God Psal 76.10 who restrained the remainder of wrath 'T was mercy that he provided other Habitations for you in your great straights That so much of the City was spared to be an Harbour to you That many of you who have been thrust into very incommodious places have yet enjoy'd as much health as ever you did in the midst of your best accommodations that after a long and sad war it hath pleased God to restore again the blessing of Peace to us without which this poor City must yet have continued in its ashes That so good and so full an Act hath been passed by the Supream Authority of the Nation to further the repairing of our breaches That God hath blessed you with such a proportion of estate that you are in a capacity either to build or to take new Houses that after a short ejectment out of your old Houses God hath provided others for you and brought you into them as your true * Of the Roman's Domiducus Deus vid. Dempsterum Antiq. Rom. C. 2. f. 187. Domiducus Deus There are many other mercies that I am sure do occur to your thoughts O let God in your Re-entrys have some solemn acknowledgment of these signal blessings And when you are upon this duty I would commend three things to you 1. Seriously enquire whether in that great distress that was upon you in the late Fire you did not make some solemn Vows and Promises to God in case he should do thus and thus for you If so be sure without delay you make them good * Sacrificium seu Hostiam Pacificorum Hebraei vocant Se bach Shelamim Sacrificium Pacis ac Salutis Eratque nunc spontaneum quod exanimi devotione nullâ urgente necessitate offerebatur nunc Votivum quod reddebatur ex pacto i. e. quod quis in periculis I necessitatibus constitutus Deo se in Ecclesiâ oblaturum siliberaretur promiserat Gualt in Mar. 12.33 O do not forget the vows that you made in the day of your distress Psal 76.11 Vow and pay unto the Lord your God Psal 66.13 14. I will go into thy House with Burnt-offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Eccles 5.4 5. When thou vowest a Vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in Fools pay that which thou hast vowed Better it is that thou should'st not vow than that thou shouldst vow and not pay My Friends I leave it with you in your own Consciences to consider whether under the late amazing terrible Providence you did not enter upon some solemn Vows and Promises to the great God if you did do not forget or falsifie them Sincerity in vowing lies in fidelity in performing When the Emperor Sigismund being in a sore fit of sickness and making then high Promises of Reformation in case he should recover asked his Confessor how he might know Whether he was sincere or not in his Repentance the Confessor answered him If saith he you be as careful to make good in your health what you now promise as you are forward now in your extremity to promise then your Repentance is right So here I say should any of you ask me we had great convictions and terrors upon our spirits when the City was in flames O we vow'd and promis'd thus and thus to God such sins we would leave such duties we would perform Were we sincere in all this Ans If you now make good what then you engaged to do then you were but otherwise not Men are very forward to promise in a day of affliction but very backward to perform in a day of comfort 'T was Pliny's wish Vtinam tales esse sani perseveraremus Epist 26.1.7 quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi And 't is mine O that we were the same under mercies that we are under judgments that we were as good at performing under the former as we are at promising under the later I did not think to have said so much upon this but I fearthere's need of all this and of much more O do not think that God will be put off with your Praise and Thanks when you enter into your new Houses if you do not pay what you vowed when you were in trouble 2dly When you are blessing God for what is present do not forget what is past whilst you acknowledg his goodness in your New Habitations do not forget his severitie in what befell your Old Habitations As Judgments must not jostle out the remembrance of Mercies so Mercies must not jostle out the remembrance of Judgments Israel's forgetfulness of the works of God is often charged upon them Psal 106.13 They soon forgat his works passim Are not we herein too guilty also O the great things that God hath done in our Age an Age made up of wonders but how soon are they forgotten by us That his gracious works should be forgotten that is not so much to be wondred at our cursed Natures being so apt to forget mercies but that judicial and such judicial works of God should so presently be out of our thoughts and memories this is very strange I will instance only in the late Plague and Fire Good God! How many persons were swept away by the one how many Houses laid desolate by the other and yet how soon are both forgot These were Judgments very hardly to be parallel'd either at Home or abroad God scarce ever did the like before and I trust will never do the like again but they are past and gone and men scarce ever think of them O that London ' s Flames that were so hardly extinguished and put out with so much of difficulty should so easily be put out of