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
body of a nation to help forward with it Such men are certainly the Chariots of a Nation and the horsemen thereof as was said of Elijah They that have a great interest of their own they and they only can make a considerable interest for others also if obliged thereunto They that are really holy can do much with God and men they that have but a great name to live or for holiness can do much with men they that can do either are or may be of great use to them that shall imploy them but they that can do both will where they take be incomparably serviceable If any shall object and say that they of all men are most dangerous if touched with the least dissatisfaction who for their piety and parts are had in great veneration with the people and that ubi mali nemo pejus is most applicable to them that if they have an ill resentment of things none can do worse things than they nor yet so bad to that objection I reply We ought not to look at what men can do and to use them accordingly but at what men will or are inclined to do Doubtless God himself could do more hurt to the world than all the Devils in Hell put together in respect of his omnipotency but because of his unchangable holiness righteousness and goodness he can do the world no injury at all Good men will not dare to do the hurt they could yet neither should they be tempted to do it if they durst Ministers that are pious and capable of doing worthy service should be treated as friends and to be sure they will never hurt their friends who are taught of God to love their very enemies they will never render evil for good who make conscience of rendring good for evil Paul and Apollo and Cephas are yours if you be Christs use them as your own and you will never have cause to fear them nor much cause to do it howsoever they be used sith they have learnt to pray even for them that use them despightfully Good men have a power to do mischief but no will but to do good they have both will and power therefore the mischief they can do is not so much to be feared as the good they are able to do is to be hoped for and incouraged Surely a blessing from Heaven is wont to attend the labours of a good Ministry and the incouraging of those labours as well as a curse to wait upon the contrary And if the blessing of God will not help to build the City I know not what will Time was that David himself was afraid of the Ark of God and therefore would not remove it unto him into the City of David but carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom 2 Sam. 6.10 but in three months time he saw that he was worse scared than hurt v. 11. It was told King David saying the Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth is him because of the ark of God So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the City of David with gladness He concluded that that which had blessed the house of Obed-Edom would bless his City and doubtless so it did That building work may be promoted by good prophets or ministers I shall prove by one text more and so conclude this Chapter viz. Ezra 5.2 Then rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshuah and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and with them â—ere the prophets of God helping them DISCOURSE XXXIII That to be deeply affected with the hand of God in burning the City is one good way to have it built again TO be affected with the burning of the City is one thing and to be affected with the hand of God in burning it is another They may lament the City with a great lamentation who take no notice at all of the hand of God that was stretched out against it but altogether cry out upon men as if evil instruments could have burnt such a City without the great God concerning himself in it more or less Whereas the truth is if men were instruments in the burning of it which for me shall rest upon proof yet God had the principle hand in it for wicked men are but Gods hand and sword Ps 17.14 Deliver my soul from the wicked which are thy sword from men which are thy hand Now God would that his hand should be taken notice of for he loves to be acknowledged as the authour of those judgments that are inflicted by him Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robber did not the Lord Isa 42.24 Is there any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 That passage Isa 26.11 sheweth us that God cannot indure to be overlooked when he smiteth Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed yea the fire of thine enemies shall consume them That we may be duly affected with the burning of the City there are several things to be taken notice of besides that which I have suggested in the first place viz. that God did it Now that such a God should burn such a City a God slow to anger gracious merciful long suffering abundant in goodness I say that such a God should burn so antient so famous so professing a City is a very affecting consideration Another is this viz. that God did never burn any City but when he was greatly angry God did never burn a City in cool blood if I may so speak of him after the manner of men Isa 42.25 He hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew not and it burned him yet he laid it not to heart I knew a good gentlewoman who beholding the flames of London by which she lost not one pounds worth of her estate did thereby receive so great an impression of the wrath of God against he City as her self told me that she presently fell into a languishing distemper though before of a healthful chearful constitution and in despight of all the remedies which her loving husband one of the most eminent Physicians in England could supply her withall which the bills I have seen have assured me to have been as effectual as could be used she out-ran her husband to the grave whose many infirmities made it probable he would have arrived there many years before her If she were too much affected with the manifestation of Gods wrath I doubt that most others are but too little Another affecting consideration is this that God is never angry without a cause nor yet above the cause given or more than he hath cause for There is never anger on Gods part but there is provocation on ours and provocation proportionable to that anger Ps 107.17 Fools because of their transgression and because of their
would begin where the Fire made an end and build some whole streets together And lastly that there may be a contribution of assistance to that work from all parts of England by men or moneyes or advice or whatsoever else may promote and further it yea from all parts of his Majesties Dominions As motives thereunto I have in intire chapters shewed the great consequence and importance of the rebuilding of London and that it be done with all convenient expedition and how that not only England but also Scotland and Ireland and indeed all Christendom is concerned therein at leastwise the protestant part thereof I have discoursed how pleasant the work of building is Chap. 39. also how much more profit may probably be made of building in London at this juncture of time than of laying out money most otherwaies yea how much it would be for the honour of those that have wherewithall to have a considerable share and proportion in the building of London I have likewise set before my reader the sad face of London at this day how pitifully it looks and how the mournful visage of it doth bespeak relief from all that see or hear of it Chap. 15. I have also in the same chapter taken notice of the many houses which are already built or begun to be built up and down here and there whereby a great obligation is laid upon Londoners to go forward with the City least they incur the name of foolish builders who begin to build and cannot make an end Lastly I have shewed how the protestant Religion and the principles thereof do as much oblige to works of charity such as is the building of Churches and Schools and Hospitals as any principles in the popish religion can do though that religion upbraideth ours with a dead faith which worketh not by love and doth arrogate all the charity to it self Thus good Reader have I given thee an account first of the Authour and nextly of his design or of the book it self and what thou art to expect in it Would I be so foolish as to boast of any thing contained in this work which becometh me not to do it should be of my having written so disinteressedly as I have done so like a man addicted to no party but studious of the good of the community or of the whole Church and state or as one that were unbiassed either by fear or favour as a person of a free and uningaged mind and that had never known such a thing as Interest as it standeth in opposition to religion reason equity conscience ingenuity mercy c. In which sense we take the word when we say of this or that man that he was acted or led by Interest for we commonly add and not by conscience or against conscience It was Interest made David to murther Uriah hoping thereby to have concealed his adultery and Ahab to take away the life of Naboth that he might get his vineyard and the Jews to suborn the misreporting of Jeremiah Jer. 20.10 Report say they and we will report it Interest in the sence I here disclaim it is nothing else but disingenuous self-love dishonest self-seeking an over-weaning and unjust addictedness to a mans self and to the party which he hath espoused a gift that blinds the eyes of the wise a love so blind as that it will not suffer men to see either the evil that is in themselves and their friends nor yet any thing that is good and commendable in others it is that principle which inclines men to Deifie or make Gods or rather Idols of some men whose persons they have in admiration for advantage sake and Devils or something almost as bad of others though they be not such He that acts from Interest is one that cares not how much hurt he doth to others in their names or estates or other concerns so he can but do himself any good as he counts good by means thereof he is one that pursueth his selfish designs right or wrong per fas nefas and will trample upon every thing that stands in the way thereof Jonah was transported by Interest when it displeased him exceedingly and he was very angry because that God had repented of the evil that he said he would do unto the Ninivites and did it not Jonah 3.10.4.1 That is he had rather all Nineveh had been destroyed in which were sixscore thousand persons that could not discern