upon the high places of the earth that is to dwell aloft in places of security and safety or the words may glance at the Land of Judea being much of it Mountainous and feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy Father that is with the good things of the Land of Canaan gâ—ven for an inheritance to him for his posterity See Isa 56.6 7. Every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it even them will I bring to my holy Mountain that is to Mount Sion on which the Temple was scituate See also Jer. 17.24 If ye hallow the Sabbath to do no work thereon then the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and this City shall remain for ever v. 28. But if you will not hallow the Sabbath day I will kindle a fire which shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched From those Texts I infer that unto keeping the Sabbath several promises of God building and blessing of Cities and furnishing men with desirable habitations are made as on the other hand the profaning and polluting of the Sabbath is threatned with the destruction of Cities and of their Inhabitants which being true in the general or in thesi it must needs be in hypothesi or in particular that a Religious observation of the Sabbath day would help to build our City Who knows not that Nehemiah was a great and principal Agent in the building of Jerusalem after it was burnt Nehem. 2.5 and what Magistrate was ever more zealous than he if so zealous to have the Sabbath day kept holy witness his contending with Merchants and Tradesmen of all sorts yea with the very Nobles of Judah for profaning the Sabbath Nehemiah 13. from 15. to v. 22. Did not your Fathers thus said he to the Nobles and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon our City viz. destruction by fire yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath If profanation of Sabbaths procure the burning of Cities the sanctification of that day will promote the building thereof It is said Eadem est ratio loci temporis time and place are much akin if we would have regard to Gods time he would have respect to our place or places if we would mind his day would he not mind our dwellings the sanctifying of Sabbaths is the intrusting of God with the seventh part of our time even then when time is most precious with us Now God is alwayes bountiful to them that do greatly trust him Mal. 3.10 Bring all the tithes into the Storehouse and prove me therewith saith the Lord if I will not poure you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it as if God had said Do but trust me with the tenth part of the encrease and you shall see what the other nine shall amount to If we in like manner would trust God with the seventh part of our time for so our Sabbaths are doubtlesse the other six would through the blessing of God turn to a much better account I doubt not to say that one day in seven that is every Lords day we might promote the building of London much more in Churches and Closets than we could do in working upon the respective foundations for that indeed would set it back and might provoke God to swear in his Wrath it should never be brought to perfection I observe what is said of Manna Exod. 16.29 The Lord hath given you the Sabbath therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two daies let no man go out of his place on the seventh day viz. to gather Manna God made them amends for forbearing to progue on the Sabbath-day They that did as God had appointed them on the Sabbattical year viz. Neither sow their Fields nor prune their Vineyards Levit. 25.4 nor reap what grew of its own accord intirely for themselves but let it lye in common to others lost no more by so doing than a Husbandman doth by letting his ground lye fallow when it is out of heart that it may yield a greater encrease hereafter see Levit. 25.20 If ye shall say what shall we eat the seventh year behold we shall not sow nor gather in our encrease not for two years together when a Sabbattical year and a Jubile came together verse 21. Then will I command my blessing upon you in the sixth year and it shall bring forth fruit for three years He knew not what he said who derided Christians as men that lost the seventh part of their time because of the Sabbaths they kept whereas Sabbaths kept as they ought to be are no losse but the most profitable part of time But alas we so carry the matter as to lose a great part of that hallowed time which is of all our time most precious making holyday of a great part thereof in such sense as Children do understand holy-daies viz. as meer pastimes and play-daies I fear we begin our Sabbaths too late and end them too early we do not remember the Sabbath soon enough to keep it holy as we should and we forget it too soon we are not intent enough either upon preparation before or prosecution afterwards The Sabbaths which men generally keep now a daies are not only unlike to those of glorious Saints and Angels in Heaven but to such as were kept by those good Christians whom some intended to reproach by fixing upon them the honourable name of Puritans which sort of men I remember one that was none of them himself had wont to divide into two ranks saying there was the Knave Puritan that is one that was so but in pretence and for a colour and there was the Knave 's Puritan whom he confessed to be a very honest man and of an excellent sort but out of malice called a Puritan by such as were Knaves themselves because that to such as themselves the Name was odious though both Name and Person were so only for their goodness Now having heard a distinction to that effect I must explain my self and tell you that it was the Knave 's Puritan that is he and such as he whom Knaves had wont to call so of whom I affirm that he had wont to keep Sabbaths at anotherguise rate than we observe them kept now a daies such as Reverend Dod Hildersham c. and yet they were not upon their good behaviour as we are for the building a poor City lying in ashes They would have blusht to have seen our Sabbaths Oh that we could blush to think of them they would scarce have been able to think us sincere Christians observing us to have so small a regard to the fourth Commandement They would have often rebuked us sharply for our Sabbath-daies discourse and minded us of the Text that saith we should not speak our own words on the Lords day Isa 58. when in this respect shall we be followers of those worthies aforesaid who now inherit the Promises A City the greater part of whose former Inhabitants were such Sanctifiers of Gods Sabbaths as