the thoughts and memories of the most 'T is but yesterday since this poor City was nothing but a furnace of Fire and Smoke since this raging Element wasted all before it scorning all checks and controuls laughing at our poor Ladders and Buckets since it came upon us and went on with that fury as if our Tides of Water had been turn'd into Tides of Fire O the beautiful Churches the magnificent Buildings the convenient Houses that it with the greatest impartiality laid desolate in a few dayes O the many Families that were utterly undone O the hurries and distractions that it caused amongst us O the dreadful prospects that I had then in my eye the dreadful noises that I had then in my ear by the crackling of the Tiles the falling and blowing up of Houses shall I ever forget them O the ringing of Hands the paleness of Faces the weeping eyes the great distress of poor Citizens that then I saw shall I ever forget it I believe you saw the same too and yet we do forget Ah if London was built again and the Ruines and Rubbish but a little out of our eye I fear all that God hath done would in
set in with your Education to crown your endeavours with success to make the means effectual to the attaining of the end Say Lord that my Child my Servant may be the better for all this I instruct Lord sanctifie instruction I exhort Lord do thou set Exhortation home upon the heart Lord I correct let Correction fetch out pride c. Let me ask you Do you thus pray over your Education Do you pray over and for your Children as Abraham Job and others us'd to do Do you in secret pour out your Souls your Sighs your Tears for your poor Children Do you sometimes nay often plead their case at the Throne of Grace Lord here 's an Ishmael O that he might live Gen. 17.18 here 's a Child O that Christ might be formed in him Gal. 4.19 here 's a child of wrath wilt thou make him an heir of Grace shall my child be thy child thou hast given him Feature Limbs Lineaments Reason Wit wilt thou give him Grace too 't is not the things of the world that I so much design or desire for him but 't is Christ a Covenant Interest a renewed Heart that I breathe after I say do you thus plead with God for your Children Surely if you do God will hear A child of Prayers and Tears shall not perish as Ambrose comforted Monica concerning her Son Augustine O Pray pray thus for them this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sophocles calls it Sophocl in Ajax this treasure or this stock of Prayers is the best portion or estate that you can leave them And in special when you are at praying-work beg of God that holy Education may be blessed to them Thirdly Compleat your good Education at home by your special care when you are to send them abroad and to dispose of them in the world Surely such as are Conscientious in the former will be very careful in the latter This is like the laying of the Roof in a building He that builds an House will not only lay his foundation and see that that be firm and strong nor only carry up the Superstructure but he will also look to the laying of the roof for without this the foundation it self will be endangered That 's your case here I suppose as to Education you have laid the foundation well and have built well upon it whilst your Children were at home with you Now that which further lies upon you is the laying of the Roof that you dispose well of them abroad which if you do not do the foundation which you have laid will be in danger and all that you have done with so much pains will presently be undone again And therefore I earnestly commend this to Parents not only to be careful of theirs whilst they are with them and under their eye but also to be careful how they dispose of them upon their removal from them Are Children to to go to School or to the Vniversity or to a Trade or are they to enter upon a married state First beg direction of God how and where to dispose of them as Manoah did Judg. 13.8 O my Lord let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the Child that shall be born And then steer your course by Religious Considerations As near as you can place them with such as fear God with such as will clench the nail which you have driven in as one expresses it with such who will build upon that foundation which you have laid and further that good work which you have begun This is a matter of great importance and that which is very necessary we do too often see a good Education spoiled for want of care in this All that was gained at home is lost abroad all that was done by the godly Parent is undone by the careless School-master or Tutor or Master or New Relation Much here might be spoken even from Scripture especially as to that Branch of disposing of Children in Marriage in which the Patriarchs See Gen. 24.3 4. 26.34 35. 