upon them never lie down and die whilst you have wherewithall to live yea and to live nobly A stock of well-grounded spiritual comforts or a well-bottomed hope of glory will maintain a man at a great rate though he have little else yea like a Prince if it be well improved Have you not known men live chearfully and joyfully upon the expectance of great things in reversion though they have had but little in possession One would think the assurance or what is next to it of a Crown and Kingdome after a short time of suffering should raise and revive us more than the present fruition of a great Lordship being all that ever we look for He that upon Scripture-grounds believes himself to be an heir of heaven let him but reflect upon what he believes and that alone will be a heaven to him upon earth But do I not hear some say they want a stock of spiritual comforts or grounds of comfort they have no upper Springs to fetch water from none of those Rivers which make glad the City of God and therefore it is that their hearts failâ— them in an evil day Yea doubtless therefore it is that their hearts do faile them because they either have not an interest in God or if they have they know it not Now as that holy man said to his friend touching assurance verily assurance is to be had and what have we been doing all this while so say I to you verily an interest in God is to be had and see that you labour for it It was a great fault and oversight not to look after it whilst we had a confluence of other good things but now other things are taken away it were utter madness to neglect it From this time forward make it thy business to get an interest in eternal mercies the sure mercies of David and to know that thine interest and then live upon the comfort of it and then thou that never hadst it before though God have cast thee as it were from the throne to the dunghil even upon that dunghill shalt thou live better than ever thou didst in all thy life before Doubtless a man may live more happily upon a great deale of assurance having but a small pittance of other things than upon great abundance of worldly enjoyments having little or no assurance O Lord my heart deceives me if the consolations of God be small with me or in my accompt if I could not live more contentedly upon bread and water with calling and election made sure than they who have their portion in this life do when their Corn and Wine increase Oh why do I press no harder after that which I take my self to have so great a value for That is the only thing that makes me fear least my heart should in this case deceive me For it is not that God hath been wanting to incourage the endeavours of men in pursuite of spiritual and eternal mercies so that we should have cause to fear our labour would be in vain for hath he not declared he is a rewarder of all them that seek him diligently and that to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory he will give eternal life Rom. â— And what more could have been said I see then there are three sorts of men Some have matter and ground-work for spiritual joy but will not take pains to improve it they have as it were the breast in their mouths but will not draw it because the milk is hard to come by that is they have good evidences for heaven but will not trouble themselves to clear them up and to be ever and anon reviewing and reading them over Lord if I be one of them give me to see how much I stand and have stood in my own light how much I have lessened my comforts by grudging my paines how I might have doubled and trebled my joyes if the fault had not been my own others there are that content themselves with a portion in this life seeing and knowing themselves as yet to have no interest in better things Lord how desperately do they adventure how great a hazard do they run If death should come and finde them provided only for this present World what would become of them And yet there is a sort of men more desperate than these if more can be and they are those who are destitute of this World 's good things and yet neither have an interest in spiritual comforts nor yet regard to have any God hath taken the World from them and possibly will never give it them again do what they can and yet they look not after that better portion that can never be taken away from them To such I may say not only what will they do in their latter end but what will they do at present what shift can they make so much as for the present can men live of nothing without either heaven or earth God or the creature comforts for either soul or body where are they but in hell who are neither in heaven nor yet upon the earth in the World I mean Surely such men care not what becomes of them I cannot better compare them to any thing than to a ship turned adrift in a mighty storm whose Pilot steeres her no longer but exposeth her to the mercy of winds and waves and rocks and sands and it is a thousand to one if ever she get safe to harbour Lord of all sorts of men let me be none of this last Let me secure one World at least and if but one let it be the World to come The more thou abridgest me of earthly comforts the more insatiable let me be in my desires of those that are heavenly The more hungry thou keepest me as to a supply of earthly things the more thirsty let me be after those rivers of pleasure which are at thy right hand for ever more O Lord if I want a ground-work for spiritual joy a root of peace within my self let me want it no longer if I have a foundation for joy within me but know it not oh thou who hast given me to have it give me also to know it and when I once know it give me often to review and recollect it to ruminate and chew the cud upon it that I may enjoy the sweetness of that whereof I am really possest that I may eat the fruit of the Vineyard which thou hast planted within me Lord trust me with a stock of spiritual comforts with plenty of good hope thorough grace kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth and let thy barner over me be love and give me to sit under the shaddow of thy favour with delight and if ever I envy those pittiful worldlings that have more of this than heart can wish but no more of any World but this if ever I be willing to change conditions with them all things considered though they be wealthy honourable
dream Gen 28.13 see v. 16. and 17. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place And he was afraid and said How dreadful is this place This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven The gate of Heaven and yet dreadful as God was in that place God at that time spake nothing but promises and encouragments yet did Jacob tremble at his presence Our God is fearful even in praises If Jacob did but dream of God he was filled with awe and that not only whilst the dream lasted but when he awâ—ke and knew he had but dreampt If God be so terrible when he is pleased what is he when he is angry Psal 76.7 Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry God was friends with Moses when he told him Gon. 33.20 Thou canst not see my face for no man can see me and live And v. 22. whilst my glory passeth by I will put thee in a clift of the rock and will cover thee with my hand whilst I pass by v. 23. And thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen Much of the terribleness of God is insinuated in that strange passage Exod. 33.3 I will send an Angel before thee for I will not go up in the midst of thee lest I consume thee Here we read of God wishing the Israelites to let him go from amongst them because his terrour was such but elsewhere concerning the men of Bethshemesh sending God from amongst them like those Gadarens that besought Christ to depart their coast 1 Sam. 6.20 Who is able say they to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall he go up from us v. 21. And they sent to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim saying Come ye and fetch the Ark of the Lord up to you Namely because God had slain fifty thousand three score and ten of the Bethshemites for looking into the Ark. Much like to this were the words of Peter to Christ Luke 5.8 Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. Let the Prophet Isaiah tell you how awful the presence of God is whom you finde thus crying out Wo is me for I am undone for I am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts How full is the 18. Psalm of expressions setting forth the awful Majesty of Gods presence from v. 7. Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth But to quote all that might be quoted to that purpose were to transcribe a great part of the Bible Of the Anger of God represented by Fire Therefore O my soul pass on and think of something else in which the parallel holds betwixt such Fire as that whereby our famous City was lately burnt to ashes and God himself who is stiled a consuming Fire Once again As the power and awfull presence of God are livelily represented to us by this material Fire so also is his anger and that both as to the essence and nature of it as also to several attributes if I may so call them of that attribute of God viz. his wrath As namely the impartialness of it like fire that spareth neither one thing nor another as also the fierceness of it and its consuming destroying nature to which might be added the intollerableness of it c. First we know it is the nature and property of Fire to act as if it were in a great passion and yet it never is in any nor is it capable of any Thus saith God of himself Isa 27.4 Fury is not in me that is I am in no passion neither can he be yet adds who will set the briars and thorns against me in battle I would go thorough them I would burn them together Such things as are the usual effects of anger are frequently done by God but such an affection as wrath in Man is can no wayes consist with those perfections which are in God no more than with the nature of fire upon other accounts I must not forget that I was even now speaking of the impartiality of Fire as one property of that Element by which it resembleth God Fire is no respecter of persons or things so their nature be but combustible it spares neither one nor the other May I not allude to those words 1 Cor. 3.12 If any Man build upon this foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble Here are variety of superstructures mentioned but the Fire buries all in one common heape layes the gold and precious stones amongst the rubbish as well as the wood hay and stubble It mingles Flint stones and Diamonds Pibbles and Jewels in one and the same Grave As is said of Death Eque pulsat pauperam Tabernas Reguâ—â—que turres the like may be said of fire It as soon takes hold on the Pallaces of Princes as on the Cottages of Peasants And is there not the like impartiality in the great God His anger knowes no difference betwixt small and great high and low Psal 76.12 He cutteth off the Spirits of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the Earth Did he not sink rebellious Pharaoh as low in the red Sea as any of his common Souldiers 〈◊〉 did he not give his carkass in common with theirs to be meat to the fishes of that Sea See Isa 9.14 15. The Lord will cut off from Israel head and taile The ancient and honourable he is the head c. Isa 10.12 I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks vers 26. And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Oreb Judg. 7.25 and the Psalmist speaking of Sisera and Jabin the latter of which was the King of Caâ—â—â—â— and had 9000 Chariots of Iron Judg. 4.3 〈◊〉 Sisera was his General saith of them that they perished at Endor and that they became as 〈◊〉 for the Earth Psal 83.10 See what God did to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.21 He was driven from Men and his heart was made like the beasts and his dwelling was with the wilde Asses they fed him with Grass like Oxen and his body was wet with the dew of Heaven till he knew that the most high God ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will Must Jehojakim needs be buried in state because he was the Son of Josiah King of Judah and did succeed him in the Throne No saith God Jer. 22.19 He shall be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem Thus the anger of the great God like fire puts no difference betwixt them that sit on Thrones and those that go from door to door Hence that in Psal 2.10 Be wise oh ye Princes c. Serve the Lord
of God than any other part of the world and London than most part of England Neither did thy means of grace O London more exceed those of other parts than thy other mercies did Hadst thou not the best of every thing the best houses the best trades the best commodities the best provisions the best Physicians Apothecaries Chirurgeons Artists and Artificers in every kind the best accommodations of all sorts Whilst the poor Countries were put off with any thing the very cream of all things was brought to thy hands Had Farmers wont to live like you Citizens they drudged and toiled lived meanly fared hardlie habited themselves in poor and despicable apparrel contented themselves with any thing whilst you dwelt at case and in pomp fed high went gallantly followed the fashions vied with the Court it self So were you provided for as if all England yea as if all the remote parts of the world as far as both the Indies had been made for no other end than to serve and supply London and their sheaf like that of Josephs brethren to bow to your sheaf What did either London serve the Countrey with or the Countrey serve its selfe with but as I may say the very leavings and refuse of the City As the spleen and mesentery and other more ignoble parts are fed with the coursest kind of blood which nature will not offer to the heart and liver so was the Countrey with those mean things which the City did little less than disdain Yea had not London amongst other priviledges greater variety of good company than other places had good Christians ingenious men in all professions insomuch that some could no more frame themselves to live out of London than Fish can to live out of the water These things considered London proportionably to its priviledges should have been the best place in the whole world But was it so It is hard comparing the sins of one place with another but sure I am the sins of London were many and great all its priviledges notwithstanding Wonder not then O London that God hath set thee on fire whilst other places are yet spared Wert thou as good as other places possibly so but thou shouldest have been betthan they for the means and mercies thou hast enjoyed far above them Yea wert thou better than some other places that may be too but wert thou so much better as thou were happier than they did thy goodness towards God exceed theirs as much as his goodness towards thee exceeded his goodness towards them Who knows not that to whom much is given from them much is expected If they made four talents of two was it not more than if thou didst make seven talents of five O Lord thou hast severely chastened this great City cause all that are concerned to know there is a just reason for what thou hast done That place hast thou known above all other places and hast not dealt so with any people almost as thou hast dealt with the inhabitants thereof therefore hast thou punished them for their iniquity Thou speakest of tribulation upon the Jew first as being those that had the greatest priviledges and afterwards upon the Gentiles so thou hast begun with London first it being but equal they should first drink of the cup of misery who have drunk deepâ—st of the cup of abused mercy Should Londons punishments be alwaies so much greater than those of other places as her mis-improved priviledges have been would not she that was first become last she that was the head become the tail she that was the happiest become of all Cities and places most miserable May the Repentance of that once great City be such such thy favour and good will towards it that it may sit once more as a Queen wear that Crown of honour and dignity which till all earthly things shall be dissolved may never fall more from its head FINIS PHYSICAL Contemplations OF THE Nature and Natural-Causes OF FIRE Morally Applied BY SAMVEL ROLLS Minister of the Word and sometime Fellow of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge LONDON Printed by R. I. for Nathaniel Ranew and Jonathan Robinson 1667. To his Highly Honoured Friends Dr. GEORGE BATE HIS MAJESTIES Learned Proto-medicus And to Doctor JOHN MICKLETHVVAITE To Doctor EDMOND TRENCH To Doctor THOMAS COXE One of his Majesties Physicians And to Doctor THOMAS WHARTON SAMUEL ROLLS Dedicateth the insuing Contemplations with profession of his great respects and in thankful acknowledgment of all the undeserved favours he hath received from them Physicall Contemplations of the Nature and Natural Causes of FIRE CONTEMPLATION I. Concerning the Nature of Fire and the use that may be made of that Contemplation IT much increaseth my wonder at the great things done by Fire when I seriously consider what Fire is I had almost said what a petty thing it is I could scarce believe it at the first but am now convinced past all doubt that Fire is nothing but a mighty swarm and corrent of sulphurious particles or motes of brimstone violently agitated or moved and forcibly breaking out from those respective bodies to which they did formerly belong That Fire is a meer stream of small particles motes or atomes methinks the strange vanishing of so much of every thing as did turn to Fire as it were into aire or smoke or we know not what our selves doth prove sufficiently Though there be some remainder of all or most things that are burnt as namely ashes c. yet a great part of each body so destroyed is missing flies away imperceptibly that is we see nothing of what it was before and we can but guess at most what is become of it Bodies of bulk and weight and yet not very much neither though they may ascend for the present upon the wings of others as bars of Iron blown up with Gun-powder yet down they come again and having got rid of that mantle either of smoke or fire in which they mounted up come under our view again so do the salt and Earthy parts of most bodies which we call by the name of ashes What small things are ashes and yet too heavy alwaies to keep aloft pressed down to the Earth with that little weight they have which is next to none take them singlely and one by one Surely then those flaming bodies which keep their station above and never return to us again as we can discern which fly up to the Element of Fire if such a notion may be admitted and there abide as Rivers run into the Sea they must be exceeding light and weightless and consequently as exile and small as can be imagined For matter as Fire doubtless is cannot but be ponderous if there be any quantity of it together Were several motes such as we see in the aire joyned together they could not flote and swim as they do in that thin vehicle but would quickly sink to the ground much less were they able to fly up to heaven
