heart-burnings against God himself discontent is a Fire within that flies and flames up against the great God as Ahaz said who with his tongue did speak but the language of the hearts of many others This evill is of the Lord why should I wait on him any longer wonder not then if the anger of God have burnt against those that did burn against him if he hath given us fire for fire We were alwayes murmuring when we had no such cause as now we have and now God hath given us as it were something to murmur for and yet let me recall my self that was spoken but vulgarly For though God should punish us with Scorpions in stead of Rods he will no tallow us to murmur but commands us to filence our selves with such a question and answer as this Why doth the living man complain man for the punishment of his sin Who so considers how unthankfull we were for what we had before the fire will see no cause to wonder at what we have lost but rather to wonder at this that such as have lost but a part did not lose all For with Parents nothing is more common than to take away those things from their Children quite and clean for which they will not so much as give them thanks as not being satisfied with them Then say Parents give them us again you shal have none of them they shal be given to them that will be thankfull for them yea say they not sometimes in their anger we will throw such a thing in the fire before such unthankful Children shall have it I see London full of open Cellars and Vaults as it were so many open Graves and Earth lying by ready to cover them How unwilling am I to say that Kiberoth Hatâ—aavah might justly be written upon them that is the graves of those that lusted after more and by that meanes lost what they had If I were one of the murmurers as there were few exempted from that guilt O Lord I have cause to own thy justice in whatsoever this Fire hath or shall contribute to my loss and prejudice and also to adore thy mercy if my share in this loss were not proportionably so great as that of many others and those my betters MEDITATION IV. Of Rebellion against Moses and Aaron procuring a destructive Fire Numb 16. THe sixteenth Chapter of the Book called Numbers in the 35 verse thereof tells us how that a Fire came down from the Lord and consumed no less then 250 Men that offered Incense not their Houses but their very Persons Some would hardly think that so small a crime as opposition to Magistracy and Ministry are in their account should have been the only causes of so heavy a judgment And yet we finde that alledged as the main if not the only reason of Corah and his Complices being consumed by fire The Confederates of Korah Dathan and Abiram are said to have been 250 Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of renown Yet when such as they who one would think might better afford to do such a thing than meaner men gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron saying why lift ye up your selves above the Cougregation of the Lord and they themselves would be Priests and Princes as well as they verse 10. Seek ye the Priesthood also said Moses to them yee Sons of Levi. And in the 13 verse they quaâ—rel with Moses for making himself which was false for it was God that had made him so altogether a Prince over them as who shall say they would have no body above themselves either in Church or State I say when they shewed this kinde of spirit and principle you see how God punished it These were right Levellers if I mistake not they pretend they would have all to be alike vers 3. ye take too much upon you all the Congregation are holy every one of them wherefore then say they to Moses and Aaron lift ye up your selves above others But to pretend they would have none inferiour to them surely was but a stratagem to bring to pass that they might have no Superiors or rather that themselves might be superiour to all others This was like to come to good they would have neither head nor taile in Church or State or else it should be all head or all taile But from these principles of Anarchy and Ataxy set at work I say from the displeasure of God against them upon that account sprang the fire which we there read of Much of this spirit hath been in England within a few years past when not a few gloried in the name of Levellers at leastwise in the character and principles of men so called If any of those embers be still raked up under ashes I should fear least a Fire of tumult and confusion might break out from thence and by their meanes as soon as any way nor do I question at all but that the sin and guilt of such vile and antiscriptural tenets might help to kindle that fire which lately devoured the City God will not suffer two such great Ordinances as Magistracy and Ministry which so greatly concern the good of the World nor either of them to be trampled upon St. Jude speaks sharply of such men calling them filthy dreamers who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities they who would level these the God of order will level them for such are said to perish in the gain-saying of Korah Jude 11. Of such it is said in 2 Pet. 2.12 That as bruit Boasts they are made to be taken and to be destroyed and that they shall utterly perish in their own corruption But then if we consider Moses and Aaron one as a holy Magistrate the other as a holy Minister that did greatly aggravate the sin of Korah and his Complices in rising up against and seeking to depose them for as such they had a double â—tamp of God upon them viz. both as Magistrates and as good For as such they were not only called Gods but also partakers of the divine nature and if we must be subject to Superiours that are naught and froward 1 Pet. 2.18 much more to them that are good and gentle the destruction of usefull Magistrates and Ministers is one of the greatest disservices that can be done to the World and will as soon kindle the wrath of God as almost any sin that men commit 2 Chron. 36.16 But they mocked the messengers of God and misused his Prophets till the wrath of God arose against them till there was no remedy Mat. 23.36 There we finde these words O Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee c. Behold your house is left unto you desolate in Numb 16.11 Moses told Corah and his Company that they were gathered together against the Lord. For what is done against Magistrates and Ministers either as Officers ordained of God or as good in their places
when he called him to it Are we better than Moses then Aaron the Saint of the Lord than David than Hezekiah than Job yea than Christ himself who had all learn'd to stoop to God in very difficult cases Can we be too good to do it if they were not When God told Moses he should go up to Pisgah and take a view of Canaan but that he should never enter into it Deut. 3.27 We finde not one word that he replyed after he had once made his request and God had said speak no more of this matter When God had by fire consumed Nadab and Abihu the two Sons of Aaron Moses did but say to him The Lord will be sanctified in them that come nigh to him and be glorified before all the people and Aaron held his peace Levit. 10.3 When old Eli had received a dreadfull message from God by a Child for so Samuel then was 1 Sam. 3.18 How meekly did he resent it saying It is the Lord let him do as seemeth him good When David was flying from the face of his rebellious Son Absalom and taking leave of the Ark of God 2 Sam. 15.26 If the Lord say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me what seemeth him good At another time when David was even consumed by the blow of Gods hand Psal 39.10 he saith I was dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it vers 9. And as for Hezekiah though a King also as well as David yet see how his spirit buckled to God when the Prophet brought him word that God had taken away the fee-simple of all he had from his children who should be Eunuches to the King of Babylon Isa 39.7 And left him but his life in it Good is the Word of the Lord saith he which thou hast spoken vers 8. As for Job who had been the greatest of all the Men of the East when he had lost all but a vexatious Wife prompting him to curse God vet cried he out Blessed be the Name of the Lord Job 1.21 Behold a greater instance of patience and submission than any of these both for that his person was more excellent and his sufferings far greater having been a Man of sorrowes all his time Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearer is dumb so he opened not his mouth When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.23 Was not this written for our imitation vers 21. Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example Did he who is God equal with the father submit even to the painfull and shamefull and cursed death of the cross and shall we think our selves too good to stoop to lesser sufferings and humiliations he that can submit to God may be happy in any condition he that cannot will be happy in no condition this World can afford him in which all our roses are full of prickles and all our wayes strowed and hedged up with thornes more or less Yea not only the Church militant upon Earth but even the Church triumphant in heaven could not be free from misery if the will of glorious Saints were not melted into the will of God Abraham would be ever and anon grieving to think of Dives and others in his case if his will were not perfectly conformed to the will of God Many things fall out in this life which we would not for a World should be if we could and might prevent them but when the pleasure of God is once declared by events even in those cases ought we to sit down satisfied Abraham would not have sacrificed Isaac for the whole World but that God made as if he would have him so to do and then he yielded presently If blinde fortune did govern the World whose heart would it not break to think of so famous a City in a few dayes laid in ashes but sith it was the will of God it should be so who ordereth all things according to the counsel of his will let all the Earth be silent before him let us be still and know that he is God Who should rule the World but he that made it and that upholds it by the Word of his Power He can do us no wrong if he would such is his essential holiness which also makes it impossible for him to lie he would do us no wrong if he could such is his infinite justice He can do nothing but what is consistent with infinite wisdome patience goodness mercy and every perfection and how unreasonable is it not to submit to that which is consistent with all of these so doubtless was the burning of our renowned City as ghastly a spectacle as it is to behold else it had never come to pass O Lord I am sensible that I have need of line upon line precept upon precept and example upon example to teach me this hard lesson of submission to thee though the object of that submission seem to be only my condition in this life for I no where finde that thou requirest me and others to be willing to perish everlastingly Thou knowest how much thy glory and the comfort of thy poor Creatures are concerned in it that we should know how to resign up our selves to thee inable us to be contented with whatsoever thy will hath been or shall be concerning us and then be pleased to do with us as to this World what thou wilt DISCOURSE XXIV Of taking occasion by this to study the vanity and uncertainty of all earthly things IF a glorious City turned into a ruinous heap in four dayes time when no visible enemy was at hand to do it if the reducing hundreds of Families to almost beggery that liv'd in good fashion in less than one week before by an unexpected meanes and in a way not possible to be foreseen if knocking a Nation out of joynt all of a sudden like a body that had been tortured upon a Rack be not loud Sermons of the vanity and uncertainty of all earthly things surely there will be none such till that time shall come that St. Peter speaks of 2 Pet. 3.10 When the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with servent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up What a Comment was this providence upon that Text Psal 39.5 Verily every Man at his best state is altogether vanity How did it evince the Psalmist to speak right Psal 62.9 Not only when he saith Men of low degree are vanity which most people do believe but also when he saith Men of high degree are a lie to be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity which few assent unto If things are called vanity as most properly they are from
