Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	head_n	king_n	supreme_a	4,443	5	9.1068	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57597	Shlohavot, or, The burning of London in the year 1666 commemorated and improved in a CX discourses, meditations, and contemplations, divided into four parts treating of I. The sins, or spiritual causes procuring that judgment, II. The natural causes of fire, morally applied, III. The most remarkable passages and circumstances of that dreadful fire, IV. Councels and comfort unto such as are sufferers by the said judgment / by Samuel Rolle ...	Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Preliminary discourses.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Physical contemplations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Sixty one meditations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Twenty seven meditations.	1667 (1667)	Wing R1877; Wing R1882_PARTIAL; Wing R1884_PARTIAL; ESTC R21820	301,379	534

likewise Now where shall I begin my discourse of Londons calamity Or how can I do it without premising those words of the Prophet Jerem. 9.11 Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears c. If my eyes be not a fountain my heart must needs be a Rock and Lord smite thou that Rock that waters may gush out whil'st I mention those things that should be bewailed even with tears of blood That which first presents its self is the consideration of what London was nor can it be better expressed than in those words Lam. 1.1 The City that was Great amongst the Nations and Princesse amongst the Provinces Sure I am London was the glory of England yea the glory of Great Britain yea the glory of these three Nations if not in some sense the glory of the whole World But as the Prophet speaks of Ierusalem ver 9. She came down wonderfully the same may be said of London But alas What is London now but another Sodome lying in ashes What is it but a heap of dust and rubbish The greatest part of it seems to be convered into so many Church-yards as consisting of nothing but the Reliques of Churches with waste ground round about them full of open Vaults or Cellers like so many uncovered Graves and fragments of houses like so many dead mens bones scattered on every side of them I had almost called it another Smithfield ●alluding to the use that place was put to in the Marian dayes for that every house was a kind of Martyr sacrificed to the flames and that as is vehemently suspected by men of the same Religion with those that burnt the Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes Witness that Frenchman that was convicted and executed upon his own acknowledgement of having begun the Fire in London whose confession tels us that he was instigated by Papists one or more and the choice of his Confessor that he was one himself We can now no longer say of London Here it stands but Hie jacet as we say of one that is dead and buried Here it lies not that here it is but that here it was May we not go on with those words of Ieremy Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a Widow Where are those multitudes that inhabited London a few moneths since How are they dispersed and scatte●ed into corners some crowded into the Suburbs others gone into the Country disabled in all likely hood from ever returning again to settle as before Who complains not that they scarce know where to find any body even those that they had wont to converse and trade with for that their former places know them no more yea they hardly know the places again where they dwelt formerly or can find where those houses stood which they inhabited many years together To see a populous City so wofully depopulated in a few dayes time and the late Inhabitants driven away as stubble before the wind Whose heart would it not cause to bleed How oft have I heard men say since the Fire we have occasion to use such and such tradesmen that use to work to us but know not were to find them we should speak with such and such Friends but know not what is become of them or whether they are gone How many thousand houses that were lately such do not now contain one Inhabitant nor are sit to do it This also should be for a lamentation Did the Egyptians mourn when but one was missing in every house and shall not we when multitudes of whole housholds and houses are swept away all at once Why should I doubt to say that a great part of the strength and defence of all England yea of all the three Kingdomes is lost and taken away in and by the destruction of London Was not that great City able to have raised a mighty force in a short time wherewith to have opposed an invading Forreigner Was it not a Mine of Treasure able to supply vast summes of monie for the use of King and Kingdome at a short warning and found as willing as able to do it If a vast and stately Ship as most that swim in the Ocean had been lost how soon could and did that famous City build such another Surely London was the sinews and the very right hand of all great and publick undertakings and that they knew full well that said in their hearts Rase it Rase it to the very ground Are we not now like Sampson when his hair was cut and should we go out to shake our selves as he did Judg. 16.20 should we not presently find it Yea are we not become like the men of Sechem when they were fore presently after their being circumcised whom Simeon and Levi flew Gen. ●4 25 Who can be a friend to England or have any true English blood running in his veins and not lament to see so much of the strength of the Nation taken away at once As Jerem● speaking of what God had done to Jerusalem as in his own person saith He hath made my strength to fall Lament 1.14 and then adds He hath delivered me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up That is not our case as yet but how soon may it be our present weaknesse and obnoxiousness considered Is it not worth taking notice of that the beauty and splendor of England is defaced and lost by the destruction of London How deformed is a body without a head and was not London the head of England in that sence that Damascus is said to have been the head of Syria and the head of Ephraim to have been Samaria Isa 7.8 That is the head City for we acknowledge a head Superiour to that yea Supreme under God viz. our Sovereign as it is ver 9. the head of Ephraim is Remaliahs Son As the face is to the body so was London to England viz. the beautifullest part of it and look how men reckon it a great prejudice to their bodies when their faces are marred by any great deformity so is it to the whole Land which is to be considered as one body and all the parts of it as members of each other when scarce any thing of that is left which was the very face of it They that saw only the other parts of England saw as I may allude with reverence but it 's back parts Was not London as it were the Throne of the Kings of England successively and other places in comparison of it but as it were their Footstool you know to what I allude Now London is gone may we not write Icabod upon the Nation for that the honour of it is departed Now who can be a true Englishman and unconcerned for the honour of his Nation and not troubled to see it lie in the dust How is the honour of a Nation insisted on How many wars are commenced and continued in the world to

