an intemperate person But 1 Cor. 6. 19. Secondly It robs both God and man of much precious time time is a precious Jewel more worth then all the world One called his friends Thieves because they stole When Ignatius heard a clock strike he would say I have one hour more to answer for so precious a Jewel was time in his eye time from him and certainly there are no worse thieves then Intemperance for that robs men of their hearing-times and their praying-times and their reading-times There is so much precious time spent in the Tavern and in the Tipling-house that the intemperate person cannot be at leisure to spend any time in his Family or in his Closet c to save his own or others Souls but there will come a time either in this or the other world wherein all intemperate persons will wish that they had spent that precious time in serving of God and in saving their own and others Souls which they have spent in Luxury and excess carousing and drinking but all too late all too late Time is not only the fruit of Gods indulgence but also the fruit of Christs purchase That Doom passed upon Adam In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death or dying thou shalt dye had been put in execution immediately had not Christ interposed immediately between mans sin and Gods wrath What can there be of more weight and moment then Eternity It is the Heaven of Heaven and the very Hell of Hell without which neither would Heaven be so desirable nor Hell so formidable Now this depends upon time Time is the Prologue to Eternity the great weight of Eternity 2 Cor. 6. 2. Isa 49. 8. hangs upon the small wire of time our time whether it be longer or shorter is given us by God to provide for our everlasting condition we have Souls to save a Hell to escape a Heaven to make sure our pardon to sue out our interest in Christ to make good and all this must be quickly done or we undone and that for ever Mans eternal weal or wo depends upon his well or ill improvement of that inch of time that is allotted to him Now what a dreadful account will such give up at last who have wasted away their precious time in Luxury and Excess But Thirdly Luxury Intemperance it robs men of their names Bonosus a beastly drunken Emperor was called a Tankard and Tiberius was sirnamed Biberius for his tipling and Erasmus called Eccius Jeccius for the same cause and Diotimus of Athens was called a Tun-dish and young Cicero a Hogs-head But Fourthly Luxury Intemperance it robs men of their health for how many are there that by drinking other mens healths have destroyed their own Many more perish by Intemperance then by violence Intemperance is the source and nurse of all diseases more perish by surfeiting then by suffering every intemperate person digs his own grave with his own mouth and teeth and is certainly a self-tormenter a self-destroyer a self-murtherer I have read Radulph Fornerius select lib. 3. of a Monk at Prague who having heard at shrift the Confessions of many Drunkards wondred at it and for an experiment he would needs try his brain with this sin so accordingly he stole himself drunk Now after the vexation of three days sickness to all that confessed that sin he enjoyned no other penance but this Go and be drunk again intimating thereby that there was no punishment no torment that could be inflicted upon a Drunkard so great as that Go and be drunk again Besides all other plagues that attend this sin drunkenness is a wo to it self Temperance is the best and noblest Physick and they that use it commonly are most long-liv'd But Fifthly Intemperance robs men of their Estates it robs the Wife many times of her Dowry and the Children of their Portion and the Husband of his Inheritance his Trade his all The very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luxury properly signifies the not preventing or keeping of the good which at the present we enjoy Solomon hit the mark when he said The Prov. 23. 21. drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty The full cup makes an empty purse and a fat dish makes a lean bag he that draws thee wine out of the Pipe puts thy money into his own pocket and this Diogenes the Philosopher well understood when he askt of the frugal Citizen but a penny but begged of the Prodigal a Talent and being askt the reason of his practice he answered Because of the one he thought he might beg often but of the other who spent so fast he was like to receive but once Mr. Livins when he had