27.46 did exercise a singular care as many places show us but I will rather leave further enlargements upon this to your own thoughts I have all along in this tedious Discourse directed my self to Parents and Masters must nothing be said to Children and Servants to show them how they are to carry it with respect to this Religious Education Should I say something upon this I am sure it would not be unnecessary and I hope it would not be unprofitable But yet this being a Digression as to what I propounded at first I shall pass it by The truth is I have made so many Apologies already that I am ashamed to make more CHAP. IX The Fourth Branch of the Exhortation urged THat which I have spent so much Time upon is this to excite such as are Heads of Families to be zealous for the advancing of Religion in their Houses In order to which I have urged three things upon them 1. That they would as far as 't is possible fill up their Houses with such as fear God 2ly That Holy Duties be in them daily duly performed 3ly That they would Religiously educate those who are under their charge There is yet one thing more to be enforced viz. That they would keep sin out of their Houses and instead thereof keep up piety and holy walking with God I might as much enlarge upon this Head as I have done upon any of the former but I resolve to contract You then who have Houses and are in Authority there keep sin out of them shut the doors upon sin barr it out give it no admittance let not sin dwell where you dwell 't is the worst guest that you can harbour or give entertainment to You have excellent Promises made to them who will not admit of sin in their Houses Job 22.23 If thou return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put iniquity far from thy Tabernacles Then shalt thou lay up Gold as the dust c. Yea the Almighty shall be thy defence c. So Job 11.14 If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacle Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot Are you in your old Habitations O remember how graciously they were preserved when the flames were just seizing upon them The knife was laid to the throat as it were and yet they were spared You were saved from fire yet so as by fire if I may allude to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.15 that is with a great deal of danger and difficulty God knows Now after such a deliverance as this shall sin be in your Houses Ezra 9.13 Deut. 32.6 will you thus requite the Lord for so eminent a mercy Are your Habitations continued to be Habitations of Sin After such mercy to your selves and such judgment to your Neighbours shall
me whether House-dedication as so stated be a Jewish antiquated thing or whether it be not rather a moral duty and that all persons whatsoever are now under the obligation of it Honoured Citizens I hope no objections nor discouragements neither from without or from within shall ever be able to keep you off from a due performance of this blessed dutie of House-dedication You are now very busie in joyning house to house but not in the Prophets sense Isa 5.8 in the repairing of your breaches in the re-edifying of your wast and desolate Habitations which for some time have been forsaken and left like a wilderness and cut off through the fierce anger of the Lord Isa 27.10 Jer. 25.37 and herein I pray the God of Heaven to prosper you Now to present you with some thing that might be suitable and seasonable for this enterprise this is my principal aim and design As to the late terrible Fire the saddest Tragedy that Providence hath acted or permitted to be acted upon the Stage of the world in these latter Ages as to that Fire I say which in four days by four large swarths mowed down so many thousands of your dwellings this I meddle not with farther than as the matter insisted upon in this Treatise doth here and there lead me to it you have had the pious labours of several persons already upon that sad and dismal Argument to which I shall add nothing 'T is the bright side of the cloud that my eye is upon 't is the building not the burning of your Houses which I treat of and what is it in reference to this which I urge but that they may be consecrated and dedicated to God whenever they shall be built And under this Head I reduce all that I have to say and doth not the duty speak for it self Doth it not carry its own light and conviction along with it Doth not the late tremendous hand of God call upon you for this After such conflagrations will you not enter upon your Houses and live in them with a due sense of God When God hath been so contending with you shall things be just as they were before Shall not the voice of such a rod be heard in some notable reformation Hath God overthrown many of you as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as brands pluckt out of the burning and will ye not yet return to the Lord Amos 4.11 Do ye not yet perceive that 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Will you again provoke God to return with the same judgment I beseech you consider what God hath done what you have done what you are now to do and carry it so that breaches betwixt God and you may be healed that his anger the worst of Fires may be quenched that all differences may be comprimised that you may be secured from all evils and live in the enjoyment of all blessings And the most compendious way to this is first to dedicate your persons and then your houses to God O let God dwell where you dwell let God be entertained in your Habitations O keep up his worship promote his interest devote all to his service and glory live under a continual dependance upon him and an universal devotedness to him and let not sin find any harbour