London London is the head and therefore should be relieved with both hands that is with as many as England hath though it were with danger to themselves All England is but one political body whereof London is as I said before the head Now all members of the same body should not only sympathise with but succour one another in a time of distress but the principal members especially ought to be succoured by the rest when and as need requireth London then should be helpt by all English-men either their persons pains parts purses prayers some or all of them and whatsoever else they have to be helpful with It will pass for a demonstration amongst our forreign neighbours that England is ruined and not able to help its self if London be not rebuilt DISCOURSE XIII That not only England but all great Brittain and Ireland and all the Protestant part of the World is concerned in the restauration of London HE that is a friend to London is as such a friend not only to one City or to one Kingdom but to three united under one and the same Sovereign viz. to England Scotland and Ireland These three like the several Kingdoms and Principalities in Germany constitute but one Emperour They are but three great Arms of one and the same Sea or Ocean the great Port or Haven whereof is London They are but three great branches of that mighty Tree whereof London is the root So Moralists divide the Soul into several faculties as the Understanding Will and Affections whereas the Soul is indeed but one all is but one Soul notionally so diversified and distinguished So some Divines tell us that whereas we speak of several Graces calling one Faith another Love a third Repentance c. it is no otherwise to be understood than when we speak of the Brittish the Irish the German Ocean and several others all which indeed are but one and the same assuming different names and appellations from the different shores which they wash upon It is not distance of place nor yet interposition of Seas one or more that can make those places unconcern'd one in another which do all belong to one and the same Prince and Governour any more than our feet are or can be unconcerned in our heads because they stand at as great a distance therefrom as can be in one and the same body Doubtless London is the glory the strength and stability the Magazine and Storehouse of all the three Nations at leastwise so it hath been and so it is necessary it should alwayes be and so I hope it will First I say it is and hath been the beauty and glory of these three Kingdomes These three Regions are but one Firmament and the Sun of that Firmament hath still been London all three have shoan with the beams of London as they say in Law a Wife doth radiis mariti with the beams of her Husband Doubtless Scotland and Ireland were proud of a London they had interest in and which in a sense was theirs as well as Englands though not so much if London were our Mother it was their Grandmother and that was an honour to them I have further said that London was the strength and stability of the three Kingdomes and so it was as when there are three great Families allied to one another suppose as Brethren or Sisters they are a mutual strength and establishment one to another but the Head or Chieftain of the greatest Family is a greater ornament and support to all the three than any one of the rest is or can be So in this case for London was as I may call it the Head of these three great Families Kingdomes I mean As the strength of Sampson lay in his hair and when that was cut he became weak as another man so did the strength and puissance of these three Nations lie in London there the force of England was most united there as in a center all the lines of strength did meet and a sure rule it is that vis unita fortior the more united any force is the stronger it is London was as the Sea the tide whereof runs much more strongly than that of particular rivers because all rivers run into the Sea and from thence hath its name Gen. 1.10 The gathering together of the waters he called Seas The beams of strength were concentred in London the great populousness and plenty its great fulness both of people wealth and wisdome considered as the beams of the Sun might be in a burning-glass It will need little proof that London is also the great Magazine and store-house of the three United if now I may call them united Kingdoms London as Tyre may be called a Mart of Nations it being the great Emporium or Mart-Town to which not England only but also Scotland and Ireland are beholden for multitudes of commodities Not only Country Towns and inferiour Cities in England do replenish themselves with many or most things which they need from the City of London but also Edenburgh and Dublin the two Metropoles one of Scotland the other of Ireland if I may call them any more than London's Deputies or vice Metropolitans are glad to do the same Thus we see these three Nations are in point of honour strength and Supplies united under one great City viz. London as well as under one and the same King the genius of our Government affecting a kind of Monarchy as well in and amongst Cities as in other things And thus what was said of Jerusalem holds true of London she was great amongst the Nations and Princesse amongst the Provinces Lam. 11.11 Now if I can prove but one thing more viz. that no City within the compasse of these three Kingdoms is fit to succeed London in its primacy or able to head three Nations so honourably and profitably as it hath done I shall then have demonstrated that England Scotland and Ireland are all three highly concerned in the Restauration of London