would begin where the Fire made an end and build some whole streets together And lastly that there may be a contribution of assistance to that work from all parts of England by men or moneyes or advice or whatsoever else may promote and further it yea from all parts of his Majesties Dominions As motives thereunto I have in intire chapters shewed the great consequence and importance of the rebuilding of London and that it be done with all convenient expedition and how that not only England but also Scotland and Ireland and indeed all Christendom is concerned therein at leastwise the protestant part thereof I have discoursed how pleasant the work of building is Chap. 39. also how much more profit may probably be made of building in London at this juncture of time than of laying out money most otherwaies yea how much it would be for the honour of those that have wherewithall to have a considerable share and proportion in the building of London I have likewise set before my reader the sad face of London at this day how pitifully it looks and how the mournful visage of it doth bespeak relief from all that see or hear of it Chap. 15. I have also in the same chapter taken notice of the many houses which are already built or begun to be built up and down here and there whereby a great obligation is laid upon Londoners to go forward with the City least they incur the name of foolish builders who begin to build and cannot make an end Lastly I have shewed how the protestant Religion and the principles thereof do as much oblige to works of charity such as is the building of Churches and Schools and Hospitals as any principles in the popish religion can do though that religion upbraideth ours with a dead faith which worketh not by love and doth arrogate all the charity to it self Thus good Reader have I given thee an account first of the Authour and nextly of his design or of the book it self and what thou art to expect in it Would I be so foolish as to boast of any thing contained in this work which becometh me not to do it should be of my having written so disinteressedly as I have done so like a man addicted to no party but studious of the good of the community or of the whole Church and state or as one that were unbiassed either by fear or favour as a person of a free and uningaged mind and that had never known such a thing as Interest as it standeth in opposition to religion reason equity conscience ingenuity mercy c. In which sense we take the word when we say of this or that man that he was acted or led by Interest for we commonly add and not by conscience or against conscience It was Interest made David to murther Uriah hoping thereby to have concealed his adultery and Ahab to take away the life of Naboth that he might get his vineyard and the Jews to suborn the misreporting of Jeremiah Jer. 20.10 Report say they and we will report it Interest in the sence I here disclaim it is nothing else but disingenuous self-love dishonest self-seeking an over-weaning and unjust addictedness to a mans self and to the party which he hath espoused a gift that blinds the eyes of the wise a love so blind as that it will not suffer men to see either the evil that is in themselves and their friends nor yet any thing that is good and commendable in others it is that principle which inclines men to Deifie or make Gods or rather Idols of some men whose persons they have in admiration for advantage sake and Devils or something almost as bad of others though they be not such He that acts from Interest is one that cares not how much hurt he doth to others in their names or estates or other concerns so he can but do himself any good as he counts good by means thereof he is one that pursueth his selfish designs right or wrong per fas nefas and will trample upon every thing that stands in the way thereof Jonah was transported by Interest when it displeased him exceedingly and he was very angry because that God had repented of the evil that he said he would do unto the Ninivites and did it not Jonah 3.10.4.1 That is he had rather all Nineveh had been destroyed in which were sixscore thousand persons that could not discern betwixt their right hand and their left than that himself should have been hardly thought of through the non-accomplishment of his prophecy which infamy too might have been prevented by the Ninivites considering that the threatning was not without this known reservation viz. that in case they repented not destruction should overtake them Interest is a strong bias which suffers no man to go right on as no bowle can go straight to the mark but must wheele about if it have a great bias Now if I can wash my hands in innocency from any thing I can do it in respect of that kind of Interest which I have now described its mingling it self with this book I have not written like a Lawyer that speaks all he can for his clients and takes no notice of any thing that makes for the adverse cause but rather as a just umpire or moderator that heareth or alledgeth what can be said on both sides and having so done gives to each its due and brings the business to a fair compromise as may though possibly it doth not give full content and satisfaction to both parties Yet when all this is said and done so captious and censorious is the age we live in that some will take offence at what I have written and possibly they most of all to whom there is least appearance of any offence given for some men such is their peevishness will be more angry if you do but look over their hedg than others if you had stollen their horse as I may allude to our proverb There are some that cannot bear any thing of a reproof though as much too mild for them as was that of Eli to his wicked sons though as prudently couched as was Nathans to David in the parable wherewith he surprised him yea there are whose property it is to take a reproof most hainously from their friends as if they would have none but enemies and those they counted wicked to chide them whereas David saith let the righteous smite me or as if it were the part of an enemy and not of a friend to reprove whereas the scripture saith Thou shalt not hate thy brother thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Levit. 19.17 A rebuke from an enemy seldom doth good because it is thought not to spring from love if then our friends must not reprove us neither we have excluded one ordinance of God which was appointed for good viz. Admonition and Reprehension We cannot indure our sawces should
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