or have any reception in your Houses thus do and fear not all will be well be you faithful in your dedication and God will be faithful in his protection and benediction Persons and places dedicated are under a special providence God will not have them to be touched There are very many things which your present affairs and actings might lead me to speak to by way of advice You are much taken up with building O that spiritual building may not be neglected by you Pray mind the building of your Ark and do as Noah did Heb. 11.7 In such threatning times as these are it concerns every man to have his Ark ready made 't is better now to be without an house than without an Ark we have seen several deluges of judgments what will be next we know not Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished You are erecting fair and beautiful Houses but are you your selves the House Building Temple of God that he may dwell and inhabit in you Heb. 3.6 1 Pet. 2.5 1 Cor. 3.9 16. 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 You are building for Earth but what do you do for Heaven Do ye lay a good foundation against the time to come that ye may lay hold on eternal life as 't is 1 Tim. 6.19 Are you by a saving Faith built upon Christ that great and only foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 What assurance have ye of a building of God of an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Thus from your external and material buildings I might take occasion to suggest divers things which refer to inward spiritual and mystical Building for by this allusion the spirit of God in Scripture doth much delight to set forth the state and duty of Christians As also I might much enlarge in the exhorting of you to several duties upon another account suitable to your present posture and concern viz. That ye would for ever humble your selves under that mighty hand of God which hath been so severely lifted up against you that the late judicial amazing Providences of the most High may never be forgotten by you but that they may frequently be thought of and duly improved that you would take heed of security pride vanity of spirit in slighting what is past and in promising great things to your selves for the time to come so as not to say with them The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Isa 9.10 That you would be sure in Building-work to take God along with you and to keep down all carnal confidence That place is remarkable Mal. 1.4 Whereas Edom saith O that this may never be the language of London We are impoverished but we will return and build the desolate places thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down and they shall call them The border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever A terrible word this is the Lord grant you may never speak so sinfully against God and that he may never speak so terribly against you That you would enter into your New houses with New hearts that as your houses are like to be better than before so your hearts and lives may be better also that your old sins may never be admitted into your New habitations I say I might be verie large in the urging of these things upon you but I chuse only to name them some of them fall in under House-dedication to which I limit my self
4.9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God c. If you be free from these dangers and difficulties yet the very nature and importance of the work it self calls upon you to call upon your God O will you build and not pray this is in effect to say you will build whether God will or not and is not this highly sinful He burnt your Houses whether you would or no will you build them up again whether he will or no O take God along with you as I said before and by humble prayer engage him in the work and then undoubtedly it shall go on and prosper If he be with you and undertake for you the business is done I will build thee and thou shalt be built Jer. 31.4 I will work and who shall let it Isa 43.13 The work may stick upon your hands and miscarrie in your hands but it will go on smoothly and shall certainly succeed in the hands of the Almighty Why may not we go now to God and with submission to his will and with a due consideration of the Nature of the mercy and of different circumstances plead with him old promises Isa 61.4 They shall build the old wastes they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste Cities the desolations of many generations Jer. 30.18 Thus saith the Lord Behold I will bring again the captivity of Jacobs tents and have mercy on his dwelling places and the City shall be builded upon her own heap and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof c. Amos 9.14 They shall build the waste Cities and inhabit them I say why may not we in the present juncture of affairs plead these promises to God in the case of London Dear Citizens Let us do our duty to God and then let us be above all discouragements which may arise either from men or from the work it self which lies before us It would not be amiss if in your circumstances you would often read over the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah where you have an Historical account of the re-edifying of Jerusalem and of