into the work BLessed be God and blessed of the Lord be they for all that countenance which by those that are in Authority hath been given to the rebuilding of London and particularly by that most prudent Act of theirs which was made for that end and purpose That by that Act Londoners were allowed but a Copy-hold Lease of time viz. the term of three years for rebuilding of the City was enacted upon no evil design such as to surprize and take advantage against them for not being able to finish the work in so short a time but with a full intent to renew their Lease at or before the expiration of it if need should be and that upon better conditions than the former as experience should inform them of any thing that might be better Sure I am London had hitherto been like a Tree that stands in the shade if the beams of Authority had not shone upon it so as they have done it had not been in that good forwardness that it is at this day What if it be the true interest of our Rulers and Governours as doubtless it is that London should be rebuilt with all convenient speed are they therefore neither praise nor thank worthy for contributing their assistance If Magistrates espouse the interest of Religion and cherish it both in themselves and others in so doing they shall pursue their own interest upon the best terms for God will honor those that honor him yet for so doing all good men will acknowledge we ought to praise and thank them more than for any thing else I need not tell our Rulers whose interest I have elsewhere proved it is that London should be rebuilt that great works go on but slowly without countenance from Magistrates and ordinarily as swiftly with it when they afford not only permission and connivance but Commission and countenance Our Proverb saith The Masters eye makes the horse fat Of the Temple it is said Ezra 6.14 They builded and finished it according to the Commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes King of Persia How vigorously Cyrus though a Heathen Prince did bestir himself for and towards the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem We are told almost throughout the sixth Chapter of the Book of Ezra and as if Artaxerxes had vyed with Cyrus for zeal in that matter or laboured to out strip him We read as much of him in the seventh Chapter from the 11th verse till towards the end If either of them had had a Palace of his own to build which his heart had been greatly set upon I see not how he could have promoted it more than both of them did the Temple Ezra 7.23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be diligently done said Artaxerxes in his Decree for the House of the God of Heaven for why should there be wrath against the Realm of the King Under those benigne aspects and influences of great ones the Temple went up amain and so doubtless with the blessing of God may our City if the like countenance and encouragement from such as are in chief Authority shall always be afforded to it And what should make us doubt but so it will be For first our Rulers know full well that nothing will be rescented as a greater demonstration of their love and care than an earnest forwardness expressed to see London up again or of the contrary man a want of that nothing will beget a greater confidence of the people in them and affection towards them than that would do Besides that it is more their own concern in point of Honor and profit that London should be built again than it is the concern of any ten men whatsoever as his Majesty was pleased to say in print That his loss by the burning of London was greater than any mans else and certainly it was Was not his Majesty the great Landlord to whom all the houses in London had wont to pay a kind of Quit-Rent othergise than a Pepper-Corn viz. so much yearly for every Chimney Private men may call this or that or some few houses in London theirs but only the Kings of England can call London their City as they use to do though not in such a sense as to destroy the propriety of particular owners But though owners have more interest in some houses Kings have some in all which cannot be said of any Subject Neither is that of profit which Kings have had by the City of London so great but the interest of honor and reputation which hath accrued to them by their dominion over so famous a City the very quintessence of their Kingdoms hath been as great or greater All which things considered it were not unreasonable or effeminate if a King should openly lament the loss of such a City in some such language as David did the loss of Absalom when he cryed out O Absalom Absalom my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son O London London my City my City c. I should think the loss of London to be as great as was that of Callice which one Queen of England laid so much to heart Should then our Rulers express such a passion for London as David did for Absalom or as Rachel is said to have done for the loss of her children as hardly any case would better bear it or should they say concerning London as Rachel concerning children before she had any Give me children or I die Methinks I easily foresee how the generality of the people would do as Davids valiant men did who brake through an Host of Philistims and drow water out of the Well of Bethlehem and brought it to David because he longed for it 2 Sam. 23.15 My meaning is if Rulers shall express such an earnest longing after another London as David did after the waters of Bethlehem people would adventure life and all but they should soon have it and the reason is because Rulers in so passionately wishing for another City would express kindness to the people as well as to themselves and people in pursuing so good a work would shew kindness to themselves as well as to their Rulers the grateful sense of whose love they are ambitious to express and when all those things should meet together it would be as when stream and wind and tide and that a Spring-tide too do all concur to promote a Vessel that is sailing or Galley that goes with Oars When the incouragement of Magistrates together with the interest and inclinations of a people do all run one way then are people like Gyants refreshed with wine who though mighty of themselves are made thereby more mighty to run their Race Had David been to build such a City as London I know what Absâ—lom would have said and many people would have believed him by what I read of him 2 Sam. 15.4 viz. that if it were as much in his as in the power of some other they should not stay long for