multitudes of Instances This practice of theirs is one of the names of Blasphemy written in their foreheads and by such means as these they go beyond us But the mony which is given upon the two last accounts is certainly the result and product not of real bounty but of woful blindness and ignorance That which is such a kind of cheat in the receivers can hardly be called charity in the givers Then may we draw to this conclusion Papists have waies to cheat men of their mony which Protestants have not yet scorn to use but Papists have no Arguments truely deduced either from Scripture or sound reason wherewith to invite men to works of charity that Protestants have not and they alone well used and mannaged are and will be sufficient If Papists will take upon them to be wiser than God and to teach him who is only wise how to furnish the World with better motives to charity and good works than ever yet he hath done so will not Protestants It were better London should continue in ashes than have its foundation laid in such Blasphemous Impostures but that it need not do neither for want of Scriptural Arguments mighty through God to pull down the strong holds of mens unmercifulness and to bring into captivity every thought which exalteth it self against obedience thereunto We that are Protestants can tell men according to our Principles that the least work of true charity shall have a great reward that the reward of persons truely charitable shall be no less than eternal life that every such work shall follow good men when they dye and add to the weight of their Crown of Glory We can tell rich men that if they will not make to themselves friends of the unrighteous Mammon they shall not be received into everlasting habitations of glory that if they shut up their bowels against poor Lazaruses they shall fare no better than Dives did who denied his crumbs of bread and was himself denied a drop of water We can freely tell every man that it is as possible for him to get to Heaven without faith as without charity and as impossible for him to be saved without charity as without faith Then I appeal to every mans reason whether it be not an act of charity and piety to help up with this poor City and particularly with the Hospitals and Churches thereto belonging Though our Religion be by Papists reproached as Hannah was by Peninnah with barrenness namely in reference to good works it may hereafter come and I hope it will to sing as Hannah did in 1 Sam. 2.5 The barren hath born seven and she that hath many Children is waxed feeble DISCOURSE XV. Upon the looks and prospect of London whilst but some few houses are built here and there and others but building in the midst of many ruinous heaps O London what is thy present hue how many other things art thou like unto at this day but how unlike thy self unlike what thou wert yea unlike what thou art if we compare one part with another Mulier formosa supernè desinit in piscem what a motley linsey woolsey exchequered thing art thou at this day One while methinks thou lookest like a forrest in which are some tall trees some shrubs some meer stumps otherwhere all pluckt up by the roots or may I not liken thee to an old orchard in which are some trees that have ripe fruit upon them other have but buds others but meer blossoms but the greater part are dead and withered nor dost thou less resemble a great common field in which some early corn is at full growth elsewhere that which was latter sown hath yet but peept out of the ground and very many acres up and down lie quite fallow We read of the waters of the sanctuary how that some of them were but to the ancles others to the knees others up to the loins Ezek. 47.4 That it may be was successively but this all at once Thus in a family where are many children ordinarily there are some at the estate of men and women some boyes and girles some infants and some one or more that are yet but in the mothers womb Is London a village that I see the houses in it stand so scatteringly and at so great a distance one from another scarce enough together to make that number which is said to make a conventicle 1. Having been degraded for a while must it commence a village before it commence a City As in a through-fare village standing upon a great road most houses are Inns or Alehouses to entertain strangers so may we observe that the major part of houses built upon the ruines are let out to Alehouse-keepers and Victuallers to entertain workmen imployed about the City How easily doth the present condition of London bring France to mind where a middle sort of people are scarce to be found but all are said to be either Princes as it were or Peasants Gentlemen or slaves Our stately-houses may serve for an emblem of the former our ruinous heaps of the latter or one may represent the flourishing papists in that Country and the other the oppressed Hugonites they and their Churches lying together in ashes Would I give scope to phantasy I could adde that London now looks like Euclids Elements or some such books in which are all sorts of schemes and figures as straight lines crooked lines triangles quadrangles hexangles and what not or like a book of Anatomy full of cuts representing in one page the shape of a head in another of an arm in a third of a legg c. So in one place there is as it were the head or beginning of a street in another place the feet or end thereof by its self elsewhere the arm or breast or belly of a street the middle I mean standing all alone A goodly uniformity there is in so much of it as is built together but ruines and confusion round about it which represents it like a beautiful face stuck with black patches which is very lovely so far as it is seen but all the rest is ugliness and deformity manifest pride and concealed beauty Neither is London at this day unlike the month of April in which I am writing this consisting of quick vicissitudes of rain and sunshine one part of the Heavens smiling another frowning and lowring So one part of the street smiles upon us almost throughout the ruines but the rest of it frowneth and looks ghastly If we compare it to one that is rising out of his sepulchre it must be to one that hath his grave cloaths about him for so hath London But when all is said London at this day represents nothing more then our own divisions together with the ill effects and consequences thereof For first of all is it not unquoth and dolesome to live in houses that stand at such a distance one fom another Some of them like a cottage in a garden of cucumbers
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