the Temple in which you will meet with many things that will exactly suit and parallel your present case for this City in many respects is Jerusalems Counterpart That famous City you know was taken and burnt by the Babylonians and so it lay in its ashes and ruines for seventy years And I will not meddle with that enquiry which is much more proper for persons far higher than I am whether the Babylonians had not an hand in the firing of our City also Well when this time was expired the Jews fall upon the rebuilding of Jerusalem but good Lord what pauses interruptions oppositions discouragements difficulties did they meet withal in that undertaking Ezra 4.4 The people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building And hired Counsellors against them c. And several of them wrote a most malicious letter to Artaxerxes the King of Persia designing by their cursed insinuations to put a stop to the work verse 12. Be it known unto thee O King that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem building the rebellious and the bad City and have set up the walls thereof c. These Samaritans and Others too did all that ever they could to hinder the progress of the Jews in the repairing of Jerusalems breaches Sometimes they deride them Nehem. 4.2 sometimes they conspire to fall upon them by force of Arms Nehem 4.8 and then Nehemiah set a watch against them night and day verse 9. Sometimes they endeavour to dishearten them Nehem. 6.9 For they all made us afraid saying Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done Besides all this from enemies the Jews were much discouraged as you read in the History in these Books from the work it self O it was so difficult they should never be able to carrie it on Nehem. 4.10 Yet good Nehemiah notwithstanding all this would not have the Jews discouraged but he animates them to the work and in the work Nehem. 2.17 18. Ye see the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lieth waste and the Gates thereof are burnt with fire Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me as also the Kings words that he had spoken unto me And they said Let us rise up and build So they strengthened their hands for this good work I pass by other places which refer to his encouraging of them in the work what the issue was you know notwithstanding all these oppositions and difficulties the City was built and finished to the grief and consternation of all enemies Nehem. 6.16 And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof and all the Heathen that were about us saw these things they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God The times in which all this was done were full of distraction yet the Jews were not dispirited they set upon the business and did it even in these times according to what was prophesied in Daniel Chap. 9.25 The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times Now Gentlemen some of these discouragements or some others I fear lie upon you and I heartily lament it but yet be not disheartened set upon your work and say The God of Heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build Nehem. 2.20 I rejoyce with all my heart to see that done which is done but O that I could see our Citizens more vigorously carrying on the rebuilding of this City Jerusalems wall went on apace for the people had a mind to work so 't is said Nehem. 4.6 Surely if persons amongst us had but a mind to build the City might be finished in a few years But some have got good Accommodations elsewhere and there they intend to fix some are discouraged by the distractions of the Times some are taken off upon one account some upon another and so that which was destroyed and ruined in three days is not like to be raised up again in many years 'T is not so proper for me a Minister of the Gospel to be earnest with you in stirring you up to build Houses a thing of a Civil nature and if affection to the City and your own interest do not lead you to this all that I can say will signifie but little but it would be the joy of my soul if I might see London to recover its pristine glorie and in a word to be London again And I hope you will excuse my hinting of these things to you which is occasioned by my cordial affection to that place the verie dust and ashes of which is precious to me I return to that which
better spared But while families are neglected alas how is the Preachers work obstructed When people come to the Church as if boys should come to the Vniversities who never were taught in the Country-Schools so much as well to read or write And when the Pastor hath the work of all the Parents and Masters in his Parish to do besides all that which is properly his own It is a self-condemnation and a shame to men to exclaim against those that silence Preachers or against those Pastors who neglect their flocks and at the same time wilfully to silence your selves from family-worship and catechizing and counselling your little charge and to neglect those few who are so near you and always almost in your sight O that men would look to the Eastern and Southern Nations of the Earth that once were famous Churches of Christ and now are turned Mahometan Infidels And to the poor Greeks and Papists the Abassines