what should befal the third part that should be left I will bring the third part through the fire and then adds a gracious promise that they should be refined by passing through the fire that is God thereby would purge and purifie their hearts and conversations urge God daily with these promises plead them at the Throne of Grace and rest upon God for the performance of them SECT 6. 6. Comply with Gods ends and designs in sending this affliction upon you The Lord doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 but when ever he sends any affliction upon any man he hath gracious ends and designs in those afflictions and therefore as the Jews made enquiry when they were brought into great distress Wherefore doth the Lord our God all these great things unto us Jer. 5.19 And as the Apostle Paul when he was struck blinde with the vision that appeared to him as he was going to Dumascus enquires of the Lord Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 So should we make enquiry when the Lord afflicts us wherefore it is that he afflicts us and what it is that he aims at what he would have us to do when his afflicting hand is upon us We are enemies to our own good when we do not study the minde of God in our afflict ons and labour to comply with his ends for he alwayes chastneth us for our profit Heb. 12.10 and aims at the doing of us good Deut. 8.16 If you ask what are Gods ends and designs in sending this affliction upon us I answer The resolving of this question concerning Gods ends in afflicting us what he aims at and what he would have us learn when his rod is upon us may be gathered from Sect. 3. I shall adde a few things more besides what are mentioned there 1. Gods design in this affliction is to take away all pride and to make and keep you humble Isa 2.11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day This may refer to the day of affliction spoken of Isa 1.7 Your countrey is desolate your Cities are burnt with fire In that day when God should bring this desolation the lofty looks of man should be humbled c. When God afflicted the Israelites in the Wilderness with fiery Serpents that and all other afflictions were sent for this end to humble them Deut. 8.15,16 That he might humble thee and prove thee and do thee good in the latter end Elihu tells us that when God speaks once and twice to men It is that he may hide pride from man Job 33.17 When the Apostle Paul was afflicted he telleth us twice that the end of God was to prevent his being exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 If then you would comply with Gods design in this affliction you must be no more proud of your riches beauty parts duties or any other thing but must put away all pride of spirit all high conceits of your selves and all proud looks and all pride of life and you must be of a lowly heart and go alwayes clothed with humility 2. God aims at the making of you more zealous Christians by this affliction Lukewarmness is a very odious detestable sin Rev. 3.15,16 I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth this being so odious in Gods sight for a man to be luke-warm in his Religion When God findes any whom he loves to be in a luke-warm temper he chastens them for this very end to make them more zealous lous Rev. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore Now this is one way and a very sharp one of rebuking us when God contends by Fire Isa 66.15 The Lord will come with fire to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire If therefore you were cold or if not wholly cold yet but luke-warm before God sent this Fire it concerns you now to grow zealous If you ask in what your affliction should make you zealous I answer 1. Be zealous in all acts of service and all religious duties which you perform to God shake off all drowsiness and formality and slightness of heart in prayer and in hearing and reading Gods Holy Word and be fervent in spirit when you are about these or any other holy duties Rom 12.11 Not slothfulness in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. What is said of the Apostle Paul Acts 22.3 I was zealous towards God and of Phinehas Numb 25.13 He was zealous for his God Let the same be true of you put on an holy zeal for God and shew your zeal for God in all that you do either for or to the Lord. 2. Be zealous against sin strive against sin not in a faint cold manner but with all your might Be zealous and repent Rev. 3.19 Your zeal must be manifested in your repentance When a man is zealous against his sins and zealous in his repentance his zeal will breed indignation against sin a vehement desire to be rid of it a fear and carefulness that he do not commit it again See an example of zealous repentance 2 Cor. 7.11 Behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge 3. Be zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works We should not only do good works but be zealous of and in doing good works We should be so zealous of good works as not only to embrace opportunities of doing good when they come in our way but we should covet earnestly and follow diligently after opportunities of doing good works 1 Tim. 5.10 If she have diligently followed every good work We should not only do good works but be careful to excel and continue constant therein whatever difficulties and discouragements we meet with in doing of them Tit. 3.8 This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works You see if you would answer Gods design in your affliction that you must be zealous and in what you must be zealous only let me adde here two or three cautions 1. Look that your zeal be regulated with knowledge There may be a zeal which is not guided by knowledge Rom. 10.2 I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Zeal without knowledge is dangerous Paul in a blinde zeal persecuted the people of God thinking therein