without money in the case as is generally too evident how should houses Haud facile emergunt quarum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domus is as true as if it had been domi that is it holds as certain in houses as in men It is mony must raise them But what shall they do that have it not nor can by any means procure it I know no way but one viz. they must fell their ground but there is the misery who will give them to the worth of it They that know they must or are forced to sell think to buy it as they list or at some such rates as too many have bought Debenters it may be at a Noble for the worth and value of each pound Thus poor men are bought and sold as the Prophet expresseth it for a pair of shoes Amos 2.6 A rich commodity in a poor mans hand is nothing worth so barbarously are men upon the catch taking their utmost advantages one against another which is to make a vice instead of a vertue of necessity I mean a vice to themselves out of the necessity of others For doubtless he that buyeth out poor men so cheaply selleth himself to work wickedness Well what said Ahab to Naboth 1 Kin. 21.2 Give me thy Vineyard and I will give thee for it a better Vineyard than that or if it seem good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money He offered a valuable consideration for Naboths ground will you be worse than that Ahab If your Brethren be hungry will you take occasion thereby to purchase their Birth-right for a mess of pottage as Jacob did who was many wayes crossed afterwards in one kind and in another What blessing can be expected or rather what curse may not be lookt for upon those houses the foundations of which are laid in oppression and grinding the faces of the poor who in order to bread are forced to suffer their own faces to be ground Are no merciful men to be found who in consideration of the necessity of poor men will give them for their ground rather more than it is worth at leastwise full as much yea why should not every man be so far forth merciful sith the latter of the two is but to be just Art thou in a purchasing case buy poor mens ground at a full rate build upon it and when that is done if they be able to pay a moderate Rent and it may be a courtesie to them become their Landlord He may prove a sufficient Tenant who is not able to build his own house and his Landlord may have a blessing for his sake for blessed is he that considereth the poor Psa 40.1 Be not you discouraged if you cannot build your selves another mans house may be as commodious for you as one of your own erecting and if there happen to be inconveniencies in it they will not so much upbraid and vex you as if they had been contracted by your own misbuilding as they might have been Nam quae non fecimus ipsi haud ea nostra voco you are not chargeable with the faults of those houses which you did not make or build your selves I have one thing more to say to such as must sell their ground and are dejected at the thoughts of so doing Were you not so far undone that you could not attempt to build who knows whither you as many others have been and it is supposed will be might not be undone by building DISCOURSE XI That a strict observation of the Lords day might greatly promote the rebuilding of the City THe Lords Day is not that Sabbath which was first so called for that was the last day of the week whereas it is the first yet a Sabbath it is and doubtless injoyned in and by the same Commandment that the Jewish Sabbath was viz. the fourth for whosoever doth not acknowledge it so to be must either say that there is no Sabbath at all or day of holy rest to be kept under the New Testament and consequently that there are now but nine Commandments in the Moral Law the fourth being abrogated and expired whereas Christ hath told us That till heaven and earth pass one jot shall in no wise pass from that Law Mat. 5.18 or else they must say that the last day of the week is that which ought alwayes to be observed by Christians as it is by Jews for the only Sabbath and weekly holy day that is for ever to be celebrated in obedience to that Command Most Christians are averse from Judaizing in taking Saturday for their Sabbath chusing rather to imitate the practise of the Apostles whose manner it was to observe not the last but first day of the week which we conclude they would not have done but by Warrantie and Commission from Christ who alone was Lord of the Sabbath so to do Yet some few Christians there are who symbolize with the Jews in their saturday-Saturday-Sabbath and keep the same day as holy as they can And verily if in this case I may speak my mind freely they are much less too blame who keep a Saturday Sabbath than they who keep none at all who understand that Commandment as the Jews do than they who make as if it were abrogated and disannulled But he that shall fall into neither of the extremes aforesaid but shall confess that the first day of the week is that which was instituted for Christians by the fourth Commandment must needs own it to be a Sabbath because instituted and appointed by and under that name Exod. 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and v. 11. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it That it was necessary I should prove there is a Sabbath yet in being and that the day which men ought weekly to observe as holy to the Lord thoroughout all Ages is called the Sabbath to the end I might shew that the Promises made and incouragements given to such as have kept or shall keep holy the Sabbath day are not insignificant and out of date as to us who live under the New Testament Having done that it will be easie to prove what I have affirmed in the Title of this Chapter viz. that a strict observation of the Sabbath for so is the Lords day to Christians would greatly promote the building of the City witness that pregnant promise which of its self were a sufficient testimony Isa 58.12 13. And they that shall be of thee shall build the wast places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in If thou turn away thy foot from my Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words v. 14. I will cause thee to ride
they were would certainly not long lye in Ashes but God would cause the wast places thereof to be built Alas that now our City is down in the dust such Master-builders as they in the sense I have spoken to are dead and gone I wonder not that such as are enemies to Religion have a particular grudge against the Sanctifying of the Sabbath or appointing it to be sanctified sith the preservation of all practical godliness so far as is in men to preserve it doth so much depend thereupon For alas what time have men and women who lye down late and rise up early all the week long to get their livings as the greater part of people do I say what time could or would they generally reserve to look after God and their souls if it were not for the Lords Day preserved by the sanction of the Magistrate from violation by mens open following of their Trades and designed for religious uses But it is not the common-place of the Sabbath that I undertook to handle in this Chapter but what and how great a tendency a due care taken both by Magistrates and people for the Sanctification of that day would have to promote the building of our City and that I hope I have demonstrated DISCOURSE XII Of the help that may and is meet to be afforded