sort ought not to be bad in contempt or to be needlesly put into a combustion Alas were it not that God had put a divine stamp upon Magistrates as he hath been pleased to call them Gods surely they could no more rule the people when in the calmest temper that ever they are in some being alwaies too rough then they could rule the Sea What wisdom can it then be to put so unruly a body into agroundless commotion If this Sea once become troubled work and rage and foam and swell how much is it to be feared it may overflow all its banks and invade us with a ruining inundation It was not cowardize but prudence in Herod to decline putting of John to death for fear of the people because they accounted him a Prophet Matth. 14.15 Likewise in the chief Priests and Elders of the people not to reply unto Christ that the Baptism of John was of men because of the people who all held him as a Prophet Matth. 21.26 For my own part I dread the Insurrection of people no less than the consequences of Fire it self the beginnings whereof have appeared very contemptible so that it hath been said as is reported that such a fire as that was at the first might be pissed out but the conclusion fatal beyond all imagination Now do I long to be at the end of this Meditation but having promised to shew what the matter of those particles is whereof Fire consists and considering with my self that some good morall may be gathered and infer'd from thence as I have already hinted that sulphurious or oily particles are those whereof Fire doth altogether or mostly consist so I shall now undertake to prove that so it is and consider how we may improve it It is manifest that all mixt bodies here below are compounded of five Elements or principles viz. Spirit otherwise called Mercury Water or Phlegme Sulphur or an Oily kind of substance Salt and Earth For each natural body be it of vegitables Animals or Minerals is by chymical art reduced or resolved into these five From any such bodie may be drawn a spirit or generous subtile liquor an Oile a Water a Salt and a kind of Earth saving that the two last are rather said to stay behind than to be drawn now if each body that is burning be as it is both its own fire and its own fuell both that which burns and that which is burnt then one or more of the fore-mentioned principles so modified must be the matter and form of fire As for the Watery and Phlegmatick part of each body no man will so confound two Elements so contrary each to other as to say that is the Fire which consumes Then as for that Salt and Earth which belongs to bodies they are not the Fire that burns them up for that which burns so far forth consumes and flies away but Salt and Earth they remain after the greatest burnings under the form of Ashes True it is that spirit or spiritous Liquor which is in Bodies is capable of taking Fire as we see spirit of Wine will burn and Feavers arise in the bodies of men by vertue of their spirits being inflamed but then we must consider that there is but little of that which is called Spirit or Spirits in Timber and such like materials of houses as are destroyed by Fire neither is the Fire of any great duration which hath only Spirits for its fuell as we see in the bodies of men that those Feavers which only fire the Spirits never last above three or four daies and many times not above one day and are therefore called Ephemeral Having therefore quitted Water Salt and Earth from being the causes of Fire and also proved that the Spirits of such kind of bodies which have but little of Spirits in them cannot contribute much to the maintenance of a desolating Fire Sulphur or the oyly part of each body will appear to be the great Incendiary and to be more the matter fuell and fomenter of Fire than any thing else And that it is so doth yet further appear in that such bodies of all others are most apt to take Fire and to burn fiercely when they have so done in which there is most of a sulphurious or oily substance as Oile it self Pitch Tarre c. Moreover we see that when any body is thoroughly burnt the sulphurious parts are all or most of them gone as if conscious of what they bad done they had fled for it and which is most of all demonstrative when those parts are once gone all or most of them what remains will burn no longer as you see we cannot make a fire with Ashes for that they consist only of Salt and Earth with little or no commixture of Sulphur Sith then Sulphur or Brimstone though in an acceptation somewhat different from that which in commonly called by that name is the great matter of Fire and the Agitation Commotion and Flight of it is the very Form of Fire I shall the less wonder hereafter to finde the Scripture still joyning Brimstone and Fire together So Gen. 19 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom Brimstone and Fire Psal 11.6 On the wicked he shalt rain Fire and Brimstone And Isa 30.33 The Pile whereof is Fire much Wood. The breath of the Lord like astream of Brimstone kindleth it viz. Tophet Fire most usually kindleth Fire A stream of Brimstone in violent motion is Fire and here you see the breath of the Lord is said like a mighty stream of Brimstone to kindle Tophet which kinde of expression is more genuine and philosophical than most men know it to be and may hint unto us that thorough our ignorance it comes to pass that many expressions in Scripture seem to us no more proper and significant than they do it faring with us in the reading of holy Writ as with those that ignorantly walk or ride over precions Mines little do they think what a world of Treasure they tread upon nor if they did could they be content till they had gotten within the bowels of that ground which now they flightly trample upon But I have been too long in this Philosophical contemplation because it was such and must endeavour to compensate my prolixity in this with greater Brevity in the rest at leastwise of that sort if any such shall occur CONTEMPLATION II. Touching the Nature of Sulphur which is the principal matter and cause of Fire and how it comes to be so mischievous in the World BEing credibly informed that the Element called Sulphur hath had the greatest hand under God in the late dismal Fire as it hath had in all other whereby Towns and Cities have been laid waste it is but fit we should take him under serious examination and strictly enquire what he is by what waies and means he brings such great desolations to pass Sulphur that is Brimstone so called by Chymists because it hath some assinity with that which