That three such Nations the form of whose Government is Monarchical have some one head head City I mean over and above all the rest is but suitable and necessary neither can it be less evident that it is of great importance that whatsoever place or City be their Head should be the best and fittest of all others for that purpose Now that London is so I appeal to the incomparable commodiousness of its scituation well known to all men and the advantage which in that respect it hath above any other place in the three Nations By this was it so manifestly designed as it were from heaven for Primacy and Metropolitanship that I know no Town or City that was ever Competitor with it in that behalf or did ever pretend to be what it is viz. chief whilst London its self was in being Now what but the indisputably supereminent fitnesse of London to be the Metropolis of England and the United Kingdoms could have prevented all Usurpations
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
another City It is not fit for any man to boast as he boasted Go too saith S. James ye that say we will go to such a City and continue there a year and get gain James 4.13 Much more might he have checkt those that should say by such a time they would build such a great City but most certain it is that such a work might be greatly expedited and will be so when Rulers shall please to act in it as natural Agents always do ad extremum vitium to the utmost of their power and to be intent upon it as if amongst their earthly concerns it were for the present the one thing necessary Their real so expressed would doubtless provoke many and incourage all DISCOURSE XXII That the choice of worthy men into places of Power both in City and Country would contribute much to the rebuilding of London ALl Power in England is not conveyed by Election and choice of the people neither is it sit it should The Supreme Power viz. that of the King as also the power of the Nobility in Parliament is not Elective but as I may call it Native that which they are not chosen but born to that I may avoid his expression as fearing he shewed his wit more than his grace who said that the Nobles in Parliament were called but not chosen Surely the hereditariness of the Crown in England and some other places is an end of much strife which would result from popular elections upon every vacancy or decease of the supreme magistrate Witness the many late confusions in the Kingdom of Poland which is conferred by election But setting aside those two orders or estates as some call them viz. King and Nobles which according to the constitution of England have a birth-right in power all others derive their offices and power from the choice and appointment either of the King or people as Judges Parliament men Mayors Sheriffs Barliffs c. Most of these and of the rest that are invested with power are made by the choice of the people and much the lesser part come by their authority any other way Now for that there is great reason viz. that they who chuse for the people should be chosen by them So Orphans have leave to chuse their own gardians and malefactors themselves have a power of refusing such Jury-men as they do not like because when accepted of they must stand to their verdict As for those who are born to rule according to the laws of England it is not in the people to prevent their power they can only pray that God would make them just ruling in the fear of God as it is said they that rule over men ought to be But as for others and they are the greater part who cannot get into the saddle of power unless the people hold the styrop for them or who are made or to be made by the election of the people if they be not such as they ought to be the people may thank themselves If having two sorts of men set before them one very good the other very bad as were Jeremy's figs Jer. 24.2 they will chuse the bad and refuse the good it is their own fault and they are like to pay dearly for it as those women use to do who withstand good motions one after another and at length cast away themselves upon some vain Prodigal who will imbezzle their estates and undoe both them and theirs Methinks the Psalmists language is not too sharp to be used in this case Ps 94.8 Understand ye brutish amongst the people and ye fools when will ye be wise Do you think that bad Magistrates if you shall chuse such will cordially help to build a good City Solomon telleth us that Every wise woman buildeth her house but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands Prov. 14.11 Unwise rulers may be good at pulling down but not at building up The choice of ill magistrates is like a fault made in the first concoction which can never be repaired in either of the two later It is an errour in the foundation which can never be mended in the superstructure I am not of their mind who say Dominium temporale fundatur in gratiâ that none ought to be intrusted with power but those that appear to have saving grace Grace is indeed excellent in a magistrate but morallity only is essential unto being good in an office and that to be sure is He that shall use but the office of a Deacon this mean office in the Church it is said of him that he must be grave not given to much wine not greedy of filthy lucre that he must be proved and found blameless 1 Tim. 3.8 Now what magistrate properly so called is not intrusted with more power than he that is a Deacon in the Church and therefore ought not to be defective in the mean qualifications of one that is but a Deacon Some have seemed to think that any thing is good enough to make a Magistrate contrary to that old proverb E