betwixt their right hand and their left than that himself should have been hardly thought of through the non-accomplishment of his prophecy which infamy too might have been prevented by the Ninivites considering that the threatning was not without this known reservation viz. that in case they repented not destruction should overtake them Interest is a strong bias which suffers no man to go right on as no bowle can go straight to the mark but must wheele about if it have a great bias Now if I can wash my hands in innocency from any thing I can do it in respect of that kind of Interest which I have now described its mingling it self with this book I have not written like a Lawyer that speaks all he can for his clients and takes no notice of any thing that makes for the adverse cause but rather as a just umpire or moderator that heareth or alledgeth what can be said on both sides and having so done gives to each its due and brings the business to a fair compromise as may though possibly it doth not give full content and satisfaction to both parties Yet when all this is said and done so captious and censorious is the age we live in that some will take offence at what I have written and possibly they most of all to whom there is least appearance of any offence given for some men such is their peevishness will be more angry if you do but look over their hedg than others if you had stollen their horse as I may allude to our proverb There are some that cannot bear any thing of a reproof though as much too mild for them as was that of Eli to his wicked sons though as prudently couched as was Nathans to David in the parable wherewith he surprised him yea there are whose property it is to take a reproof most hainously from their friends as if they would have none but enemies and those they counted wicked to chide them whereas David saith let the righteous smite me or as if it were the part of an enemy and not of a friend to reprove whereas the scripture saith Thou shalt not hate thy brother thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Levit. 19.17 A rebuke from an enemy seldom doth good because it is thought not to spring from love if then our friends must not reprove us neither we have excluded one ordinance of God which was appointed for good viz. Admonition and Reprehension We cannot indure our sawces should
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
greater part of whose former Inhabitants were such Sanctifiers of Gods Sabbaths as they were would certainly not long lye in Ashes but God would cause the wast places thereof to be built Alas that now our City is down in the dust such Master-builders as they in the sense I have spoken to are dead and gone I wonder not that such as are enemies to Religion have a particular grudge against the Sanctifying of the Sabbath or appointing it to be sanctified sith the preservation of all practical godliness so far as is in men to preserve it doth so much depend thereupon For alas what time have men and women who lye down late and rise up early all the week long to get their livings as the greater part of people do I say what time could or would they generally reserve to look after God and their souls if it were not for the Lords Day preserved by the sanction of the Magistrate from violation by mens open following of their Trades and designed for religious uses But it is not the common-place of the Sabbath that I undertook to handle in this Chapter but what and how great a tendency a due care taken both by Magistrates and people for the Sanctification of that day would have to promote the building of our City and that I hope I have demonstrated DISCOURSE XII Of the help that may and is meet to be afforded towards the rebuilding of London SHall the ashes of London upbraid rich men both in City and country with their unkindness towards it those I mean that have no immediate concernment of their own shall they cry with a loud voice how long shall London lye in the dust for want of men or moneys so long as all England can afford them Or is England so drained and exhausted of either of these even of money it self that there is not enough to spare for the reedifying of London Though a great part of the Nation be impoverished at this day doubtless many have wealth enough and to spare Some have great Estates and no Children others have great Estates and Children but not worthy to be intrusted with such Estates some have been great gainers by the late revolutions yea some by those very judgments which have of late befallen us even by the fire it 's self which did not only spare their houses but much advance their rents though thousands may have need to sell what they are possessed of yet some hundreds I believe are ready for considerable purchases and have such persons as I have named nothing to spare for and towards the rebuilding of such a City are they like to give any thing to any good uses living or dying who will give nothing to this If mens gold and silver lye cankered by them whilst there is such an occasion to lay it out shall not the rust thereof be a witness against them and eat their flesh as it were fire James 5.33 Who wonders not as the case now-stands to see any rich man dye and leave nothing to London in his will many places that are burnt down were built by charity at the first and must be so again if ever they be restored and many persons are by the fire become the objects of charity who were not so before but rather the subjects and dispensers of it many that had wont to give are now forced to receive many that kept good houses have now no houses to keep nor wherewith to build them any To build for their sakes were most charity but if you will not do so build for your selves I mean for your own profit in conjunction with a publick good and let them to whom you please Build with regard to a noble City now desolate if you will not do with respect to indigent and impoverished Citizens Had London been the tail of all the Cities of England it had been pitty to have always lost it but much more pitty it would be in regard it was the head We read how the people lift up their voices and wept that there should be one tribe lacking in Israel and yet that tribe was but little Benjamin Judg. 21.3 Had it been Judah and was not London as it were our Judah would not their lamentation have been yet greater As they studied to repair that lost tribe so should all English-men endeavour to repair this It will chiefly concern rich men to do it but surely the poor are not quite exempted As in repairing the high wayes our laws have provided that they who do not or cannot hire others should work at it themselves so many dayes So methinks it should be in repairing of this great breach It is a common good and therefore should be done at a common charge though mostly at theirs who have most interest in benefit by it They that had not gold and silver to bring for the building of the Tabernacle were to bring Goats hair or Badgers skins or the like Exod. 25.5 And would it not in like manner become every body to offer something towards this work even poor widdows to cast in their mites All rivers as well small as great pay tribute to the Sea to the Sea whence they came thither they return again saith Solomon Eccles 1. and are not other parts of England to London as rivers to the main Ocean If the light of the Sun were extinguished all the stars were they intelligent would help to reinkindle it for though the Sun doth obscure them yet it brighteneth the firmament and there can be no day without it so all places parts of England should contribute to restore London though obscured by it because without it England its self would be obscure and as it were benighted I am deceived if most families in England have not some relation to London either by descent or alliance more immediate or more remote and shall they see this worthy relation of theirs lye in the dust and not do what they can to help it out When we have forts to build is not the country round about commanded in to assist in that work what is London but the great fort and bulwark of England in more senses than one and being so every mans assistance contribution therunto may well be expected They that have noble woods shold rather cut down every Tree than let London want Timber they that have Iron should rather empty all their mines than let the City lye wast for want of that commodity if you be English men London is yours that is you have great interest in it though you be no Londoners How naturally doth a mans hand lift up its self when his head is struck at and offer to take the blow how naturally do bloud and spirits come from where they were and resort to that part which is wounded though inferiour to those parts whence they came Doth not even nature it self teach us by such things as those what should be done in the case of
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
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
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