towards the rebuilding of London SHall the ashes of London upbraid rich men both in City and country with their unkindness towards it those I mean that have no immediate concernment of their own shall they cry with a loud voice how long shall London lye in the dust for want of men or moneys so long as all England can afford them Or is England so drained and exhausted of either of these even of money it self that there is not enough to spare for the reedifying of London Though a great part of the Nation be impoverished at this day doubtless many have wealth enough and to spare Some have great Estates and no Children others have great Estates and Children but not worthy to be intrusted with such Estates some have been great gainers by the late revolutions yea some by those very judgments which have of late befallen us even by the fire it 's self which did not only spare their houses but much advance their rents though thousands may have need to sell what they are possessed of yet some hundreds I believe are ready for considerable purchases and have such persons as I have named nothing to spare for and towards the rebuilding of such a City are they like to give any thing to any good uses living or dying who will give nothing to this If mens gold and silver lye cankered by them whilst there is such an occasion to lay it out shall not the rust thereof be a witness against them and eat their flesh as it were fire James 5.33 Who wonders not as the case now-stands to see any rich man dye and leave nothing to London in his will many places that are burnt down were built by charity at the first and must be so again if ever they be restored and many persons are by the fire become the objects of charity who were not so before but rather the subjects and dispensers of it many that had wont to give are now forced to receive many that kept good houses have now no houses to keep nor wherewith to build them any To build for their sakes were most charity but if you will not do so build for your selves I mean for your own profit in conjunction with a publick good and let them to whom you please Build with regard to a noble City now desolate if you will not do with respect to indigent and impoverished Citizens Had London been the tail of all the Cities of England it had been pitty to have always lost it but much more pitty it would be in regard it was the head We read how the people lift up their voices and wept that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel and yet that tribe was but little Benjamin Judg. 21.3 Had it been Judah and was not London as it were our Judah would not their lamentation have been yet greater As they studied to repair that lost tribe so should all English-men endeavour to repair this It will chiefly concern rich men to do it but surely the poor are not quite exempted As in repairing the high wayes our laws have provided that they who do not or cannot hire others should work at it themselves so many dayes So methinks it should be in repairing of this great breach It is a common good and therefore should be done at a common charge though mostly at theirs who have most interest in benefit by it They that had not gold and silver to bring for the building of the Tabernacle were to bring Goats hair or Badgers skins or the like Exod. 25.5 And would it not in like manner become every body to offer something towards this work even poor widdows to cast in their mites All rivers as well small as great pay tribute to the Sea to the Sea whence they came thither they return again saith Solomon Eccles 1. and are not other parts of England to London as rivers to the main Ocean If the light of the Sun were extinguished all the stars were they intelligent would help to reinkindle it for though the Sun doth obscure them yet it brighteneth the firmament and there can be no day without it so all places parts of England should contribute to restore London though obscured by it because without it England its self would be obscure and as it were benighted I am deceived if most families in England have not some relation to London either by descent or alliance more immediate or more remote and shall they see this worthy relation of theirs lye in the dust and not do what they can to help it out When we have forts to build is not the country round about commanded in to assist in that work what is London but the great fort and bulwark of England in more senses than one and being so every mans assistance contribution therunto may well be expected They that have noble woods shold rather cut down every Tree than let London want Timber they that have Iron should rather empty all their mines than let the City lye wast for want of that commodity if you be English men London is yours that is you have great interest in it though you be no Londoners How naturally doth a mans hand lift up its self when his head is struck at and offer to take the blow how naturally do bloud and spirits come from where they were and resort to that part which is wounded though inferiour to those parts whence they came Doth not even nature it self teach us by such things as those what should be done in the case of
to night in visiting the sick on a Dying-bed as also the means how a Christian may do this and some motives to it 4. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration 5. Heaven and Hell Epitomized and the True Christan Characterized 6. The Fading of the Flesh and the flourishing of Faith Or One cast for Eternity with the only way to throw it well all these by George Swinnock M. A. Large Octavo's A learned Commentary on the fourth Chapter of the second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is added First A Conference between Christ and Mary Second the Spiritual Mans Aim Third Emanuel or Miracle of Miracles by Richard Sibbs D. D. 4 to An Exposition of the five first Chapters of Ezekiel with useful observations thereupon by Will. Greenhil 4 to The Gospel-Covenant or the Covenant of Grace opened Preached in New England by Peter Bulkeley 4 to Gods Holy Mind touching Matters Moral which himself uttered in ten words or ten Commandments Also an Exposition on the Lords Prayer by Edward Elton B. D. 4 to A plain and familiar Exposition of the ten Commandments by John Dod 4 to Fiery Jesuite or an Historical Collection of the Rise Increase Doctrines and Deeds of the Jesuites Exposed to view for the sake of London 4 to Horologiographia Optica Dialing Universal and Particular Speculative and Practical together with the Description of the Court of Arts by a new Method by Sylvanus Morgan 4 to Praxis Medicinae or the Physicians Practice wherein are contained all inward diseases from the head to the foot by Walter Bruel Regimen Sanitatis Salerni or the School of Salerns Regiment of Health containing Directions and Instructions for the guide and government of Mans Life 4 to Christ and the Covenant the work and way of Meditation Delivered in ten Sermons Large Octavo's By William Bridge late of great Yarmouth Heart-treasure or a Treatise tending to fill and furnish the head and heart of every Christian with soul-inriching treasure of truths graces experiences and comforts to help him in Meditation Conference Religious Performances Spiritual Actions Enduring Afflictions and to fit him for all conditions that he may live Holily dye Happily and go to Heaven Triumphantly by O. H. with an Epistle prefixed by John Chester Large Octavo A Glimpse of Eternity by A. Caley A Practical Discourse of Prayer wherein is handled the Nature and Duty of Prayer by Tho. Cobbet Of Quenching the Spirit the evil of it in respect both of its causes and effects discovered by Theophilus Polwheile Wells of Salvation opened or Words whereby we may be saved with advice to Young Men by Tho. Vincent The sure way to Salvation or a Treatise of the Saints Mystical Union with Christ wherein that great Mystery and Priviledge is opened in the nature properties and the necessity of it by R. Stedman M. A. The greatest loss upon Matth. 