be in the hands of Papists for that experience tells us if persons so accounted though not certainly known to be such be chosen to any place or places of considerable trust it presently openeth the peoples mouths and fills them as full of fears as they can hold Power is a kind of armour and men may be armed with power as formidably as with iron weapons We read of certain beasts Dan. 7.12 They had their dominion taken away yet their lives were prolonged There is not a quiet Papist in England but I wish his life might be spared yea and his lawful way of livelihood that if a man of an estate he might enjoy it his Religion notwithstanding if a Tradesman he might be free to buy and sell and merchandize as well as other men and if he may do so to be deprived or debarred of power and arms will be but an easie suffering if it be any at all and I am sure much more for a publick good men to their private damage no reason they should be elected to power who would be an incouragement to evil doers and a terror to them that do â—ell one way for people to have dominion over their fears is for Papists in a Kingdome whose King and Laws are protestant to have no dominion over the people Yet I am really for it that setting aside power and Armes they should injoy every thing else so â—ong as they are peaceable for to strip them of their â—states and livelihoods or lawful wayes of subâ—ting meerely for their religion sake were unjust â—â—umane and the way to make them desperate Starving or almost starving of persons and famiâ—â—es is next to cutting of throats and therefore God forbid that Papists themselves should be so served let them have power to do good to themselves but none to do hurt to others then may Papists live happily and Protestants securely The manifestation of much zeal to hinder the growth of Popery it self would be one good way â—o secure the minds of men against the fear and â—read of Papists It would take off the chariot wheels of popery or make it drive on heavily if first of all Ministers and other learned men were excited and incouraged to write and preach against the most considerable and dangerous tenets of the Papists spaâ—ing their persons whilst they oppose their errors and so not contending against love though they contend earnestly for the Faith One I have heard of a person of worth and learning far above the rate of his years who was put upon this work by some in great authority and hath discharged it excellently well and brought forth an Elephant for so I call his book for the size of it in less than halfe the time that Elephants are said to go with their young There are also two other pregnant Divines no old men neither who have each of them given us an iliad in a nutshel a mass of Divinity and reason against popish doctrines within a small compass who as I am told have from persons of eminency received many thanks for the same and very good incouragement Were there many more that could come up to the first three as champions against popery and were they in all parts of England put upon it and quickned we might hope that popery would dwindle amongst us every day till at last it come to nothing Whosoever shall set himself to oppose the growth and spreading of popery in England will much promote this design by suppressing or preventing all such books in our native tongue as have lately come forth or are coming forth in favour of that Religion Those of more ancient date are so much dispersed already that there can be no recalling them and besides that men will hardly read them more than they have done whereas a new book for the novelty sake and in expectation of some new thing that hath not been said before will have many readers Popish arguments are not so weighty but that we dare let schollars peruse them and therefore I have said nothing of the suppression of those popish books which are in the latine tongue but only in the English lest comon and ignorant people should thereby be seduced Now Papists of all men ought not to quarrel with us if we deny the common people the use of their books in their mother tongue as being unsafe for them sith they withhold the book of God the holy scriptures from the Laity under pretence of their being in danger to wrest the same to their own destruction If truth can hurt men what will not errour do A heedful suppression of all Novel English popish books would be greatly to the suppression of all popular fears as with respect to Papists We have severe Laws if I mistake not against those persons who compass sea and land to make people Proselytes to the Romish religion making them thereby two-fold more the children of hell than themselves at leastwise in this respect that they perswade them to believe those gross errours which they have more wit than to believe themselves so binding heavy burthens upon others which they themselves will not touch with the least of their fingers I think the law is wont to accuse and indict them as for seducing the Kings Subjects from their Allegiance which to do is a great crime but do they not also seduce men from their Allegiance to the King of Kings These are a seed of evil doers and must be look't a ter Ants do bite the corn which they carry to their mole-hils to the end it may not sprout again so far forth I wish them bitten It is too much that they take upon them to make a God or Idol of Wafers let them not make fools or which is worse Idolaters of men Let them not by their meats or poisons rather destroy those for whom Christ died As long as Papists have liberty for themselves and their families they have little reason to complain if they have no liberty to make other families such as themselves If seducing Jesuits be narrowly watcht and punished both the fear of Papists and popery it self will be much diminished What a buzzing is there in the ears of people concerning some preachers no professed Papists neither who seem to affect the language of Ashdod and to the great amusement of people make their pulpits eccno to Rome ever and anon Who speak sometimes at such a rate as if they had a Pope in their belly or had a mind to appear as popishly affected as they durst The lashers out of popery are the men who have all along fomented the Jealousies of the people and made them fear they should be over-run with Papists as the sluggards ground is said to be with weeds If such men were taught either to preach more honestly and orthodoxly or else for ever hereafter made to hold their peace the justice done them might greatly abate the peoples fears as their hetorodoximony have inflamed them Whilst
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