it Now who can but fear a people of so desperate subverting principles Be secure of Papists say some we never can for no cords can be thought of wherewith to bind them fast Their oaths are not to be regarded seeing it is their principle that no faith is to be kept with Hereticks and such they count Protestants They are so great assertors of the doctrine of Equivocation and so great Masters in the practise thereof that give them what oath you will they make what they please of it in their mental reservations they put in and put out what they list and interpret every thing to their own sense and having so done what is any body the nearer viz. to safety and security for any oath they take Come the worst to the worst they hold that the Pope hath a power of dispensing with oaths either that men may take those oaths which before-hand they resolve not to keep at leastwise that he can pardon them and will do it if they break the oaths that they have taken It were endless to rehearse all the reasons men give why they are afraid of the Popish party who knows not say they that all things are lawful in their account which make for the interest and promotion of holy Church as they call it the stamp of so good an intention put upon the worst of actions be it lying perjury murther rebellion devastation of whole Countries is according to them able to make what had otherwise been damnable to become meritorious He that shall assassinate a King in zeal for their Religion may be canonized for a Saint O Religion ever to be dreaded by those that are not of it as being resolved to propagate it self every where both by secret plots and open violence by fire and sword by fraud and force per fas nefas By hook and by crook as they say as if none were worthy to live but they that would imbrace a Religion so false and ridiculous so far as it is it self as nothing can be more Methinks I am tired with hearing so many reasons alledged for one and the same thing a thing so generally believed viz. that there is just ground to be afraid of Papists and of their designs but would I listen to more some would further tell me that the great Agitators for Popery Jesuites and such like do insinuate themselves into all parts of Christendome first trouble the waters of every State and then fish in them make Proselites up and down undermine the Councels of Protestant Princes that those Pioneers are alwayes working under ground and indanger all Kingdoms where they come Also that there are multitudes of them here and there in several disguizes the effects of whose pernicious attempts we may yearly if not daily expect That Papists are still too hard for those severe Laws that are in being against them so that they or most of them come not under the lash thereof from moneth to moneth and year to year whilst the Laws made against others do find them out continually and punish their smaller transgressions I say that they escape the Ordeal of Laws whilst others ever and anon do burn their feet upon the hot plow-shares which are laid for them doth much encrease the fears of men concerning them Now they that have a fear and dread of Papists upon them having all this to say and yet having not said all do think it hard measure to be taxed with childishness cowardize and effeminacy for entertaining a jealousie of Popish designs and cannot be otherwise perswaded by any verbal arguments Nevertheless I am deceived if there be not a way to relieve Protestants against all their fears of Papists and yet not to deprive Papists either of their lives or estates or liberties or Native Soil or any thing else which by Law or birth they have a right to nor yet alwayes and in all cases to execute upon all and every of them the full rigour of those Laws which are at this day in force against them Who but themselves will be offended if it be in the first place propounded that the Popish party throughout England should be generally disarmed that is deprived of all weapons horses arms ammunition c. which they have or may have by them more than is just sufficient for the defence of their respective families against the breaking in of Thieves and Robbers A Massacre committed by Protestants upon Papists was never heard of and therefore they need not fear it nor can reasonably desire to abound with arms in order to the prevention of it If men have arms enough for their own security what should they do with more to scare if not indanger others How greatly would the fears of men be allayed if but that one thing were done Ireland that Aceldama that field of bloud can tell us how unfit Papists are to be intrusted with arms I wish if those rumors be false that great and unusual numbers of forreign Papists have lately come for England I say if they be false that the people might be generally assured and convinced they are so but if they be true which is more than I can say they are that some due bounds may be set to so raging a Sea least a deluge of fears and suspâ—tions if not of misery and destruction also should from thence overwhelm us It hath been complained of in and to the Parliament since London was in the dust that many Papists in several parts of England have behaved themselves very insolently as one of their eloquent mouths hath told us in a Speech of his extant in print that certainly would and did strike terrour into the people nor can those terrours be taken off unless that insolency of theirs be corrected for which there need no better curb and cure than the strict execution of the severest Laws that are in being against men of that Religion I do not mean or wish upon all of them for I understand not the justice of punishing all that are of such a way for the faults that are committed but by some of them but upon as many as have or shall be found guilty of such amusing insolency either in words or deeds It is fit some Corrosive should be applied to such proud flesh but not laid upon that flesh which is not proud though of the same body The summum jus or utmost rigour of the Laws made against Papists would be no injury to them that terrifie others by their insolency what ever it might be to the rest as in some cases it would not be harsh to take the full forfeiture of a Bond though it would be so in some others If the Hugonites in France should behave themselves insolently which they never dare to do being not of the Religion of the Country we know what would follow A restraint upon the insolencies of Papists would be no small restraint upon the fears of Protestants I wish as little power as may
free-will-offering Moreover they are to make such Laws as all or the generality of men may be able to observe Now all men are not in a capacity to fast frequently yea some it may be so much greater is their leasure can better keep one fast every week than others can keep two in a whole year So that though it may be no fault in our Magistrates to injoyn but one fast in a year in order to imploring mercy for the desolate City yet it may be a great fault in the people to whom it is as lawful to fast as it is to pray without special command from their superiors as having a command for him that is supreme to pray always that is at all opportunities and fasting is but a necessary concomitant of prayer as the case may be to observe no more than one day of religious fasting throughout the whole year upon so great an accompt We read that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah four daies in a year Judg 11.40 Now what was the loss of Jephthahs daughter to the loss of such a City as London was though she were made a sacrifice but if that perpetual virginity whereto she was consigned over by her fathers vow as some understand it from v. 39. Who did with her according to his vow and she knew no man were all they went to bewail four daies in a year one would think that the loss of such a City as London might better deserve four weeks or moneths every year to lament it and which is more to implore mercy for it whereas the condition of Jephthahs daughter was irretrievable whether she were put to death or whether it were only that by her fathers vow and her own superadded consent she was obliged to continue single all the daies of her life Now Davids example may tell us that when our fasting and mourning can do good as he thought it might for his child whilst it lived and we believe it may to our desolate City then chiefly if not only ought we to give way to it How often men should fast upon the loss and for the recovery of such a City as London was can be brought within no rule that will take in every man only so often as God shall afford them real opportunities of which some have ten times as many within the compass of one year as some others have But this may incourage us to be as frequent in prayer and fasting as we can namely that no such service rightly performed shall ever be in vain Physicians need not be farther invited to make frequent visits to their patients that need it than by finding they are always welcom come as oft as they will and do never lose their labour This is just the case let us make as frequent applications as we will or can to the throne of grace for our selves or others in such manner as becometh us we shall be always welcom and not lose our labour once For God is nigh to all that call upon him in truth in all things that they call upon him for Deut. 4.7 What better or more sutable examples of praying and fasting and of the good success thereof in such a case as that of our City I say what better examples can we desire than are afforded us in those two famous men viz. Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra 8.21 Then I proclaimed a fast that we might afflict our selves before our God to seek of him a right way for us Namely when he and others were going from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of God there v. 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this and he was intreated of us Se also Nehemiah 1.4 And when I heard these words I sat down and mourned certain daies and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven viz. when he heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates thereof burnt with fire v. 3. The thing he prayed for was that he might find favour in the Kings eyes to go up to Jerusalem every way furnished to build that desolate City Now v. 8. it is said And the King granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me Now I wish that upon all that I have said the resolution of men may be to keep that Anniversary fast which the Magistrate hath appointed for the City in the most solemn way that can be and over and above that to keep as many more such dayes in private though in publick they cannot without publick leave as they shall have opportunity to do For as Israel prevailed against Amaleck as much by Moses lifting up his hands viz. in prayer as by the peoples brandishing their swords in war Exod. 17.11 for when he let down his hand Amaleck prevailed so it is a real truth how few soever do believe it that those who are builders in the common acceptation of that word viz. Carpenters Bricklayers and other artificers do not more truly contribute to the building of such a City as London is in which religion as having been long known and professed there doth claim a great interest than they do who with tender regard to its recovery do earnestly apply themselves to prayer and fasting The bridegroom of England as in a civil sense I may call London though in a spiritual sense Christ himself likewise is so called being taken away fasting is now in season for saith Christ to which we only allude when the bridegroom shall be taken from them then shall they fast As the mother of Augustin comforted her self with this concerning him viz. That a son of so many prayers and tears should not miscarry so may we comfort our selves concerning London if it be a City as he was a son of many prayers and tears that it shall not miscarry but go out its full time and be brought to its intended perfection DISCOURSE XXXII On Ezra 6.14 And the elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah INtending to treat of all the helps we can think upon as for the rebuilding of London that of good Prophets who in former ages have been very serviceable even to the purposes of building witness the text above mentioned may at no hand be omitted I have shewed before that good Magistrates may contribute very much to such a work as is in hand viz the restoring of the City and now I shall make it as evident that good Ministers also might much contribute thereunto It is said in express terms that the Jews builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai It is like that Haggai did not lay one stone in the building of the Temple and yet all things considered no man was more instrumental in that work than he for he it was who in the name of God put them upon it and incouraged them in it Haggai 1.4 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai
saying is it time for you O yee to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lie wast v. 8. Thus saith the Lord go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it v. 13. Then spake Haggai in the Lords message to the people saying I am with you saith the Lord. And Haggai 2.4 Be strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong O Jeshua the high priest and be strong all ye people of the land for I am with you saith the Lord. In like manner we find the prophet Zechariah incouraging the people Zech 8. from v. 7. to 15. and Zech. 12.2 3. Now as it is in war they that beat the drums and sound the trumpets thereby animating those that ingage in the battle and drowning those doleful noises of shriekes and groans which would otherwise dishearten the Souldiers do or may do as much service though themselves do not strike one stroke as those that fight most skilfully and valiantly yea each of them is or seemeth to be of greater use than any one single souldier because what they do hath an influence upon the whole company or regiment putting heart and spirit into every man even so may it fall out in building and every other undertaking of great consequence viz. that Gods Prophets or Ministers though it be not proper for them to be mechannically imployed therein yet may each of them more advance and promote the business than any ten men that are so imployed They if I may so allude are the greatest builders of all who as is said of God do build without hands Tongues may either help or hinder more than hands help if united and ingaged for the work but hinder if divided as in the case of Babel There was a prophet Jeremy who lived a great while since Haggaies time and much nearer to ours whose influence upon the people was so great for the exceeding veneration they had both for his life and doctrine that I verily think that the interest of ten such prophets as he were enough to build such a City as London if all England could but afford men and monies wherewithall to do it Doubtless Haggai and Zechariah were men of eminent holiness and that brought them into so much esteem with the people It was not meerely as they were prophets nor yet as men of good abilities that they were so much had in honour Hophni and Phineas were priests and able men it is like being the sons of Eli but yet the people had no respects for them yea for the greatness of their sin men abherred the offering of the Lord 1 Sam. 2.17 Sanctity is so essential to a prophet to a minister that where it is not in truth or in appearance at leastwise where at leastwise it is not thought to be it is as it were natural to men to withold from such persons that veneration and esteem which as prophets is fit for them both to deserve and have not men of the greatest parts and abilities but men of the greatest zeal and holiness or reputed for such are generally they who carry the greatest stroke with the people as if they thought that such Elijah's could take up others to Heaven in the same chariot with themselves or that the Ship in which those Pauls do sail must needs come safe to land at leastwise all the passengers be spared and therefore would chuse to imbarque with them The very semblance of sanctimony where it may be it hath not been in truth hath made a greater interest for some men and made them greater leaders of the people than the substance and manifest reality of parts and gifts could ever make others But then suppose a Minister to have the true Thummim the truth of grace and holiness I mean which one would think should be more universally owned than the meer shew or shadow thereof and besides that to have the Urim also I mean a fair proportion of parts and gifts as for his work a man so qualified would compel a very Herod to pay him reverence and to be much perswaded by him as he was by John the Baptist for the very reason Mark 6.20 For Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly We read that John was a shining light as well as a burning light John 5.35 but it was for his burning and not so much for his shining light that Herod did reverence him and do many things by his direction Herod was no less than a Prince John but a mean man to see too The same John had his raiment of Camels haire and a leathern girdle about his loins Mat. 3.4 Yet for that he was a just and a holy man Herod feared him who doubtless would not have feared a loose unholy prophet one that he had known to be such no not in all his pontificalibus if for the gravity majesty and glory of his habit he had outvied the most reverend Pope A holy prophet commands more respect in a hairy garment and a leathern girdle and his word shall go farther than shall the word and authority of an unholy one were his habit as rich as a very Prince and his titles of honour more than are the grand Seigniors I see then if a Zerubbabel would have his word to prosper he must have holy prophets about him as was Haggai and Zechariah or those that are generally esteemed and reputed such For otherwise it is little service that can be done for Princes by those that serve them in the capacity of Ministers or Prophets unless those prophets of theirs are generally in request as good and holy men whose lips the people are willing should preserve knowledg for them and to receive the law from their mouths Now every such prophet as Haggai and Zechariah was is able to do a Prince more than knight service whether he have a City to build or any other great design to carry on The hands of Moses had flagged and so Amaleck prevailed if Aaron Exod. 17.12 had not held them up and what is Aaron called but the Saint of the Lord. They must be Aarons or such as he in point of repute viz. Saints who shall be found able to bear up the hand of Moses whilst he is conflicting with Amaleck I mean with any great opposition or difficulty nor can our Aaron be well spared whilst Amaieck is yet unabdued No persons more able to make the people for any good purpose than those prophets for whom they have great respects which can be only such as are generally owned and accounted of as good and holy men Therefore they that are such ought in Point of prudence as well as upon other considerations to be obliged and incouraged when any great work is in hand that by their means and by virtue of their interest others may be brought in even the
have power in their hands reform but all those things which they think in their consciences ought to be reformed and that no good account can be given thereof to the great God when they shall stand before his Tribunal I say let them reform but so much which is also certainly within the verge of their power though there may be difficulty in it and when they have so done that both London England and all the three Kingdomes will reap the happy fruits of it I make no question And now that I have bespoken a Reformation of what is not disputably but manifestly amiss that God may bless us in our great design of rebuilding London it may be expected I should express whom I would have to be the Reformers If then the question be put concerning the reforming not of a person or family but of a Nation and of such abuses as are National I profess sincerely that I am utterly an enemy to a popular Reformation further than of their own persons and families that is unto the people or body of the people or any party from amongst them rising up and saying This and that is amiss either in Church or State and we will reform it As our Saviour replied Luke 12.14 Who made me a Judge or a divider of you So may I say to the people who made them Judges or who hath authorized them to be Reformers If those waters use to overflow their banks instead of making the Land fruitful as Nilus did Egypt they will drown and swallow up all The Law saith a mischief ought to be endured rather than an inconvenience Now for the common people to have a power of judging and determining what is amiss and altering all things at their pleasure were an inconvenience in the sense of our Law viz. a standing evil and principle of mis-rule whereas to deny them that power is a rule that is generally good and safe though it should admit of some exception now and then and breed what they call a mischief As the Wisdom of God hath thought fit to constitute Husbands to be the Head of their Wives because though here and there a woman one of a thousand may have more wisdom than her Husband and could govern the family better than he and to such it is a mischief though but what they deserve for chusing Husbands that have less wit than themselves yet the generality of women being not so fit for government as men are an inconvenience much worse than that mischief is avoided thereby viz. by placing the headship of the family in the Husband The like may be said of Gods placing the sole power of publick reformation in Magistrates and men in Authority and denying any such power to the common people because though the community of the people might now and then do better things than are done by persons in power yet generally they would do worse and be the Authors not of better order but of more confusion People may humbly represent to those that are in Authority what they take for grievances and implore the redress of them so far as to their wisdom shall seem fit beseeching God to incline their hearts thereunto but that is all they can do This Paragraph I have added as a grain of salt wherewith to season what I have said as touching some things which seem necessary to be reformed the notice whereof taken with this grain of salt can do no body