spent a great Estate in luxurious living jesting at his own folly he said that he had left nothing for his Heir more then air and mire Philip King of Macedon making War upon the Persians understood that they were a luxurious people he presently withdrew his Army saying it was needless to make War upon them who by their Luxury would shortly overthrow themselves But Sixthly Intemperance robs men of everlasting happiness and blessedness it shuts them out from all the glory of that upper world and tumbles them down to the lowest Hell as Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Luke 16. 19. 'to the 26. you may see in that great instance of luxurious Dives The intemperate mans table proves a snare to his Soul fulness breeds forgetfulness wantonness blockishness and stupidity and therefore no wonder if God shuts the gates of glory against intemperate persons Look as no Leper might be in Numb 5. Judg. 12. Chap 7. Deut. 23. the Camp of Israel and as no Gileadite might pass over Jordan and as no fearful man might enter into the wars of Midian and as no bastard might enter into the Sanctuary So no luxurious person shall enter into Heaven Of all sorts of sinners the luxurious sinner is most rarely reformed the Adulterer may become chast the Thief may become an honest man the Swearer may obtain a sanctified tongue But how rare is it to see a luxurious person repent break off his sins close with Christ and walk to Heaven Luxurious persons Math. 21. 31 32. Luke 23. 43. eat and drink away their Christ yea they eat and drink away their Souls nay they eat and drink away their own Salvation They that serve their own bellies serve not the Rom. 16. 10. Lord Jesus Christ and therefore they shall never raign with him in the other world Certainly that man that makes Phil. 3. 19. his belly his God shall be for ever separated from God All Belly-gods shall at last be found in the belly of Hell the intemperate person hath his Heaven here his Hell is to come Now he has his sweet cups his merry cups his pleasant cups O but there is a cup of shame and sorrow and this shall be their portion for ever and ever The intemperate person Psal 11. 6. hath been a gulf to devour many mercies and therefore he shall at last be cast into a gulf of endless miseries In a word Intemperance is another sin a breeding sin 't is a sin that is an inlet to all other sins we may well call it Gad for behold Deut. 32. 17. 24. Jer. 5. 7 8 9. a Troop cometh O the pride the oppression the cruelty the security the uncleanness the filthiness the prophaneness that comes trooping after Intemperance And therefore Aristotle concludes that double punishments are due to Drunkards first for their drunkenness and then for other sins committed in and by their drunkenness Now seeing that Intemperance and Luxury is so great a sin is it any wonder to see divine Justice turn the most glorious Cities in the world into a ruinous heap when this sin of Intemperance is rampant in the midst of them Ah London London the Intemperance and Luxury that has been within and without thy Walls has brought the desolating Judgment of Fire upon thee that has laid all thy glory in ashes and Rubbish How many great houses where there once within and without thy Walls that should have been publick Schools of Piety and Vertue but were turned into meer Nurseries of Est 1. 6 7. Luxury and Debauchery How have the â—ules of the Persian Civility been forgotten in the midst of thee How many within and without thy Walls did make their belly their God their Kitchin their Religion their Dresser their Altar and their Cook their Minister whose whole felicity did lye in eating and drinking whose bodies were as sponges and whose throats were as open sepulchres to take in all precious Liquors and whose bellies were as graves to bury all Gods Creatures in And how have many men been forced to unman themselves either to please some or to avoid the anger or wrath of others or else to gain the honourable Character of being a high Boy or of one that was strong to drink among oâ—herâ— or to drink down others O the drunken Matches that have been within and without thy Walls O London the Lord has seen them and been provoked by them to kindle a fire in the midst of thee Luxury is a sin that never goes alone it hath many other great sins aâ—tâ—nding and waiting on it it is as the Nave in the wheel which turning about all the Spokes turn with it Idleness fighting quarrelling jewling whoring cheating stealing robbing Prov. 23. 29 30 31 32 33. are the hand-maids that wait on Luâ—ury and therefore no wonder if God has appeared in flames of fiâ—e against it I have been the longer upon this Head because Luxury Intemperance is one of the great Darling-sins of our Age and day 't is grown to Epidemical not only in the City but in the Countries also and 't is a very God-dishonouring and a God-provoking and a Soul-damning and a Land-destroying sin and O that what I have writ might be so blest as to put some effectual stop to those notorious publick Excesses and Luxuries that have been and still are rampant in most Parts of the Land But now Beloved this sin of Luxury and Intemperance I cannot charge with clear and full evidence upon the people of the Lord that did truly fear him and sincerely serve him whose habitations were once within or without the Walls of London nay this I know that for this very sin among others their Souls did often mourn before the Lord in secret And truly of such Christians that live and wallow in Luxury and Intemperance if we compare their lives and Christs Laws together I think we may confidently conclude Aut haec non est Lex Christi aut nos non