we commonly call Brimstone though it be not the very same for our common Brimstone is a compounded body so is not that we treat of is one of those Elements or principles with which all terrestrial bodies are made up and whereof they consist It hath pleased the God of nature who is called Natura naturans that amongst all things here below even those which go by the name of Elements as Air and Water and Earth there should be no one pure and unmixed and which is more strange that the principles of which each body is compounded should be of different and contrary natures viz. hot cold moist and dry heavy and light active and unactive weak and strong Yea that contrariety which is betwixt those Elements of Fire and Water Earth and Air which are the Ingredients of each Sublunary makes for the good of each and for the benefit of the whole so long as they quietly draw together in that yoak of mixture in which God hath placed them So that as the Apostle speaks in another case 1 Cor. 12.21 The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the feet I have no need of you Fire cannot say to Water or Water to Fire or either of them to Earth I have no need of you Though some of them do curb and limit the Activity of others yea the more ignoble put some restraint upon those that are more noble than themselves yet in all this they do but what is necessary for the well-being if not also for the very being of the compositum Mercury and Sulphur would be too volatile and apt to vanish if Earth and water did not hold them in Water and Earth would be too dull and sluggish if Sulphur and Mercury did not put life into them Elements are said to abide in mixtion refractly that is brokenly not one of them being able so fully to execute its own pleasure and inclination as it might if it were all alone and it is best it should be so for if one of them get an absolute unlimited power and make vassals of all the rest presently all goes to wrack So in acute Feavers when either the spirits are too high or the sulphurious part of the blood and so in chronical Feavers or Agues when salt is become too predominant in the blood and hath sowred it like Ale in Summer you see what work it makes how it threatens no less than death and dissolution Yet give me leave to say though no one Element have unlimited power where there is a due mixtion yet neither is Anarchy or Ataxy to be found in mixt bodies no not in vegetables which have the lowest degree of life nor yet in minerals which have none For some one Element is still predominant over all the rest hence amongst men some are connted fanguine others phlegmatick c. there being no where found in bodies that which is called I empeâ—â—mentum ad pondus that is just so much fire as water and air as earth weight for weight as if Nature were a Levelker but temperamentum ad justitiam as in a Medicine in which are scruples of gentle purgers to a few grains of those that are stronger and in each a basis which is supreme over all things in the medicine yet not put without its correctives lest it should work too violently You will see anon whether all this tends I said before that sulphur is one Element or Ingredient of all terrestrial bodies and now I shall add that it is one of the most active noble and useful amongst them all If that which is called the Spirit or mercurial part do excell the sulphur as it is said to do yet doth sulphur as much excel the other three Principles viz. Salt Water and Earth so long as it remains in a convenient mixture and dwels peaceably with all the rest It were casie to expatiate in the commendation of Sulphur so placed and qualified as God hath originally placed and qualified it in and with other Elements Sulphur say Chymists and truly is as it were the warm bosom in which the spirituous parts of all bodies do lodge the bond of union or copula betwixt spirits and more gross substances as Cartilages or gristles are betwixt hard bones and more tender parts It is that to which most bodies do chiefly owe their acceptable colour taste sent and amiable texture From thence most vegetables do derive their maturity sweetness and most other perfective qualities It doth such service in bodies as nothing doth more namely it curbs the sharpness of that salt which is in them it blunts the acrimony of the spirits by its supple oily quality it cements and sodres other elements which otherwise would never hold together being somewhat glutinous it contributes to the consistence of bodies which would be otherwise over flaid and volutile in a word it hath a faculty of resisting patrefaction more than any thing else in so much that by means thereof Ale may be kept from sowring in the midst of Summer and Juices of Plants from corrupting All this and much more may be truly affirmed of Sulphur whilst it keepes its proper place and station But when this noble and useful Element once becomes impatient of the Yoak of mixtion with other Elements and will no longer indure that water should allay it Salt should fix it Earth should clog and retard it nor yet that the spirits though more excellent than its self should govern it then doth it play the maddest pranks imaginable it breaks away from those other Elements that were joined with it like an unruly servant from his Master that flings open the doors that who will may come out or go in leaves all exposed to rapine and spoile and not content with that musters together all the debauched youth such as himself that he can come neer drawes them away from their respective Masters and engageth them in the same Rebellion with himself and by this meanes it not only ruines all that society whereof it was before a profitable member and those which it hath drawn into the same conspiracy but its self also For it can no more subsist without those Elements which it hath cast off than they can subsist without it and so it quickly vanisheth and comes to nothing I say not only the Elements which are left behinde do moulder and crumble to dust and ashes but by that meanes its selâ— is quickly almost annihilated which is far worse Now methinks there should be some morality if not Divinity also to be learned from this discourse of sulphur which if I had despaired of I would never have dived so far into it How naturally then do the following considerations offer themselves from what hath been discoursed as touching sulphur viz. In the first place how useful many men of sulphurious tempers that is active subtle and vigorous might be could they but skill of it to be contented and peaceable
but on the other hand how dangerous all such persens are even above others when once transported with pride or passion affectation of undue liberty or unlimitted dominion Then do they verify that saying Corruptio optimi est pessima The best things when depraved become the worst of all An Apostate Arch-angel is most likely to make a Belzebub or Prince of Devils No Element more perfective of bodies than sulpâ—ur duly bounded but otherwise none so destructive Moreover how great an embleme is sulphur of those men and of their misery who have not the wisdome to know when they are well who want for nothing and yet cannot be content Such men whilst they grasp at more usually lose what they had like our first parents who affecting to be as God knowing good and evil when they knew enough already became like the bruites that perish or as Luciser if that be meant of the Devil who saying he would ascend and be like the most high aut Deus aut nullus as he said aut Caesar aut nullus was cast down to hell Sulphur is in point of power and dignity the second Element in each body yet oft times that satisfieth it not but it would have the Throne which belongeth to the things called spirits and then Icarus-like by soaring so high it melts its waxen wings and falls down into almost nothing I further observe how sulphur whilst it destroyes other things destroyes its self so many men whilst Sampson-like they go about to destroy the Philistines as they count them pluck the house as he did upon their own heads Such as are ever biting and devouring others are like by others to be bitten and devoured Gal. 5.15 The sad experience we have had in that kind may save me the labour of reflecting yet further from the nature of Sulphur upon the danger of an intestine War when one part of the same body fights with another or with all the rest Sulphur is a part of those bodies which it preyes upon and what doth it get by it it ruines the fabrick it did belong to and its self to boot yea some parts of the body after it hath done its worst do still remain when its self is utterly extinct and no more to be seen Moreover I observe that sulphur goes about to destroy that order which God hath placed in the World viz. That Elements of a different nature should cohabit and dwell together in peace and concord which may be done for so it fareth in most things in the World Sulphur would make a schisme and a rent as not induring to have its excesses corrected as it is needful they should be therefore it fancieth to dwel alone sues out a divorce and puts asunder the things which God had joyned together and what comes thereof Doth it not perish in the doing of it I am deceived if men of so proud a temper that they can brook no allay of their excesses which are things incident to most men both in opinion and practice by a commixture of such Elements as they might safely cohabit with yea and be happy though not perfectly humoured in a conjunction with them do not at length gain as little by it as enraged Sulphur doth when it flies from the reft of those Elements to which it was formerly united and soon after dies like a woman that will needs live from her husband and so starves for want of Alimony Men of that principle and practice go about to dissolve the world at leastwise take that course that would do it if followed in all things For when the great God shall assign to each Element its proper and distinct place by it self