Pretensions and Competitions even from those places which had themselves worn the Crown of Dignity whilst and so long as London was as several times it hath been and now partly is in the dust And now have I undeniably proved if I mistake not that these three Nations are highly concerned in the Restauration of London But now the question will be whether all the Protestant part of the world be so likewise as hath been affirmed tell me then whether England when it is its self be not able to yield a countenance and protection to Protestants all the world over to be a kind of covering upon all their glory If I am not deceived it hath done so particularly in the daies of Queen Elizabeth and may do so again As is the House of Austria to the Papists viz. their great prop and pillar so England hath been is or may be to the Protestants If then the strength and bulwark of Protestants be England and that the strength of England as hath been proved be London we may easily conclude by that sure Maxim Causa causae est causa causati that London is or may be the great bulwark and fortresse of the Protestant Interest and consequently that the whole Protestant World is concerned in the being and well-being of London This the great Zealots for Popery have known and do know too well who in order to the Propagation of that Religion have thought and do think nothing more requisite than that the City of London should be laid in ashes and continued there England being so mighty in shipping as it is at leastwise hath been or may be may be serviceable to them that professe the same Religion with its self not only near at hand but at the greatest distance and will be so if ever God shall cause the zeal and the prosperity of it both to revive together Let me add that if London flourish England cannot likely do much amisse and the most zealous part of the world as for the Protestant Religion will then prosper to the advantage of all others who make the same profession What is it then that not only England but Scotland and Ireland and not those Kingdoms only but any part of Christendome called Protestant can do or contribute towards the rebuilding of London whatsoever it be their own interest doth call upon them to do it with all their might If London rise not they are like to fall after it Shall we not hear of the kindnesses of Holland Sweden Denmark much more of all England and of Scotland and Ireland if they be able to do any thing towards poor desolate London let them be good to themselves in being good to it its interest is their own Help London now you know not how soon you may need its help and find it both a chearful and considerable helper in a time of need DISCOURSE XIV That the Protestant Religion and the principles thereof may contribute as much towards the building of Churches and Hospitals c. as ever Popery hath formerly done HOw many places are demolished by the Fire such as Churches and Hospitals which must be rebuilt if ever upon the accompt of Piety and Charity But where is that Piety and Charity to be found Methinks I hear the Papists vaunting themselves against Protestants extolling their Superstition above our true Religion and their Doctrine of Lies above the truth of ours telling us that they built most of those Churches and Hospitals which are now burnt down and must do it again if ever it be done as Peninnah when time was did upbraid Hannah Sam. 1.1 with her barrennesse so do they the principles of the Protestant Religion as if they could bring forth no good works As for their building those houses again there may be more reason for that than I shall presume to give but that if it must be our work our Religion will not as strongly invite us to do it as theirs would if they might build them for themselves that I utterly deny True it is if God stood in need that men should lie for him none were fitter to do him service than they whose Religion is full of lies and Legends but that he doth not but of such as say or report the Apostles of Christ to say Let us do evil that good may come of it the Scripture saith their damnation is just Rom. 3.8 We know full well their great Incentives to Charity and what falshoods they are telling the people that they must be saved by their good works that is by the merit of them that Christ hath merited to make their works meritorious talking much of opera tincta works died in the bloud of Christ how meritorious they are whereas theirs are rather died in the bloud of Christians and of holy Martyrs how men by their good deeds may satisfie the Justice of God for their evil ones and expiate their sins how by eminent acts of Charity they may hereafter deliver themselves and others out of Purgatory with many more such cunningly devised fables wherewith they pick mens pockets We know there is truth enough in the world or rather in the Word of God to make men as charitable and free in that sense as it is fit they should be We distrust not the efficacy of Divine Truths as they do nor think them Nouns Adjective that cannot stand without our lies as if they were so many Substantives added to them We therefore tell men as the truth is that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified Gal. 2.16 but withall we tell them that good works are causa sine quâ non or things without which there is no salvation for faith without works is dead as a body without a soul and that there can be no love to God where there is no charity towards men 1 John 3.17 Who so hath this worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his bowels from him how dwelleth the love of God in him He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how should he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.20 Therefore such as have wherewithall to shew mercy and to do good cannot be saved say we and this principle well considered were enough to make men charitable if we could add no more But then we say further that no one good work or deed of charity that is truly such shall go without a reward quoting and urging Mat. 10.42 with other Texts of like import Whosoever shall give a cup of cold water only to one in the name of a Disciple verily he shall not loose his reward Nay more than so we tell men that the reward of charity and of good works truly so called is no lesse than Eternal Life though not of merit but of grace We charge them that are rich in this world as Paul bid Timothy to do that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing
to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.18 19. We mind men of our Saviours words Luk. 12.33 Give almes provide your selves bags that wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth nor moth corrupteth We say unto men as Christ said Luke 16.9 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations We promise Heaven in Gods Name to those that are truly charitable and is it not worth accepting unlesse God will own it or we our selves can think it to be of debt and not of grace We deny that the infinite Justice of God will or can receive satisfaction or reparation for the evil deeds which men have done by the good deeds they may or shall do afterwards as by their works of charity for former acts of injustice for that satisfaction can be made only by the undertaking of our Saviour who bore our sins in his body upon the Crosse and who is held forth to be a propitiation for us through faith in his bloud Rom. 3. But withall we say that Zacheus having been an oppressing Publican did well and set others a good example when he gave half his goods to the poor Luke 19. which furely he did upon that consideration and that it was good counsel which Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.27 Break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor the meaning whereof may be that he should cease from unrighteousnesse and cruelty for time to come and practise the contrary with all his might viz. Justice and Mercy yea we stick not to quote that passage of Solomon Prov. 16.6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged which may be construed thus where mercy is iniquity is purged that is it is a sign of the remission of sins as was Mary's love to Christ or that God of his free mercy not of their merit pardoneth those who abound with mercy as he hath said that with the merciful he will shew himself merciful and with the garment of his undeserved grace God covereth a multitude of their infirmities who are such 1 Pet. 4.8 We say that more of bounty and charity towards men than would otherwise have been required of us is necessary and a duty in case we have been injurious or uncharitable to others formerly for if so we are in arrears both of Justice and Mercy which as to men if we be able to pay can no otherwise be satisfied nor can remission be obtained without such a restitution As for the fire of Purgatory wherewith Popish Priests do melt down the gold and silver of ignorant people into their own Coffers we know it is but a device to keep their own Kitchins warm nor can any man give a reason why the charity of men should be less inflamed by this real fire of Hell made to flash in the faces of all that do and shall remain unmerciful and uncharitable than by the feigned fire of Purgatory Why should not yea will not men part with as much to keep themselves out of Hell when made sensible how damning a sin covetousness is as to get themselves out of Purgatory sooner than otherwise they would expect To him that considers these things it will be plain and evident that those Principles which all good Protestants do own and insist upon have as great an aptness and powerfulness in their own nature to awaken and excite man to works of charity as any that Papists do or can insist upon Neither ought it to be forgotten that all the fore-mentioned Principles of Protestants are real and Scriptural and being such must needs be of greater force and authority than those grosse Falshoods vain Dreams and Bugbears wherewith Popish Impostors delude their people But here it may be a Papist would reply to us How comes it to pass if the Principles wherewith you Protestants indeavour to excite men to works of Charity be in themselves as forcible as those we go upon that we in that case do prevail more than you That by our instigations people are ready to give all their goods to the poor and to say to their very Parents It is Corban or a Gift to the Church by whatsoever thou mayest be profited whereas you Protestants have much ado many times to extort even from dying people though rich some few pounds or shillings to any good uses I wish I could say that the matter of fact herein objected were true pudet haec c. but too true it is and the reasons of it or some-of them are as follow First Some Protestant Ministers whilst they are zealous in Preaching the Doctrine of Justification by Faith so much opposed by Papists are and have been too remiss in pressing good works according to the tenor of their own Principles And thus whilst the Papists bend themselves against our Faith they make us neglect good works Such Ministers should be put in mind of what St. Paul writeth to Titus chap. 3.8 These things I will that you affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable to men Secondly Protestant Preachers if I mistake not do generally harp less upon the duty of bounty and charity in particular towards the Church especially than Popish Priests do who do some of them it may be preach little else at leastwise that is the most they presse because the most profitable of all subjects though not to their hearers upon whom other duties are sometimes as necessary to be pressed yet to themselves Now Protestant Ministers being too much afraid of being so much as suspected of seeking themselves do I fear under-do as to pressing works of charity whilst Popish Priests are guilty of over-doing being like the Horseleech or Grave which are never satisfied but still do cry Give give Again Papists will venture to Promise more upon the bare opus operatum or meere act of giving to such and such good uses to be bound as it were body for body and soul for soul that they that give so much to good uses shall be saved I mean to warrant and ensure their Salvation than Protestant Ministers dare to do who knew that the end of the Commandement the fulfilling of which end is required in a saving charity is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned and that a man may give all his goods to the poor and yet want that true charity without which the Apostle saith be is but as sounding Brasse or tinkling Cymball Moreover the Popes of Rome successively use to dispense pardons for the greatest sins and such as were never repented of for so much money as a late Book called the Protestant Almanack one that will never be out of date makes out by