sumus Christiani Either this is not Christianity or we are not Christians And thus Tâ—rtullian Cyprian Justin Martyr and others concluded against the luxurious and intemperate Christians of their times Salvian relates Salvianus de Gratia Dei lib. 4. how the Heathen did reproach such luxurious Christians who by their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a reproach Where said the Heathen is that good Law which they do believe where are those Rules of Godlinesâ— which they do learn They read the holy Gospel and yet are unclean they hear the Apostles Writings and yet are drunk they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they profess a holy Law and yet do lead impure lives And Ponormitan having read the 5 6 and 7 Chapters of Mathew and comparing the loose and luxurious lives of Christians with those Rules of Christ concluded that either that was no Gospel or the people no Christians The loose and luxurious lives of many Christians was as Lactantius
Pharaoh his People and Land to revenge the cruel oppression Exod. 3. 9. of his poor people Prov. 22. 22 23. Rob not the poor because he is poor neither opprâ—ss the afflictâ—d in the gate For the Lord will plead their cause To rob and oppress the rich is a great sin but to rob and oppress the poor is a greater but to rob and oppress the poor because he is poor and wants money to buy justice is the top of all inhumanity and impiety To oppress any one is a sin but to oppress the oppressed is the heighth of sin Poverty and want and misery should be motives to pity but oppressors make them the whet-stones of their cruelty and severity and therefore the Lord will plead the cause of his poor oppressed people against their oppressors without fee or fear yea he will plead their cause with pestilence blood and fire Gog was a great oppressor of the poor Ezek. 38. 8 9 10 11 12. 13 14. And God pleads against him with pestilence blood and fire Verse 22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain and great hail-stones fire and brimstone Such as oppress a Mich. 2. 1 2. man and his house even a man and his heritage they take the surest the readiest way to bring ruine upon their own houses Isa 5. 8. Wo unto them that joyn house to house and field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth â—ut mark what follows verse 9. In mine ears said the Lord of Hosts of a truth many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without inhabitants of a truth many houses shall be desolate This is an Emphatical form of swearing 't is as if the Lord had said Let me not live or let me never be owned or accounted a God or let me never be looked upon as a God of truth a God of my word let me never be believed nor trusted more for a God if I do not lay desolate the houses of oppressors the great houses of oppressors the fair houses of oppressors yea the multitude and variety of the houses of oppressors So Amos 3. 9 10 11. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod and in the palaces â—n the Land of Egypt and say Assemble your selves upon the mountains of Samaria and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof and the oppressed or oppressions in the midst thereof For they know not to do right saith the Lord who store up violence and robbery in their palaces Therefore thus saith the Lord God an adversary there shall be even round about the Land and he shall bring down thy strength from thee â—nd thy palaces shall be spoiled Now mark the 15. verse And I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house and the houses of ivory shall perish and the great houses shall have an end saith the Lord. In their Palaces and in their Winter and Summer-houses they stored up all the riches preys and spoils that they had got by oppression But God tells them that their Palaces should be spoiled and that he would smite the Winter-house upon the Summer-house so the Hebrew runs God was resolved that he would dash one house against the other and lay them all on heaps Though their Palaces and houses were never so rich and strong and stately and pompous and glorious and decked and adorned and enamelled and checkered yet they should all down together So Zach. 7. 10 11. 14. Oppress not the widow nor the fatherless the stranger nor the poor and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart But they refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear Well now mark what follows verse 14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not thus the land was desolate after them that no man passed thorow nor returned for they laid the pleasant land or as the Hebrew has it the second Land of desire desolate Palestine was a very pleasant Land aLand which flowed with milk and honey a Land which was the glory of all Lands God had made it as his Paradise and enriched it with all plenty and pleasure and above all with his presence and residence in his City and Temple but they by oppressing the poor the widow and the fatherless laid all desolate Jer. 12. 