beholding the things which were done smote upon their breasts and returned We read nothing of their returning to God till the Apostle Peter came and preached the word to them and then follows a great conversion unto the Lord 3000. are added unto the Church in one day Acts 2.41 Wherefore we should esteem it a great blessing and singular mercy to be taught and instructed by God when we are under his correcting hand according to what the Psalmist saith Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastnest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law And we should readily open our ears to discipline by what wayes soever God shall be pleased to convey his minde to us God can and sometimes doth teach us immediately by his Spirit but most ordinarily he instructeth both those that are in affliction and others also in the use of means When the Apostle Paul was in great distress and at a loss to know the minde of Christ and cryed Lord What wilt thou have me to do he sent him to Ananias to be instructed what he should do Acts 9.6 God could have taught Cornelius by his Spirit or by the Angel that appeared to him but he chuseth rather to send him for instruction to one of his Ministers even to Peter who should tell him what he ought to do Acts 10.3.4.5,6 Amongst other means reading of the Scriptures and other good Books is one way whereby God seals up instruction to us Daniel was a man of singular wisdom full of the Holy Ghost greatly beloved of God yet he had not all his knowledge by immediate inspiration but much of it was given to him by the study of Books Dan. 9.2 I Daniel understood by Books At the request and for the use of some worthy Friends who were great sufferers by the late Fire I have drawn up an answer to three practical Questions concerning the said Fire the design whereof is to instruct and excite both such as escaped and such as suffered by this dreadful Fire to make an holy use and a Christian improvement of this sad and solemn Providence and also to quiet and comfort such as are troubled and cast down at the loss of their Estates The resolution of which Questions are here presented to thy view Possibly thou mayest have already something of the like nature from more able hands however if the Lord who worketh when and by whom he will shall be pleased by the reading of this small Treatise to convey the least beam of light or breath any quickning influence into thy Soul or to promote in any measure thy holiness or consolation it will be no grief of heart unto thee that thou wert at the cost to buy or at the pains to read it If thou sayest I am not concerned in this Judgment having been no sufferer by it nor any Inhabitant in the City where this Judgment fell and so consequently I am not concerned in the matter that is handled in these questions I answer 1. If thou art not a sufferer by this Fire yet art thou not under other sufferings If so there are several things hinted concerning this Affliction that may be of use to thee under thy Afflictions of what nature soever they be 2. If thou art not a sufferer by this or any other Judgment thou hast the more need to study what thou shalt render to the Lord for his great mercy in sparing thee when his hand lieth so heavy upon so many thousands at this day And then the third Question is of great concernment to thee 3. Though thou hast not suffered hitherto thou knowest not how soon thou mayest suffer by this very Judgment of Fire That passage in Isa 66.15,16 may awaken thee to prepare for fiery tryals Behold the Lord will come with Fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwinde to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many And as it is our duty to hear for the time to come Isa 42.23 So it will be our prudence to read for time to come 4. Not only the places and persons that suffer by Gods Judgments but all that hear of them are concerned to make a good use of them When the Lord brought a sore Judgment upon Jerusalem he calls to all people in all Nations upon the face of the earth to take notice thereof and make a good use of it Jer. 4.18,19 Hear ye Nations and know O Congregation what is among them Hear O Earth behold I will bring evil upon this people If any say this Treatise seemeth to be born out of due time it is now several months since London was burnt the impression of this Judgment begins now to wear off from mens spirits c. I answer 1. I hope better things of the greater part that suffered by this stroke of God then that they should so soon forget the hand that hath been lifted up against them but if it should be so that the impressions of this Judgment should be wearing off from many mens spirits there is the more need of using means to revive them again It is to be feared in regard poverty is coming upon many like an armed man and the sad effects of this Fire are and will be felt more and more by the poorer sort that discontent and trouble of minde will rather grow and encrease then wear off and therefore to such at least it will not be unseasonable to minister something by way of consolation though it be some months since they were brought into a suffering condition 2. Such great Judgments as this was are to be kept in remembrance and to be improved for the promoting of repentance and the fear of God all our dayes and not only as long as we live but the memory of them is to be conveyed to the Ages and Generations that are yet to come that they may learn to fear this God who hath done such great things amongst us When there was a mighty Famine in Judah the Lord gives Commandment that the memory thereof should be perpetuated to all Ages Joel 1.3,4 Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation That which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten c. We think unworthily of Gods Judgments if we suppose they are to be regarded for a few dayes or for a few years only They are of larger use Judgments upon particular places and persons are admonitions to the whole world that hear of them as long as the world shall stand It is some thousands of years since Lots Wife was turned into a pillar of Salt yet this Judgment of God on a particular person must not be forgotten by us in this generation nor by others to the worlds end Luke 17.32 Remember Lots Wife It is generally computed to be above three thousand years