16.26 By James Livesey small Octavo's Moses unvailed by William Guild The Protestants Triumph being an exact answer to all the sophistical Arguments of Papists By Ch. Drelincourt A Defence against the fear of Death By Z. Crofton Gods Soveraignty displayed By William Geering A sober Discourse concerning the Interest of words in Prayer The Godly Mans Ark or City of refuge in the day of his distress in five Sermons with Mistriss Moores Evidences for Heaven By Ed. Calamy The Almost Christian Discovered or the false Professor tryed and cast By Mr. Mead. Spiritual Wisdom improved against temptation by Mr. Mead. A Divine Cordial A word of comfort for the Church of God A Plea for Alms in a Sermon at the Spittle The Godly Mans Picture drawn with a Scripture-pensil These four last were written by Tho. Watson The Doctrine of Repentance useful for these times with two Sermons against Popery by Thomas Watson The True bounds of Christian freedom or a Discourse shewing the extents and restraints of Christian liberty wherein the truth is setled many errors confuted out of John 8. ver 36. A Treatise of the Sacrament shewing a Christians Priviledge in approaching to God in Ordinances duty in his Sacramental approaches danger if he do not sanctifie God in them both by Sam. Bolton D. D. The Lords Day enlivened or a Treatise of the Sabbath by Philip Goodwin The sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness of Christ two Sermons by W. Bridge A serious Exhortation to a Holy Life by Tho. Wadsworth Ovid's Metamorphosis Translated Grammatically by J. Brinsley Comfortable Crumbs of refreshment by Prayers Meditations Consolations and Ejaculations with a Confession of Faith and summ of the Bible Aurifodina Linguae Gallicae or the Golden Mine of the French Language opened by Ed. Gostlin Gent. The difference between the spots of the Godly and Wicked in four Sermons by Jer. Burroughs Four Centuries of Select Hymns collected out of Scripture by Will. Barton
out of which disease nothing will cure men but that which will make them leap and dance rejoyce I mean as it is in the cure of those that are bitten by a true Tarantula When that cure shall be wrought then may we hope Religion will flourish as the Palm-tree and grow as the Cedars in Lebanon and London together with it How conducing contentment is to the practise of godliness David seems to intimate when he saith Deliver me from the oppression of men so will I keep thy precepts Ps 119. v. 134. When the primitive Christians did eat their meat with gladness and had favour with all the people then were there added to the Church daily such as should be saved Acts 2.46 47. and in Act. 9.31 it is thus written Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost were multiplied When the Church had content from within and from without and there is the same reason for other societies then it grew and multiplied The same thing without a spirit of prophesy more than ordinary may be foretold of London DISCOURSE XXVI That the continuance of peace begun with forreign Nations might much promote the rebuilding of the City IF God continue peace we may have more Pallaces within our walls and prosperity within our Pallaces But if peace discontinue so is our City like to do never had we more need of peace both at home and abroad then now that we have a City to build It is as much as we can do to build with peace and how should we build without it Farewel peace farewel building A relapse into war which would be worse then the first disease would put us upon making bullets instead of bricks tents instead of houses and instead of hiring artificers to press Souldiers Methinks I hear the enemies of our City saying now for a war to crush it in its infancy Herod-like who destroyed all the children that were under two years old Would but the French King be reconciled to the King of Spain how bravely might his Army or some good part of it help to destroy this Cokatrice egge Thus men of an evil eye towards the City of London do say in their hearts but they that wish it well do now pray for peace more earnestly than ever are much more thankful for the peace begun than otherwise they would have been with respect to London now rising out of its ashes do dread the thoughts of that flame of War breaking out again at leastwise till London be up again which is for the present smothered and we hope extinguished How inconsistent fighting and building are one with the other may be gathered from 1 Kings 5.3 David could not build a house to the name of the Lord his God for the wars that were about him on every side till the Lord put them under the soles of his feet But now the Lord hath given me rest on every side saith Solomon I purpose to build a house to the name of the Lord my God v. 4. and 5. DISCOURSE XXVII That lessening the price of Coals would incourage building I Cannot charge them that trade in Coals with holding up the price higher than they needs must and contriving wayes and methods to make them dear but they cannot be ignorant that some do so charge them and if it be so indeed they are much to blame at such a time as this especially and as the latine proverb is nigro carbone digni To deny us coals at this juncture and to make them over-dear is half a denial of them is in effect to withold straw from them that should make brick It is fit that when war ceaseth we should tast the fruits of peace as particularly in the cheapness of so necessary a commodity as Coals are else how should we be thankful for it the community ought not to be impoverished that a few men may be inriched If care be taken as I hope there will that the quantities of Coals imported should be as much greater now than formerly as is the occasion we have for them more than it had wont to be that our store may rather exceed than fall short plenty will bring down the price and yet I wish it not so low neither but that they who deal in the commodity may live by it Give me leave to say that men