in case he annihilate them not which no instrument is more fit to effect than Fire then will the whole world be at an end CONTEMPLATION III. Concerning the true cause of Combustibility or what it is that doth make Bodies obnoxious to Fire together with the improvement of that consideration IT is the Fire that is within each Terrestrial body which alone exposeth it to that Fire which is without It is a most true saying that Fire is potentially in almost all bodies but actually in very few the meaning is there is that in most bodies which can easily become fire yea which is actually fire quoad actum primum and differs no more from true fire than the same man when he is quiet differs from himself when he is in a rage or passion which he may be easily put into Were it not for that fire that is within its self nothing could be burnt for fire doth all its execution upon other things by means of that confederacy and conspiracy which it hath with those bodies which are inkindled by it opening as it were the prison-doors for them knocking off their fetters rescuing them from their keepers I mean those contrary Elements whereby they were restrained before and kept asunder and then giving them opportunity to unite together and with joynt force violently to break away and to destroy those bodies which before they did help to preserve How great cause have we then to wonder that almost the whole creation is not in a flame sith most creatures carry fire as it were in their bosoms continually at leastwise are as tinder which a few sparks falling upon are able to turn into fire It is no marvel to see those things destroyed which do alwaies bear about them the instruments and principles of their own destruction as one that did alwaies go up and down with his pockets full of loose Gun-powder In a like sense as St. John saith All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the eye meaning as fuel ready for those lusts to kindle upon and propagate its self by may it be said that all or most things of the World are Fire as to some part of them that is as fuell for fire to work upon and to convert into its own nature May not this notion of creatures being consumed by their own internal fire put us in mind how that mans destruction also is of himself and that our greatest enemies as Christ saith are those of our own house The fire of temptation from without us could do us no great hurt were it not for the fire of sin within us consenting and conspiring therewith For every man is then only tempted that is overcome by temptation when he is inticed and drawn away of his own lusts It is said of Christ that the Devill came and found nothing in him Thereupon it was that the fiery darts which he threw at Christ were presently quenched and took no effect neither could they upon us if there were nothing in us to comply with them Woe unto us that we are traytors to our selves and do naturally combine with our greatest enemies to accomplish our own ruine But as those bodies are least incident to fire in which there is most of water salt or earth
milk that is sowred or turned which were before perfectly united Then the sulphurious or oily part of the blood thus set at liberty flies thorough the body with great violence and sets all into a combustion And this is the great instance as from within our selves of Fire arising from Putrefaction As for an experiment from without one may suffice viz. that of Dung which lying together in heaps and so putrifying more and more doth sometimes wax so hot that it sets fire on the straw that is mingled with it which is long of its sulphurious parts by putrefaction set at liberty and flying away in great troops and with much violence And is there nothing to be made of all this besides matter of Speculation You know what corruption and putrefaction doth signifie in a moral sense and sure I am that kind of corruption is the cause of all the mischievous fires that are in the world Did God drown the old world because all flesh had corrupted its self and did he not burn Sodom and Gomorrah for the same cause So likewise Jerusalem Jer. 9. v. 13. The Scripture calls sinful communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is rotten or putrified Eph. 4.20 and saith of it that it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is corrupt or putrifie good manners Many fires are kindled by such communication viz. fires of lust and fires of anger and of revenge besides those fires of judgment and vengeance which God sends upon the world for the same James 3.6 The tongue is a fire a world of iniquity and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell Moreover if we take the word putrefaction strictly for a secession or separation of principles or elements formerly united in that acception it is capable of a good moral and may serve to teach us how great the danger of perfect separation and disunion is even amongst those whose principles do so far forth disagree that they cannot be together but refractly as fire and water in mixtion Yet these in natural bodies as contrary as they seem do much better in a convenient mixture and composition than they ever can singly and apart yea when they fall in pieces though one bear a greater sway for the present than before and that the worthiest of all the rest as it might be the spirits in Ephemeral Feavers yet as well that part which rules more absolutely than ever for the time being as those parts which are more than ever subjected to it is quickly destroyed and brought to nothing Natural bodies cannot be mistaken about their own party which are really such but by a kinde of infallible instinct do draw those parts out of other bodies which are for kinde the same with themselves as the kindled fulphur that is in one body kindles and drawes forth that sulphur which is in another and yet it proves unhappy and fatal to those bodies as to sulphur in particular that they divide from all others and will unite only amongst themselves though they are all perfectly of the same species and no more than just numerically differenced How it should be more safe for men to do the same thing viz. to abstract and divorce themselves from all but those that are of their perswasion whilst mean time divers may be such only in pretence and for their own ends for ought they know and others whom they reject may heartily symbolize with them in more things I say how that can be prudent or safe I am yet to learn Those that affect that simplicity which is poculiar to God and his alone prerogative let them conceive a displeasure against the composition of their own bodies and try conclusions to make them consist but of one Element and that the noblest of all Let them quarrel four of those five principles which are the ingredients of our bodies and resolve to turn sulphur salt Earth and Water out of doors and that they will consist of meer spirits and to that end let them exalt those spirituous liquors that are in them to the greatest height that may be that so they may be able to turn those four inferiour principles out of possession and live alone in and throughout the whole body all the veines and arteries being henceforth filled with spirits only in stead of blood Try how this experiment will succeed If it do well attempt the like thing upon the Church and State bring them to the same pass But if you finde this likely to set on fire the whole course of nature to set you in a violent feaver that will soon burn you to death be so just as not to wish that should be done to others that you would by no meanes have done to your selves and suspect that may be bad for publick bodies which would be so destructive to your own private Let one principle bear rule over all the rest as in good Wines the spirituous parts are predominant and let the noblest Element sway the Scepter else things will degenerate as Wines do into Vinegar when the spirits are kept under and the saline or saltish particles exalted but let the less noble Elements not be excluded but fairly comprehended in a due mixtion and subordination otherwise if it fare with men as it doth with fire that which aspires to be all in all will soon vanish and be as it were annihilated CONTEMPLATION VI. Of Fire kindled by the collision of two hard bodies AS obvious almost as any of the former is the way of kindling fire by the collision or smiting together of two hard bodies as when slint steel are struck one against the other the reason why fire issues from thence is because by the blow given the sulphurious particles of the steel and flint are put in motion Now inward they cannot move because these bodies being hard and of close parts do suffer nothing to get within them for as much as there can be no penetrating of dimensions Therefore our they must come and if they could come out leisurely and by degrees they would produce no fire or scarce so much as heat but sallying forth in great haste and all at once as if they were affrighted with the blow they had received by virtue of their number union and violent motion they ingender sparks produce that fire which we discern to come from them Just thus it is betwixt persons of stout and sturdy spirits when they happen to clash one against another retreat and retire into themselves they cannot to deliberate and consider what they had best to do so full are they of themselves that is of their pride and passion but out they come being once put into a commotion and with all the spirits they can make muster together assaile each other and with their drawn glittering swords do as it were fire at one another and with greatest eagerness pursue a bloody duell Now oh the folly of men Do they not know that the