quovis ligno non fit Mercurius Who can make Gods of Devils now Magistrates in the Scripture are called Gods but dissolute men are little better than Devils and may be called Satan a thousand times upon as great or greater reasons as Peter was once so called by our Saviour saying to him get thee behind me Satan It is more than Egyptian idolatry in some sense to deify what is worse than leeks and onions The people that make such Gods are like unto them Admit the Gods you make be of gold and silver whereas some it may be are of no better stuff then was the lower part of Nebuchadnezars Image will the richness of the mettal be a sufficient excuse why then were the Israelites punished for worshipping a golden Calf Think not if a man have wealth enough he is presenly fit to make a Magistrate you would be loth to chuse him for a pilot especially in a storm that hath no skill in sea-faring affairs because he hath more goods in the ship than most other men or to take him for the Physician in a dangerous distemper who understands not the cure of any one disease because a man of great estate or your good Landlord A Magistrate may better want an inheritance than want wisedom though both together would best accomplish him We read of a poor wise man that saved a City but never of a rich fool that did any such thing All will confess that Magistrates should be sober men and that they may be such all men should be sober when they chuse them else their choice may be such that their best excuse may be that they were drunk when they made it That corporation is like to reel and stagger whose officers are chosen by drunken men or by many that are such at the making of their choice Defeat not the ends which are that Magistrates should be a terror to evil doers but an incouragement to
of our prosperity that it will never be removed But we are often mistaken so was Asaph when he did thus expostulate Psa 77.7 Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious hath be in anger shut up his tender mercy will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more is his mercy clean gone for ever and adds v. 10. I said this is my infirmity v. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders And v. 19. Thy way is in the Sea and thy footsteps are not known Hear the moans of Sion and the answer given by God thereunto Isa 49.14 But Sion saith the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her â—omb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me ver 15 16. Little did the Israelites think when their task of brick was doubled that deliverance was at hand which sense became a Proverb Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses but so it was but the Text saith The children of Israel hearkened not to Moses viz. prophecying of deliverance for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage Exod. 6.9 Little did Abraham think that Isaac should be spared though he came so near unto being sacrificed as that he was laid upon the Altar whence sprung that consolatory saying Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen I shall not extenuate the badness of our present circumstances it is too too evident that we look like a Land meeted out for destruction the face of things at this day is as it were facies Hippocratica as Physitians call it that is we look like death Never was poor Nation more convulst and pulled this way and that way backwards and forwards and other while made or endeavoured to be made more stiff and inflexible by a painful Tetanus as they call that kind of Convulsion that braceth the body so straight it can stir no way It must be confessed these are ill Symptoms but no grounds of despair possibly it is now a critical time with England and the Crises of diseases are often attended with horrid Symptoms even when Nature gets the upper hand at last Are we now in any more danger to be destroyed by our divisions then we were in 65. to be devoured by Plague but thence hath God delivered us He that hath said unto the Sword of War with other Nations Put up thyself into thy Scabbard rest and be still can say the same to the Sword of home divisions which are a kind of intestine war Surely England hath been in a worse condition then now it is and yet saved from thence First in the Marian daies when the weapons of warfare against the true Religion were no other then Fire and Faggot when the Scarlet Whore made her self drunk with the blood of Saints and Martyrs were not those daies shâ—rtned for the Elects sake Matth. 13.20 Afterwards in 88. when the Spanish Fleet called the Invincible Armado came against England in how desperate a case did it seem to be but how soon did that black Cloud blow over Then succeeded the hellish Powder Plot in the next Kings Reign which had it taken effect had rooted the Protestant Interest out of England as in the twinkling of an eye or whilst a small Paper could be burned but that also came to nothing that snare was broken and this poor Land delivered Who doubts whether Popish Archers have not shot at us many times since then and yet our Bow abideth in strength thorough the mighty God of Jacob O England so often saved by the Lord why shouldst thou despair of any more deliverances Is it because thy sins are so many and great call to mind what God saith Ezek. 36.33 In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wasts shall be builded v. 35. And they shall say This Land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden and the desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced and inhabited Look back to v. 