in subordinate authority have been more severely reflected upon than I shall venture to tell as void of care and prudence or both in not preventing that dearth of coals which befel us the last year it being then the common cry that the nation could almost as well subsist without corn as without coals God forbid we should ever commit such another oversight If Coals be dear bricks cannot be cheap neither will they be good that is well-burnt but if coals be cheap bricks will not be dear neither are they like to be bad Were coals a forreign commodity yea were they no where to be had but from an enemies country it is thought some people are so wise that if their circumstances were like ours they would be sure to have them God having planted coals within our own bowels territories I mean and made the womb of our soile so far from barren that some part thereof is even loaded with them should London be retarded through the scarcity thereof England would seem hardned and to have shut up its bowels against it self considering that England doth not want for swift and able messengers to send upon that errand May coals in our time and City be but so plentiful and so common as silver was in Jerusalem in the dayes of Solomon 1 Kings 10.21 Silver was nothing accounted of in the dayes of Solomon and v. 27 And the King made silver to be in Jerusalem as the stones DISCOURSE XXVIII That the extirpation of fears and jealousies which sadly abound might contribute much to the building of the City IT goes to my heart to think how people are tormented or torment themselves with endless fears and jealousies They are ever and anon in such frights as if Hanibal were at the gates How do they start like melancoly people out of their sleeps scared with sad dreams Damps arise upon men as they are said to do upon those that work in coal-mines I would be no fomenter of such fears but am thought rather too sanguine too credulous of good news and scarce in the number of those wise men of whom Solomon saith that they foresee the evil and hide themselves I had rather as is said of Abraham in hope believe against hope than be to suspicious at leastwise than to make others so It may be some envious men have sowed these tares I mean some that envy and malign the building of the City and do desire to obstruct it by making people afraid For men are so possessed I know not by whom my Soul
go forward when a prophane activity would but hinder it Suppose the City should require seven years time to build it again some may think that doing nothing to it upon the Sabbath day is a great hinderance and would be the loss of no less than one whole year in seven but if we consider the curse which it prevents and the blessing which it procureth it will be found to be no loss at all and that the City in effect and in due construction goes up as fast or faster on the Sabbath-day than on any day in the week Whilst we are seeking Gods Kingdom and the righteousness thereof God though in an invisible way is adding to us Jer. 17.24 It shall come to pass if ye hallow the Sabbath-day to do no work therein then shall there enter into the gate of this City Kings and Princes and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and this City shall remain for ever God who had set apart a tenth for his own use gave the Jews assurance they should be nothing the poorer but much the richer for paying of it Mal. 3.10 Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it The Israelites when they were before Jericho besieging it lost no time by carrying about the Ark and sounding the Trumpets as was appointed them for it is said It shall come to pass when ye hear the sound of the Trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the City shall fall down flat Joshua 6.5 The Prophet was angry with the King of Israel for smiting the ground but thrice 2 Kings 13.19 Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times said he then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice Alluding to that story I would say if we smote the ground oftner if we were more clothed with the Sun and did more frequently trample the earth under our feet my meaning is if we were more abundant in the duties and exercises of Religion than most of us are it would be no hindrance to our worldly concerns and particularly to that of building our City but rather a help and furtherance The practise of Religion both in refraining what is evil and doing what is good is never more necessary than when some great undertaking is in hand Deut. 23.9 When the host goes forth against thine enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing and are we not as much concerned so to do when we have a City to build as at this day Our way to have another City even upon earth is to imitate those worthies we read of Heb. 11.16 But now they desire a better country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City When Saul went to seek his Fathers Asses he unexpectedly found a Kingdom but it is to be feared that many will lose a Kingdom whilst they seek for Asses I mean for poor trifles an earthly house or City which are no better in comparison of a heavenly Kingdom It is incident to us to invert Gods method we would seek other things either in the first place or altogether and have the Kingdom of God added to us we would seek earth and find Heaven but God will not alter his method and men by going about to do it do indanger the loss of Heaven and earth both both of their interest if I may so call the world which they live upon for the present and of their principal which they expect hereafter How unreasonable a presumption is it that God should mind our concerns and we not mind his that God should regard our houses if we will not regard his Kingdom the beginning increase and perfecting thereof both in our selves and others By the Kingdom of God I mean the Kingdom of Grace which is glory begun and the kingdom of glory which is grace perfected Which being but gradually distinct as the same person in infancy and at full age I may speak of as one kingdom viz. specifically so I speak of that kingdom as Gods concern because his glory is as truly concerned in it as our good his honor as our happiness And thence it is that they who refuse to be subjects of that kingdom are so severely threatned Those mine enemies who would not that I should raign over them bring them hither and slay them before me It is said of the Hebrew Midwives that because they feared God he made them houses Exod. 1.21 But will God build houses and Cities for them that fear him not yea for his enemies whom he hath threatned to slay at leastwise can they promise themselves he will do so or hath he any where promised so to do nay in Prov. 14.11 it is said The house of the wicked shall be overthrown but the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish The children of rich and noble persons need take no care for houses to dwell in let them but study to please their parents and they