with fear c. I observe another property in fire and that is great fierceness and eagerness so that for that matter there is no other creature comparable to it A shee Bear robbed of her Whelps A Bull in a Net full of the sury of the Lord is not half so fierce as fire I would see either of them two in an angry humour gnaw great beames of Iron in sunder and make them crumble to dust or let them but make some massy Oak beams presently fly in two in token of their rage but if they can do neither fire exceedeth them in strength and fierceness but yet not so much as its self is exceeded by the fierceness of the wrath of God for whose wrath the Scripture hath no Epithite more common than that of fierce Num. 25.4 32 14. and Psal 88.16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me and in the abstract Psal 78.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger and Nahum 1.6 Who can abide the fierceness of his anger The power and fierceness of fire may be conceived of and we may fear as much or more hurt than the fire can have opportunity to dous yea this time many of us did fear it would have done more hurt but the wrath of God is beyond all that our minds can comprehend Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath The wrath of God is a vast Ocean as I may call it his judgments are a great depth and fire is but one stream of that Ocean and therefore fire can be nothing like so fierce as is the wrath of God Sword and Pestilence are two other streames of the wrath of God and there are many more by which you may judge how fierce the main Ocean is every arm and rivulet whereof runs with such a mighty torrent In how many channels of distinct punishments did the wrath of God break out upon Pharaoh and his people and yet towards them he did not stir up all his wrath neither But the next property of the wrath of God viz. its consuming devouring nature which fire may represent to us as much as any earthly thing will plainly prove that divine anger is exceeding fierce Which of all the creatures God hath made is so able to destroy so profound to make slaughter as fire is And is it not in that respect an Embleme of the wrath of God What manner of expressions are those Deutr. 32.22 A fire is kindled in mine 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 also Psal 90.5 They are like the grass which groweth up In the morning it flourisheth in the evening it is cut down and withered For we are consumed by thine anger Also Psal 46.8 Come behold the works of the Lord what Desolations he hath made in the Earth How doth the wrath of God consume persons not only as to their estates but as to their inward comforts which are far more precious Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes doest correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Yea how the wrath of God consumes Families Job 31.12 It is a fire that consumeth to destruction and would root out all mine increase Meaning that the wrath and curse of God which the sin he there purgeth himself from viz. Adultery would procure that which would do so that might root out all his increase both as to estate and off-spring c. might quite consume his Family Of Gods wrath consuming Towns and Cities we have many sad instances as namely in Sodom and Gomorrah in Jerusalem Sometimes the glory of the whole Earth And a much more modern and sad instance as to our selves in London its self with teares be it spoken which none of us ever thought to have survived Yea whole Kingdomes have been consumed by the wrath of God and turned upside down witness the Chaldean Persian and Grecian Monarchies with several others but when was it ever heard that a whole Kingdome was destroyed by Fire These things considered the consumptions and desolations which are made by Fire may justly put us in mind of those greater desolations which the wrath of God is able to make on persons families and Kingdoms Of the intolerable pain that Fire can put men to There is one thing more in Fire and that is the intolerableness of that pain and misery which it is able to put us to in reference to which I would yet further parallel it with the wrath of God I know no pain so exquisite as that which proceeds from Fire I know no person alive so patient as that he is able to bear it if he be grievously burnt or scalded till such time as the fire be taken out that is to say bear it without doleful moans and outcries Of the greater intolerableness of the wrath of God I think there is no man whose heart would serve him to think of lying in a siery surnace such as the three children were cast into Yet is not Fire its self got within us or about us so intolerable as the wrath of God It goes by the name of Fiery indignation Heb. 10 27. not as if it were no worse than fire but as fire being the most tormenting creature we know can best express it It is the sense of divine wrath that wounds the spirits of men and therefore it is said A wounded spirit who can bear that is none can bear Prov. 18.14 I read Heman saying Ps 88.4 I am ready to die from my youth up whilst I suffer thy terrors I am distracted And v. 16. Thy terrors have cut me off And David Psal 38. There is no rest in my bones because of my sins And v. 8. I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart as being under a sense of Gods wrath v. 1. Rebuke me not in thy wrath Whosoever said any thing may be borne but the wrath of God doubtless meant very well but he had spoken better and past all exception if he had said Any thing may be borne better than the wrath of God There is no viall that scalds like to that If Francis Spira whilst despairing in his bed had been burning at a stake instead thereof I question whether that material fire would have put him to so much misery as did the anguish of his mind overwhelmed with the apprehensions of divine wrath and of his future dwelling with everlasting burnings If hell its self be a fire kindled by the breath of Gods wrath as it is said of Tophet that the breath of the Lord like a mighty stream of Brimstone kindleth it Surely the wrath of God is much more intolerable than any visible or culinary fire whatsoever I see then the Spirit of God according to his manner hath couched much sense in a few words when he tells us that our God is a consuming
fire There being such a likeness as is betwixt the Creator of all things and this creature I desire as oft as I behold fire to think of God whilst I admire the scarcely resistible power of Fire let me ever adore the utterly irresistible power of him that made and governs it Whilst it amuseth me to think what work and havock Fire can make in a few daies or hours Be amazed O my soul to consider what greater desolations God can make in the twinkling of an eye and with a word of his mouth If he will but speak concerning a Nation to pluck it up or pull it down it will be done presently Jer. 18. with him it is but a word and a fatal blow Methinks it doth not only help my meditation of but facilitate my belief concerning the greatness of the power of God Impartialness of his revenging Justice Severity and Fierceness of his anger Intolerableness of his displeasure when I see so much of such things as these in one of his creatures which in our houses we prefer to no better place than our chimneys and are unwilling even there to place it or suffer it to ascend too high May I think of Fire more frequently and solemnly than otherwise I should for those resemblances of God which are to be found in it I confess to think of God by the name of Love as he is called 1 John 4.8 16. is more pleasing and may better suit us under great dejections but to meditate of God as a consuming fire may profit us more when our hearts which is too usual want that due awe of God which should preserve them from sinning wilfully against him If God be Fire to sinners let us not dare to be as Tinder or as Gun-powder to Sin and Temptation If we come not neer a dismal Fire but with trembling hearts let us not approach God but with holy reverence and let us learn to tremble at his word which also is compared to fire Yet lest I dwell too long upon this one subject to the prejudice of others I will content my self with the addition of a few plain Corollaries so easie to be drawn from Gods being a consuming Fire in the sense given of it that he which runs may read them If God be Fire woe to them that are briaâ—s and thorns Isa 27. he will consume them If God be Fire it concerns us to prove our selves and our work for the Fire shall make all things manifest 1 Cor. 3.12 If we lay chaff and stubble though upon a good foundation our work will be burnt up and our selves saved but so as by Fire that is with great difficulty and much ado What impunity can great ones promise themselves if God be as impartial towards all sorts of sinners as Fire is towards all combustible things If the wrath of God be more intollerable than Fire who would not fear to offend him If the power of God be more irresistible than Fire it self who would set himself against him or who can do it and prospâ—r yea who would not labour to have God on his side For who can be against us that is to any purpose if God be for us Is God so able to destroy let me be none of his enemies Is he Fire then O that I might be Gold for if so though he may purge me yet he will not consume me In a word is God a consuming Fire then knowing the terror of the Lord Let us consider what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation and godlyness Meditations and Discourses of the Reasons that are found in Scripture of Gods bringing the Judgment of Fire upon a person or people MEDITATION I. Of the sins for which God sent Fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah THe first pernicious Fire of which we read in Scripture was that which fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 19.24 The general cause of it was that which was told Abraham Gen. 18.20 