12. O house of David thus saith the Lord execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it Oppression lays a people open to Gods fury it provokes the Lord to turn their all into unquenchable flames Psal 12. 5. For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safety from him that passeth at him Upon these words Chrysostom saith Timete quicunque pauperem Chrys in Psal 12. injuriâ afficitis habetis vos potentiam opes judicum benevolentiam sed habent illi arma omnium validissima luctus ejulatus quae à coelis auxilium attrahunt Haec arma domus effodiunt fundamenta evertunt haec integras nationes submergunt Fear ye whosoever ye be that do wrong the poor you have power and wealth and the favour of the Judges but they have the strongest weapons of all sighings and groanings which fetch help from Heaven for them These weapons dig down houses throw up foundations overthrow whole Nations Thus you see by all these clear Scriptures that oppression is a sin that brings wasting and destroying Judgments upon a people Ah London London was there no oppression and cruelty to be found within and without thy Walls Eccle. 4. 1. So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun and behold the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the side of their oppressors there was power but they had no comforter And behold the tears of such as were oppressed The original word signifies lachrymam non lachrymas a tear not tears as if the oppressed had wept so long and wept so much that they could weep no longer nor weep no more having but only one tear left them Were there not O London many of thy poor oppressed Inhabitants that wept so long that they could weep no longer and that wept so much that they had but one tear left O the crys and tears of the oppressed within and without thy Walls did so pierce Gods ears and so work upon his heart that at last he comes down in flames of fire to revenge the oppressed Were there no rich Citizens that did wrack their Tenants and grind the faces of the poor that took an advantage
if slighted and contemned turn into the greatest fury and severity Divine wrath smoaks and burns against none so fiercely as it doth against those who are despisers of Gospel-mercies When gold is offered men care not how great or how base he is that offers it neither is it material by whom the Gospel is brought unto us whether it be brought unto us by Isaiah as some think a Prophet of the blood Royal or by Amos from amongst the Herdmen of Tekoa Let the hand be more noble or more mean that brings it if it be slighted and contemned provoked Justice will revenge it Such as slight the Gospel and contemn the Gospel they sin with a high hand against the remedy against the means of their recovery This is the condemnation this is that Joh. 3. 19. desperate sin that hastens Judgments upon Cities and Countries as Jury Asia Bohemia and other parts of the world have sadly experienced He that hath eat poyson and shall despise the means of his recovery must certainly dye for it He who when he hath committed Treason against his Prince shall not only refuse but scorn and flight his Princes favour and pardon and fling it from him with disdain is assuredly past all help and hope Sins against the Gospel are sins of a greater size of a louder cry and of a deeper dye then sins against the Law are and accordingly God suits his Judgments Where the Gospel shines in power it will either mend a people or mar a people it will either better them or worsen them it will either fit them for the greatest good or it will bring upon them the greatest evils Where it doth not reform there it will destroy And this London hath found by woful experience Slighting and contemning of the offers of grace in the Gospel is a sin that is not chargeable upon the greatest part of the world who lyeth in wickedness and who sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death yea 1 Joh. 5. 19. Math. 4. 16. 't is a sin that is not chargeable upon the Devils themselves and therefore the more severely will God deal with those that are guilty of it The Gospel hath for above this hundred years shined forth out of the dark and thick clouds of Popery and Antichristianism which had over-spread the Nation And in no part of the Land hath the Gospel been preached with more clearness spiritualness life power and purity then in London And Oh that I had not cause to say that there was no part of the Nation where the Gospel was more undervalued slighted and contemned by many then in London For First Where the faithful and painful Ministers of the Gospel are slighted and contemned as Ministers of the Gospel there the Gospel is slighted and contemned Now were Math. 23. 37. Luke 10. 