shall want neither houses nor any thing else let them be good and their parents will be as good to them as they can wish and shall not his children whose name is El-shaddai God alsufficient expect as much from their heavenly Father But ere I proceed in speaking to men let me speak a few words to God on behalf of my self and others Lord give me more faith in this promise this double promise for so I understand it that they who seek thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof in the first place shall have it and all other needful things with it for so the phrase of adding or superadding seemeth to imply And Lord give the same faith to others for hundreds need it at this day who till of late never knew they needed it or went about to make experiment of it O Lord how fearful are most men to swim when they are above their depth when they can feel no ground under them that meer sense and reason can stand upon We would fain be always in those shallows where lambs may wade but never cast into those depths where Elephants must swim but thou Lord dost sometimes try us with the latter of those give us but faith enough in that conditional promise that they who seek thy kingdom c. shall have all things added and together with that faith give us but the condition of that promise viz. hearts to seek thy kingdom as we ought to seek it and having those two we shall not doubt but to arrive at whatsoever is and shall be necessary both for the life that is and that which is to come To me it seemeth a little strang that the great God having made the promise of a Kingdom
profaneness but that they conceive that all civil and secular uses and imployments are there and then only to be banished from our Churches when the service of God is there celebrating or to be celebrated Just as we look upon the bread and wine that is brought to the Communion Table to be holy only so far forth as it is made use of in and for the purpose of the Lords Supper and during the time of that administration but when that is over what remaineth may be used as common bread sopt into wine crum'd into milk or otherwise which may not be done to it whilst the Lords Supper is celebrating so in this case when and so long as there is any occasion or opportunity of religious service to be performed in our Churches they must be wholly at the service of Religion and all things else must avoid and give way but when religion hath no present use or occasion for them at all such times they may be for the use of those civil and secular affairs which have need of them and cannot be elsewhere so well accommodated This notion may for ought I know remove a stumbling block out of some mens way which would have kept them from the contributing to the building of Churches as thinking that Churches by virtue of that which is called the consecrating of them were lookt upon to be as holy as ever the temple at Jerusalem was and in the same kind viz. of ceremonial holiness whereas indeed there is no such thing intended as appeareth by the allowance given to put them to common uses as to teach school in them c. but only as a religious man would dedicate his own house to God as resolving to serve and worship God in it though not to use it only for the purposes of Religion so are Churches dedicated to the uses of Religion primarily and principally and for as often as Religion hath occasion for them but so as not to be to those purposes solely and only to them and to no other in which peculiarity and entireness of Dedication did consist that Ceremonial holiness which was in the Temple of Jerusalem The places in which we worship God for and during the time we are actually worshipping are or should be as holy as the Temple was that is to say wholy devoted to the service of God and to no other use for that time as I said of the bread and wine in the Communion though afterwards they are free for other uses Melchisedeck who was both King and Priest was not the less holy as a Priest because he had also the secular employment of a King neither are our Churches any wayes prophaned by being somtimes put to uses that are but civil and not Sacred Moral Holiness there was none in the Temple of Jerusalem for places are not capable of such holiness as persons are viz. that which consists in genere morum as in loving of God and delighting in God c. for that only reasonable creatures are capable of neither was there any intrinsecal and innate holiness in the Temple such as is in part of that which we call the Moral Law which was good and holy in it self quaedam Deus voluit quia in se bona but the Temple was holy only by Divine Institution and separation to Gods Service which otherwise had bin no more holy than another place Lastly A Relative holiness or what may be so called was all that could be attributed to the Temple for it was holy only in relation to those holy uses it was set apart for and those holy Ordinances and Priviledges and manifestations of God which were there to be enjoyed only because it was by Gods appointment separated from all common uses at all times and appointed to relate wholly and only to the service of God therefore we call it Ceremonially Holy As it were matter of meer Ceremony to bow towards a Chair of State as well when it is empty as when the King is in it So if our Churches ought alwayes to be used with the same Reverence and Sequestration from all things of a Secular nature when the service of God is not actually performing there as when it is then were they Ceremonially holy but it is not so as I have shewed therefore in the case of our Churches what was said of the Altar may be inverted viz. it was said of old that the Altar did sanctify the Gift but in this case the Gift sanctifieth the Altar that is to say the holiness of our Churches being nothing else but their relation to holy things when those holy things are not present when no Ordinance is administring for that time they may be put to other uses because the special presence of God in our Churches is only then when his Name is there Recorded and his people met together in his Name whereas God was alwaies specially present in the Temple by the visible manifestations of his Presence as namely by the Cloud in which he dwelt c. Our Churches do relate to as holy things and as holy Ordinances as the Temple did only those holy things are not so constantly in it as was the presence of God in that Temple where he constantly dwelt I have beaten out this notion to let you see that there is no such great odds betwixt the Temple at Jerusalem and other places built for the service of God neither of them being morally holy and both of them being relatively holy only the Temple was so continually and our Churches are so but pro die nunc or during the time of Religious administrations I say the odds between them is not so great but that an Argument may very well be drawn from Gods approbation of what was intended by David and done by Solomon towards the building of that