any hurt There is no hurt in seeking a Reformation of what is manifestly evil but only in seeking it from the peoples hands from whom it is not to be sought but only from the Magistrate Could we whisper in the ears of Magistrates which we have not opportunity to do what we suppose doth need their reforming hand by my consent the people should never hear of it their Errata's should be mended if it were possible before the people did ever so much as know of them nor have we presumed to acquaint them with any thing of that Nature but what they knew too well before and do ordinarily complain of though not where they should viz. to them that can afford them relief to whom this Treatise directeth all its complaints if there be any in it as to them by whom it is most fit they should be heard Reformation is needful in two cases First in case there be good Laws but ill observed notoriously broken and violated There are not better Laws in the World than many if not most of ours in England as for the curbing and restraining most kinds of vices drunkenness swearing whoredom c. but yet alas they abound as if the Laws were rather for than against them which shews one Law is too much wanting viz. a Law to put the rest in execution And verily they to whom the execution of Laws doth appertain are the persons upon whom it is incumbent and whose proper work it is to see those miscarriages which are contrary to good Laws regulated and reformed But secondly It is possible that Laws themselves humane Laws I mean may some of them not be good or not so good as they should be and in that case a reformation of the Law it self is as necessary as in the former a reformation by it I am sure that Decree of Darius Dan. 6.17 That whosoever shall ask a Petition of any God or Man for thirty daies save of the King shall be cast into the Den of Lyons was a sinful Law as was also that of Nebuchadnezzar That every man shall fall down and worship the Golden Image Dan. 3.10 Magistrates are not infallible in Cathedra or in the Seat of Judgment as the Pope pretends himself to be in St. Peters Chair nor do Protestant Magistrates pretend that they who sit in Moses his Chair whilst they sit there cannot erre they know themselves to be but fallible men and the Laws of such cannot be infallibly good I confess that private men ought to be very tender of speaking evil of the Law and judging the Law To allude to James 4.11 yet Laws may have their faults as well as men and when they have so there are but two remedies I can think of and the first is that those who are Legislators or Law-makers should either repeal or alter them as Nebuchadnezzar did his Decree Dan. 3.29 and Darius his Dan. 6.26 though the Laws of the Medes and Persians were said to be unalterable or if that be not done that those who have power to suspend the execution of unwholesome Laws though not to repeal them be pleased to suspend their execution I have only shewed how an evil or sinful Law may be reformed and by whom but not presumed to call any Law evil but that of Darius and of Nebuchadnezzar which themselves by recalling did acknowledge as such But for fear of tediousness I would press hard for that kind of Reformation for which we need not be beholden to any man but our selves viz. personal
or one that more needs it to receive part of your last kindness and of that estate which you cannot carry out of the world with you than is your dear mother the City of London who now fits as a widow who now cries out to them that go by pity me pity me all ye that pass by is there any sorrow like to mine Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fiery anger Lam. 1.12 A sacrifice well pleasing to God might do much for the poor desolate City and what is such the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us Heb. 13.16 To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased DISCOURSE XLIII That the promoting of Love and Amity throughout the whole nation would much conduce to the rebuilding of the City IF England were at unity with it self if all the inhabitants thereof were in charity with one another if fellow subjects had that love each for other that fellow members of the same body should and use to have or which the members of each body use to have for their head for so is London to the other Cities and Towns of England then might we confidently expect to see London up again in a very short time and like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber deckt and trimmed Whilst our heats and animosities continue whilst we bite and devour one another methinks the fire of London is not quite out but it doth reak and smoke still so far is it from being perfectly restored and compleatly rebuilt But were we all of one heart though not of one mind could we hit upon it to love as brethren from Dan to Bersheba I mean from one end of England to the other were all Englishmen compassionately affected with the loss of London and passionately desirous of its restauration London would spring up again like Jonah's gourd as it withered like that I mean in as short a time for a great City to spring up in as one night was for a gourd No grace like that of love for matter of building it builds up the body of Christ the best of fabricks From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self is love Eph. 4.16 and sith it doth do so what building is there that love cannot promote How much concerned were the Israelites to restore the tribe of Benjamin Judg. 23.6 They repented them â—â—r Benjamin and said there is one tribe cut of from Israel this day They destroyed the inhabitants of Jâ—besh-gilead for not coming up to Mizpeh and gave them their daughters to wives to the number of four hundred which proving not to be enough they put them upon taking every man of them a wife of the daughters of Shiloh when they came out to dance practices which I know not how to justifie and therefore propose to imitation no more but this that others would be as earnest for the restauration of London as they for the restauration of Benjamin though not in the use of indirect means and so it will be if that love be found amongst English men that ought to be They said There must be an inheritance for them that are escaped of Benjamin that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel Judg. 23 17. So would hearty and universal love each to others make all Englishmen to say there must be houses built for them that were burnt out of London there must be another London that a tribe or what is more than so may not be destroyed out of England the utter destruction whereof we will labour to prevent with our heads and hands and purses and prayers and with whatsoever else we can use and improve for that purpose Now if the whole nation would ingage it self one way or other in the restauration of London and put to its helping hand how quick a dispatch would be made as if Orpheus with his harp had made the timber and bricks and stones to come leaping together and orderly to dispose of themselves one by another as the Poets fained that he made the woods and mountains to dance after him But the great difficulty will be to shew how and by what means the people of England which are now so much at variance and enmity with one another may be brought first not to hate for that must be the first step and then to love and affect one another Loving parents cannot indure to see feuds and fallings out amongst their children to hear them wrangle one with another much less to see them fight nor if there be none of all that betwixt them are they sufficiently pleased unless they observe them to have a hearty kindness each for other and to love one another as brethren and sisters ought to do who sprang from the same loyns and lodged in the same womb and when they see that how great is their joy But as I said before the first step must be to take men off from hating one another a disease to epidemical in England at this day for which I would to God I could propound a sure certain remedy How and by what means the father of a private family may keep his children from hating and maligning one another from fighting or falling out each with other is within my sphere to discourse of and may be no presumption in one who hath been and is the father of so many children as God hath made my self to pretend experience in I shall therefore make bold to direct in that case though not to say what would destroy all or the most of that enmity which is between fellow subjects who have all one common and political Father and in that sence are brethren If parents would not have their children to hate one another they must carry an even hand towards them not manifesting much more of love and respect to one of them than to another least of all so carrying themselves as if some of them had all their love and they had none at all for the rest Parents should temper their love and respect to their children or the expressions of either though not ad pondus yet ad justitiam that is though not to shew so much respect to those that are but boies and girles as to those of them that are Men and Women yet as much to the younger in proportion to their years as to the elder in proportion to theirs and so to those that are of meaner rank and quality and apparently of less desert ought they according to their quality and desert to give a respect proportionable to what they give to the rest If this be not done and if some children of the same parents be used by them with too much respect and