Armenians and Muscovites where ignorance hath set out Christianity as defiled and cloathed in rags And that they would soberly bethink them whether the gross neglect of Parents and Masters have not been a great cause of this calamity but if you joyn the wilful negligence of Pastors with that of Parents alas what ruins have they wrought even made many famous Churches of Christ more miserable than the flames have made your City Good families are the nurseries from whence most usually spring good Magistrates good Pastors a good Nobility Gentry and Commonalty And if any Nations have been undone by the contrary to any or all of these enquire whether ill or negligent education was not the cause If you say that many such unhappy plants come out of the most religious families I answer it is too true and they are most miserable persons But it is not according to the proportion of prophane and negligent families Though all good Parents are not blessed in their children they are much more commonly so blest than others And I must add with grief that even as many religious Parents do formally baptize their Children and think God must save them only for being theirs and do not consider how much is laid on their believing and serious dedicating them to God and thankful entering them by baptism into his Covenant even so too many of them do exercise so little of that holy prudence and unwearied diligence in the education of their children which their dark and sinful state requireth that they seem still to think that God should make them all wise and godly meerly because they are theirs and that a few formal prayers and words of a Catechism never understood with a few of Eli's gentle rebukes should serve the turn to make them Saints But grace doth not use to encourage laziness So some will tell you that this Fire hath shewed that religious houses speed no better than the rest O but truly religious persons speed better than the rest The Israelites burdens were a lighter suffering than the Egpytians plagues For at last they past safely through that Red Sea where Pharaoh and his Host were drowned To lose your goods and keep yea and increase your holiness and save your souls is much easier than to lose the Idols of your hearts by such flames as foreshew the endless flames and to be turned out of those houses which you loved better than Heaven as to signifie how you shall be turned out of all your wealth and delights and hopes for ever A Seneca or a Plutarch much more a David can tell you of the folly of judging mens happiness or misery by things temporal It is an excellent saying of Socrates which Valerius Maximus reciteth viz. Nil ultra petendum a Diis arbitrabatur quam ut Bona tribuerent Quia ii demum scirent quid unicuique esset utile Nos autem plerumque id votis expetere quod non impetrasse melius foret Etenim densissimis tenebris involuta mortalium mens in quam late patentes errores caecas precationes tuas spargis Divitias appetis quae multis exitio fuerunt honores concupiscis qui complures pessundederunt Regna tecum ipsa volvis quorum exitus saepenumero miserabiles cernuntur Splendidis conjugiis injicis manus ac haec ut aliquando illustrant ita saepe funditus domos evertunt Desine igitur stulte futuris malorum tuorum causis quasi faelicissimis rebus inhiare teque totum caelestium arbitrio permitte Quia qui tribuere bona ex facili solent etiam eligere aptissima possunt It is best to be nearest unto God and riches separate more hearts from him than poverty doth He that as Hierom saith preferreth holy clownishness before sinful eloquence will do as Gregory counselleth Pastors Not to be so much in the houses of great men as of good men It is not the consecrated place which will cause God to love an unhallowed soul As Origen saith Sin separateth you from Saints though you dwell among them for it is manners and not places which make men holy Now the Lord of mercy when he repaireth your ruined Habitations give you all hearts to understand his Judgments and cordially to Dedicate your selves and your houses to his disposal his government and his holy worship That they who shall behold the increased splendor of your City may be witnesses of your increased wisdom obedience righteousness and serious piety And that Holiness to the Lord may be your mark and name And that it may be said of London The Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice and mountain of Holiness Jer. 31.23 And upon all your Glory there may be a sure defence Isa 4.5 Amen April 22. 1668. RICHARD BAXTER Temporis praeteriti fructus est Compunctio futuri flos est Devotio Bernard ELENCHUS CAPITUM First Part. CHapter 1. The Introduction The words of the Text explained From page 1. to pag. 24. Chap. 2 Dedication Personal or Domestick The former opened from p. 24. to p. 59. Chap. 3 Personal Dedication applied The Rarity of it lamented Enquiries about it as to our selves from p. 59. to p. 74. Chap. 4 Personal Dedication pressed First more Generally and then Particularly in the six Branches of it from p. 75. to p. 167. Chap. 5 Directions shewing in what manner Personal Dedication must be managed from p. 167. to p. 188. Chap. 6 Helps to Personal Dedication from p. 188. to p. 197. Chap. 7 Some things in special urged upon Gods People in reference to their Dedication from p. 197. ad finem Second Part. CHap. 1. Of Domestick Dedication in General Some Things premised about it from p. 1. to 13. Chap. 2. The Nature of it opened in four Particulars from p. 13. to p. 22. Chap. 3. The want of it bewailed from p. 22. to p. 32. Chap. 4. Domestick Dedication pressed more Generally from p. 32. to p. 44. Chap. 5. The Three first Branches of it urged from p. 44. to p. 70. Chap. 6. The Third Branch amplified in four
