Papists play least in sight I mean whilst the exercise of their Religion is very obscure and private so long that proverb is made good What the eye seeth not the heart rueth not but if it should chance to shew its head in publick if it came forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber deckt and trimmed to take the eyes of its beholders if it come forth with its luscious musick tempting the people to dance after it then will the mouths of mens fears and complaints also be wide opened then will they suspect it will bear down all before it Sith then their Religion is impure and the people extremely jealous of them and it let them with the Adulterer seek the twilight yea the black and dark night Let them steal their waters if they will have any and eat their bread in secresie so it may be as sweet to them and not so bitter and vexatious to others so shall they not need to fear others neither will others be afraid of them Lastly if there shall appear a forwardness in those whom it concerns to make as much as can be made of all hints and intimations given them of danger impending from the designs of Papists I say if all such informations shall from time to time â—esifted to the very bran and the very bottom of them dived into that they may dispair of ever carrying any design undiscovered and hid under slight pretences thereby will the hearts of men be greatly secured against the fears of Papists being â—o dealt with as the Psalmist prayes that wicked men might be when he saith Ps 10.15 Search out his wickedness till thou find none i. e. no more The more â—ealousy magistrates do or shall express of Papists the less will the people be afraid of them When Magistrates are awake and watchful people will venture to lye down and sleep The fifth of November Plot had certainly taken effect if King James had not been possessed with a great jealousie of Papists and their designs which led him to such an interpretation of that letter whereby he found it out as others did not give nor himself would otherwise have given so that fear and suspicion are as we see good keyes to open the cabinet counsels of Papists and but for them we had been lost long ere this I deceive my self if I have not now treated of one of the most singular expedients whereby to incourage the English nation to any worthy undertaking and particularly that of rebuilding the City viz. by securing the minds of men against that fear and dread of Papists and of their designs which is so generally upon them that being once done as I have propounded the best and most moderate ways that I know for the doing of it men will go forward with their work like giants refreshed with wine mighty to run their race DISCOURSE XXX That to be thankful to God and men for the good beginnings of a new City is one good way to perfect it WE are doubly indebted for that part and proportion of another London be it a tenth or whatsoever it is which we see already First to the great God of whom it is said Ps 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it Nextly and subordinately to men for whatsoever they have contributed thereunto by their advice authority bounty industry or otherwise and particularly for that excellent and prudent Act of Parliament which was quickly made in the case besides an additional Bill for that purpose which had passed the honourable House of Commons and seemed to meet with no obstruction in the honourable House of Lords but want of time to pass it and which we doubt not when the two houses shall come together again will be readily agreed to and made into an Act. How noble a precedent of thankfulness for a good beginning and no more is that we read of Ezra 3.10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord they set the Priests and the Levites to praise the Lord v. 11. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid Though the ancient men who had seen the first did weep at the same time with a loud voice because the latter was not to be compared with the former yet the rest of the people gave thanks and shouted for joy And certainly they took a right course to have another Temple brought to perfection in being so thankful for it whilst it was yet but imperfect They that will see a mercy finished before they give thanks for it resolve to trust God no further man they can see him The sacrifice of praise whereby God is glorified is not to be defer'd till such time as the work of mercy hath brought forth but is to be offered so soon as there is but a conception or at leastwise any life and motion in it to discover that it hath conceived As the hearty sucking of a child brings down more milk into those breasts in which there was but little at the first so a thankful heart brings down more and more mercy and fills those breasts more full which by our daily receivings we are as it were emptying What Christ said to Nathaniel in reference to his believing John 1.50 Because I said I saw thee under the figtree believest thou thou shalt see greater things than these may be applied to thanksgiving If for a little mercy we have received already we can be daily thankful we shall be sure of more We should be thankful for the least of mercies for that we our selves are less than the least What better copy can we write after than that of Ezra that holy scribe Ezra 9.8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewn from the Lord to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place that our God my lighten our eyes so Jonathans were with a little honey and give us a little reviving in our bondage You see he was thankful for a remnant for a nail for a little reviving and God gave more afterwards The seed of mercy always prospereth when it lights upon the valley of an humble heart and is soakt with the warm showrs of affectionate thanksgivings So as the great God could have hindred the work we are now in hand with either by invading us with the Plague or plagueing us with an invasion or otherwise not one house might have been built at this day of all that were burnt nor so much as one foundation laid whereas now thanks be to God some hundreds of houses are already finished several of them more stately than before so that now we may allude to what the Psalmist speaketh Ps 48.12 13. Walk about Zion and go round about her tell the towers thereof mark ye well her bulwarks consider her pallaces that ye may tell it