Temple to evince what acceptance they are like to meet with who for sincere aims and ends do or shall contribute their assistance to the building of Churches I could easily multiply reasons why though it is good to draw nigh to God any where and to worship him though it were in Mountains and dens and Caves of the Earth as the Primitive Christians were forced to do yet it is most expedient and of great use that publick places such as those we call Churches should be erected for the Worship and Service of God For first of all no man knows how soon the door may be shut against the exercise of Religion in any private place I mean by them that first opened it or by those that shall come after them Where Religion dwels but precatiously or upon meer sufferance and not by the sanction of Law it may soon be cast out like Agar and her son because there she is not Mistress she cannot call the house her own If the Landlord or Landlords shall take pet at any thing then out she must and so be hunted from place to place as often as offence is taken which to
tollerable evil rather than an indispensable good or rather as if all Religion were persecuted and driven into corners If Religion be exercised only in private places vice hath as much liberty as that comes to drunkenness and whoredom take their freedom in private houses and shall Religion appear no more publickly than they as if it also were a work of darkness and ashamed to shew it's head If I thought that all the reasons I have alledged would not prevail with men of estates to contribute freely towards the building of Churches I could upbraid them by telling them that which is no news for were it news I would not tell it them viz. that several places of good capacity have been erected by a sort of people that are generally none of the richest and who when they did it had cause to fear least some creature or other would cause their ground to wither and expose them to the scorching Sun I say some persons have adventured under those perillous circumstances to build larg places for the exercise of their Religion all their discouragements notwithstanding if then the people who are richer than they who have leave and incouragement to build publick Churches and may have many thanks for their labour who have the law of the land on their side and all the power of the nation divided amongst them whose Churches are as like to stand as the City it self is or will be when rebuilt I say if they have not so much love for the nation for themselves and for Religion as to build us more Synagogues in lieu of those that were burnt the Chappels of ease I spake of or shrines what shall I call them will rise up in judgment against you If you will not build publick Churches who are like to have the greatest interest in them when they are built I was about to say those poor people I mentioned but now as hardly as they are thought of would I am perswaded spare money from their backs and bellies to build more Churches if they might be sure they should be theirs as much as yours when they are built again nay be it how it will be such is the love the soberer sort of them do bear to publick ordinances that I question not but they will bear their full proportion whensoever trial shall be made what every man will freely contribute to the building of publick Churches If those that speak little of the Church should do more for it than some that have the Church the Church ever in their mouths as the Jews of old the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 it would be a woful shame But why should I seem to mistrust or doubt of the piety and bounty of the true sons and daughters of the Church towards their distressed mother who hath not heard of that noble Lady whether now living or dead I know not who out of her own estate hath given some thousands of pounds towards the rebuilding of the Church of S. Dunstans in the East now in a good forwardness and of what the liberal Minister of that place is said himself to have given towards that good work even more than many good Ministers have in all the world Their zeal I hope will provoke many I hope it will and I do earnestly desire it may for a sad climax runs in my thoughts and I am much perswaded if it should come to be tried it would prove to true viz. no publick Churches no legal maintenance no legal maintenance in time no able Ministers for who will study to be starved no good ministry no good preaching no good preaching no conversion no conversion no salvation But I hope beter things than that the Churches which are demolished should not be rebuilt much less the Churches that now stand should be demolisheâ— That sun of charity or piety rather which hath begun to rise in the East will I hope visit all the dark and desolate corners of Londons hemisphere for that I take to be the figure of it and not give over its circuit till having refreshed every dolesome and gloomy place at length it set in the west where the other Church of that name of S. Dunstans I mean is standing at this day I am loath to say that the rebuilding of Churches in London if it be not done by voluntary contribution and by way of free-will offerings it will certainly be done by constraint and compulsion from authority and if authority be forced to interpose in a matter of this nature it will be no small shame and reproach to us and seem to signifie that we would not be religious but upon force which is to be no more religious than they may be said to be honest who never pay their creditors but when they strain upon them or make distress which is indeed for creditors to pay themselves Time was when the bounty of men towards the Church was such and so great that Laws were made to limit and restrain it for that men were ready to say to a father or to a mother as the Pharisees did Mat. 15.5 It is a gift Corban viz. to the Church by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and we find Moses was fain to set bounds to the sea of the peoples liberality towards the tabernacle in his time saying hitherto should it go and no farther Exod. 36.5 And they spake unto Moses saying the people bring much more than enough and Moses gave commandment and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp saying let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary so the people were restrained from bringing I wish that at this day there were an overplus of liberallity towards the demolished Churches I mean more contributed than would serve to rebuild them that like as the oinment which was poured upon the head of Aaron ran down upon his beard and upon the skirts of his garment so that what is more than enough for the re-edifying of Churches might go to the rebuilding of Hospitals and publick Schools and of one place more viz. the late famous but now desolate foundation of Sion Colledge DISCOURSE XLVIII That the people of England are most unworthy to see another London THe rebuilding of London would be a national mercy but how unworthy is this nation of it Never did people more justly sorfeit a City and every other mercy than we have done As Africa is full of monsters in nature so is England in manners As if we had traded for vice instead of other commodities with all forreign parts we have amongst us the drunkenness of Germany the pride of Spain but not so grave the levity and lasciviousness of France the atheism hypocrisy reveng and the unnatural lusts of Italy We have much of the Indian disease amongst us for so some say it was at first and are forced to spend a great deal of their commodity I mean their Lignum