go out MEDITATION L. Upon some who s●on after the Fire could hardly tell whereabouts their own houses did stand SO it was that some who attempted to visit the Ruines and Reliques of those Houses in which they dwelt not above a week before though they found the Street in which they stood yet had much ado to be certain which was the ground they stood upon He that should have told them but one day before the Fire began that within five or six dayes they being in London and in the same Street where their dwelling was should not be able to find the way to their own Houses where they had lived it may be twenty years and upwards would have been lookt upon as mad or replied to in some such language as this What should aile us Shall we be out of our wits within that time or Shall we be struck with blindness as the Sodomites were that sought for Lots door or if so we think we could find our own Houses blindfold or in the darkest night at so small a distance or Shall London be changed as much as Sodom and Gomorrah which were fair Cities but are now a filthy Lake Or how and by what means should it be so much altered He did not more express his admiration and disbelief of what was foretold in another case who said If God would make Windows in Heaven how could this be than most men would have expressed theirs as to this Yet do we see the thing which could enter into no mans heart to conceive till he saw it is come to pass Methinks it is sad to hear men that knew London well enough before as they walk along the Ruins asking at every turn Which is the way to such a place and What street is this and What Street is that But yet more sad to think of men that have sought their own Houses not far from the place where they had wont to stand and could not easily find them There is a phrase in Scripture of Mens places knowing them no more but in this case that phrase was inversed viz. Men for the time knew their places no more Oh stupendious Judgment I see it is easie for God to do such things as are hardly possible for men to believe till they see them done So true is it that the wayes of God are above our wayes and his thoughts above our thoughts as much as the Heaveris are above the Harth How good is it then to be armed against all sorts of evil not only such as are likely and probable but even those which are no more than possible and What evil is there which he cannot inslict to whom all things are possible For ought I see no man is secured against any kind of Judgment but he that is secured against all in some sense by vertue of that promise Prov. 12.21 Wo evil shall happen to the just with others of the same import Nothing could be more improbable than that so many Calamities of different kinds should befall Job not successively but at one and the same time viz. The Sabae●ms taking away his Cattel and killing his servants Job 1.14 And that whilest the first Messenger was yet speaking another should come and tell him that fire falling from Heaven 〈…〉 up his sheep and his servants and that before the words were out of his mouth another should come and inform him That the Caldeans had ●●rried away his Camels and slain others of his servants and that before he had made an end of his story another should come and tell him That a great Wind had killed his Sons and Daughters by throwing down the house upon them where they were eating and drinking together and that only one person should escape each of these dangers being reserved as it were on purpose to bring him the tidings of it Such a conspiracy of Providences as I may call it to strip a man of all his Comforts at once could scarce have been imagined till the event did declare it Unexpected and unimaginable miseries are not much more rare than unexpected and unlookt-for Mercies Upon this occasion I cannot but think of three other sorts of houses as we may term them which men have or may seek for and not be able to find First our bodies they are the Houses or Tabernacles in which our souls dwell as he said Anima Galbre male habitat Galba's soul dwelt in an ill-body when those houses shall be crumbled away to dust or devoured of worms who will be able to find them or to say Which were they The Graves of men they are the Houses or Receptacles of their dead bodies Job 17.13 If I wait the grave is my house and the grave is called the house appointed for all living Job 30.23 How many such houses as those could not be found if they should never so carefully be sought for How ordinarily are the dead turned out of possession and the living come in their room that is Charnel-houses have been turned into dwelling-houses and many more such instances are like to be so that it hath and will become impossible not only to know the bodies of dead men again but their very graves And the then Earth it 's self that is as it were the house of all graves the great Golgotha or place of skulls Now when that time shall come which is spoken of 2 Pet. 3.10 in which the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up that great House of houses and graves if it be sought for will be found no more MEDITATION LI. On the Statue of Sir Thomas Gresham left standing at the Old-Exchange HOw great and particular a respect did the Fire shew to the Essigies of that worthy Knight the honourable Founder of that which was the Royal-Exchange and doner of Gresham-Colledge which for present succeeds in the room of it I say how great a respect by the appointment of Divine Providence without which not a hair falleth from our heads did that Fire shew to his Effigies in particular which it left standing and undefaced whilst mean time the Statues of all the Kings and Queens of England since the Conquest were demolished and thrown down by it No man could have answered it to have put more honour upon a fellow-Subject than upon his lawful Prince much lesse upon one Subject than upon many that had swayed the Scepter within his native Soil for certainly there is an honour which Kings as Kings may challenge from their own people greater than is due to any of their Subjects but God who is the King of Kings may do what he please He may pull down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree as it is Luke 1.52 Men must have regard to political claimes and rights in dispensing their respects and give honour to whom honour is due upon that account but moral considerations are those which the Great God takes notice of who is otherwise no respecter