resolve we also will give up our selves to God as you have done Bernard hath an expression Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei He is highest in the love of God you may understand it both of active and also of passive or objective love who hath drawn most to the love of God You cannot in an higher way manifest your love to God or procure Gods love to you than by promoting this blessed self-dedication in others O lay out your selves in order to this and let your endeavours extend to all but especially to your near and dear relations do not suffer a child a servant to continue in a state of alienation from God But this I shall have occasion more to dwell upon under the next Head of Domestick dedication Let me conclude this with the words of that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert Pag 96 97. which are very apposite to my purpose My God if writings may Convey a Lordship any way Whither the buyer and the seller please Let it not thee displease If this poor paper do as much as they On it my Heart doth bleed As many Lines as there doth need To pass it self and all it hath to thee To which I do agree And here present it as my special deed If that hereafter Pleasure Cavil and claim her part and measure As if this passed with a reservation Or some such words in fashion I here exclude the wrangler from thy treasure Wherefore I all forego To one word only I say No. Where in the deed there was an intimation Of a gift or donation Lord let it now by way of purchase go He that will pass his land As I have mine may set his hand And heart unto this deed when he hath read And make the purchase spread To both our goods if he to it will stand How happy were my part If some kind man would thrust his heart Into these lines till in Heavens Court of rolls They were by winged souls Entred for both far above their desert 6. Sixthly I have but this farther to say Let Saints take the comfort of their Dedication O what a rich mine of heavenly consolation am I fallen upon if I could but go to the bottom of it but that I cannot do Have you entirely dedicated your selves to God Can you go over all the branches of it and say you find them all in your selves What shall I say what may I not say for the comforting of you You have Grace and Grace indeed for as hath been said what is grace but Personal Dedication You are sometimes much in the dark about your spiritual state you know not what to think of your selves because of the many discouragements which you meet with in the power and prevalency of corruption c. Can you say this of your selves You have entirely unreservedly fixedly heartily devoted and dedicated your selves to God if so you may take the comfort of a saving work in you when other evidences are blotted and blurr'd if this be legible 't is enough this is an abiding discovery of sincerity and the truth of grace How dear and precious are you in the sight of God! The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 His as by his own Election so by their own dedication The Lord knoweth such not with a bare simple intuitive knowledge but with a knowledge of delight and special approbation God hath your heart and you have his You say to God we are thine there 's the sum of duty and God says to you I am yours there 's the sum of mercy God hath your drop and you have his Ocean You think nothing enough for him he thinks nothing too much for you his Self his Son his Spirit his Heaven his own glory he gives it all to you Surely God intends you nothing but good because he hath so graciously accepted of your offering which is your selves I allude to that of Manoah to his wife Judg. 13.23 You may take this and plead it with God upon all occasions Psal 119.94 I am thine save me Are you in dangers plead from this for protection Are you in wants plead from this for provision Lord I have given my self to thee wilt thou not give me food and raiment I desire no more Lord here 's the Covenant on my part I desire to make it good here 's the Covenant on thy part shall not that be made good then give me bread Psal 111.5 And so for higher mercies O it 's a blessed thing ingerere Deo suam syngrapham as Aug. says his mother Monica used to do to in-mind God and to argue with him from his Covenant Are you in straits you may plead from this for direction But alas I cannot speak out half of that blessedness which belongs to you upon this act Let me conclude with that which is the Zenith of all Personal Dedication shall most certainly end in Eternal Salvation That self which is here dedicated shall be hereafter saved and that which is a poor self here shall be a glorious self hereafter If this be not enough for comfort I know not what is And so let me end this first part of my Discourse with that