whereas some may think the new houses carry and are appointed to carry their heads too high and rise up to a greater altitude then doth become them after so humbling a judgment good reason may be assigned for that viz. That it was enacted they should do so in order to the gaining of more room and that so much the rather because a great deal of room hath and will be lost otherwise by the new model of the City and particularly by widening of the streets those Latitudinarian streets if I may so call them inforcing as it were altitudinarian houses Now from the three forementioned causes viz. The buildings being of brick the breadth of the Streets and the height of the houses greater then formerly thence I say principally if not only will spring that beauty and lustre which the new City or the major part of it is like to have above the old all which things being necessary for other reasons and having been done upon their account ought at no hand to be found fault with As men may fast and mourn and yet not disfigure their countenances whereby to appear to men to fast but may anoint their heads that day and wash their faces and Christ commendeth so doing as best Mat. 5.16 So may the outward visage of our City be handsome and beautiful and yet we our selves nevertheless truly sensible both of our sins and miseries I Should think a City of London outwardly more splendid then ever might in some respects increase our humiliation rather then inflame our pride even as a poor man clad in a rich habit might from thence have more sad and frequent reflections upon his poverty as thinking with himself how unsutable the fineness of his outward garb is to the meanness of his condition and how much otherwise it is really with him then by his habit strangers would take it to be But that a stately City raised in a short time out of a ruinous heap might conduce to stirr up in us more of thankfulness and admiration of Gods goodness I see not who can deny with this staff said Jacob passed I over Jordan and now the Lord hath made me two bands Gen. 32.10 Which surely he acknowledged with more thankfulness and wonder then he would have done if God had made him but one band no bigger then either of his two Moreover another London more magnificent then the former how great an eye sore would it be to the enemies of that City who most barbarously rejoyced at its flames and triumphed at its funeral and would if they knew how have rolled so great a stone over its grave that it should never have been capable of rising again I say when those envious persons shall come to see two staffes in the hand of London viz. Beauty and Bands that is State and Strength alluding to Zech. 11. neither of which they exspected how will that sight abate their pride confront their malice and confound their devices Lastly a stately City should methinks provoke the inhabitants to a generous emulation of being so wealthy and substantial as by it they seem or make shew to be If so goodly a City be to Londoners at the first erecting of it like a garment that is much to big for him that weareth it yet may it put them upon indeavouring to grow so fast that it may be fit for them if it be to them as raiment of needle work or of wrought gold such as the Kings Daughter is said to be Ps 45.13 may it not stirr them up to be like her all glorious within that their inside and outside may well agree together Now Lord though it may be it was not out of pride or affectation of pomp that we have designed to build so fine a City yet possibly we may be proud of so fine a City when it is once built and if so Lord humble us for that our pride but destroy us not again and if like those times of which it was said they had golden challices but wooden Priests it may be said of us we have a rich City but poor inhabitants we shall in that respect have great cause to be humble and Lord do thou make us as humble and lowly as we have cause to be DISCOURSE VIII That all persons imployed and made use of in and in order to the rebuilding of London ought therein more especially to use all care and good conscience WOrkmen do your office and do it like workmen that need not to be ashamed and like honest men If you take building by the great make no more hast with it then good speed but if you take it by the day make as much hast as will consist with good speed Do by Londoners as you would be done by build for them as you would build for your selves we may have a noble City God permitting if you will but play your parts Make no more faults then you needs must that you may make work for your selves to mend those faults which you have wilfully made and put those you build for to a greater charge and trouble The foolish builder is a name of infamy in the scripture and the knavish one is worse Be not you like smoak to the eyes of those you build for as Solomon speaketh of a sloathful messenger that he is so to him that sendeth him Build with such acurateness as Apelles is said to have painted for which he gave this reason Pingo aeternitati so do you build as it were once for all Let London by the universal care and honesty of its builders one and all be made so excellent a structure that it may both now and hereafter be a praise and a renown to any of you to have had a hand in the raising of that Fabrick or to have been any waies related to that work as it is said in reference to the Temple of Jerusalem Psal 74.5 A man was famous according as he had lifted Axes upon the thick Trees viz. in order to the building of that Temple Expresse your kindnesse to London to like effect with what is written in Cant. 8.9 If she be a Wall we will build upon her a Palace of Silver and if she be a Door we will inclose her with Boards of Cedar which are the Words of Christ and of his Church contriving some good for the uncalled Gentiles set forth under Metaphors taken from such improvements of small and rude beginnings as Builders are able to make In this building aim not only at private gain but at publique good at the honour and welfare of the Nation in which your selves will have a share get as little as may be either for work or stuff of them that have lost so much take the over-sight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind which is the advice given to spiritual Builders in a higher case but not unapplicable to this purpose As for those who shall have the
greater part of whose former Inhabitants were such Sanctifiers of Gods Sabbaths as 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