which is said to be quick and powerful as fire its self The fires which God kindleth for the good of the world whereof his word is one of the chief woe be to any that shall go about to quench Quenching of prophecying is next unto quenching of the Spirit yea and is one way of doing it as Divines observe I see cause to blesse the God of heaven who hath created some fires as profitable as others are mischievous namely his word for one a fire that never doth hurt otherwise than by accident neither indeed would other fires kept within their due bounds but so much good as no tongue can express O Lord that through thine insinite goodness I might experiment in my self and others all those excellent properties of fire meeting in thy word of which I have now been speaking that my heart and theirs might burn within us at the hearing of it as did the hearts of thy Disciples that it may be mighty through thee to pull down all the strong-holds of Sin and Sathan that are within us that it might trye us as gold is tryed in the fire and at the same time resined and purisied that it might pierce unto the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow that the sin which is as it were bred in our bones may be gotten out of the very flesh May the fire of thy word have such influence as this upon us we shall then be sure to escape the fire of thy wrath and to arrive to that happiness which is called The inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 MEDITATION XL. Upon the spoiling of Conduits and other Aqueducts by this Fire ME-thinks the several Conduits that were in London stood like so many little but strong Forts to confront and give check to that great enemy Fire if any occasion should be There me-thinks the water was as it were intrenched and ingarrisoned The several Pipes and Vehicles of water that were within those Conduits all of them charged with water till by the turning of the Cocks they were discharged again were as so many Souldiers within those Forts with their Musquets charged and ready to be discharged upon the drawing of their several Cocks to keep and defend those places And look how Enemies are wont to deal with those Castles which they take to be impregnable and dispair of ever getting by storm viz. to attempt the starving of them by a close Siege intercepting all provision of Victuals from coming at them so went the fire to work with those little Castles of stone which were not easie for it to burn down witness their standing to this day spoiled them or almost spoiled them it hath for present by cutting off those supplies of water which had wont to slow to them melting those leaden Channels in which the water had wont to be conveyed to them and thereby as it were starving those Garrisons which they could not take by storm What the Scripture speaks of the Land of Jordan that it was well watered every where before the Lord destroyed Sodom even as the Garden of the Lord like the Land of Egypt made fruitful by the River Nilus the same might have been said of London before this fire It was watered like Paradise its self yea whereas Paradise had but one River though it parted into four heads Gen. 2.10 London had two at least deviding its self or rather devided into many branches and dispersing its self several wayes For besides the noble River of Thames gliding not only by the sides but thorow the bowels of London there was another called the New-River brought from Hartfordshire thither by the industry and ingenuity of that worthy and never to be forgotten Knight Sir Hugh Middleton the spring of whose deserved fame is such as the late Fire its self though the dreadfullest of all that we have known hath not nor will not be able to dry up but continue it will a Fountain of praise and honour bubling up to all posterity As nature by Veins and Arteries some great some small placed up and down all parts of the Body ministreth blood and nourishment to every member thereof and part of each member so was that wholsome Water which was as necessary for the good of London as blood is for the life and health of the body conveyed by Pipes wooden or metalline as by so many veins into all parts of that famous City If water were as we may call it the blood of London then were its several Conduits as it were the Liver and Spleen of that City which are reckoned as the Fountains of blood in humane bodies for that the great Trunks of veins conveying blood about the body are seated there as great Roots fixed in the Earth shooting out their branches divers and sundry wayes But alas how were those Livers inflamed and how unfit have they been since to do their wonted Office What pity it is to see those breasts of London for so I may also call them almost dryed up and the poor Citizens mean time so loth as they are to be weaned from their former place They were lovely streams indeed which did refresh that noble City one of which was alwayes at work pouring out its self when the rest lay still As if the Fire had been angry with the poor old Tankard-bearers both Men and Women for propagating that Element which was contrary to it and carrying it upon their shoulders as it were in State and Triumph it hath even destroyed their Trade and threatned to make them perish by fire who had wont to live by water Seeing there are few or none to suck those Breasts at this day the matter is not so great if they be almost empty and dry at present may they but sill again and their Milk be renewed so soon as the honest Citizens shall come again to their former scituations O Lord that it might be thy good pleasure to let London be first restor'd and ever after preserved from Fire and when once restored let it be as plentifully and commodiously supplied with water as ever it was formerly Make it once again as the Paradise of God but never suffer any destroying Serpent any more to come there MEDITATION XLI Upon the Retorts and Reproaches of Papists occasioned by this fire ME-thinks I hear some Reman-Catholicks as they are pleased to call themselves saying Some of your Protestants did confidently foretel That within this present year 1666 Rome should down Babylon should fall Antichrist should be destroyed But now your own City is destroyed in the self-same-year which according to you doth show that London was the true Babylon and that the true Antichrist is amongst your selves Yet upon due examination it will be found that there is as little strength in the Argument which they have brought as there is sense in the name whereby they are called viz. Roman-Catholicks which is as much as to say Members of the particular
go out MEDITATION L. Upon some who sâ—on after the Fire could hardly tell whereabouts their own houses did stand SO it was that some who attempted to visit the Ruines and Reliques of those Houses in which they dwelt not above a week before though they found the Street in which they stood yet had much ado to be certain which was the ground they stood upon He that should have told them but one day before the Fire began that within five or six dayes they being in London and in the same Street where their dwelling was should not be able to find the way to their own Houses where they had lived it may be twenty years and upwards would have been lookt upon as mad or replied to in some such language as this What should aile us Shall we be out of our wits within that time or Shall we be struck with blindness as the Sodomites were that sought for Lots door or if so we think we could find our own Houses blindfold or in the darkest night at so small a distance or Shall London be changed as much as Sodom and Gomorrah which were fair Cities but are now a filthy Lake Or how and by what means should it be so much altered He did not more express his admiration and disbelief of what was foretold in another case who said If God would make Windows in Heaven how could this be than most men would have expressed theirs as to this Yet do we see the thing which could enter into no mans heart to conceive till he saw it is come to pass Methinks it is sad to hear men that knew London well enough before as they walk along the Ruins