16. there none within nor without thy Walls O London that did slight scorn reproach and contemn the Embassadors of Christ who were faithful to their Light their Lord their Consciences and the Souls of their Hearers But Secondly Where the Ministrations of the Gospel where the Ordinances of the Gospel are slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned yea where any one Ordinance of the Gospel is slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned Where Baptism is slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned Where the Lords Supper is slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned where the offers A man upon whom the Gospel hath wrought savingly he will 1. prize all the Ordinances 2. practise all the Ordinances 3. praise the Lord for all the Ordinances Luke 1. 5 6. 2 Sam 19. 35. of the Gospel are slighted and contemned there â—e Gospel is slighted and contemned where the commands of the Gospel are slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned where the threatnings of the Gospel are slâ—ghted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned where the promises of the Gospel are slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned and where the comforts of the Gospel are slighted and contemned there the Gospel is slighted and contemned Now were there none within nor without thy Walls O London that did slight and contemn the Ministrations of the Gospel the Ordinances of the Gospel When old Barzillai had lost his taste and hearing he cared not for Davids Feasts and Musick There were many within and without the Walls of London that had lost their spiritual taste and hearing and so cared not for Gospel-ministrations for Gospel-ordinances There were many who under a pretence of living above Ordinances lived below Ordinances and made light of Ordinances yea who scorned vilified and contemned the precious Ordinances of Christ Thou art to them as a lovely song Ezek. 33. 31 32. saith the Prophet in the Hebrew it runs thus Thou art to them as one that breaks jests The Solemnity and Majesty of the Word was but as a dry jest unto them Ordinances were but as dry jests to many within and without the Walls of London and therefore no wonder if God hath been in such good earnest with them who have made but a jest of those precious Ordinances that are more worth then Heaven and Earth Many came to the Ordinances too much like the Egyptian Dog which laps a little as he runs by the side of Nilus but stays not to drink But Thirdly Such as are weary of the Gospel such slight the Gospel such contemn the Gospel Never were the Israelites more weary of Manna then many within and without the Numb 11. 6. Amos 8. 5. Walls of London were weary of the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel We were better have a biting Gospel then a toothless Mass said blessed Bradford But were there not some that had rather have a toothless Mass then a biting Gospel Were there not many that were willing to let God go and Gospel go and Ordinances go and all go so they might be eased of their burdens and taxes and greaten their relations and have peace with all Nations and enjoy a sweeping trade and every one sit under his vine and under his fig-tree eating the fat and drinking the sweet and enjoy liberty to dishonour the Lord to gratifie their lusts to damn their own Souls and to bring others under their feet so weary were they of the blessed Gospel Fourthly Such as have but a low and mean opinion of the Gospel such are slighters and contemners of the Gospel such as prefer every toy and trifle and fashion and sinful custom 1 Cor. 1. 23. and base lust above the light of the Gospel the power of the Gospel the purity and simplicity of the Gospel the holiness and sweetness of the Gospel such are slighters and contemners of the Gospel Though it be better to present truth in her native plainness then to hang her ears with counterfeit Pearls yet there
Sea how many millions of ages would pass before they could make up one River much more a whole and when that were done should he wâ—ep again after the same manner till he had filled second a third a fourth Sea if then there should be an end of their miseries there would be some hope some comfort that they would end at last but that shall never never never end This is that which siâ—ks them under the most tormenting terrors and horrors Drexelâ—ius makes this Observation from the words of our Saviour John 15. 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and it is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned Where he observeth that the words do not run in the Future Tense he shall be cast forth and shall be cast into the fire and burned but all in the Present Tense he is cast forth is withered men cast them into the fire and they are burned This saith he is the state and condition of the damned They are burned that is they are alwayes burning When a thousand years are past as it was at first so it is still they are burned after a thousand thousand years more as it was before so it is still they are burned If after millions of years the question was asked What is now their state and condition what do they What suffer they how doth it fare with them there can be no other answer returned buâ— they are burned continually and eternally burning Socinians say There will come a time when the fallen Angels and the wickedst men shall be freed from infernal torments