for your day of visitation and to be ready to undergo whatever afflictions God shall see meet to lay upon you Amos 4.11,12 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a fire-brand blucked out of the burning prepare to meet thy God O Israel Both they that have suffered by this Fire should prepare for farther sufferings as hath been hinted in the second Question and they that escaped this burning should prepare against the day of their visitation Preparing your selves for afflictions is no way inconsistent with that trusting in God to which I exhorted you in the former Section but is an effect and fruit of Faith It was Noah's faith and not his diffidence that moved him to prepare an Ark when he understood the Flood was coming Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark This being a needful point for a Christian to be prepared for all sorts of affliction I shall enlarge a little upon it and shew you 1. Why it is needful that we should be prepared for all kindes of affliction 2. How this may be done There is great reason that we should prepare our selves and stand ready for all sorts of affliction because 1. As we are men men that carry about with us a body of sin and death we are liable to troubles and calamities every day as long as we live in this world Job 5.7 Man is born unto trouble as the sparks flie upward Job 14.1 Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of troubles For ought we know every day may bring forth as much trouble as we are able to bear if it be otherwise we must ascribe it to the goodness of God Matth. 6.34 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and this is our condition as long as we live to be liable to trouble and sorrow all our dayes Gen. 3.17 Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life There is not any one creature in the world no not that from which we promise our selves most comfort but at one time or another it may vex our very souls Eccles 2.17 All is vanity and vexation of spirit 2. As we are godly men so we are liable to many and great troubles Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous Rev. 7.14 These are they which came out of great tribulation Acts 14.22 We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God God would not have any godly man promise himself immunity from trouble but would have him prepare for the sharpest tryals 2 Tim. 3.12 Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution If we look over the examples of Gods servants we shall finde they have all gone through very great tryals What crosses did Jacob meet with from his brother Esau his Uncle Laban his own Children c. there was scarce a day wherein he did not meet with some trouble as he tells Pharaoh Gen. 47.9 Few and evil have the dayes of the years of my life been David who was a man after Gods own heart had a great portion of troubles Psal 73.14 All the day long have I been plagued and chastned every morning Psal 31.9,10 Mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing Heman was full of troubles and that from his youth up and those so great that he was ready to dye under them Psal 88.3,15 My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up Yea Jesus Christ who was Gods own Son was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 3. We cannot assure our selves that we shall be exempted from any kinde of trouble for whilst we are in the body we are liable to all kindes of adversity Heb. 13.3 Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being your selves also in the body Better than we are have met with all sorts of troubles Psal 88.7 Thou hast afflicted me with all thy wayes Psal 42.7 All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me We may meet with such afflications as we never looked for or scarce so much as thought of them Isa 64.3 Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for And as all sorts of afflictions do attend us so at all times and in all places we cannot promise our selves freedom from affliction in any place Acts 20.22,23 I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befal me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying That bonds and afflictions abide me Neither can we promise our selves freedom from trouble any one day Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Now seeing we are liable to all sorts of afflictions in all places and at all times is it not our concernment to stand prepared continually for all sorts of tryals 4. God oft-times makes very great and suddain changes in our conditions when we least think of them when we are in the height of prosperity and adversity is far from our thoughts when we are looking for nothing but good dayes God suddenly exerciseth us with great tryals Job 30.26 When I looked for good then evil came unto me and when I waited for light there came darkness Psal 30.6,7 In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy savour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled When Job said I shall dye in my nest I shall multiply my dayes as the sand Job 29.18 It was but a little after he complains Terrors are turned upon me they pursue my soul as the winde and my welfare passeth away as a cloud and now my soul is powred out upon me the dayes of affliction have taken hold upon me Job 30.15,16 When Abraham was full of joy for his Son Isaac there ariseth a great affliction in his Family Ishmael scoffs at Isaac Sarah makes sute to Abraham to cast out Hagar and her Son and it is said The thing was very grievous in Abrahams sight because of his Son Gen. 20.11 Afterwards when God was so eminently present with Abraham that Abimelech takes notice of it and desireth to make a league with him Gen. 20.22,23 and after he had been worshiping God ver 33. on a sudden God brought as great a tryal upon him as possibly could befal him he calls him to offer up his Son Isaac for a burnt-offering and that without any delay Gen. 22.2 Take now thy Son thine only Son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offering 'T is not take a year