And the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous But their particular crimes are set down Ezek. 16.49 where God upbraiding Jerusalem saith Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did she sâ—rengthen the hand of the poor and needy v. 50. And they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw good Now what that abomination was which they committed I think St. Jude tells us most plainly Jude 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them giving themselves over to Fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternalsire Now the three first crimes charged upon them viz. Pride Idleness and Fulness of bread did make way for the last viz. their being given up to Fornication Pride prepares for uncleanness as it disposeth persons to those habits and gestures which tempt others to tempt them to wantonness witness the great pride which some take in going extreamly naked whence it often happens to them as to Hezekiah after that he had shown the King of Babylons messengers more of his treasure than was fit for them to see Isa 39. it was not long after that the Babylonians came and took away all he had from his children and carried both them and theirs into captivity One meeting a boy with a basket of chickens wide open askt him how he would sell them who answering him they were not to be sold he replied to the boy again Then fool shut thy Basket But that by the way It comes to pass by the judgment of God that proud persons often prove unclean because uncleanness is a disgraceful sin and so the more fit for proud persons to be left unto in order to making them more humble For of him that committeth Adultery Salomon saith Prov. 6.33 A wound and a dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away Persons by that sin are said to dishonour their own bodies Rom. 1.24 Also that very complexion which is most samed for proud is generally observed as most prone to uncleanness and 't is too commonly seen that a fantastical which is a proud habit and a filthy heart go together and those places are generally most notorious for lust that are most infamous for pride as if those two weeds delighted to grow in the same soil proud spirits and proud flesh go usually hand in hand And as for Fulness of bread by which we are to understand Gluttony and Luxuriousness in the use of meats that is as great a hand-maid to Lust as Pride can be Jer. 5.7 When I fed them to the full then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses v. 8. They were as fed horses in the morning ever one neighed after his neighbours wife He adds v. 9. Shall I not
lavished them upon their pride exhausted them by their luxury spent them upon their uncleanness which as so many Cormorants devoured that which might and ought to have been given to the poor I see then there are moral causes of evil as well as natural and these are some of them He is bruitish that thinks otherwise Do not the ends and interests of men sway the World next to God himself and what are they but moral causes and if such be to be taken notice of why not sin which is more considerable than all the rest Then O yee late Inhabitants of that famous City which is now in ashes as ever you desire it should flourish again repent of your pride fulness of bread abundance of idleness neglect of the poor and abominable uncleanness so many of you as were guilty of all or any of these for all were not and let others mourne over them that have sinned and have not repented that God may repent of the evil which he hath brought upon you and may build up your waste places in his good time Continue not in the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah lest their punishment be either not removed from you or if so again revived upon you MEDITATION II. Of destroying Fire procured by offering strange fire WE read concerning Nadab and Abihu that there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord Lev. 10.2 Why that heavy judgment befell those two Sons of Aaron the Saints of the Lord the preceding verse will tell us viz. because they took their censers put incense therein and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Their fault was this God had sent down fire from heaven upon his Altar Levit. 9.24 It should seem it was the pleasure of God and doubtless they knew it that his sacrifice which one calls his meat as the Altar his Table should be kindled and prepared with that fire only which by continual adding of suel as need required was to be kept from ever going out as is supposed Levit. 16.10 There 't is said Aaron shall take a censer full of Coales of fire from off the Altar and his hands full of incense and bring it within the vaile Now they presumed to offer incense to God with common fire which came not from the Altar before the Lord and for this they were burnt to death Upon this passage Bishop Hall worthily called our English Seneca reflects thus It is a dangerous thing saith he in the service of God to decline from his own institutions we have to do with a power which is wise to prescribe his own worship just to require what he hath prescribed powerful to revenge that which he hath not required MEDITATION III. Of fire enkindled by murmuring IN Numb 11. the first and third verses I read these words When the people complained it displeased the Lord and the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed them that were in the utmost parts of the Camp And he called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the Lord burnt among them It doth not much concern our present purpose to enquire what the cause of this their murrâ—uring was which yet is thought to have been want of meat in the Wilderness and thence the place where they were punished to have been called the graves of lust as our Margents do English kiberoth hattaavah neither need we be infallibly resolved what kind of fire it was that God sent amongst them for their murmuring it is all we need observe at the present that they were punished by fire and that murmuring was the sin they were punished for Our punishment I am sure hath been by fire as well as theirs ought we not then to examine whether cur provocation was not much-what by murmuring even as theirs was were we contented when the City was standing yea did we not grumble and repine at one thing or other every day and yet we think we should be more than contented that is to say very thankfull and joyfull if we had but London again if that great City Phenix-like might but rise out of the ashes and our places know us once more It should seem then we had enough then to be contented with and thankfull for but we knew it not as it is said of husbandmen Faelices nimium sua si bona norant If some were in worse condition than formerly would that justify their murmuring were not the Israelites in the Wilderness when they were punished for murmuring and had they not enjoyed a better condition than that in former times Do we murmurers think that men are to blame and was not Shimei to blame when he cursed Daivd and yet David looking higher viz. unto God submissively replied it may be the Lord hath bid him curse me The Robbers and spoilers of Israel were in fault Yet seeing it was God that gave Jacob to the spoile and Israel to the robbers that was reason enough why they should be dumb as a sheep before the Shearer and not open their mouths in any way of murmuring If we so remember our miseries as to forget our mercies if we aggravate our evil things and extenuate our good if we be so vexed and displeased with men as if they were sole authors of all our troubles and as if God who owes and payes us such chastisements had no hand in them If in our hearts we quarrel with God as if he were a hard master and had done us wrong if when we had food and raiment we were not content if when we had something and that considerable and how could our loss have been considerable if our enjoyment had not been so we were as unsatisfied as if we had just nothing If so do not these things plainly prove that we were murmurets many of us and whose experience doth not tell him that these things were so how many things have we repined at that men could not help as namely the pestilence now in such cases it is evident that we have not murmured against men but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 Nay if men be punished far less than their sinâ— deserve and yet will not accept of that their punishment but fret at him that inflicted it what must we call that but murmuring And was not that our case I had almost said that England even before this fire was so full of discontent whatsoever the cause were as if all the plagues of Egypt had been upon it and how after this iâ— can swell more without bursting is hard to conceive So little had we learn'd good Eli's note It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good to him Now if the Law of retaliation be burning for â—urning as we read it was Exod. 21.25 How just was it with the great God to send a Fire upon us for our grievous discontents and murmurings Murmurers are full of
persons I have described are past all question useless and meer cumber-grounds like dead trees fit for nothing but to burn I shall not take the boldness to say that England doth and London did abound with such persons as these or that such walking carkasses carried about by that evil spirit that possessed them and did as it were assume them were to be seen every day but whether it were so or no they better know that know London know all England better than I pretend to do And if it were so indeed it is not so much wonder that the houses of such men were burnt as that their persons did escape or that God did not rather consume their persons and spare their houses like Lightning that spares the Scabbard and melts the Sword Sin had made a great part of the inhabitants as much dry wood in one sense as want of rain had made their houses such I marvel not then that so great a Fire approaching such prepared fewel both within and without did so much execution but rather that it did no more May the issue of that dismal Fire which was lately amongst us be the same that husbandmen effect or design in burning their Lands viz. that we as they which before were barren and unprofitable may become useful and fruitful which Lord grant for Christ his sake MEDITATION XI Of the universal Corruption and Debauchery of a people punished by God with Fire I Need not go far from that Text on which I grafted the next preceding meditation To finde another that will plainly prove the universal corruption and degeneration of a people to have as it were inforced God though he be slow to anger and rich in mercy to contend with them by Fire yea and consume them The same Prophet furnisheth me with a large instance in that kind too large to transcribe and therefore I shall rehearse but part of it and refer to the rest For it reacheth from Ezek. 22.19 to the end of the 31 verse Thus saith the Lord because ye are all become dross therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem v. 20. as silver into the midst of a furnace and I will leave you there and melt you v. 22. And ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you That they were all become Dross signifies no more but this that they were universally depraved and debauched as appeareth plainly by that Indictment which is given in against their Priests and Prophets and Princes and common people that is against persons of all ranks and conditions in the sequel of the Chapter The like charge there is to be found Isa 9.27 For every one is an hypocrite and an evil doer and every mouth speaketh folly v. 14. Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day v. 18. For wickedness burneth as the fire it shall devour the briars and the thorns That is the wicked amongst them the best of which was as a briar or as a thorny hedg It is sad to consider that there have been certain times in which no sort of men have kept themselves pure and unspotted but all have defiled their garments in which the fire of sin hath spread as much more than in other ages as the late Fire upon London spread it self beyond all the Fires that City had known formerly Some time before the destruction of the old world by water it is said that All flesh had corrupted his way Gen. 6.11 and when God was about to rain Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom not ten righteous persons could be found to stand in the gap And a strange challenge it is which God makes Jerem. 5.1 Run through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know if ye can finde a man if there be any that executeth judgment and seeketh the truth and I will pardon it Is it so with us at this day or is it not Are we universally corrupt and degenerate and debauched or are we not Have all sorts of men corrupted their waies and done abominably or have they not Possibly in this our Sardis there are some few names that have not defiled their garments but alas how few are they and what are so few names to the generality and body of a Nation Are those words of Isaiah applicable to us or not There is no soundness but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores from the sole of the foot even to the head Isa 1.7 and then followeth your Country is desolate your Cities are burnt with Fire Might I take leave to be particular I would say that City and Countrey and Court and Inns of Court and Universities all have exceedingly corrupted their waies what a corruption in judgment hath over-spread us some turning to Socinianism others to Popery others to Atheism yea great and Leviathan-like Atheism How great a corruption is there at this day in the habits gates and gestures of men and women which I would not trouble my self to speak of but that as little a thing as it may seem it is a symptome of great evil within for many times the habits of the mind are signified by those of the body A proud habit and a proud heart a wanton habit and a wanton heart do often if not alwaies meet For what modest woman would put on the attire of an harlot or who cares to make shew of more evil than is really in them and not rather to conceale that which is A modest habit is not so sure a sign of a chaste heart for that may be worn for a cloak of dis-honesty as an immodest habit is of one that is unchaste For what woâ—an that is conscious to her own chastity would render her self suspected for a whore It may seem a small matter for sick people to play with feathers and to make babies with their sheets but it is an usual fore-runner and consequently a sign of death So the habits of men and women when they carry with them a great appearance of Pride Levity Wantonness Inconsistency of mind Prodigality Fantastickness Inconstancy do give great jealousie to wise men who can discern much light sometimes through small crevices that the Age or rather persons of this Age do abound with such kind of vices and that there is some kind of Fatallity belonging to it because people use such antick postures and gestures as dying persons are wont to use I wish the fore-mentioned vices had get no neerer men than their skins that they were but skin-deep but as the Itch and such like diseases are first within and then strike out first insect the mass of blood and not till afâ—erwards the habit and surface of the body yeâ— and often strike in again and corrupt the blood a second time so it is to be feared that men and women are generally proud and wanton in heart before they are so in habit and become so in habit because they were
Lord hast done it If thou hadst so pleased London might have been like the Bush which did burn but was not consumed but thou didst give it up to the flames Lord at what a rate hath London yea England sinneâ— that thou hast thus punished it Thou dost manâ— times punish men lesse than their sins deserve but never more Which of us have not contributed by our iniquities to this as well as to other judgements Which of us have not cause to say Lord forgive us that by our sins we have infected London and England with a devouring Plague that we have helpt to embroil it in a consuming War yea that we have had our hands as by way of demerit in kindling the late Fire which burnt London to the ground MEDITATION II. Upon sight of the Weekly Bill for London since the Fire VVIth how sad a heart have I read that Bill finding but sixteen Parishes within the wals now pretended to and considering with my self by how great a Synecdoche some of those Parishes do at this day go by their former names It is that figure which puts a part for the whole yea a small part too the compounding Figure as I may call it that takes as it were five shillings or half a Crown for a pound which alone warranteth us to call London London still and severall parishes said to be now standing by the names which they did bear formerly The unjust Steward Luke 16.7 used substraction onely where a hundred was owing he bid them set down fifty but we as if that were to be more just proceed by way of multiplication setting down a a hundred for ten or twenty We view our City as it were through a microscope which represents the leg of a Flea so big as if it were the leg of some creature far bigger than its whole Body So might we call a sometimes great and samous Inne the Crown or Miter as it was formerly called though burnt down to the proportion of a Cottage because the sign and sign post are still to be seen and there is yet some small part of the old Building Is it not rather the Epitomâ— of London which we now have than London it self as if the abridgement of a Book in Folio be it Aquinas his Summes or any other such should go by the name of Aquinas his Sums or what other name it bore in Folio when contracted into a smal Manual or Pocket-Book It is London in short hand such as might contain the Decalogue within the compasse of a single penny rather than so at length if yet we may call it London Is it not rather Londons Remains and Ruins its â—â—rn and Ashes than London it self So a Burgesse or two in Parliament stands for a whole Town a Knight or two for a whole Shire so Lords Spiâ—ual and Temporal write themselves London Yorke Lincoln Canterbury as if they were whole Cities or Towns being indeed but single and individual persons Methinks it is as if Judah and Benjamin were called Israel being indeed but two Tribes of Twelve Nor am I lesse affected with that dolefull parenthesis in two short words viz. Now standing How am I pusht with the two horns of that parenthesis putting me upon this dilemma that I know not whether more to be thankfull that all London is not fallen or more to lament that so small a part of it is yet standing The late Plague gave us to see and expect London without many Inhabitants at leastwise for a time but to see London with but a few habitations was that we never lookt for We have lately known a Plague that laid thousands of Citizens under ground but who dreamt of a Fire that would lay the City it self upon the ground Hear O Heavens and be astonished O earth I find as many sorts of diseases in the Bill now as ever They find men out go whither they will they crowd into Families that have scarce room enough to turn themselves in Death will not spaâ—e as if it pitied those whom the fire hath not spared Mens tabernacles must go to wrack as well as their houses But to confine my self to the business of the sire Methinks London at this day is a lively Emblem of a Professor fallen from his first Love or rather a backsliding Professor is just in such a condition as London is at this day He goes by the same name as formerly but How far is he from being the same person he was How like is he to those Churches the outsides whereof are yet standing their walls and steeples make such a fair show that they who should view them at a distance would think they were just as before but alas Their insides are gone they are fit for no use yea their very out-sides are so frail and brittle that in a windy day men are loth to pass by them for fear of being knockt on the head What havock hath sin made in all the faculties of such men which if the Soul may be compared to a City may be called the several streets of that City How hath error destroyed their understandings ill habits their wills and inclinations to good the World consumed their spiritual affections all these things conspired to desolate and lay waste their Consciences and now those men though called Christians still and glorying in that name lie just like London in dust and rubbish and ashes O Lord Give England to meet thee in the way of thy judgements by a timely repentance yea give these three Kingdomes so to do lest it come to pass that hereafter England should be called England and Great Britain Great Britain and the three Kingdomes so by as great a Synecdoche as the poor Remains of London are now called London and the Reliques of some streets said to be now standing by the name those streets had when in their beauty and glory MEDITATION III. Upon the Discourses occasioned by the late Fire both thâ—n and since SOme came to London in the time of the Fire having heard of it but not seen it and probably their first question was Is the Fire out Alas no would they say that answered them It is so far from being out that it rageth more and more They that heard it was not out would be asking how far it was gotten whereabouts it was Then would men begin to reckon up the Streets and Churches that were burnt down already Thames street is gone and Fish street is gone and Gracious Street is down and now it is at such a place and such a place and so they would proceed Is the Fire abated would others say Is there any hope of extinguishing it We see little sign of it would some reply It is seared it will consume the whole City and Suburbs too Why do they not play their Engines would some cry Alas they are broken and out of Kelter we little expecting such a sad time as this Some it may be would say Why do so many people