take is the commonest thing in the world I am mistaken if private and small Assemblies will not necessarily multiply in infinitum if places for publick Worship be not built If a great Family were crowded into a house in which every room were very small like Cabins in a ship it were impossible that whole Family should eat and drink and converse all together but every one must eat and drink by himself or only some few in a company which would be very uncomfortable and a great disorder Some may think that the variety of Opinions which are in England at this day would cause as great multiplicity of Assemblies as now is though there were ever so many publick Churches but I am not of their mind for that I have taken notice that where men of good lives and of good abilities have Preached the Congregation hath consisted of sober persons of very different perswasions whoout of a respect to publick Ordinances have there presented themselves though it may be scarce two of them of a different sort are ordinarily found together at the same private Meeting I do not at all despair but that some little prejudices which now keep good men asunder will in time wear off and that with the blessing of God what I have written in this book will somewhat contribute to it or they themselves by degrees will see the vanity groundlesness and ill consequence of their divisions and when that is done one Church will hold them whom now a few cannot The inconvenience and ill consequence of having many divisions and sub-divisions of Christian Societies more than is needful or than use to be is greater than can easily be foreseen If one and the same Church or Society break into ten or twenty distinct Churches or Societies every one of them under several Teachers and going their own way will they not have less love for one another less converse together less of Majesty and Authority less strength and power to withstand those that shall oppose and set themselves against them than they had when they were all together Who had not rather have any thing whole than in small pieces who will give so much for parcels and remnants as for that cloth or stuff which is cut out of the whole piece Bread that is cut drieth and spoils presently and they say that beer drinks smaller and dies sooner when there is but a little of it than when a great quantity is put up together Should an army be divided into as many regiments as there are companies in it and into as many companies as there are squadrons it would be nothing like so able to deal with an enemy nor would it be half so capable as now it is of good government and discipline Surely a good government in the Church were better than none at all nor can the Church well subsist without some government any more than a State can do but certainly the Church can at no time admit of any government either of one sort or of another in case it were so there were no publick Churches or publick congregations for if it happen there be ten or twenty societies for one that use to be that have no relation to one another nor no certain places of meeting who can take an account of them or have a due inspection over them If a master that hath two hundred scholars should divide them into fifty several forms or Classes reading distinct Authors how impossible would it be for him to teach them all whereas if he reduce them all to five or six forms with the help of an usher or two he may teach them well enough Let there be no government in the Church and then all will be Prophets all will be teachers or as many as please to make themselves so and as can gain a few people to hear them the people will make to themselves Prophets of the lowest of the people as did Jeroboam now it is a great evil to make teachers of them that are none as well as to make no teachers of them that are or ought to be such and they that preach will preach what they list none controlling them and practise how they list and the end of that will be woful ignorance error dissention and confusion which cannot be prevented unless the Church that great school of Christ do consist of larg forms or Classes I mean publick Churches and congregations to which the masters of assemblies may have an eye be those masters of assemblies of one judgment or of another If scholars repair to their schools at school time and there receive the instruction of honest and able masters if it be their happiness to have such they may better be trusted as to what they shal do at other hours either in their closets or chambers when they are by themselves or in company and consultation one with another Publick Churches will make way for Christians to testifie their union and communion with one another by joyning there together whatsoever opportunities over and above those they shall make use of in private Solomon tels us that the borrower is servant to the lender Prov. 22.7 If there be publick places erected primarily for religious worship then religion will be in a condition to lend as when Churches are lent at such times as they can be spared to such as teach school and cannot be otherwise provided but if there be no such Religion must borrow and so become a servant which ought to be every ones master Private places of worship frequented by those who altogether refrain the publick are ordinarily called by some name of distinction and appropriation as namely the place where the Quakers meet or the Anabaptists meeting-house or such like whereas publick Churches carry no such names of distinction with them nor pretend to any other than to keep open house for all comers that have a desire to wait upon God in his ordinances be they of twenty several judgments and that methinks is much better for till names of distinction cease divisions will continue and I see no reason why they who agree in the fundamental doctrines and practises of Christianity should not be willing to pray and hear and sing Psalms together where those duties are piously and solemnly performed though they differ about twenty little things Even infidels should be admitted to publick prayer and preaching how else should they believe in him of whom they have not heard or how should they be converted and as for those who in the judgment of charity are true believers though varying from us in some small opinions and practises I know not why we should exclude them from fellowship with us in the Lords Supper which is to raile in the Communion Table in the worst of senses To have no publick Churches would carry such a face with it as if no Religion were owned established and countenanced or any thing more than tollerated and connived at like a
have seen upon Schollars of several perswasions who are and alwayes were dear to my self as good Schollars and good men Let Artificers not take it unkindly that I took occasion by their being in so much employment to bewail Schollars that are or have bin out for a long time together and by the riches they may hope to get to bewail the deep poverty of many Learned and pious men We envy you not go on and prosper Do worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem and build the City though in another sense as Rachel and Leah did build the house of Israel that is a great and renowned City as that was a Family Build up your own Estates so far as justly you may whilst you Build other mens Houses But oh that my head were Waters and mine eyes a Fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the Daughter of my People I mean over the condition of Schollars Learned and worthy men or many of them who under most Changes and Revolutions have bin and are like to be undone DISCOURSE XLVII Of the rebuilding of Churches HOw earnestly were it to be wished that men and women of Estates would apply their charity to the building of Churches Did I call it charity surely that word is beneath the thing for what is given to Gods use immediately or to the use of his worship and service is not Charity strictly so called but Piety Our charity extends not to God but to the Saints that are upon the earth for God receives no alms for his own use but tribute as do Princes Yet I have let the word Charity slip because whatsoever is given without constraint and of a willing mind is vulgarly called by that name and loquendum cumvulgo is no ill rule at leastwise when it is given to those that want it now though the great God do not want Churches Acts 17.25 God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and all things Yet his servants do want them yea and money too many of them wherewith to contribute any thing towards the building of them and Churches are given as to God in one sense viz. as places dedicated to his worship so in another sense to men as good accommodations and conveniences for that publick worship which they should tender unto God now upon this latter account it is perfect charity to build Churches though in respect of the former it was piety now where piety and charity go hand in hand where they greet and kiss each other they speak the work excellent in which they two concur and give great hopes of good success to them that shall take it in hand as the appearance of Castor and Pollux both at once had wont to be construed by Mariners as a good presage of a prosperous voyage to insue As needful a work as I do apprehend it to rebuild Churches I would not say one word of it if I did not think there were persons enough in England to bear the charg of it and do themselves no great hurt There are whose cups are full and do overflow who have enough and to spare who have more than heart can wish that is need to wish for matter of estate c. Many wealthy persons have no heirs of their own bodies nor can expect any nor kindred it may be that are very near and dear to them others have heirs of their own bodies but not fit to be made heirs of their whole estates or haeredes ex asse because they can expect no other but that they will quickly run out all and bring themselves to husks as did the prodigal Luk. 15. Or as that great Lawyer prophesyed of his eldest son to whom he said in his last Will and Testament that he left his estate to be scambled away and imbezled for he could hope no better neque enim de illo melius spero Have such persons as these nothing to spare towards the rebuilding of Churches If God had given them many children whom he hath been pleased to write childless they could have given every child a fair portion and made them all rich and will not their hearts serve them to give the value of one childs portion or of what they could have given to one if they had had seven or ten children as they have none towards building up convenient places for the worship of God would such a proportion undo them yea would they so much as feel it what if the wealthy parents of hopeless children did say to them as David said to Mephibosheth Thou and Zibah divide the inheritance so in this case thou and the desolate Churches and other pious uses shall even divide my estate betwixt you surely in this case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that half is more than the whole is as true as in any viz. that half a fathers estate is more to be given to a hopeless child than the whole of it to one that is good and hopeful Others it may be have a child or two not unhopeful but that is all they have and the estate is so great as would have richly provided for many more if such shall pretend that they have nothing to spare to good uses neither would they have had by the rule they go upon if the whole world had bin theirs for their rule is this that whatsoever they have be it ever so much they must leave it intirely to their Children be they ever so few yea though they have but one he or she must have all and by that means they load them with thick clay till they break their backs again they tempt some loose persons to steal them if they be daughters or to inveagle them if they be sons they make them see so great an estate before them that they think they shall never come to the end of it they begin to think of dividing it as the mother of Sisera and her wise ladies spake of his dividing the spoil To every man a damsel or two Judg. 5.30 a prey of divers colours of needle work on both sides meet for the necks of them that take the spoil I say they begin to think of dividing or dedicating it so much to Bacchus and so much more to Venus and so much to other heathenish Gods and Goddesses of pleasure Thus some destroy their children as that Tarpeian Virgin was destroyed by overwhelming them with bracelets I mean with riches more than they know what to do withall Were it not better that some part of such an estate were given to good uses went to build Churches A private mans estate may be too great as well as to little as some Kingdoms have been which have sunk with their own weight mole ruerunt sua A ship may have too much ballast as well as too little and a boat may be overset by too great a