asking at every turn Which is the way to such a place and What street is this and What Street is that But yet more sad to think of men that have sought their own Houses not far from the place where they had wont to stand and could not easily find them There is a phrase in Scripture of Mens places knowing them no more but in this case that phrase was inversed viz. Men for the time knew their places no more Oh stupendious Judgment I see it is easie for God to do such things as are hardly possible for men to believe till they see them done So true is it that the wayes of God are above our wayes and his thoughts above our thoughts as much as the Heaveris are above the Harth How good is it then to be armed against all sorts of evil not only such as are likely and probable but even those which are no more than possible and What evil is there which he cannot inslict to whom all things are possible For ought I see no man is secured against any kind of Judgment but he that is secured against all in some sense by vertue of that promise Prov. 12.21 Wo evil shall happen to the just with others of the same import Nothing could be more improbable than that so many Calamities of different kinds should befall Job not successively but at one and the same time viz. The Sabaeâ—ms taking away his Cattel and killing his servants Job 1.14 And that whilest the first Messenger was yet speaking another should come and tell him that fire falling from Heaven 〈…〉 up his sheep and his servants and that before the words were out of his mouth another should come and inform him That the Caldeans had â—â—rried away his Camels and slain others of his servants and that before he had made an end of his story another should come and tell him That a great Wind had killed his Sons and Daughters by throwing down the house upon them where they were eating and drinking together and that only one person should escape each of these dangers being reserved as it were on purpose to bring him the tidings of it Such a conspiracy of Providences as I may call it to strip a man of all his Comforts at once could scarce have been imagined till the event did declare it Unexpected and unimaginable miseries are not much more rare than unexpected and unlookt-for Mercies Upon this occasion I cannot but think of three other sorts of houses as we may term them which men have or may seek for and not be able to find First our bodies they are the Houses or Tabernacles in which our souls dwell as he said Anima Galbre male habitat Galba's soul dwelt in an ill-body when those houses shall be crumbled away to dust or devoured of worms who will be able to find them or to say Which were they The Graves of men they are the Houses or Receptacles of their dead bodies Job 17.13 If I wait the grave is my house and the grave is called the house appointed for all living Job 30.23 How many such houses as those could not be found if they should never so carefully be sought for How ordinarily are the dead turned out of possession and the living come in their room that is Charnel-houses have been turned into dwelling-houses and many more such instances are like to be so that it hath and will become impossible not only to know the bodies of dead men again but their very graves And the then Earth it 's self that is as it were the house of all graves the great Golgotha or place of skulls Now when that time shall come which is spoken of 2 Pet. 3.10 in which the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up that great House of houses and graves if it be sought for will be found no more MEDITATION LI. On the Statue of Sir Thomas Gresham left standing at the Old-Exchange HOw great and particular a respect did the Fire shew to the Essigies of that worthy Knight the honourable Founder of that which was the Royal-Exchange and doner of Gresham-Colledge which for present succeeds in the room of it I say how great a respect by the appointment of Divine Providence without which not a hair falleth from our heads did that Fire shew to his Effigies in particular which it left standing and undefaced whilst mean time the Statues of all the Kings and Queens of England since the Conquest were demolished and thrown down by it No man could have answered it to have put more honour upon a fellow-Subject than upon his lawful Prince much lesse upon one Subject than upon many that had swayed the Scepter within his native Soil for certainly there is an honour which Kings as Kings may challenge from their own people greater than is due to any of their Subjects but God who is the King of Kings may do what he please He may pull down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree as it is Luke 1.52 Men must have regard to political claimes and rights in dispensing their respects and give honour to whom honour is due upon that account but moral considerations are those which the Great God takes notice of who is otherwise no respecter
I have spoken to the great ends of life and the attainableness of them as well by persons of low as of high degree But alas how few in comparison of the lump of mankind or of Men called Christians have yet attained those end for which they live viz. have laid up a good foundation for eternity c. and they are yet fewer who are able to say they have done it For some may have attained thereunto and yet not know it How unsafely do they die who die before they have attained the ends for which they did live and how uncomfortably must they also die who die before they know they have attained them Therefore I say it is a great mercy to the greatest part of Men and Women to be reprieved from Death and from the Grave David as good a Man as he was beg'd hard for this Psal 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more yet was his condition at that time very afflicted for he saith vers 10. Remove thy stroke from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand vers 11. when thou dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Which he seems to speak of as his own case at that time when he cried out O spare me before I go hence Is it not with most people in the World as with idle Boyes in a School at a time when their Master is absent when it is almost time to give over they have scarce lookt into their books or done any thing they came for but played all the while How necessary is it for such Men to live a little longer How sad would it be with them if God should say to them as to that secure fool This night shall thy soul be required of thee were they sensible of their own concernment would not such men prize a little time in the World as those poor Levellers did that were shot at Burford about ten years since Oh that they might live but one day or but one hour longer to enjoy those Ordinances of God which they had formerly despised or as she that in horrour cried out upon her death-bed Call time again call time again If life be necessary for thee as if thou hast not yet attained the ends of life I am sure it is more necessary for thee than any worldly thing by how much it is more necessary that thou shouldst be saved than that thou shouldst be rich or honourable I say if life be more necessary for thee than riches and honour and any thing of this World as it is because upon that moment eternity depends then hast thou cause to look upon it as a great mercy and to be very thankfull for it May it not be said of some men that are dead gone that if they had died but one year or one moneth sooner they had been damned The last year or the last moneth was more to them than all their life before for that they were born I mean born again not long before they died He that can cause the earth to bring forth in one day and a Nation to be born at once Isa 66.8 How great a change can he make in the souls of men in a very short time Yea I remember an excellent Divine of our own hath a passage to this purpose viz. That one day spent in serious meditation of God and Christ the joyes of Heaven the torments of Hell the evil of sin the excellency of grace the vanity of the creature the necessity of regeveration and such like things might contribute more to the conversion and salvation of a sinner than all that hath been done by him in all the time past of his life though possibly he hath lived many years in the world We shall never know what the worth of life and of time is till we come to improve it to those high ends and purposes for which God hath chiefly given it as namely unto making our calling and election sure c. but when we have done finding how great a pleasure a little time hath done us of what unspeakable use and advantage it hath been to us we shall reckon our selves more bound to God for it than for any other temporal enjoyment we shall think a little time to speak in the language of our Proverb to have been worth a Kings ransome Consider life as an estate of hope as Salomon saith Eccles 9.4 To all the living