uniformly transcend the piety of former ages as well in all other things as we have done in this then shall we not need to doubt but as our greater sins have of late years procured us greater judgements one in the neck of another than have formerly been known in so quick a succession viz. of Sword Pestilence and Fire so our transcendant Reformation will end in greater blessings than former ages have been acquainted with It is not without several Patterns and Presidents in Scripture that Memorials should be erected as well of Judgements as of Mercies For not only did Jacob set up a Pillar of Stone in the place where God talked with him and fastened the name of Bethel upon it Gen. 35.14 in remembrance of the great Favour there vouchsafed him but God himself to commemorate his great displeasure against Let 's Wife for looking back towards Sedom which she ought not to have done verse 17. turned her into a Pillar of Salt which may signifie a lasting Pillar or a hard stiff Body of perpetual duration in which sense the Covenant of God is called a Covenant of Salt that is of perpetuity to season after-Ages with the remembrance of his judgment upon her We read of the brazen-Censers of Kerah and his Company those sinners against their own souls as they are called that they were made into broad-Plates for a covering of the Altar to be a memorial to the children of Israel that no stranger that is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord that he be not as Korah and his company Numb 1.16.39 We read also of a great Stone called Abel which word lignifieth Grief and that name seemeth to have been given it because of the Lamentation which the People made over those Bethshemites that were slain for looking into the Ark. 1 Sam. 6.18 The Philistims themselves when smitten by God with Emereds and plagued with Mice are said to have presented the Lord with certain Monuments of those judgments that were upon them viz. with so many Golden Emerods or figures of Emerods and so many Golden Mice as a Trespass-offering 1 Sam. 6.4 5. VVherefore ye shall make Images of their Emerods and of your Mace whichs mar the Land and shall give glory to the God of Israelâ— peradventure he will lighten his hand from off youâ— from off your gods and from off your Land which plainly showes that even those blind Heathen did look upon the due Commemoration of Judgments as a thing well-pleasing unto God and we are assured it is so by the complaint which God maketh of the Israelites their forgetting the great things which God had done in Aegypt and terrible things by the Red-Sea meaning the drowning of Pharaoh and all his Host there Psal 106.21 And the Apostle writing of what had befallen the murmuring Israelites 1 Cor. 10.6 saith These things are our examples that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted Therefore remember them we must or else we can take no warning by them He that questioneth the needfulness of erecting a Pillar or some other Monument to commemorate the late dreadful Fire may see his Error if he do but consider that London though not such a London then as this was hath formerly been burnt several times and did once continue in ashes fourscore and five years together and yet the generality of men now living in these parts were so far from considering and awing their hearts with the remembrance of it that but here and there a man doth so much as know that any such thing was ever done How vain a thing is it for Papists to bear us in hand De 〈◊〉 Hist Câ—l 114.8.131.161.213.263 That Orall-Tradition is sufficient to transmit Religion to the World and is the great thing we are to vely upon when but for the Writings of Historians we had all been ignorant of so remarkable a thing as was the burning of London five several times viz. Anno Domini 798 and Anno 801 and again Anno 982 and again Anno Domini 1087. and after that in the year 1133 which was little more than five hundred years agoe Had our Parliament had any such considence in Orall-Tradition they had never designed a Pillar for the memorial of a Fire so hard to be forgotten How weakly do Papists Argue that the Authority of the Scriptures is built upon the Church and the Church its self Infallible because it is called The Pillar of Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 Whereas Pillars are many times erected for other uses than to uphold and under-prop buildings as the several Instances which I have brought from Scripture of Pillars set up only as Monuments and Memorials and the use to which the Pillar I am now treating of is to be applied do plainly prove Such a Pillar is the Church viz. to transmit the memory of Religion or rather that Inscription the Scriptures I mean which are the great memorial thereof from one Age to another But Will the intended matter of that Pillar which is appointed to be either Brass or Stone afford us nothing of a profitable Meditation Methinks it should What Mettal is there that more resembleth Fire than doth burnished-Brass therefore in Ezek. 1.7 we read that the feet of the living Creatures there spoken of did sparkle like the colour of burnished-Brass It is but fit that the Memorials of things should bear as lively a resemblance as may be of those things of which they are intended Memorials So the Philistims made choice of Artificial Mice and Emerods in remembrance of those that were true and natural More over if London were consumed by Treachery no mettal can be more fit to receive the Characters of their most Impudent Villany who as to that had sinned with a Brow of Brass and with a Whores Fore-head Or if Stone be chosen rather of the two to make that Pillar of be it a lasting Emblem of the Hardness of their hearts harder than the neither Milstone that could burn such a City and ruin so many thousand Families both for the present and for many years if not Ages to come Where the Fire began there or as near as may be to that place must the Pillar be erected if ever there be any such If we commemorate the places where our Miseries began surely the causes whence they sprang the meritorious causes or sins are those I now intend should be thought of much more If such a Lane burnt London Sin first burnt that Lane Causa causa est causa 〈◊〉 Affliction springs not out of the dust not but that it may spring thence immeditely as if the dust of the Earth should be turned into Lice but primarily and originally it springs up elsewhere As for the Inscription that ought to be upon that Pillar whether of Brass or Stone I must leave it to their Piety and Prudence to whom the Wisdom of the Parliament hath left it Only three things I
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these vers 30. Wherefore if God so cloathe the grasse which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven shall he not much more cloathe you I am far from thinking that Christ by those words of his intended to encourage idleness or to give men to think that though they could work and would not yet God would provide food and raiment for them as he doth for the birds that neither sowe nor reape and for the Lillies that neither toile nor spin but I rather think that those words were spoken to incourage those that would work and cannot as namely those that are bed-ridden such as have lost the use of their limbs or of one or more of their senses as sight hearing and that such though unable either to sowe or reape like the fowles of the aire either to toile or spin like the lillies yet ought not to doubt but that he who feedes the one and cloaths the other will do as much for them Why may not those that have the use of their limbes and senses together with a heart to make any good use of them be fortified against the fear of want by those arguments which may relieve even those that want them Were I lame or blind or paralytick or bed-ridden to think of Gods feeding the Birds and cloathing the Grasse might be a support to me but if I have all my limbes and senses not only may faith swim in the forementioned consideration of that which God doth for bruites and plants but there is also a shallower water in which reason and sense may a little wade He that can work and is willing so to do may rationally hope he shall not starve The instance I have mentioned was an encouragement from providence which is no ways to be slighted But there are also promises to support our faith in the case viz. that God will certainlie feed and cloathe us at leastwise upon such reasonable termes and conditions as he hath engaged himself to do it Is not that a promise plain enough Psal 37.3 Trust in the Lord and do good and verily thou shalt be fed God hath repeated this promise over and over to let us see he is mindful of what he hath spoken Psal 34.9 10. O fear ye the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing If we desire a cloud of witnesses or co-witnessing promises to shield us from the fear of want as the Israelites had a Pillar of Cloud to shelter them in the Wilderness it will not be difficult to add many more Hee in whom all the promises are yea and Amen assureth us from his own mouth that if we first seek the Kingdom of God his righteousness all these things shall be added to us Mat. 6.33 viz. meat drink and cloathing for those were the things he had been speaking of vers 31. The Scripture saith that Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is Now a security for food and raiment one would think were as little as any thing so called can amount to Moreover in Psal 84.11 It is said that God will with-hold no good thing from them that walk uprightly So that if food and raiment may be reckoned good things as things of so absolute necessity must needs be reckoned ordinarily then come they within the compass of that general promise Examine we one witness more Prov. 10.3 The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish that is the righteous person himself I may not omit so confiderable testimonies as those which follow Psal 33.18 19. The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and that hope in his mercy to keep them alive in Famine Psal 37.19 speaking of the upright he saith In the dayes of Famine they shall be satisfied Prov. 5.20 In Famine he shall redeem thee from death It is far more difficult to feed men in a time of famine than of plenty as it was not so easie to spread a table in the wilderness as in a fruitful Countrey I mean for any but God to whom all things are not only possible but easie Methinks the promises of supplies even in famine should be great support in a time of common plenty though things be scarce with us But let me take in all those conditions on which God hath suspended the promises of food and raiment as I have already mentioned some of them lest we should think God to fail of his promise when it is only we that fail in those conditions to which it is made One condition is that we use diligence Prov. 10.4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Prov. 19.15 An idle soul shall suffer hunger which plainly implies that a diligent soul shall not It will be a new lesson to some both old and young to become pains-takers They have not known what it meant to eat their bread in the sweat of their browes But they that be afraid of work such as they are able to performe are worse scared than hurt as we say proverbially and wil finde that the bread of diligence is far more sweet than ever was that of idleness Those that are given to hunt account the exercise as good as the Venison and better too God puts no hard termes upon us if henceforth he will make us earne our bread before we eat it though he have formerly so much indulged us as to let us cat the bread we never earned Idle persons have oft times meat without stomacks but pains-takers have both stomacks and meat That house stands upon able pillars and is like to last in which every body is addicted to honest labour which is one of the most imitable things I have heard of the Dutch that from the time their Children are of any growth or understanding they set them to work They seem to have taken warning by those words of Solomon Eccles 10.18 By much sloathfulness the building decayeth and thorough idleness the house droppeth thorough which words made me to say that house stands upon able pillars where every body is well imploâ—ed If that were the worst fruit of the late fire that idle persons of what quality soever were forced to take pains the matter were not great yea many would be made better by it Moreover to our Diligence we must add frugality if we would promise our selves never to want food and raiment Frugality is that pruning-hook which lops off all the unnecessary branches of superfluous expences God hath no where ingaged himself to maintain any mans pride and prodigality though he hath to supply his necessity It is usual with God to let prodigals come to huskes yea and want them too before they die or return Prov. 23.21 The drunkard and the