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel See also v. 22 23 29 36 38. of the same Chapter Or is it because the Lord seemeth for a time to have forsaken thee having given thee up to flames that thou O London despairest of ever seeing good daies again I see not why thou shouldst cast away the Anchor of thy hope for all that what if thou shouldst cast it upon that Text and others of like import Psa 60.9 10. Who will bring me into the strong City wilt not thou O God which hadst cast us off And Lam. 3.31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Who seeth not the inference plain from such Texts as those that God may cast off a people for a time and yet not cast them off for ever Is it from a fear of being burnt again that you have no heart to build that fear in all likelihood ariseth from a mistrust you have that the former burning came to pass by Treachery if so be of good chear God will discover it in due time it cannot be alwayes hid and when that secret if it be yet a secret shall be brought to light when the true Incendiaries shall once be known London is like to be more secured from fire then ever it was and that fire which consumed the old City will be as a wall of fire that is a defence about the new If the great divisions discontents and heart-burnings that are now in England be alledged as they have been as a main discouragement of the rebuilding of London I would take leave to say I hope one day to see an end of those things Surely there will come a time when passion and fury will hold their peace and give way to reason and conscience to interpose and when ever that time shall come such Rules and Principles as I would now suggest will be hearkened to and cannot but offer themselves being so obvious as they are and whensoever they shall take place we may expect to see England a quiet habitation and all good people therein of one heart though not of one mind The first principle which I would hope will be received in time is this That every man pretending conscience constraining him to what he doth or restraining him from what he refuseth to do if generally trusted and thought worthy to be believed in other cases ought to be trusted and believed in that also and not to be changed with pride prejudice interest faction as the true reasons of those actions for which he pretendeth conscience yea it may be exposeth
Ezek. 37.5 Thus saith the Lord God unto those bones behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and ye shall know that I am the Lord. DISCOURSE III. Of how great Consequence it is that the now wast and desolate City of London should be re-edified SUrely it was not without cause that London whilest standing hath always continued the Metropolis of England though no such promise were ever made to it as unto Judah of old that the scepter or principality should never depart from it and though an old prophecy hath been that London was and York should be Yea though London hath several times ceased to be its self for a while lying in ashes as now it doth once fourscore years together and other places have succeded in the Metropolitanship for that time yet no sooner was it raised again but other places as if but its Deputies and Viceroies did presently resign the preheminence to it and like to Nebuchadnezzar come from grass and turn'd man again it was presently re-inthroned and restored to its former dignity and Primacy This I say was not for nothing but did certainly imply there was something in the place the scituation I mean for sometimes little else hath been left that did render it much more fit then any other to be the Metropolis or head City of England so that as often as London was in being no other town or City would offer to come in competition with it It was the river Nilus made Egypt rich and fruitful and hath it not been the River of Thames hath alwayes under God made London what it was They that would utterly destroy London must dry up that River as the river Euphrates for the destroying of Babylon or set it at some greater distance from that City For whilst they two stand so near together London is like to be rich and fruitful like trees that are planted by the rivers of water or like meadow ground that is overflown What is said of Joseph is like to be verified of London Gen. 49.22 Joseph is a fruitful bough by a wall whose branches run over the wall By the side of London is planted that great trunk of the vena porta of the Nation I mean the great mouth and inlet of trade the river of Thames I mean which makes it so necessary for England that England cannot much better subsist without it that is to say in wealth and prosperity then a man can live whose mouth is sowed up and who can take no nourishment but as a glyster no breath but at his nostrils They are deceived that think England may be destroyed meerly and only by destroying London for a time for if England its self be not first destroyed it must and will God permitting always have another London let the former be burnt or demolished ever so often London is the heart of England and if it were not primum vivens it will be ultimum moriens at leastwise England if it do not die first must die not long after it for without a heart it cannot long live If London fall it must rise again or all England must fall too at leastwise into great misery disgrace and poverty London is the place to which those passages of the Prophet concerning Tyre are most applicable of any place I know Isa 23.4 Thou whom the Merchants that pass over sea have replenished the harvest of the river is her revenue and she is a mart of Nations c. v. 8. The crowning City whose merchants are Princes and whose trâ—ffiquers are the honourable of the earth