And Augustine speaks of some such merciful men in Aug. l. 21. c. 17. c. 18. c. 19 c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. de Civitate Dâ—i his time And Origen held and taught that not only impenitent Christians but even Pagans and Devils after the term of a thousand years should be released out of Hell and become as bright Angels in heaven as they were before But these dangerous fancies and ungrounded opinions fall flat before the clear evidence of those sad and serious truths that I have now tendered to your consideration And thus I have shewed you the difference between our Fire and Hâ—ll fire Now O ye Citizens of London who truly fear the Lord and who are united to Christ by faith know for your everlasting comfort and support that Christ has secured you from infernal Fire from everlasting Fire from unquenchable Fire from eternal Fire and from the Worm that never dieth as you may see clearly and fully by comparing the Scriptures in John 3. 17. 18 36. Luke 1. 68 69 70 71 74. Rom. 6. ult Chap. 8. 1. 31 32 33 34 35. 37. 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Chap. 15. 54 55 56 57 58. 1 Thess 1. ult Rev. 20. 5 6. the Margent together Christ by his blood hath quenched the violence of infernal flames so that they shall never scorch you nor burn you hurt you nor harm you Nebuchadnezzars Fiery Furnace was a Type of Hell say some Now look as the three Children or rather Champions had not one hair of their heads sindged in that Fiery Furnace so Hell Fire shall never singe one hair of your heads Your interest in Christ is a noble and sufficient security to you against the flames of Hell Pliny saith that nothing in the world will so soon quench fire as Salt and Blood and therefore in many Countreys where they can get plenty of blood they will use salt and bâ—ood rather than Water to quench the Fire If you cast water on the Fire the Fire will quickly work it out but if you cast blood upon it it will damp it in a moment O Sirs Christs blood has so quenched the flames of Hell that they shall never be able to scorch or burn those souls that are interested in him The effusion of Christs blood is so rich and available saith my Author Leo de Pas Serm. 12. c. 4. that if the whole multitude of captive sinners would believe in their Redeemer not one should be detained in the Tyrants Chains All those spots that a Christian finds in his own heart shall first or last be washed out in the blood of the Lamb. 1 John 1. 7. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all our sins Now such as are washed and cleansed from their sins in the blood of Jesus such shall never experimentally know what everlasting burnings or a devouring Fire means Such as are washt in Christs blood needs no purifying by Hells flames Pliny saith of Polium that it is a preservative against Serpents Sâ—re I am that thâ— blood of Christ is an effectual preservative against all infernal Serpents and infernal torments You believing Citizens who have set up God as the object Nâ—ro haâ—l a Shirt made oâ— a Salamanders â—kin so that iâ— he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning O Sirs Christ is the true Saâ—amanders skin that will certainly keep every gracious soul from burning in everlasting flames of your fear and whose hearts are enflamed with love to Christ know for your everlasting refreshment that Christ has freed you and secured you from everlasting Fire from unquenchable Fire from eternal Fire and therefore bear up sweetly bear up cheerfully under that Fiery dispensation that has past upon you What is the burning of your houses and substance to the burning of bodies and souls in Hell What was the Fire of London to infernal Fire What is a Fire of four or five dayes continuance to that everlasting Fire to that unquenchable Fire to that eternal Fire that you have deserved and that free-Grace hath preserved you from A frequent and serious consideration oâ— Hell Fire as I have opened it unto you and of your happy deliverance from it may very well bear and cheer up your hearts under all your greatest sufferings by that dreadful Fire that has turned beloved London into a ruinous heap Sir You have been a discoursing about hellish torments but for the further clearing up of the truth we desire your serious Answer to this sad Question viz. How will it stand with the unspotted Holiness Justice and Object Righteousness of God to punish a temporary offence with eternal punishments for the evil of punishment should be but commensurate to the evil of sin Now what proportion is there betwixt finite and infinite Why should the sinner lye in hellish torments for ever and ever for sinning but a short time a few years in this world I judge it very necessary to say something to this important Answ Question before I come to discourse of those Duties that are incumbent upon those Citizens whose houses are turned into a ruinous heap and therefore take me thus First Gods Will is the Rule of Righteousness and therefore what he doâ—h or shall do must needs be righteous He is Lord of all he