sail When those that have more than enough for them and theirs have so much wisdom as to hear and so much grace as to confess it it will appear that England doth not want for money sufficient for the rebuilding of Churches I doubt not but some who have but midling estates and many Children will contribute freely to the building of Churches and should not they much more who have great estates and no great charg but few children or all bad or none at all If this be not a reasonable motion themselves being Judges let it be refused Many are at great expences every year upon things of far less consequence than is the building of Churches I would beg but a year or two's revenue such and so great as some men spend upon their lusts be they the lusts of the flesh or the pride of life I say no more as from them for and towards the re-edifiing of demolished Churches Alas that men should be more free and bountiful to their sins than to their Souls to works of darkness than to works of piety to damn their Souls than to promote the means of saving them Synagogues of State swarm every where and are carefully provided for There are Temples to Bacchus and Venus almost innumerable and much frequented Men are about to build for themselves better houses than they had before and while they they so do would it not be a great shame if they should build no house for God must God be but as it were a sojourner whilst we dwell in ceiled houses must the Ark remain as it were in tents must religion be but a tenant at will having here and there a room afforded it upon meer courtesy There are for ought I hear but a moity of Churches to what were formerly intended to be built though the inhabitants of London are like to be as many as ever if the piety of this time will not extend to that moity it will be thought to be not half so much as was the piety of former ages How gladly would the Hugonites in France rebuild their Churches which were wilfully pulled down if they might have leave to do it we have leave and incouragement and shall we not build ours How much more decent how much more convenient how much more publick generally how much more unsuspected and unliable to cavils and exceptions from the world is the exercise of religion in Churches than in private houses How did Infidels take occasion though most unjustly by the primitive Christians their assembling in private to charg those horrid things upon them which they could never have done if they had met in publick What religion is there in the world that hath not publick temples erected for the exercise of it whether Jewish or Mahumetan if it be but permitted What noble Temples have been erected to idol Gods which are no Gods as that at Ephesus to Diana It hath been a custome amongst the Jews to throw down the book of Esther upon the ground because the name of God is not found in all that book I do no more commend them for it than Moses for throwing down the two tables of the Law but this I 'le say God may justly do so by London viz. throw it to the ground again if his name be not so far regarded and recorded there as by building up places for his publick worship Do you build Churches and then trust God to provide good Ministers provide you candlesticks and God will take caâ—e for burning and shining lights as when Isaac said Behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb c. And Abraham said God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering Gen. 22.7 The people found beasts to sacrifice the priests presented them to God and God found fire from Heaven to consume them in token of acceptance Ps 20.3 The Lord remember all thy offerings and accept turn to ashes it is in the original all thy burnt sacrifice for that God did shew he was willing to eat of that meat which they had provided for him The widdow spoken of 2 Kings 4.4 She found vessels and God found oyle to fill them Shall Papists build many and magnificent Churches for the purposes of their Idolatry and shall we build none or none in comparison for the true worship of God They will go nigh to say that protestants in England had never had any Churches worth the speaking of but that men of their religion built them How kindly did God take it that David did but purpose to build him a house though he were prevented and from Solomon that he did it How great incouragements were given to building of the Temple Haggai 1.4 8. Build the house and I will take pleasure in it and be glorified saith the Lord. What if there were a more visible presence of God in the temple at Jerusalem where he dwelt in the thick cloud and in many sensible tokens of his presence yet there is as real though invisible yea sometimes as comfortable a presence of God in the places where his people now do or may assemble to worship him and God in such Churches as ours is or may be served in as pure ordinances and in as acceptable a manner as he had wont to be in the temple at Jerusalem There was indeed a ceremonial holiness in that temple and in the utensils belonging to it which is not in our Churches and in the utensils thereof that is to say that temple and the apurtenances thereof were so peculiarly and intirely dedicated to God and to his service that they could not without prophaness be put to any other use neither at one time nor at another Therefore our Saviour whipt the buyers and sellers out of the temple telling them it was a house of prayer and we read of the shew-bread that it was not lawful for any to eat but only for the Priests Mat. 12.14 Doubtless Belshazzar and his company were profane in drinking their wine out of the vessels of the temple Dan. 5.2 and that was counted as part of their sin but we challeng not to our Churches and the utensils thereof such a holiness as this viz. of being appropriated to the use of Religion and to no other use at any time and upon any occasion whatsoever witness the liberty given in many parts of England to teach school in publick Churches though consecrated implying that the exercise of that civil imployment there is no ways opposite to that which is meant by the consecration of Churches Like instance might be given in the performance of academical exercises such as are making of speeches managing of philosophical disputes not only in private Chappels but in the most publick and eminent Churches belonging to both our universities Now they that allow such things do thereby intimate that they attribute no such ceremonial holiness to our Churches as did belong to the temple at Jerusalem which to have so imployed had been great
tollerable evil rather than an indispensable good or rather as if all Religion were persecuted and driven into corners If Religion be exercised only in private places vice hath as much liberty as that comes to drunkenness and whoredom take their freedom in private houses and shall Religion appear no more publickly than they as if it also were a work of darkness and ashamed to shew it's head If I thought that all the reasons I have alledged would not prevail with men of estates to contribute freely towards the building of Churches I could upbraid them by telling them that which is no news for were it news I would not tell it them viz. that several places of good capacity have been erected by a sort of people that are generally none of the richest and who when they did it had cause to fear least some creature or other would cause their ground to wither and expose them to the scorching Sun I say some persons have adventured under those perillous circumstances to build larg places for the exercise of their Religion all their discouragements notwithstanding if then the people who are richer than they who have leave and incouragement to build publick Churches and may have many thanks for their labour who have the law of the land on their side and all the power of the nation divided amongst them whose Churches are as like to stand as the City it self is or will be when rebuilt I say if they have not so much love for the nation for themselves and for Religion as to build us more Synagogues in lieu of those that were burnt the Chappels of ease I spake of or shrines what shall I call them will rise up in judgment against you If you will not build publick Churches who are like to have the greatest interest in them when they are built I was about to say those poor people I mentioned but now as hardly as they are thought of would I am perswaded spare money from their backs and bellies to build more Churches if they might be sure they should be theirs as much as yours when they are built again nay be it how it will be such is the love the soberer sort of them do bear to publick ordinances that I question not but they will bear their full proportion whensoever trial shall be made what every man will freely contribute to the building of publick Churches If those that speak little of the Church should do more for it than some that have the Church the Church ever in their mouths as the Jews of old the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 it would be a woful shame But why should I seem to mistrust or doubt of the piety and bounty of the true sons