concerning the Law of God taught by parents to their children Prov. 6.22 When thou goesh it shall lead thee when thou awakest it shall talk with thee So will a good conscience An evil conscience findes such discourse as men have not patience to hear like Micaiah it never prophesieth good but a good conscience commends without flattery and tells those stories than would not be grievous to a man to listen to from morning to night It speaks like God in his sentence of Absolution well done good and faithful Servant No man can frame a discourse so delightful as are the whispers of a good conscience speaking peace and pardon to us in the name of God Where such company and such discourse is there can want no mirth taking mirth in the soberest sense for comfort and refreshment yea it will make the heart more glad than they whose wine and oile increase And as for musick all the voices and instruments in the World cannot make such melody as a good conscience If a man had all those Men-singers and Women-singers that Solomon had Eccles 2.8 their best notes were not comparable to this Nor is it hard to make out how a good conscience can and doth give a man hearty welcome For as Christ in several senses is both Priest Altar and Sacrifice so is that both our feast and our Host our entertainer and our entertainment Conscience doth as it were grudge a wicked man both his meat and his mirth but to a good man it saith eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for the Lord accepteth thy person Conscience bids much good may do him with all he hath and tells him in the name of God he is as welcome to it as his heart can wish and hath it with as good a will We count those men best able to feast that have as we say every thing about them and within themselves Corne Cattel Poultry all of their own Dove-houses Warrens Parks all within their own grounds Ponds affording several sorts of fish Trees yielding all sorts of fruits c. Such is he that hath a good conscience he hath all materials for feasting within himself and therefore may afford to do it Prov. 14.14 A good Man shall be satisfied from himself Viz. from the consciousness of his own integrity As Paul saith this is our rejoycing viz. the testimony of our conscience c. He that hath this hath meat to eat that the World knows not of and such meat as he would not exchange for all the rarities and varieties that are at Emperors Tables He blesseth himself or rather God when he thinks how much happeir he is than the World takes him for and how much better he fares than the World knows of whereas they do or may blush and inwardly bleed to think how much happier they are thought to be than indeed they are I might add he that feasts upon a good conscience hath that kinde of meat which is also sawce for every thing whereas others have the same sawce that spoiles all their sweet meat But possibly I cannot say more of the happiness of a good conscience than many can easily believe from the experience of a bad one and the misery they have felt by meanes of it A good conscience think they were an excellent feast indeed if we had it There is none like that but as Saul said the Philistims were come up against him and God was departed so they The Fire is come up against them and hath taken away what they feasted on before and as for a good conscience they wish they had it but they have it not Such a sound spirit would bear their infirmities but for want of it they are not able to bear them Were I sure such men were in good earnest to look after that good conscience which they confess and complain they want I would tell them for their encouragement that there is a way for a bad yea a very bad conscience to be made good as well as a good one to be made better Who can think that Paul had alwaies a good conscience the Scripture telling us that he was sometimes a persecutor an injurious person and a blasphemer yea that he did compell others to blaspheme Acts 26.12 considering that he had his hand in the death of many of Gods Saints Acts 26.12 Many of the Saints did I shut up in prison and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them But manifest it is that he had a good conscience afterwards therefore I say there is a way for a very bad conscience to be made very good and blessed be God there is so It is against Scripture to say that a conscience once deflowred can never recover its virginity He who himself was born of a virgin can reduce that conscience to a virgin state which hath been the mother of many hainous sins Hab. 9.14 If the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling the ashes of an heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ sanctifie your conscience from dead works to serve the living God It is sin alone that defiles the conscience and makes it evil Now sin is either immediately against God or immediately against our neighbour that is against men and that also is against God ultimately though not firstly and only Therefore David confessing his sin in the matter of Vriah saith to God Against thee have I sinned He that would have a good that is a pure and peaceable conscience must if he be able satisfie men for the wrongs and injuries done to them as Zacheus resolved to do or if he be not able he must be sincerely willing and desirous so to do and fully purpose it in his heart if God shall ever make him able For nisiâ—restitutur oblatum is an old and a true rule that is either actually or intentionally non remittitur peccatum But as for the injury done to God by sin either immediately or mediately that no meere man is able to satisfie for though he could give thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oile or would give the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul Therefore as to that there is no way to get our sins carried into the land of forgetfulness but by laying them by faith upon the head of Christ who was tipified by the Scape-goat under the Law no satisfaction to be tendered for them but that which Christ our surety hath made and intended for the use and benefit of them and them only who do or shall believe in him and by repentance turn from dead works to serve the living Goâ— Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins When these things are once done namely when care hath been taken to satisfie men so far as we are able for the wrongs done to them when we have looked upon him whom
be ONe of the best waies that I know for the great loss sustained by the late Fire and all other temporal losses to be made up to us is by promoting a Brief as it were amongst relations and friends if it may take to contribute to the reparation each of other which may seem a great paradox that those who have been mutual and joynt-sufferers should be recruited by a collection made amongst themselves But so it is the wives may greatly help to repair what their husbands have lost husbands what their wives children the losses of their parents and parents the losses of their children servants the losses of their masters c. My meaning is let each of these give themselves to be more useful and comfortable each to other in the relation in which they stand one to another and the contribution they shall make in so doing will be very considerable even in proportion to so great a loss The comfort or discomfort of a relation such as it may be may signifie more than the gaining or losing a great part of an estate if not the whole How many good parents would chearfully part with more than half of their estates on condition they might be able to say of some one or more of their bad children as that father of his returning prodigal Luke 15.24 This my son was dead and is alive was lost and is found The miserable consequences of this dolefullest of fears never cost some parents half those sighs and tears that the miscarriages of some one childe hath done nor would it refresh them so much to see London once again in its former glory as to see their children brought into an estate of grace When parents have been for several years together as it were in the pangs of a travelling woman which is the Apostles metaphor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What would they not give to be delivered and to see the travel of their souls Let children that were formerly otherwise but become humble serious contented diligent dutiful and above all truly religious evidencing the power of godliness to be in them their parents that are such will easily acknowledge that God hath given them more in their children than he took from them out of their estates though they lost many thousands by the fire If ever children that have almost broke their parents hearts may so time their Reformation and Repentance as to do their parents as much good as they have done them hurt now is the time if they shall labour to comfort them after so great a loss by giving them occasion to celebrate their birth-day I mean the day of their new birth whilst they are yet in mourning for the destruction of London Surely the soul of a childe to a religious parent is more than the glory of a City Can yoke fellows do nothing towards repairing the losses each of other What if husbands and wives should more study and practice the duties of their respective relations what if they should please each other more for their good to edification what if there should be a mutuall contention between them which should love and oblige the other most and no contention but that what if they should bear more with each others infirmities and seek the comfort of each others lives as of their own what if they should strive which of them should bear the loss most patiently and most Christian-like and should most comply with the law of their new and mean condition what if bad husbands should henceforth become good and good husbands better and wives the like would it no waies compensate the loss which hath been sustained Surely it would very much yea those that know how great a cross some masters have had and have in their servants