complexions are most tempted to Atheism and Blasphemy and experience telleth us that in times of most discontent those sins do most abound for discontent and melancholy go together In discontented breasts there is envying and strife and where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work James 3.16 Elisha having been disturbed at the sight of Jehoram could not prophesy till he had called for a minstrel to help to compose his Spirit 2 Kings 3.16 Religion as well as prophesying calleth for a composed and a sedate mind God was not in the whirlwind nor in the earthquake but in the still voice It is a proverb that Inter arma silent leges humane laws are but liâ—tle observed in a time of war and it is as true of the laws of God as of men The noise of drums and trumpets useth to drown the still voice of Religion In times of discontent Atheism is wont to swarm like flies in summer and those that were never tainted with it before are subject then to be fly-blown more or less Vexation drew forth those daring words from him that said This evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6.33 Discontent is rats-bane to Religion I mean rank poison A little of it will destroy a particular duty and a great deal will shake the very foundations of that grace that is in any of us Moses when vexed brake both the tables of the law though made of stone Discontents are some of those thorns which indanger the choaking of all good seed Religion is a service reasonable but discontent and oppression do make men mad Many Suns are wont to go down upon the wrath of discontented persons and therefore they must needs give place to the Devil Eph. 4.26 and what mean time becomes of their Religion Methinks I cannot say enough to make the world sensible of that vast prejudice which redounds to Religion by the generality of men being discontented and out of humor to the end men may labor to prevent or cure it both in themselves and others The Psalmist saith why do the heathen rage and from sad experience it may be said that to make men rage or outragious is one of the readiest wayes to make them heathens Such as are desperately discontented use not to care either what they say or what they do no not against themselves witness Achitophel no not against God Isa 8.21 Therefore it was that Satan desired of God to touch all that Job had and said he he will curse thee to thy face Job 1.11 If he curse thee not to thy face it is in the margent q. d. if he do not I am deceived and so he was but knowing the manner of other men he thought he could not forbear to curse God when his affliction was so very great Though one sort of poor are said to receive the Gospel that is more generally than others yet those that are poor unto beggery pincht with cold and hunger are too well known to be generally as vile as any sort of men and as void of the least appearance of Religion which made Agar to deprecate poverty and probable it is that their being greatly male content may be the principal reason It cannot be denied but that we ought to be bettered by miseries as well as by mercies and to learn obedience by the things which we suffer and it is often so that when the troubles of men are but moderate they do them good and not hurt but when men are whipt with Scorpions when their punishments are greater than they can bear then corrupt nature discovers its self as naturalists say in another sense Vexata natura prodit seipsam I could never yet see that deep melancholy and high discontent was a proper soil for Religion to thrive in but rather the quite contrary Saul when at his wits ends betook himself to the witch of Endor and too many are of his mind that said Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo They will address to Hell if they cannot prevail with Heaven They that look upon their condition to be a kind of Hell upon Earth will scarce refrain blaspheming as they do that are in Hell A general discontent is an axe laâ—d to the root of Religion What Religion can there be where there is no love what love can there be to God or men when there is no contentment with the providence of the one or practises of the other Gods dispensations and mens dealings are so interwoven that men are seldom angry with the latter but they are so with the former because the hand of divine providence is in all the dealings of men though in such a manner as to be no whit accessary to the unrighteousness of any of them How oft is God less loved than otherwise he would be for mens sake and for the sake of those misactings whereby they become hated and all because his providence is known to concur but in a most justifiable way with all the proceedings of men Wizards Witches and Devils shall be the last instances I will now produce of the sad fruits of prevailing discontent as to the extirpating of all Religion Devils we justly account the worst of all creatures Wizards and Witches the worst and farthest from Religion of any sort of men and women now Wizards and Witches are commonly deemed the most discontented parcel of mankind as well as the worst and Devils which are something worse than Witches themselves yet more discontented than they How do I therefore long for Religion sake to see an end of Discontents that some men would take care to give less offence and others would take no more than becomes them Methinks that same is â—o ill proverb Any thing for a quiet life If any reason will satisfie men for Gods sake for religions â—ake let satisfaction be given them either in whole or in part lest the worm of discontent perfectly wither the goard of our Religion and for want of that blessed shade expose us to the scorching heat of the wrath of God England is in a high feaver that feaver is discontent how rough and how black are the tongues of men how restless are they day and night how do they fling and throw and start and sigh and groan and talk many times as they that know not what they say how many seem near unto a phrensy if they be not in one already All this while it must be ill with the heart of England and what is the heart and Soul of a Nation but the Religion thereof was ever man in a feaver and his heart unconcerned or not disordered thereby as much or more than any other part Now for a David with his Harp to lay the evil spirit of discontent now for some musical harmony though made up of discords to cure the venemous bitings of that strange Tarantula discontent I mean which makes men moan and wail and cry