been so if he had burnt it all and would be so if he should never suffer it to be built again and till he have made us see that except the Lord-build the house and so the City they labour in vain that build it Psal 127.1 That it is impossible for us by our own power and strength to build us another City unless he who is the maker and builder of all things shall consent to and concur in it I say till God have so far humbled us though we may build through his permission we shall not build with his blessing and if we continue in the hateful sin of pride he can give us a City in his wrath and take it away again in his wrath As therefore our City goes up let our pride go down It is too much for such worthless creatures as we all are to think our selves to be any thing but as God influenceth and inspireth us as a Trumpet can give no sound but as the trumpiter breaths into it and therefore he said well who said that no man is any thing more meaning that good is than what God makes him daily and hourly Paul saith himself though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 It is a very significant phrase both in our native tongue that when we would say a man is proud we say he thinks himself to be some body as if every man were nothing and those words were applicable to every proud man he that thinks himself to be something when he is nothing deceiveth himself Gal. 6.3 I find the same phrase in the Greek Testament for we read of Theudas boasting himself to be some body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which methinks is a fuller expression than is used of Simon Magus of whom it is said that he gave out that himself was some great one Acts 8.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the former implieth that for any man to think himself to be any thing in and of himself is a point of pride and such a kind of mistake as if one should think a meere shadow to be a real body or substance Ps 144.4 Man is like vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away When I observe how men do treat those that are notoriously proud I fancy them to be like the picture we see in some Almanacks viz. A man every where pierced with arrows from head to foot because every body is ready to wound the reputation of a proud man and to make his name to bleed and be confident that the great God hath as much displeasure against him as men can have I say therefore once again as you love your selves and as you love your City be humble be lowly minded take heed of lifting up your selves after that God hath cast you down Conquer pride and you conquer a third part of the world for S. John speaketh of the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride life as if they three were all that is in the world 1 John 2.16 Conquer pride and take the comfort of that excellent and incouraging passage Joh 22.29 When men are cast down then thou shalt say there is lifting up and he shall save the humble â—erson DISCOURSE XLV That to seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof in the first place for Londoners generally so to do were one of the best ways to obtain a new City HE that reads the title of this Chapter will presently reflect upon Mat. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you and in reflecting upon those words will see a plain proof of that proposition whereof the title doth consist taking it for granted that though meat and drink and cloathing be the only things expressed in that place of which it is said they shall be added to them that seek the kingdom God yet all other needful things for this life are there implied and intended as by a parity of reason which is a good sort of argument may be concluded The foregoing words are your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things v. 32. From whence we may infer that all such things as our heavenly Father knows we have need or necessity of in this life shall be added to them who seek his Kingdom in the first place Our ultimate or last end so far as we foresee it our selves is always first thought of it is first in intention though it be last in execution We think of the end of our journey or that which for the present we intend shall be so before we seâ— out or enterprize the beginning thereof In this sense ought the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof to be sought by us in the first place that is to be made our highest end our ultimate design to which all other designs are to be referred and subordinated as for example If your ends and aims be regular they are in this order you would have a City that you might buy and sell and get gain that is the lowest round of the ladder you would do that that you and yours might live and comfortably subsist you would have a comfortable subsistence that you might attend upon God without distraction and serve him with chearfulness in the midst of all the good things which he shall give you to injoy and you would serve God on earth in righteousness and holiness before him that you might for ever injoy him in Heaven and arrive to that glorious Kingdom which he hath provided for them that love and serve him This is your highest end and thus doing thus aiming you seek the Kingdom of God in the first place For though that end be the last thing in order of time and of attainment yet it is first in order of nature for all causes are before their effects now ends are causes as the final cause is often spoken of and the highest ends of any action is the first cause thereof that is within our selves and consequently it is the first thing that is in our thoughts it is the first mover the great wheel or spring that sets all the rest a going Now I say in this manner to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of it if that were generally done by those that are concerned in London would make that desolate City to spring up as tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain and cause the blessing of God to come down upon it like rain upon the women grass Religion all things considered was never a hinderance to any great and worthy undertaking but always a help and furtherance The prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah as I shewed before made the building of the Temple to prosper A religious standing still to allude to those words of Moses Exod. 14.13 stand still and see the salvation of the Lord Will make the City