there is hope and death to the wicked as a hopeless state Job 27.8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he have gained when God taketh away his soul and then tell me if it be not a great mercy but to live But on the base heart of man that will not suffer him to know how great a mercy life is because it will not serve him to improve it A life so spent as multitudes of people do spend theirs will prove a curse rather than a blessing as having done little in it but treasured up wrath against the day of wrath Nor is it ever to be expected that they will bless God for life who have cause to curse the time that they have lived though all thorough their own default He that would comfort himself in the thoughts of his being yet alive and take it for a great mercy that his life though little else is left him for a prey let him sit down and confider what earnings he may make of that time which is left him in the world be it little or much If from henceforth he shall set his face towards Zion set out in the waies of godliness give up his name to Christ engage in the work he came into the world about enter upon the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom set himself to seek the Lord with all his heart or at leastwise repaire to the pool of Bethesdah and wait there for cure follow on to know the Lord that he may know him strive to enter in at the straight gate dig for wisdom as for silver and for knowledge as for hidden treasure make it his business that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord I say whosoever shall do so and persevere in so doing will finde so happy a product of that work whereunto he hath consecrated and devoted the remainder of his life as will make him prize and value one day so spent more than many daies and moneths â—n which all the comfort of his life as he accounted it came in by eating and drinking and company-keeping by hunting hawking diâ—ing carding and such like divertisements He will look upon that time as spent in damning his soul as much as in him lay but the other in saving it and therefore he must needs value this more than that One was a time of running into debt the other of getting old scores paid off or blotted out and therefore must
to rebate the petulancy of sulphur so are those soules lest obnoxious to the injuries of temptation that have the most grace which in scripture is compared sometimes to water and other times to salt let your words be seasoned with salt that is with grace Seeing then in this life more or less of sin will alwayes cleave to us as so much sulphur ready to set us on fire labour we to weaken the power of it by the predominancy of grace so shall the remainder of our very sins in some sense contribute to our good as sulphur to the good of those bodies it is mixed with as tending to keep us from pride security self-confidence trust in our own righteousness and such like evils to weaken in us the salt sharp humour of censuring others to make our spirits more serious and consistent by the shame and grief which they occasion in us so shall we improve them as vipers in treacle which so mixed make it the better antidote and that which was as down-right fire in the commission of it shall become as profitable sulphur in our reflection upon it and accommodating of it to the forementioned uses and purposes CONTEMPLATION IV. Of Fire kindled by Fire THe most usual way of kindling sire as we all know is by fire one fire begets another That which is actually fire makes actual fire of that which before was but potentially or rather habitually such The reason is plainly this things of the same kinde do naturally resort one to another and consort each with other as we say proverbially that Bards of a feather flock together and fire hath a name above all other things for congregating or calling together things that are homogeneous or of the same nature as also for segregating or separating things that are heterogeneous or of a different kinde in so much that that was made the very definition of fire by them that knew no better Now actual Fire when it bath once separated the fulphurious particles of other bodies from those more quiet Elements which did restrain them whilst mixed therwith and when it hath brought those wilde Atomes together which before were conveniently dispersed and dis-joyned each from other the product is this that each of these being habitually fire as flints are out of which fire may be struck what with the irritation they receive from actual fire and what with that greater strength they have acquired by being united in such great multitudes presently they begin to kindle and show themselves in actual fire and as it were to brandish their glittering swords which before they kept as it were in scabbards as by way of triumph that they had now cast off the yoak of mixtion with discenting and restraining Elements and possest themselves of that liberty which they were alwayes desirous of but could not sooner attain Here me thinks I see a lively embleme of ungodly youth some are actually so others are so but habitually as being under restraint from Parents Masters and other Governors who do all that in them lies to keep those fiery mettalsome youths from consorting each with other lest by that meanes they should inflame each other as beames of the Sun concentered in a burning glass are able to kindle fire which scattered and dispersed they could never do Now when some or more of these young men or maides actually wicked and debaucht as having already cast off the yoak of all government and run away from those that did and should restrain them either openly or secretly lights into the company of those that are habitually such as themselves and have great propensions to the same things first he tempts and inticeth them away from under the jurisdiction and society of those that have hitherto restrained them as to their lusts then he joynes them to as great a number as he can of such young ranters as themselves who mutually encourage one another in an evil way and strengthen the hand each of other to do that in heards and troops which they would dread to do singly and one by one and when it is come to that then doth the wickedness which heretofore they smothered flame out they are presently all on a light fire and so continue if God extinguish it not till having utterly consumed themselves by sin they come to just nothing or what is worse than nothing as that which we call Fire domineers a while and carries all before it but by and by it vanisheth and we know no more of it save that it oft-times leaves an ugly stink behind it To give this fair warning to young men and women ready to be debauched by the next ill company is all the use I shall make of that most known way of kindling fire which is by fire its self where the allegory you see holds in every thing and improves a truth to our hands which might seem not worth our taking notice of because every foole knowes it To which I shall add but thus much though fooles can apprchend it yet can they not apply it at leastwise to their own good and he that can do so is no fool CONTEMPLATION V. Of Fire kindled by Putrefaction THey say that fire is sometimes kindled by means of Putrefaction it seems evident from experiments both without and within our selves that so it is What are Feavers but as it were so many fires kindled in the bodies of men Else how do they make the blood to boile in our veines and so exceedingly rarisie it that the vesels are painfully distended by it and are scarce able to contain it or how come they to make such a heap of ashes in the body as appeareth to be made by that deep sediment that is in the urine when the disease begins to decline or as it is vulgarly called to break away These hints may sufficiently prove that Feavers are Internal fires and whence are most of those sires at leastwise that are of any long continuance but from Putrefaction and thence called Putrid Feavers Now as for Corruption or Putrefaction it is thus defined viz. that it is the separation of those parts and principles which were before mutually combined the band of their union being dissolved or that it is the dissolution of or resolution of a compounded body into all or most of those principles or elements of which it was compounded some taking their flight one way and some another Now this separation or divorce of the principles of bodies one from another contributeth to the inkindling fire by this means viz. because when the sulphurous particles get loose from the rest then do they combine together and break away with great heat and violence from those less active Elements to which they were joyned before and thence comes Fire Thus in putrid Feavers the due mixture and composition of the blood is very much destroyed the thicker and thinner parts affecting as it were to be each by themselves like the whey and curds in