and daughters of the Church towards their distressed mother who hath not heard of that noble Lady whether now living or dead I know not who out of her own estate hath given some thousands of pounds towards the rebuilding of the Church of S. Dunstans in the East now in a good forwardness and of what the liberal Minister of that place is said himself to have given towards that good work even more than many good Ministers have in all the world Their zeal I hope will provoke many I hope it will and I do earnestly desire it may for a sad climax runs in my thoughts and I am much perswaded if it should come to be tried it would prove to true viz. no publick Churches no legal maintenance no legal maintenance in time no able Ministers for who will study to be starved no good ministry no good preaching no good preaching no conversion no conversion no salvation But I hope beter things than that the Churches which are demolished should not be rebuilt much less the Churches that now stand should be demolisheâ— That sun of charity or piety rather which hath begun to rise in the East will I hope visit all the dark and desolate corners of Londons hemisphere for that I take to be the figure of it and not give over its circuit till having refreshed every dolesome and gloomy place at length it set in the west where the other Church of that name of S. Dunstans I mean is standing at this day I am loath to say that the rebuilding of Churches in London if it be not done by voluntary contribution and by way of free-will offerings it will certainly be done by constraint and compulsion from authority and if authority be forced to interpose in a matter of this nature it will be no small shame and reproach to us and seem to signifie that we would not be religious but upon force which is to be no more religious than they may be said to be honest who never pay their creditors but when they strain upon them or make distress which is indeed for creditors to pay themselves Time was when the bounty of men towards the Church was such and so great that Laws were made to limit and restrain it for that men were ready to say to a father or to a mother as the Pharisees did Mat. 15.5 It is a gift Corban viz. to the Church by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and we find Moses was fain to set bounds to the sea of the peoples liberality towards the tabernacle in his time saying hitherto should it go and no farther Exod. 36.5 And they spake unto Moses saying the people bring much more than enough and Moses gave commandment and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp saying let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary so the people were restrained from bringing I wish that at this day there were an overplus of liberallity towards the demolished Churches I mean more contributed than would serve to rebuild them that like as the oinment which was poured upon the head of Aaron ran down upon his beard and upon the skirts of his garment so that what is more than enough for the re-edifying of Churches might go to the rebuilding of Hospitals and publick Schools and of one place more viz. the late famous but now desolate foundation of Sion Colledge DISCOURSE XLVIII That the people of England are most unworthy to see another London THe rebuilding of London would be a national mercy but how unworthy is this nation of it Never did people more justly sorfeit a City and every other mercy than we have done As Africa is full of monsters in nature so is England in manners As if we had traded for vice instead of other commodities with all forreign parts we have amongst us the drunkenness of Germany the pride of Spain but not so grave the levity and lasciviousness of France the atheism hypocrisy reveng and the unnatural lusts of Italy We have much of the Indian disease amongst us for so some say it was at first and are forced to spend a great deal of their commodity I mean their Lignum
vitae that is their guaiacum using that tree of Life as they call it as an antidote against the poison of that forbidden fruit which is too commonly tasted of England hath done wickedness as it could that is with all its might Profanness is come in upon us like a flood men glory now a daies in their shame and seem ashamed of that wherein they should glory I hear that some are ambitious to be thought more wicked than they have been or could be There are they say that will boast of those sins which they never did or had opportunity to commit There are that strive to bring vertue into disgrace and vice into request If men would learn to sin we can teach other nations those oaths and execrations which possibly they never heard else-where and will be afraid at first to make use of such as Dam them ram them sink them into Hell body and soul with several others yea we could teach them such profound blasphemy as would even astonish them at the first hearing and make their hair stand an end yea such as I dare not here recite Englishmen declare their sins like Sodom They that are drunk are drunk in the day time as well as in the night some are seldom sober night or day they sin with a whores forehead and with a brow of brass We have many Absaloms now a daies that do as it were spread a tent in the face of the Sun and there display their wickedness England hath all the sins of the seven Churches of Asia for which God hath long since destroyed them and given their land to the Turk Ephesus left its first love to God and Religion Rev. 2.4 and so hath England done Were there those in Smyrna who blasphemed saying they were Jews when they were of the Synagogue of Satan and are there not many such in England were there those in Pergamos who taught the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balaac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel viz. By setting fair women on work to tempt them to commit both fleshly and spiritual whoredom both Adultery and Idolatry Numb 25.1 And are there not such in England and as some in Pergamos held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing saith God I hate namely the doctrine of wives being common for that is said to have bin the doct of the Nicolaitans and have we none that pretend it to be their opinion as well as make it their practise so to do Was Thyatira charged with suffering the woman Jezebel â—o seduce others to fornication and idolatry Rev. â— 20 And have we no Jezebels amongst us that do â—e same thing had many in Sardis but a name to â—ive whilst they were dead and is not that the case of many in England at this day Was Laodicea charged with lukewarmness That she was neither â—â—ld nor hot Rev. 3.14 and doth not that sin exceedingly abound amongst us Did the Laodiceans think themselves spiritually rich and to have need of nothing when they were poor and miserable c. And do not many amongst us do the same thing I find but one of all the seven Churches that did escape reproof and that was Philadelphia but it is scarce to be discerned that there is any such Church amongst us that from its love of the brethren or brotherhood or whole fraternity of Christians deserves the name of Philadelphia for as iniquity aboundeth so is the love of most men waxen cold I could proceed to higher things and say we have learnt to bring serious preaching and preachers upon the stage and to bring some thing like stage-plaiers now and then into the pulpit Had not his Majesty by his most excellent Proclamation against profanness discountenanced the attempt some were going about as one would think to make Religion the mark of a Rebel and profanness the test of loyalty vilifying such persons as no good subjects who would not swear and curse and health it and drink themselves drunk c. Now we have Hectors for Atheism for Popery and what not that is there are that will undertake openly to justifie and patronize atheism popery c. Our land is full of blood violence fraud oppression May it not be said O England England as of old O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. We are disjoynted both as to spirituals and temporals like one that is newly come off from the rack we have been smitten and yet have revolted more and more Hell is broke loose upon us I scarce forbear that homely proverb we have even raked Hell and scummed the Devil All flesh amongst us hath corrupted it self we have exceeded the line of the wicked Will God build a new City for us why should he our sins are out of measure sinful Some of us are an incouragement to evil doers and a terrour to them that do well We speak evil of those that run not with us into the same excess of riot he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey amongst some men We are full of envy and strife from whence cometh confusion and every evil work We love the worst men and things best and the best worst Some of us will neither be good our selves nor suffer others to be so as Christ said to the Scribes and Pharisees Ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men for ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in Mat. 23.13 The people of England are generally in extreams at this day some are almost mad with mirth and others almost dead with melancholy Some are all of a foam with anger and others all of a froth with lightness and drollery Atheism Idolatry Profane swearing Sabbath-breaking ill carriage in and towards relations Murther Adultery Theft Fals-witness Covetousness are the ten great sins the ten predicaments as I may call them which all sins are reduced to and these our land doth wofully abound with For matter of robbery we are even a den of Thieves for filthiness a cage of unclean birds for strife a Meribah or as Meshec and the tents of Kedar for blood an Aceldama Our Mosesses many of them break both the Tables of the Law of which by office they are keepers Our Aarons too often make Golden Calves there are many Achans that trouble us sore some by stealing the babylonish garment I mean by their propensions and stealing on towards Popery witness their own suspicious expressions in publick if not more than suspicious others again by stealing the shekels of silver and the wedg of gold alluding to Josh 7.21 I mean by their deceit and oppression both of which are perfect theft We are many of us more brutish than was Balaams Asse who seeing a sword drawn against him would not go forward and as bruitish as the Prophet his rider whose madness was rebated by the Asse for that he would switch and spur on nevertheless that is we will not see the hand of God which hath