heart-burnings against God himself discontent is a Fire within that flies and flames up against the great God as Ahaz said who with his tongue did speak but the language of the hearts of many others This evill is of the Lord why should I wait on him any longer wonder not then if the anger of God have burnt against those that did burn against him if he hath given us fire for fire We were alwayes murmuring when we had no such cause as now we have and now God hath given us as it were something to murmur for and yet let me recall my self that was spoken but vulgarly For though God should punish us with Scorpions in stead of Rods he will no tallow us to murmur but commands us to filence our selves with such a question and answer as this Why doth the living man complain man for the punishment of his sin Who so considers how unthankfull we were for what we had before the fire will see no cause to wonder at what we have lost but rather to wonder at this that such as have lost but a part did not lose all For with Parents nothing is more common than to take away those things from their Children quite and clean for which they will not so much as give them thanks as not being satisfied with them Then say Parents give them us again you shal have none of them they shal be given to them that will be thankfull for them yea say they not sometimes in their anger we will throw such a thing in the fire before such unthankful Children shall have it I see London full of open Cellars and Vaults as it were so many open Graves and Earth lying by ready to cover them How unwilling am I to say that Kiberoth Hat●aavah might justly be written upon them that is the graves of those that lusted after more and by that meanes lost what they had If I were one of the murmurers as there were few exempted from that guilt O Lord I have cause to own thy justice in whatsoever this Fire hath or shall contribute to my loss and prejudice and also to adore thy mercy if my share in this loss were not proportionably so great as that of many others and those my betters MEDITATION IV. Of Rebellion against Moses and Aaron procuring a destructive Fire Numb 16. THe sixteenth Chapter of the Book called Numbers in the 35 verse thereof tells us how that a Fire came down from the Lord and consumed no less then 250 Men that offered Incense not their Houses but their very Persons Some would hardly think that so small a crime as opposition to Magistracy and Ministry are in their account should have been the only causes of so heavy a judgment And yet we finde that alledged as the main if not the only reason of Corah and his Complices being consumed by fire The Confederates of Korah Dathan and Abiram are said to have been 250 Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation men of renown Yet when such as they who one would think might better afford to do such a thing than meaner men gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron saying why lift ye up your selves above the Cougregation of the Lord and they themselves would be Priests and Princes as well as they verse 10. Seek ye the Priesthood also said Moses to them yee Sons of Levi. And in the 13 verse they qua●rel with Moses for making himself which was false for it was God that had made him so altogether a Prince over them as who shall say they would have no body above themselves either in Church or State I say when they shewed this kinde of spirit and principle you see how God punished it These were right Levellers if I mistake not they pretend they would have all to be alike vers 3. ye take too much upon you all the Congregation are holy every one of them wherefore then say they to Moses and Aaron lift ye up your selves above others But to pretend they would have none inferiour to them surely was but a stratagem to bring to pass that they might have no Superiors or rather that themselves might be superiour to all others This was like to come to good they would have neither head nor taile in Church or State or else it should be all head or all taile But from these principles of Anarchy and Ataxy set at work I say from the displeasure of God against them upon that account sprang the fire which we there read of Much of this spirit hath been in England within a few years past when not a few gloried in the name of Levellers at leastwise in the character and principles of men so called If any of those embers be still raked up under ashes I should fear least a Fire of tumult and confusion might break out from thence and by their meanes as soon as any way nor do I question at all but that the sin and guilt of such vile and antiscriptural tenets might help to kindle that fire which lately devoured the City God will not suffer two such great Ordinances as Magistracy and Ministry which so greatly concern the good of the World nor either of them to be trampled upon St. Jude speaks sharply of such men calling them filthy dreamers who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities they who would level these the God of order will level them for such are said to perish in the gain-saying of Korah Jude 11. Of such it is said in 2 Pet. 2.12 That as bruit Boasts they are made to be taken and to be destroyed and that they shall utterly perish in their own corruption But then if we consider Moses and Aaron one as a holy Magistrate the other as a holy Minister that did greatly aggravate the sin of Korah and his Complices in rising up against and seeking to depose them for as such they had a double ●tamp of God upon them viz. both as Magistrates and as good For as such they were not only called Gods but also partakers of the divine nature and if we must be subject to Superiours that are naught and froward 1 Pet. 2.18 much more to them that are good and gentle the destruction of usefull Magistrates and Ministers is one of the greatest disservices that can be done to the World and will as soon kindle the wrath of God as almost any sin that men commit 2 Chron. 36.16 But they mocked the messengers of God and misused his Prophets till the wrath of God arose against them till there was no remedy Mat. 23.36 There we finde these words O Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee c. Behold your house is left unto you desolate in Numb 16.11 Moses told Corah and his Company that they were gathered together against the Lord. For what is done against Magistrates and Ministers either as Officers ordained of God or as good in their places