vitae that is their guaiacum using that tree of Life as they call it as an antidote against the poison of that forbidden fruit which is too commonly tasted of England hath done wickedness as it could that is with all its might Profanness is come in upon us like a flood men glory now a daies in their shame and seem ashamed of that wherein they should glory I hear that some are ambitious to be thought more wicked than they have been or could be There are they say that will boast of those sins which they never did or had opportunity to commit There are that strive to bring vertue into disgrace and vice into request If men would learn to sin we can teach other nations those oaths and execrations which possibly they never heard else-where and will be afraid at first to make use of such as Dam them ram them sink them into Hell body and soul with several others yea we could teach them such profound blasphemy as would even astonish them at the first hearing and make their hair stand an end yea such as I dare not here recite Englishmen declare their sins like Sodom They that are drunk are drunk in the day time as well as in the night some are seldom sober night or day they sin with a whores forehead and with a brow of brass We have many Absaloms now a daies that do as it were spread a tent in the face of the Sun and there display their wickedness England hath all the sins of the seven Churches of Asia for which God hath long since destroyed them and given their land to the Turk Ephesus left its first love to God and Religion Rev. 2.4 and so hath England done Were there those in Smyrna who blasphemed saying they were Jews when they were of the Synagogue of Satan and are there not many such in England were there those in Pergamos who taught the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balaac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel viz. By setting fair women on work to tempt them to commit both fleshly and spiritual whoredom both Adultery and Idolatry Numb 25.1 And are there not such in England and as some in Pergamos held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing saith God I hate namely the doctrine of wives being common for that is said to have bin the doct of the Nicolaitans and have we none that pretend it to be their opinion as well as make it their practise so to do Was Thyatira charged with suffering the woman Jezebel â—o seduce others to fornication and idolatry Rev. â— 20 And have we no Jezebels amongst us that do â—e same thing had many in Sardis but a name to â—ive whilst they were dead and is not that the case of many in England at this day Was Laodicea charged with lukewarmness That she was neither â—â—ld nor hot Rev. 3.14 and doth not that sin exceedingly abound amongst us Did the Laodiceans think themselves spiritually rich and to have need of nothing when they were poor and miserable c. And do not many amongst us do the same thing I find but one of all the seven Churches that did escape reproof and that was Philadelphia but it is scarce to be discerned that there is any such Church amongst us that from its love of the brethren or brotherhood or whole fraternity of Christians deserves the name of Philadelphia for as iniquity aboundeth so is the love of most men waxen cold I could proceed to higher things and say we have learnt to bring serious preaching and preachers upon the stage and to bring some thing like stage-plaiers now and then into the pulpit Had not his Majesty by his most excellent Proclamation against profanness discountenanced the attempt some were going about as one would think to make Religion the mark of a Rebel and profanness the test of loyalty vilifying such persons as no good subjects who would not swear and curse and health it and drink themselves drunk c. Now we have Hectors for Atheism for Popery and what not that is there are that will undertake openly to justifie and patronize atheism popery c. Our land is full of blood violence fraud oppression May it not be said O England England as of old O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. We are disjoynted both as to spirituals and temporals like one that is newly come off from the rack we have been smitten and yet have revolted more and more Hell is broke loose upon us I scarce forbear that homely proverb we have even raked Hell and scummed the Devil All flesh amongst us hath corrupted it self we have exceeded the line of the wicked Will God build a new City for us why should he our sins are out of measure sinful Some of us are an incouragement to evil doers and a terrour to them that do well We speak evil of those that run not with us into the same excess of riot he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey amongst some men We are full of envy and strife from whence cometh confusion and every evil work We love the worst men and things best and the best worst Some of us will neither be good our selves nor suffer others to be so as Christ said to the Scribes and Pharisees Ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in Mat. 23.13 The people of England are generally in extreams at this day some are almost mad with mirth and others almost dead with melancholy Some are all of a foam with anger and others all of a froth with lightness and drollery Atheism Idolatry Profane swearing Sabbath-breaking ill carriage in and towards relations Murther Adultery Theft Fals-witness Covetousness are the ten great sins the ten predicaments as I may call them which all sins are reduced to and these our land doth wofully abound with For matter of robbery we are even a den of Thieves for filthiness a cage of unclean birds for strife a Meribah or as Meshec and the tents of Kedar for blood an Aceldama Our Mosesses many of them break both the Tables of the Law of which by office they are keepers Our Aarons too often make Golden Calves there are many Achans that trouble us sore some by stealing the babylonish garment I mean by their propensions and stealing on towards Popery witness their own suspicious expressions in publick if not more than suspicious others again by stealing the shekels of silver and the wedg of gold alluding to Josh 7.21 I mean by their deceit and oppression both of which are perfect theft We are many of us more brutish than was Balaams Asse who seeing a sword drawn against him would not go forward and as bruitish as the Prophet his rider whose madness was rebated by the Asse for that he would switch and spur on nevertheless that is we will not see the hand of God which hath