At leastwise this she was fuimus troes nigens gloria and this with the blessing of God she is most capable to be again And is it not of great consequence that a City of so vast a concernment to the whole nation should be rebuilt Which of all our famous Cities is fit to make a Head for so vast and Noble a Body as England is London excepted There is much deformity and inconvenience in a Head that is much too little for the body as in one that is too big Besides if a head be not well scituated as suppose a mans head were placed upon his arm or back and not upon his shoulders such a posture would be not only inconvenient but monstrous And verily any other Metropolis for England besides London would be of like inconvenient positure and scituation the head would not stand in the right place either for commodiousness or decency I would know what great Kingdome there is in the world that hath not a Metropolis or Head City answerable to its self And why should England differ from all the rest should we be unlike all other Nations and become their scorn Is not some one City magnificent and splendid above all the rest like the Sun that out-shineth all the other stars greatly for the honor both of a King and Kingdome I had almost said England looks sneakingly whilst it is without a London it doth as it were hide its head in the dust and seemeth to be ashamed of its self if it have any head to hide Tell us not of the Suburbs Citizens know how inconvenient they are for their business over what the City is and besides both together are little enough for traders and other inhabitants else it might have saved them charge and trouble to have dwelt in houses built to their hands and well seasoned they durst not go after the declining Sun lest they themselves should decline also in their trade and business They found more warmth in the heart of London then ever they expect in the extreme parts as they say of arterial blood that is warmest for that it cometh immediately from the heart Cottages within the walls seem to please and accommodate them better then stately houses without He that thinks the rebuilding of London might well be spared if any man or woman can so think let him or her consider how many houses upon survey are said to have been consumed by the late fire viz. no less then thirteen thousand or thereabouts now many of those houses did contain two some three families apiece so that we may well suppose twenty thousand families most of them traders to have been by that fire dispossest now where shall so many thousand families of trading people be disposed of if London be not built again shall they go into the country and trade there how inconvenient and insignificant would that be besides that so to do were to eat the bread out of the mouths of country shop-keepers Whilst they live at a distance from them Citizens are helpful to tradesmen in the country as the sun when it is farthest removed from the moon shines full upon it and exhibits that which is called the full moon but when they two are in conjunction then doth the Moon disappear being
into the work BLessed be God and blessed of the Lord be they for all that countenance which by those that are in Authority hath been given to the rebuilding of London and particularly by that most prudent Act of theirs which was made for that end and purpose That by that Act Londoners were allowed but a Copy-hold Lease of time viz. the term of three years for rebuilding of the City was enacted upon no evil design such as to surprize and take advantage against them for not being able to finish the work in so short a time but with a full intent to renew their Lease at or before the expiration of it if need should be and that upon better conditions than the former as experience should inform them of any thing that might be better Sure I am London had hitherto been like a Tree that stands in the shade if the beams of Authority had not shone upon it so as they have done it had not been in that good forwardness that it is at this day What if it be the true interest of our Rulers and Governours as doubtless it is that London should be rebuilt with all convenient speed are they therefore neither praise nor thank worthy for contributing their assistance If Magistrates espouse the interest of Religion and cherish it both in themselves and others in so doing they shall pursue their own interest upon the best terms for God will honor those that honor him yet for so doing all good men will acknowledge we ought to praise and thank them more than for any thing else I need not tell our Rulers whose interest I have elsewhere proved it is that London should be rebuilt that great works go on but slowly without countenance from Magistrates and ordinarily as swiftly with it when they afford not only permission and connivance but Commission and countenance Our Proverb saith The Masters eye makes the horse fat Of the Temple it is said Ezra 6.14 They builded and finished it according to the Commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes King of Persia How vigorously Cyrus though a Heathen Prince did bestir himself for and towards the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem We are told almost throughout the sixth Chapter of the Book of Ezra and as if Artaxerxes had vyed with Cyrus for zeal in that matter or laboured to out strip him We read as much of him in the seventh Chapter from the 11th verse till towards the end If either of them had had a Palace of his own to build which his heart had been greatly set upon I see not how he could have promoted it more than both of them did the Temple Ezra 