so long there is hope it may take place When the great God was resolved that Jeremy should not prevail by his prayer for the Israelites he bids him spare his pains Jer. 11.14 and Jer. 14.11 Jer. 7.16 Pray not thou for this people neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee And at another time God by his Prophet said That though Noah Daniel and Job were in the Land they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness intending thereby that they should not prevail for others Ezek. 14.14 Might not we in like manner have expected some intimation of the Divine Pleasure that the rebuilding of London should not be so much as enterprized that if we took any such work in hand it should be at our peril that we should but sow the Wind and reap the Whirlwind in case that were the Will of God indeed Surely the Divine Goodness would forewarn us that we might not undertake so great a work and all in vain But so far hath God been hitherto from crying aloud to us not to take in hand the rebuilding of the City that I scarce know any whisperings to that purpose Nay methinks that voice whereby God in these daies most of all speaketh to such cases as these and that is the voice of Providence and of the series of Divine Dispensations I say that voice sounds in my ears and it is like in the ears of many more as if it were plainly for it as if it spake articulately Arise and build up and be doing For first of all since this work was to be done the great God hath encouraged it by an unexpected measure of health vouchsafed I say since the City was to be built God hath taken away the noysome Pestilence which staying some time after the fire we had reason to expect the encrease thereof considering how many Families were unhealthfully crouded together in a very small compass and how many green I mean lately before infected houses were forthwith inhabited which otherwise had long remained empty The continuance of that destroying Angel amongst us had been so great a hindrance to the restauration of the City as nothing could have been greater and the removal thereof is doubtless as great a help without which most men would have thought of flying or dying but none of building Surely that gracious hand which so miraculously and seasonably removed the Plague was stretched forth in favour of the desolate City as to matter of rebuilding And doth it signifie nothing that God hath ordained Peace for us since the fire a threefold Peace viz. with France Holland Denmark and may I not add a fourth viz. with Spain also of no small import to trade and traffique as Merchants tell us Hath that Peace no benigne aspect upon the rebuilding of London could we have built without it as well as with it The great dearth and dearness of coals that was before the Peace together with the great plenty and cheapness of them which hath been and is like to be after it assureth us to the contrary Coals being as necessary for the making of Brick of which our new building must consist as Straw its self Had the late war continued who would have had any heart to have built who knoweth not how unhappy it is to build with a brick in one hand and and a bullet in the other and would not the expence of War quite destroy the sinews of building which are the same with the sinews of War viz. Money or had we money enough where should we have materials sufficient for so great a work in a time of War I doubt our Lebanon would not suffice we should find the want of Forreign Timber which now we hope will plentifully come in and that be brought in to build our houses and to repair our City which would otherwise have been imployed to destroy our Ships and to oppose our Fleet. And now I mention Peace I must not forget the doubling of it as of Pharaoh's Dream for more certainty sake betwixt our selves and the Netherlands besides those other Nations that may hereafter cast in their lot with us neither is it only the same thing ingeminated or two Peaces but numerically distinct but the latter Peace if we mis-understand it not is specifically different from and much better then the former the first having been only an engagement not to offend one another but this to defend and protect each other as the matter shall require It is a great while since I remember any thing so generally well resented so candidly interpreted so thankfully acknowledged as that League hath been and chiefly for that it was made with a people of the same Religion with our selves besides their being most potent at Sea of all our Neighbours That Dove Peace Peace for so I may call it with two Olive Branches in its mouth seemeth to me to bring the best tidings as concerning the rebuilding of London of any Messenger I have heard of though there are several others and they that think otherwise are I doubt under the power of too much melancholly not to say prejudice Is there nothing to be gathered from the late Winter season wherewith to incourage our hope as touching the rebuilding of London If builders might have bespoken a season for their purpose how could they have had a better To be sure the Husbandman did not pray for such a Summer-like mild Winter Frost and Snow had been more suitable to his desires and occasions But as if every thing ought to give place to the restauration of the City as if plenty and health its self were not so needful as that at leastwise for the present behold a Winter if we may call it Winter more accommodate to that occasion and service then to any other purpose so warm as if the Sun had stood still as in the daies of Joshua and would not have stirred further from us till it had seen the City in some good forwardness Thus the great God who sent a fierce Wind to promote the burning of London when it was his pleasure hath sent a mild Winter that hath much promoted the building of it giving us hope thereby it is his will and pleasure it should be built again I observe that God both in the bringing and removing of Judgments hath wont to make much use of Wind and Weather So God brought an East-wind upon the Land of Egypt and that East-wind brought the Locusts Exod. 10.13 And in the ninth verse we read That the Lord turned a mighty strong West-wind which took away the Locusts and turned them into the Red Sea there remained not one Locust in Egypt So when God had a purpose to dry up the Deluge it is said Gen. 8.1 That God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged It is like one Wind brought the waters in as another carried them out So God caused the Sea to go back by a strong