what with stubbornness negligence unfaithfulness other ill qualities especially those that have matters of great trust to employ them in cannot but think it would greatly comfort them after their losses if those servants of theirs Onesimus-like should of unprofitable become profitable and of rebels converts If every family were furnished with loving yoke-fellows carrying as it were one soul in two bodies dutiful and gracious children diligent and faithful servants should they weare and fare much more meanly than they did heretofore yet would their lives be much more happie than they had wont to be If there be any Relations so bad they cannot mend as I hope there is not or any so good they need not mend which I very much doubt this counsel doth not concern them but if neither then is it a good expedient for every family in some measure to repaire their losses by and how do I wish it may be put in practice Lord thou hast told us that a brother is born for adversity Prov. 17.17 so is a husband a wife a parent a childe Grant Lord that we may all walk in the several relations in which we stand so like persons born or cut out for such a time of adversitie as this that we may help to make up that breach each for other which thy righteous hand hath made upon us all DISCOURSE XII Of training up children in Religion that they may come to have God for their portion HAve we not heard some parents since this Fire bitterly crying out Alas what shall they do for their poor children They are grown up and ready for portions to dispose in the world and their portions the fruit of many years care and sore travel were not long since as ready for them but in came the Fire like a giant refreshed with wine mighty to run his race and swept them all away And now where shall they have stocks for their sons that were about to set up for themselves where shall they have portions for their daughters to bestow them in marriage wherewithall shall they breed their younger children like themselves as they have done the rest To them that ask these questions give me leave to answer thus If your children want nothing else but hansome breeding as to curious works Musick Dancing and such like if your sons want nothing but great stocks to set up their Trades and your daughters nothing but so many hundreds to prefer them to rich husbands you are happy parents For if that be all they want they must needs be possessed of the one thing necessary of that better part which Mary chose for her self that can never be taken away from them If so though your affliction be great yet the mercy shewed you in reference to them is so much greater that it is a shame for you to make any great complaint But if you say that your children are some of them stark naught manifestly in the gall of bitterness and band of iniquity others of them towardly yet but slenderly hopeful for matter of grace I am sure by your own confession there is something incomparablie more needful than stocks and portions to be sought out for them as to
and is ready to say Is there any sorrow like to mine But it is otherwise at this day God having cast multitudes both of persons and families at one and the same time into one and the same furnace that none might say others were corrected but with rods but we with scorpions Now this being so there are the more to pitty you the fewer to insult over you though when all this is said I honour them that say from their hearts They wish they had suffered more than they did if more could have been if it had been the will of God that none might have been sufferers but they But seeing such was the good will and pleasure of God that thousands should be involved in the same calamity with our selves and many of them our betters who is not ashamed yea who is not afraid to contend with God for what hath befallen himself who seeth not reason to stand before God like a sheep dumb before the shearer Who would not lay his mouth in the dust if there may yet be hope What art thou and what was thy fathers house that the destroying Angel shall passe over thee and thy doors be as it were sprinkled when he entred into the houses of so many not only Egyptians but Israelites If our betters have been equal shaters in this calamity as who is so proud as not to think so how can we but think of those words Jer. 49.12 Behold they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have drunken and art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished To have escaped had been a miracle of mercy but to have been involved with so many that deserved it less was no wonder at all Lord as for all those whose houses and substance this Fire hath consumed give them much more to admire that their persons did escape the common calamity of the Plague than that their possessions were taken away by the common calamity of the Fire and as for those who have escaped both Plague and Fire they and their dwellings let them be ravished with the remembrance of thy distinguisting goodness and so answer the law of thy kindness that thou maist not reserve them to a greater judgment than either that of the Plague or that other of the late dismall Fire DISCOURSE XVII Of the lightness of all temporal afflictions IT is well I have Scripture to back me else I foresee I might possibly have been esteemed both hard-hearted and heretical for saying that all temporal afflictions are but light Whereas some would oppose their experience to such an assertion I may comply with that and yet do the Scripture right All your experience can contend for is only this that some temporal afflictions and this in particular absolutely and in themselves considered are not light but heavie as Job speaks like the sands of the sea That I can afford to grant I but yet those very afflictions relatively considered and compared with miseries of another nature namely with internal and eternal torments give me leave to say are but as so many flea-bitings Say who dare that utmost poverty is comparable either to the pains of hell or pangs of conscience Who is so desperate as to be willing to exchange meer beggery or famine its self with either of those Doth not Salomon say and is it not most true That the spirit meaning the conscience of a man if that be sound and in peace can bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear That is none can bear If Job sitting upon the dunghill can then and there say he knows that his redeemer liveth and he shall one day see him with these eyes he that thinks him half so miserable whilst he can so say as one that sits upon a throne and mean time seeth the hand-writing of God upon the wall as Belteshazzar did telling him that he is weighed and found too light or cries out with Spira and others in the like case that he is damned he is damned or but as David sometimes did that God hath forgotten to be gracious to him and shut up his loving kindness towards him in displeasure I say he that thinks the latter of these though upon a Throne the less misetable of the two knows not what he saith not whereof he affirms Should he be translated from a dunghill to a throne with such different circumstances as these oh how would he long to be upon his dunghill again with such language in his mouth and heart as was that of Job I know my redeemer lives If thy affliction be but temporal and external fear to say no sorrow like to thine no not that of a wounded conscience lest God hear it and be angry and should either exchange thy other misery for a wounded conscience or add that to all the rest that by woful experience thou maist learn neither to overvalue the one nor to undervalue the other And do the pangs of a wounded conscience far exceed the miseries of an impoverished condition what then do the pains of hell which far exceed the pangs of conscience The worm that never dies by which is meant a gnawing conscience is but one part of the torments of hell Besides that there is the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone the smoak whereof ascendeth continually What is it to have fire consume our dwellings in comparison of dwelling our selves with consuming fire and with everstasting burnings who believes hell to be what it is and doth not think one year or moneth in the torments of that place to be more unsufferable than all the vexations of a long and afflicted life were it not less misery to be as Lazarus that beggar full of sores and craving of the crumbs that fell from the rich mans table and glad of dogs to lick his fores yea to be so for many years together than for the space of one year to be as Dives in hell carnestly begging for a little water to cool his tongue tormented in flames and could by no means obtain it Add the circumstance of eternity to the greatness of hell torments and see if all the troubles of this life do not even vanish before it and appear as nothing If then thou art convinced as I hope thou art there is a hell and hast reason to believe that multitudes are there for all are there that have lived and died in their sins let me suppose thee the greatest susterer this fire hath made if there be any one greater than any of the rest and when that is done compare thy condition with that of the damned in hell and then say if thy affliction when laid in the ballance be not found altogether lighter than vanity If God will assure thee that thou shalt flie from the wrath to come all that hath yet befaln thee may be born It is not for want of pitty and commiseration towards you that I write this I hope my bowels yearn towards you but I would justifie