7.23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be diligently done said Artaxerxes in his Decree for the House of the God of Heaven for why should there be wrath against the Realm of the King Under those benigne aspects and influences of great ones the Temple went up amain and so doubtless with the blessing of God may our City if the like countenance and encouragement from such as are in chief Authority shall always be afforded to it And what should make us doubt but so it will be For first our Rulers know full well that nothing will be rescented as a greater demonstration of their love and care than an earnest forwardness expressed to see London up again or of the contrary man a want of that nothing will beget a greater confidence of the people in them and affection towards them than that would do Besides that it is more their own concern in point of Honor and profit that London should be built again than it is the concern of any ten men whatsoever as his Majesty was pleased to say in print That his loss by the burning of London was greater than any mans else and certainly it was Was not his Majesty the great Landlord to whom all the houses in London had wont to pay a kind of Quit-Rent othergise than a Pepper-Corn viz. so much yearly for every Chimney Private men may call this or that or some few houses in London theirs but only the Kings of England can call London their City as they use to do though not in such a sense as to destroy the propriety of particular owners But though owners have more interest in some houses Kings have some in all which cannot be said of any Subject Neither is that of profit which Kings have had by the City of London so great but the interest of honor and reputation which hath accrued to them by their dominion over so famous a City the very quintessence of their Kingdoms hath been as great or greater All which things considered it were not unreasonable or effeminate if a King should openly lament the loss of such a City in some such language as David did the loss of Absalom when he cryed out O Absalom Absalom my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son O London London my City my City c. I should think the loss of London to be as great as was that of Callice which one Queen of England laid so much to heart Should then our Rulers express such a passion for London as David did for Absalom or as Rachel is said to have done for the loss of her children as hardly any case would better bear it or should they say concerning London as Rachel concerning children before she had any Give me children or I die Methinks I easily foresee how the generality of the people would do as Davids valiant men did who brake through an Host of Philistims and drow water out of the Well of Bethlehem and brought it to David because he longed for it 2 Sam. 23.15 My meaning is if Rulers shall express such an earnest longing after another London as David did after the waters of Bethlehem people would adventure life and all but they should soon have it and the reason is because Rulers in so passionately wishing for another City would express kindness to the people as well as to themselves and people in pursuing so good a work would shew kindness to themselves as well as to their Rulers the grateful sense of whose love they are ambitious to express and when all those things should meet together it would be as when stream and wind and tide and that a Spring-tide too do all concur to promote a Vessel that is sailing or Galley that goes with Oars When the incouragement of Magistrates together with the interest and inclinations of a people do all run one way then are people like Gyants refreshed with wine who though mighty of themselves are made thereby more mighty to run their Race Had David been to build such a City as London I know what Absâ—lom would have said and many people would have believed him by what I read of him 2 Sam. 15.4 viz. that if it were as much in his as in the power of some other they should not stay long for
out of which disease nothing will cure men but that which will make them leap and dance rejoyce I mean as it is in the cure of those that are bitten by a true Tarantula When that cure shall be wrought then may we hope Religion will flourish as the Palm-tree and grow as the Cedars in Lebanon and London together with it How conducing contentment is to the practise of godliness David seems to intimate when he saith Deliver me from the oppression of men so will I keep thy precepts Ps 119. v. 134. When the primitive Christians did eat their meat with gladness and had favour with all the people then were there added to the Church daily such as should be saved Acts 2.46 47. and in Act. 9.31 it is thus written Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost were multiplied When the Church had content from within and from without and there is the same reason for other societies then it grew and multiplied The same thing without a spirit of prophesy more than ordinary may be foretold of London DISCOURSE XXVI That the continuance of peace begun with forreign Nations might much promote the rebuilding of the City IF God continue peace we may have more Pallaces within our walls and prosperity within our Pallaces But if peace discontinue so is our City like to do never had we more need of peace both at home and abroad then now that we have a City to build It is as much as we can do to build with peace and how should we build without it Farewel peace farewel building A relapse into war which would be worse then the first disease would put us upon making bullets instead of bricks tents instead of houses and instead of hiring