How much more pleasant was it and would it be again to be surrounded with neighbours on every side To such an unquoth solitary and unpleasant condition have our divisions brought us Methinks the depth and dead of winter when the nights are tediously long the weather raw and cold the wayes wet and dirty and almost impassable when the trees are bald and bare both of fruit and leaves and when the earth hath put off all its ornaments and is as it were in its night dress or morning weeds doth not more fall short of that pleasurableness and delightfulness that is in a delicate spring or gallant summer when the earth is full of all that may gratifie both our sight sent and palate when deckt like a bride when crowned with the goodness of God than a time of divisions and dissentions doth in point of comfortableness fall short of these times in which Christians and fellow Cittizens have been all or generally of one heart if not of our mind Ps 133.1 Behold how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity The divisions of England now as they of Reuben in former time do they not cause sad thoughts of heart That houses in London stand so scatteringly as now they do is if I be not mistaken not more unpleasant than unsafe By this their single station they are more obnoxious to the impressions of wind and weather which now have opportunity to play on every side of them which when guarded as formerly by houses on one or both sides and possibly behind also could not be done not to conceal the other part of their danger many of those lone houses seem to lye at the mercy of theeves and robbers whose mercies are known to be cruelties and I doubt not but many in that regard are afraid to dwell in the houses which themselves have built till others shall come to dwell by them So insecure do our divisions render us and the distance at which we keep one from another whilst it is so with us we may much more easily be carried about with every mind of doctrine and by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in walt to deceive Scattered ships are much more easily taken by Pirats or enemies than is a whole fleet that rides together and a small family or a piece of one is sooner rob'd than a family that is intire great and numerous Divide impera divide them and rule them was an old maxime divided we are and now our enemies hope to rule over us Our religion is our great treasure and doubtless there are theeves that hope to break in and steal it from us now they see us dwell alone as it were I mean in reference to our dissentions Neither is it more unquoth and unsafe than it is unprofitable for Citizens to dwell by themselves or only two or three or some few more families in one and the same street Few expect to have any considerable Trade within the Walls so far as the Ruines did extend till the City be built again either all or most of it and therefore though they have built houses for themselves in those parts of London which were and will be most considerable as Cheapside c. yet do they refrain to go to them till their Neighbourhood be encreased and others to a considerable number have built near them as expecting but few Customers and small dealings till that be done So fatal have our divisions and the distance at which we have stood one from another I say so fatal have they been to us in point of Trade and profit as the remotenesse and scattering of houses one from another would probably be to those that should attempt a Trade in houses so remore and scattered Divisions and decay of Trade began together and have proceeded together as divisions grew greater trading hath grown lesse as more backwardnesse hath appeared as unto uniting Protestants one with another they say a sensible damp hath come upon Trade not unlike those damps which arise in Cole-pits which put out their lights and sometimes stifle the workmen And on the other hand any hope given us as if our breaches should be healed and our differences com-primised hath been to Trade as a sudden resurrection from the dead as if peace and union concord and quietnesse one with another were the Sun Trade and Traffique the Heliotrope or Mary-gold which did open and shut according as that Sun did either rise or set shine or forbear to shine upon it That saying of Solomon is but too applicable to trade and commerce as well as in other cases How can two walk together unless they be agreed at leastwise so far agreed they must be as not to molest and disturb each other It is methinks an ill prospect and a gastly sight for those that look from the Belconies or tops of their stately new houses to see ashes and ruinous heaps on every side of them to see ten private houses besides Churches and publick Halls in the dust for one that is raised again This might be a pleasing spectacle to a person of an evil eye that is to one that were full of envy for such people will be miserable if others be happy and count it a happiness to themselves to see others miserable But he that hath put on Bowels as the elect of God and knows how to mourn with them that mourn will but half enjoy his own house how goodly soever whilst so many of his neighbours lie waste about it Have not our Divisions brought England into the same case with London and made us like-City like-Nation Though here and there a Family hath wealth enough and to spare whom I may compare to the fine houses which are built here and there one upon the ruines of London yea though some have fished notably in troubled waters and made all the rivers which ran in several channels to pay tribute to their Sea I mean inriched themselves by the help and advantage of other mens divisions and dissatisfactions yet it is far otherwise with the greater part of the Nation the generallity of which are brought to a morsel of bread I mean to great and deplorable poverty Landlords not able to live without their rents tenants not able to pay them tradesmen not able to subsist by their callings many left without callings to subsist by and all these latter sorts of men are pourtrayed to the life in and by those houses and those the major part which do yet lye in dust and ashes they by reason of the late material fire but the former by reason of a more immaterial fire viz. of Strife and Contention not extinguished to this day We have not yet done with comparing the present case of London for want of more things to compare it to We might farther liken it to the first World when but a day or two of creation-Creation-work had passed upon it It was then no perfect Chaos