have since let them for moderate Rents such are honest gainers Others have let their houses at most excessive Rates and such have loaded themselves with dishonest gain But be their gains one way or another I think no man ought for the present to pocket the money which he hath clearly gotten by the fire if it be so they can spare it David would not drink of the waters of Bethlehem which were brought to him because as he said They were the price of Blood meaning his Souldiers had ventured their lives for it What men have gotten by this fire is little lesse than the price of Blood considering how many were impoverished that a few might be inriched or rather that the inriching of but a very few is by the undoing of many thousands Men may look upon their gains by this fire as Deodates Let as many as are able be their own Almoners and give it back to God Is it not a Sabbatical year in a doleful sense for that the poor City now injoyeth it's Sabbath and in a Sabbatical year that did bear a better interpretation the rich were not suffered to reap but were to leave the Crop to the poor as appeareth by comparing Exod. 23.11 with Levit. 25.5 If men who have only saved what they had before ought to contribute to them that have lost how much more ought they who have received an Addition by this very means To Build upon the Ruines of others is one of the worst Foundations that can be Let it never be said The fire hath made you rich whilst such multitudes continue poor miserably poor whom meerly the fire hath made so We use to say Men have gotten those things out of the fire which they came hardly by But what men got by or out of the late fire was easily come by well may it go leightly for it leightly came yet neither doth that go leightly which goes to the use of Charity When I consider how this fire which hath ruined many hath raised some it brings to mind what is said Luke 1.52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away How strangely and by seeming contraries doth the providence of God bring things to pass that when a dismall fire hapned some men should be made by it So a Prison made way for Joseph's preferment and Onesimus his running away from his Master for his returning to God and to himself and a better Servant to his Master than ever And Estate cast upon men by the desolating Fire sounds like such a Riddle as that of Sampson Out of the eater came meat and out the strong came sweetness Is it not as a Honey-comb found in the Carcase of a Lion You whom God by this fire hath unexpectedly enabled more than ever to eat the Fat and drink the Sweet you know what I allude to see that you send portion to them for whom nothing is provided MEDITATION XXVII Upon the Inducements unto re-building of London and some wayes of promoting it THat London should be re-built is so much the concern of England both in point of Honour and of Trade as hardly any thing can be more Whilst that lieth in the dust our Glory lieth with it Our Enemies rejoice to see it where it is but should we let it lie there long Oh! how would they scorn us for it and conclude it were because we had not wherewithall to build it up again They know as well as we that there is no part of England situate so commodiously for Trade as London is which name is said to signifie in the Language of the Britains it's first Inhabitants Shipton or a Town of Ships in regard that the famous River which runs by the side of it is able to entertain the greatest Ships that can ride upon the Sea which thing hath made it so famous a Mart those Ships bringing in all the rich commodities the world can afford Hence London for so many Ages past hath held it's Primacy over all other parts of England and none hath been thought fit to succeed it in that dignity though the shifting of Trade from one City to another and an alternate Superlativeness hath been frequent in other parts of the world where one place hath been as commodious as another But London never had rival that did or could pretend it's self as fit to make the great Emporium and Metropolis of England as was it's self The River of Thames made it so at first and that under God will and must make it so again It perished by fire and must be saved by water for that if any thing will make it once again what it was before as Job saith of a Tree onely the Root whereof is left in the ground that thorough the scent of water it will sprout again How venerable is London were it but for its Antiquity of which Ammianus Marcellinus reports that it was called an ancient City in his time which was above twelve hundreds years ago and Cornelius Tacitus seems to do the like three hundred years before him telling us that for multitudes of Merchants and Commerce London was very renowned fifteen hundred years ago nor can we suppose it to have presently arrived at that perfection Who would not assist the building of another City in that place hoping it may continue as many Ages as the other did and longer too if God be pleased to prevent the like disaster I confess I love not to hear men boast at such a time as this what they will do or what shall be done as to the building of London more glorious than ever The Inhabitants of Samaria are blamed for saying The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars We are but putting on our harness as to re-building let us not boast as if we were putting of it off This is not a time in which to say much though it becomes us to do all we can If we may see but such another City it will be a great mercy but one more glorious than that we may scarce expect till we see it Alas how many difficulties is that work clogg'd with How scarce and dear are all materials How poor are many that desire to build How hard and almost impossible will it be to satisfie the Interest of all proprietors Amongst all the Models that are presented for that purpose How hard will it be to know how to pitch upon that which may be most convenient If we build every where as before it will be incommodious for Passage dangerous for Fire if by a new Platform it is hard not to be injuxious to multitudes of People whose Houses stood inconveniently as to the Publick Lord Give our Senators double and treble wisdom that they may be satisfactory-Repairers of so great breaches But
How shall Moneys be Levied for the re-building of London where the Estates of persons concerned do fall short Two Expedients for that I have propounded already One was by the Mercy and Charity of those persons who have lost little or nothing by the fire and who have something they could well spare The other is By the Justice and due Repentance of all those persons Carters Landlords and others who have raised uncoscionable gains to themselves by means of the late Fire whose duty it is to restore not only the principal of what they have unlawfully gotten by the fire but some certain over-plus as was provided under the Law in cases of Restitution When that is done I wish there were a certain Pole-fine or Mulct set upon the head of every common sin not made capital which additional-Pole levied upon all persons that are able when once convicted of Drunkenness Swearing Cousenage Cursing yea Lying its self might be for and towards the re-building of London I speak of an Additional pecuniary Punishment for those Crimes both for that the former and present Mulcts have not been sufficient to restrain Men as also for that great summs are still in arrear to Justice because those kind of Penalties have been but seldom inflicted possibly not one time in a hundred that they ought to have been To do this were not to build London upon the sins of the People as some will object but upon the punishment of Sin and due execution of Justice which would be a glorious foundation If but one shilling extraordinary were levied upon men toties quoties that is so often as they are or might be convicted for any of the fore-mentioned sins How noble a City might those Fines build if men should continue so bad as now they are Whilst some particular persons and those able enough to pay for it stick not to swear hundreds of Oaths in one day besides all the Execrations and Lies they become guilty of in one day But if men had rather reform themselves than by their Crimes help to re-build the City the former shall be as welcom as the latter and the latter may in one sense be promoted by the former But if that way of raising Money be so happily prevented possibly so soon as God shall please to turn our Swords into Plow-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks The Wisdom of our Governors may think fit to make some coercive-levy for once towards the relieving of friends as they have formerly done for and towards the humbling of Forraign-Enemies and as the Ruin of London is a National-Calamity so Who knows whether our Rulers may not please to make the re-building of it somewhat of a National-Charge as it would certainly be an honour and an advantage to the whole Nation But remembring what is said Ps 127.1 Except the Lord build the house and so the City they labour in vain that build it I cannot but further consider what words we should take unto our selves wherewith to plead with God that London if it so seem good to him may be built again And May we not plead thus O Lord How many hundred Families are there whose livelihoods seem to depend upon the re-building of that City What hard shift do they make in the mean-time dwelling many of them like the Israelites in Tents or Bothes Were not many of these good and merciful men And Hast thou not said That with the Merciful thou wilt show thy self Merciful How many are there whose bowels yearn and whose hearts bleed over the desolations of London Shall Men pity them and will not God much more who is of infinite compassions What strong affections have these poor hearts for the place where that City sometimes stood How do they cleave as it were to the Ruins of it How loth are they to remove at any distance from it as if they could settle to no business any where else no more than Irish-Kine which as they say cannot give down their Milk unless their Calves or something in their likeness stand by their sides How do their Enemies yea and thine also insult and triumph whilst poor London lieth in ashes saying Aha Aha so would we have it Shall London be alwayes a Ruinous Heap whilst Rome and Paris continue flourishing Cities Hast thou not a greater Controversie with them than with it Dost thou suffer them to stand not that we beg the destruction of any place Wilt not thou permit London to rise again Shall England never be like its self again or How can it be so if London be no more Was ever the REstauration of a City more prayed for and shall all those Prayers fall to the ground Lord What joy will there be when the re-building of London shall be once finished How will the top-Stone be laid with Acclamations of Grace Grace Psal 71.20 Thou who hast showed that place and People great and sore troubles vouchsafe to quicken them again and bring them up again from the depths of the Earth Increase their greatness and comfort them on every side MEDITATION XXVIII Upon the Wines and Oils that swam in the Streets and did augment the Flames I Have heard that upon some great Solemnities the Conduits have been made to run with Claret But so much precious Wine and Oyl as ran down the Kennels upon this sad occasion was 〈◊〉 known to do so before Then was London a burning Lamp flaming with its own Oyl But worse than the wasting of those Wines and Oyls themselves was their unhappy mixing with that water which some not well considering made use of to throw upon the flames and thereby in stead of extinguishing did increase them Oh the hurtfulness even of costly Mixtures in some cases Water alone had done well but Wine and Oyl added to it did a world of mischief So in Baptism Water alone doth as well as can be suiting the Institution but to add Cream and Spittle is both sinful slovenly and ridiculous But O nasty beasts Why do you use Spittle above all the rest VVould you imitate that Miracle whereby the eyes of the blind-man were opened with Spittle for one thing Why then do you not use Clay too But you are better at making Seers-blind than blind-Folks see Or is it from the great commendation which you have heard of Fasting-Spittle in many other cases that you use Spittle in this Away with your unwarranted-mixtures beastly ones especially you make me digress from a serious Subject to answer Fools according to their folly But I 'le return again Oh How did all things at that time conspire to make poor London miserable Not only did the Streets and Kennels drink freely of their best Wines and Oyls but also made the Fire to pledge them till it became outragious like a man-in-drink Drunkards may read their sin in their punishment God hath inflamed their City with Wine wherewith they had wont to inflame themselves God threatned the Jews Hos 2. That he would