artificers to press Souldiers Methinks I hear the enemies of our City saying now for a war to crush it in its infancy Herod-like who destroyed all the children that were under two years old Would but the French King be reconciled to the King of Spain how bravely might his Army or some good part of it help to destroy this Cokatrice egge Thus men of an evil eye towards the City of London do say in their hearts but they that wish it well do now pray for peace more earnestly than ever are much more thankful for the peace begun than otherwise they would have been with respect to London now rising out of its ashes do dread the thoughts of that flame of War breaking out again at leastwise till London be up again which is for the present smothered and we hope extinguished How inconsistent fighting and building are one with the other may be gathered from 1 Kings 5.3 David could not build a house to the name of the Lord his God for the wars that were about him on every side till the Lord put them under the soles of his feet But now the Lord hath given me rest on every side saith Solomon I purpose to build a house to the name of the Lord my God v. 4. and 5. DISCOURSE XXVII That lessening the price of Coals would incourage building I Cannot charge them that trade in Coals with holding up the price higher than they needs must and contriving wayes and methods to make them dear but they cannot be ignorant that some do so charge them and if it be so indeed they are much to blame at such a time as this especially and as the latine proverb is nigro carbone digni To deny us coals at this juncture and to make them over-dear is half a denial of them is in effect to withold straw from them that should make brick It is fit that when war ceaseth we should tast the fruits of peace as particularly in the cheapness of so necessary a commodity as Coals are else how should we be thankful for it the community ought not to be impoverished that a few men may be inriched If care be taken as I hope there will that the quantities of Coals imported should be as much greater now than formerly as is the occasion we have for them more than it had wont to be that our store may rather exceed than fall short plenty will bring down the price and yet I wish it not so low neither but that they who deal in the commodity may live by it Give me leave to say that men in subordinate authority have been more severely reflected upon than I shall venture to tell as void of care and prudence or both in not preventing that dearth of coals which befel us the last year it being then the common cry that the nation could almost as well subsist without corn as without coals God forbid we should ever commit such another oversight If Coals be dear bricks cannot be cheap neither will they be good that is well-burnt but if coals be cheap bricks will not be dear neither are they like to be bad Were coals a forreign commodity yea were they no where to be had but from an enemies country it is thought some people are so wise that if their circumstances were like ours they would be sure to have them God having planted coals within our own bowels territories I mean and made the womb of our soile so far from barren that some part thereof is even loaded with them should London be retarded through the scarcity thereof England would seem hardned and to have shut up its bowels against it self considering that England doth not want for swift and able messengers to send upon that errand May coals in our time and City be but so plentiful and so common as silver was in Jerusalem in the dayes of Solomon 1 Kings 10.21 Silver was nothing accounted of in the dayes of Solomon and v. 27 And the King made silver to be in Jerusalem as the stones DISCOURSE XXVIII That the extirpation of fears and jealousies which sadly abound might contribute much to the building of the City IT goes to my heart to think how people are tormented or torment themselves with endless fears and jealousies They are ever and anon in such frights as if Hanibal were at the gates How do they start like melancoly people out of their sleeps scared with sad dreams Damps arise upon men as they are said to do upon those that work in coal-mines I would be no fomenter of such fears but am thought rather too sanguine too credulous of good news and scarce in the number of those wise men of whom Solomon saith that they foresee the evil and hide themselves I had rather as is said of Abraham in hope believe against hope than be to suspicious at leastwise than to make others so It may be some envious men have sowed these tares I mean some that envy and malign the building of the City and do desire to obstruct it by making people afraid For men are so possessed I know not by whom my Soul
very things that bring or shall bring on love will carry off fears and jealousies One good way to be trusted by others is to trust others so far as in reason we may Jealousies beget Jealousies and some men will not or cannot trust because they are not trusted as far as they think they might or deserve to be It is commonly found that men are jealous of those that are jealous of them for men are jealous of those that they believe do not love them and they do not believe they can love them who are much jealous of them For perfect fear will cast out love as perfect love doth fear On the other hand confidence begets confidence it is an usual argumentation amongst men why should not we put confidence in such and such as well as they put confidence in us as if it were a piece of gratitude and but justice to trust those that trust us Whereas on the other hand men that will take no assurance from others