neither was it a perfect World Or I might liken it to the first appearance of a second World after the first was drowned Is not London such a thing as that was where some high trees and high mountains began to shew themselves here and there but all the rest continued under water So gradually and leisurely doth our City rise But such shall not be the resurrection of the Just for they shall not rise one by one but semel simul all together 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump the dead shall be raised and we shall be changed We which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep we which are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds 1 Thes 4.15 17. And now methinks I have done by London as people use to do by young children whose looks are yet come to no setledness or consistence Some cry they are like the Fathers others that they are like the Mother others again that they are like this or that kinsman or kinswoman I have likened it to very many things and surely it hath some resemblance of every of them But when shall we see it like its self again or every where like what it now is so far as it is now its self Here and there something is hatcht but for the most part London is but as an Egge that we hope may be hatcht in time It looks much worse than it did before the fire but yet much better than it did presently after the fire so that it gives us occasion to sing both of Judgment and mercy Seeing so mixt a face of London as now I do some little part thereof so lovely as it is the rest so lamentable I can do no less than pursue it with my most earnest prayers that as the corrupted bodies of believers shall one day be conformed to their incorruptible Souls and not their immortal Souls ever made like to their mortal bodies and as the Church militant shall hereafter be made glorious as that which is now Triumphant but the Triumphant Church never conformed in sufferings to that which is militant so the ruinous part of London may in Gods good time become such as that which is now most beautiful but the beautiful beginnings thereof in spight of all that wish it may never become ruinous DISCOURSE XVI That uniting or at least wise quieting the minds of men as to matter of Religion so far as it can be done would much conduce to the rebuilding of the City I Am not of their mind that think it an impossible thing to give the generality of men that are any wayes considerable some reasonable satisfaction and contentment in point of Religion It may be difficult but surely it is feasible If it hath been and is done elsewhere why not amongst us That the World may see I do not drive at Anarchy in Religion the first principle I would here suggest is That it cannot reasonably be expected from Rulers and Governors to give equal countenance and incouragement to all sorts of Religion within their respective Dominions viz. to the Christian Jewish and Mahumetan Religion We would not that the Supream Magistrate should appear like a Sceptick as if he were inclined to all Religions but ingaged in none Much less would we that the Laws of a Nation should have a Religion to choose and should respect all alike that is either afford no countenance and maintenance or more than connivance to any or the same to all If the Christian Magistrate do think some Religions damnable as the Jewish Mahumetan and the like no reason he should provide a maintenance for them or for the Teachers of them as of that Religion in and by which he believeth men may be saved Private men are not willing to communicate their substance to the Teachers and leaders of a Religion Fundamentally different from their own What Protestant would voluntarily contribute to the maintenance of Popish Priests as such any more than to the making of a golden Calf why then should any such thing be expected from Protestant Magistrates It is more it may be than Rulers can do without impoverishing a Nation to provide a sufficient maintenance for the Ring-leaders of all parties and perswasions and therefore upon that accompt though upon many others also must let fundamental diffenters shift for themselves Howsoever to give the same encouragement to good and evil truth and falshood I mean to what is fundamentally such in the account of those by whom Laws are made and publick affairs administred is or seemeth to be as irrational a thing as for a Father to intrust a Prodigal child with as great an estate as the rest of his children that are good husbands or one that is a fool or mad man as those that have wit to manage it or as it is to reward vice at the rate of vertue The Principle I have laid down bespeaketh no Anarchy or confusion in Religion because it aimeth at some one Religion to be prefer'd above all the rest viz. that which the Legislators of a Nation shall think fit to establish own and countenance as the publick authorized Profession of this or that Nation which being so established is not alterable at the sole and single will and pleasure of the Prince to be sure in England as having not power in and of himself to repeal such Laws as are made whatsoever Religion or perswasion himself be of which objections being removed out of the way I see no reason why any body should be offended and I think upon the reasons aforesaid very few will if the Law of a Nation and Magistrates whose work it is to put those Laws in execution do afford that countenance and maintenance to one sort of Religion and to the leaders thereof which they afford not to any other that is fundamentally opposite thereunto as is the Jewish or Mahumetan to the Christian and the Popish in some things to the Protestant One or two objections more which are all I can imagine may be raised against this first principle will be answered by and by And therefore I proceed to a second viz. That the Religion of a Nation need not ought not yea indeed cannot consistere in puncto but intrà aliquam latitudinem It must needs be like a circle with several lines drawn within all which though they meet and touch in one and the same centre yet are somewhat distant each from other in the circumference What I affirmed last I shall prove first Viz. That Religion cannot be made to consist in a point that is that all persons who are truely of one and the same Religion can never come to agree in every punctilio For as the Apostle saith Rom. 14.2 One believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs and verse 5. one man esteemeth one day above another