thing or things whereby they may render those that rule over them yet more confident and more highly assured of their love and loyalty than by what they have done already they are or might be let them have the security besides the former that they may be fully satisfied that in building a City for Londoners they build a London for themselves It is my humble and earnest motion that all that is lawful and possible to be done to secure and fortifie the minds of our Rulers against all suspicion and jealousie of any the least disaffection in the people towards them I say that all such things might be done that they may as willingly intrust them with a new and famous City carried on by their utmost countenance and assistance as they themselves are willing to be so intrusted How do I long to see the day in which Magistrates and People shall love one another no less than indulgent parents and good children use to do that Court and City shall set themselves to promote the happiness each of other should owe one another nothing but love should alwayes be paying that debt and yet confessing themselves to be still in debted as to that Concerning that mutual obligingness which was betwixt Solomon the wisest of Kings yea of men and his people we read in Ps 72. v. 12. He shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper This was spoken of Solomon in type but of Christ as the antitype that he should do thus for his people but then in the 15. verse it is said To him shall be given of the gold of Shebah prayer also shall be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised which words express what the people should do for Solomon how they should oblige him who would be so obliging to them Now what is prophecied as the result of Solomon and his people thus vying which should oblige each other most I doubt not to apply to our City of London in reference to its great increase from its present small beginnings under the incouragements of an obliged magistracy There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains London is now as that handful of corn the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the City shall flourish like grass of the earth v. 16. DISCOURSE XXIV That easing the burthens of Londoners all that may be till the City be finished would incourage the work CItizens may be pincht and yet not think fit to cry out They will bear more than they are well able rather than seem unable to bear Their credit is their livelihood and that is their life Some of them by making but a shew for the present hope in time to get substance Many are thought since the Fire to have made but few complaints not out of plenty but policy because it is their real interest to put the best side outermost Many of their hearts are sad as is believed in the midst of laughter It is our eye must affect our hearts with their condition rather than our ears They say little of it but we may see much Can an Old man to whom the very grashoper is a burthen carry as great a weight as can a young porter Could Sampson after his locks were cut in which his strength lay do as he had wont before no more can Londoners who have lost their metropolis their head City do as they were able before one hair of that head was singed May we not then hope and expect that they who are called Gods will in this case imitate him who is the true God of whom it is said Ps 13.14 That he knoweth our frame and remembreth that we are dust Londoners at this day are not only dust but dust in dust Here we must thankfully acknowledg the kindness of our Rulers in dispensing with Chimney-money as to the City for so many years to come which favour of theirs if duly resented may possibly usher in more When the Temple at Jerusalem was to be built Artaxerxes made a gracious decree touching the Priests Levites Singers Porters Nethinims or Ministers of the house of God it should not be lawful to impose toll tribute or custome upon them Ezra 7.14 It must be left to the wisdom and clemency of our Rulers to determine how far forth the same kindness or any other equivalent to it shall be extended to those who have sustained the damage of burning and must now be at the charge of building DISCOURSE XXV That to give a general content and satisfaction to men or so far as it can be done would help forward the City very much A General contentment would cause Religion to reflourish and consequently the City For what saith Solomon Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a nation and if a whole nation a City much more and in Ps 72.3 It is said The mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness Now it being ordinary with scripture by righteousness to express that which we call Religion and by peace all manner of prosperity and rational in this place to understand it so I have by the mouth of two witnesses proved and easy it were to do it by many more that if a general satisfaction would promote Religion it would also promote the City And now my business is to prove that an universal contentment would be much to the furtherance and advancement of Religion and the want thereof would hinder the growth and increase of Religion as much as any one thing and consequently impede the building and exalting of the City For Contrariorum contraria est ratio contrary causes have contrary effects c. The Apostle speaks of godliness with contentment as great gain and usually they go together and so ordinarily do ungodliness and discontent What but discontent made Jobs Wife most blasphemously counsel him to curse God and die The same made Jonas so irreligious for the time as to say unto God I do well to be angry even to the death David himself as the text tells us was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza 2 Sam. 6.8 And against whom was that his displeasure but against him that made the breach which was God himself yet more strange are those expressions Isa 8.21 It shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curse their King and their God and looke up Treason and blasphemy both in a breath and all from discontent like to that we meet with Rev. 16.21 And men blasphemed God because of the Plague of the Hail for the Plague of the hail was exceeding great A troubled sea will cast up little elfe but dirt and mire Sick bodies are not so fit for the service of God as those that are in health so neither are sick minds and such are all discontented ones Divines observe that men of melancholy