but what is more than enough or than they can give will be able to give no assurance to others that will be taken and so jealousies will be endlesly propagated by way of retaliation As good a receipt as any of the former for the cure of fears and jealousies is this viz. that persons who have the unhappiness to be generally suspected and ill beloved though possibly they may not deserve it should have as little of the safety and welfare of a nation committed to them as can well be forasmuch as the spirit of jealousie presently comes upon people when those whom they are greatly prejudiced against as being of a contrary religion or otherwise are chosen to places of eminency either military or civil An eye should be had to those who keep others in fear as they that give out threatning words causing the persons threatned to go in fear of their lives are or may be bound to their good behaviour Lastly If the heats and indiscretions of some men were lookt after who sometimes seem to symbolize with Papists in their peculiar doctrines and then the people by such preaching alarm'd cry out with a loud voice Venient Romani and who other whiles exasperate their hearers with bitter invectives putting them thereby into an expectation of nothing but trouble and persecution to â—nsue after so threatning expressions I say if men might not be suffered to harp upon those strings wherby an evil spirit is not laid but raised or were narrowly watcht that they should no where turn pulpits into cock-pits and come directly and intentionally not to bring peace but a sword a drawn sword instead of an Olive branch but more especially if Ministers would every where come as persons sent of God to bring good tidings to the meek to bind up the broken hearted to comfort all that mourn c. By that means would the exasperations of mens minds be gradually taken off and their fears and jealousies begin to go off like the morning Cloud and as the early dew Woe unto us that at this day we are all afraid one of another and woe unto them that study to encrease our fears When shall such a promise be made good to us as that in Micah 4.4 But they shall sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none shall make them afraid DISCOURSE XXIX That if the dread and terrour of the Popish party which is upon the people were taken off the building of the City would thereby be much incouraged PApists must not be knockt on the head because the people are afraid of them neither ought their estates therefore to be confiscated or themselves generally confined much less for that only reason should they all be exiled from their Native Country Some of them I believe would do others no hurt if they could all should and may be disabled from any such thing if they would This may be done and yet they not be undone Certain it is that Papists at this day are a very center of jealousie in and upon whom the fears of all English Protestants of what perswasion soever do meet Is it because the bloud that was shed in the Marian daies doth still cry aloud in the ears of men as well as of Heaven or is it because the Invasion attempted upon England in Eighty Eight is not yet forgotten or is it because the Parisian Massacre will not out of mens minds or is it because the most hellish Powder Plot upon the accompt of which we celebrate each fifth of November doth still stick in mens stomacks or is it long of that most devillish Tragedy which was acted by the Papists in Ireland upon the Innocent Protestants within less than thirty years past causing the streets to swim with their bloud or is it because London was lately so suddenly and strangely burnt and Papists known to insult and triumph when it was done besides other suspitious passages of theirs relating thereunto as namely their predictions concerning it c. or is it all of these put together that do make Papists so formidable to Protestants in England Some rather than be thought to fear where no fear is would be ready to give many more reasons of the fear that is in them to every one that should ask them why they are so much afraid of Papists First their hatred to Protestants by the forementioned instances appeareth to be great and implacable then they would tell you that many Families of that Religion in England are very considerable for their estates parts and otherwise Nextly that they are great pretenders unto having highly merited as from God so from men above others if not to works of Supererrogation which is as if they challenged it as their due to be uppermost How politick how vigilant and how restless a people they are all men know how they compass Sea and Land to carry on their designs The men of their Religion seem to have a particular spite at England and an ambition to subdue it to themselves rather than any other Nation as he said Fight neither against great nor small but c. so they seem to say but against England We should not fear them say they but that we know what Religion France and Spain are of and can have no assurance that they will not one time or other crave aid at leastwise of so near a Neighbour as one of them is rather than fail of their designs What should hinder them from so doing who profess to the world that they do owe more homage to a forreign Prince viz. the Pope than to their own and that the Pope is Supreme Head over all temporal Princes and consequently can supersede the Laws of any other Prince and give away their Crowns and Scepters when and to whom he pleaseth If then the Pope shall command them to joyn with or invite in a Forreign Prince against their own Sovereign according to that principle it is but their duty to do