which shall never end The End of the First Part. Domestick Dedication The Second Part. CHAP. I. Of Domestick Dedication in general Some things premised about it I Have at last got over the Dedication of the Person now the Dedication of the House comes next to be spoken to which I must be the shorter upon because I have been so long in coming to it This is that which was chiefly nay only in my eye when I first engaged my thoughts in this work The Text directed me to this for it speaks of House-Dedication only and the present posture business concern of you the Citizens of London directed me to the Text. You are very busie in re-building your Houses which for some considerable time have lay'n in ashes and I pray God to prosper and encourage you therein But my heart's desire is also that you may dedicate as well as build that as your Houses shall be finished for your use and service they may also be devoted to the use and service of God I could not when I have walked in the Streets indeed since the dismal Fire they may rather be called Roads than Streets and saw here and there a few Houses going up but wish and pray Oh that these Houses whenever they are built whosoevers they are might be dedicated to God! My thoughts and desires working much this way I resolved by God's assistance to do something that might further a thing so excellent and so desirable and thereupon I entred upon this Work though with much discouragement partly from the sense of my inward unfitness for such an undertaking and partly from those bodily Infirmities which a late have been upon me and have very much indisposed and disabled me for study To come then to that
bring forth for trouble The good Lord accomplish this word to you in this City 5. Life is very uncertain He that was to go out to fight with the enemy he especially was to dedicate his House because of the uncertainty of his Life Deut. 20.5 I hope this will not be be your case but however your Life is very uncertain you live to day Can you say that you shall live to morrow who knows how soon this poor thred of Life may break in pieces Every man at his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 Life and all the Comforts of it are fluid transitory uncertain Here we have no abiding City Hebr. 13.14 Nihil in hac vitâ possidemus quod di cere possumus futurum diu nostrum Quae uolis videmur firmissimè tenere ea quoties Deo libuit temporis momento nobis è manibus offluunt Omnia nos relinquunt vel à nobis relinquuntur J. Capel in Hebr. 13.14 Linquenda Tellus Domus placens Vxor Horat but we seek one to come O enter upon your Houses as those who have death in your eye They are built of Brick and firm materials and may stand long but you your selves are made but of brittle things you are but earthly Tabernacles a little breathing clay you would fall every moment if God did not underprop you Suppose it should please God to send such a plague as we had a few years ago we have had a strange unusual Winter what it may produce I know not would you be impenetrable against the arrows that fly and wast at noon-day Psal 91.5 6. Can you build your new Houses so that the destroying Angel shall not be able to get into them If you can secure them from Fire cannot God kindle a fire in your Bodies send a Fever upon you that shall consume you presently O what an uncertain thing is Life how many ways hath God to put a period to it Surely therefore it lies upon us to dedicate our selves our Houses to God to advance him in our Hearts and Families to improve all we have to his glory to be faithful in the matters of Religion for we know not how soon Death will come and what shall we do in a dying hour if we have liv'd in the neglect of these things Thou that hast not given thy House to God and set it apart for him Canst thou expect that he will give thee that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that House which is not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 6. House-dedication is the best Housesecurity Would you have your Houses safe dedicate them to God thereby you prevent God's Anger and entitle what is yours to God's Protection You have liv'd to see dreadful things God of his infinite mercy grant you may never see the like again A City burnt this City burnt this City burnt with such Circumstances Many Thousands of Houses in the space of three days utterly consum'd O What was it that kindled this fierce anger of God against us What shall we do that the like may never again befall us Surely these are two Questions which with the greatest seriousness we are often to propound to our selves I shall go no further than that which I am upon for an Answer to them One cause I fear I dare not be peremptory in assigning the causes of a judgment so unsearchable was our not-dedicating of our Houses to God Non-dedication brings desolation Had Religion the power of Godliness been set up and kept up in your Houses they might have stood to this day for ought I know This as to the first Question As to the second I say only this If you would not drink of this bitter cup again dedicate your Houses to God Do not think your walls and bricks will secure you if sin be harboured and God kept out of doors If there should be no malicious men or rather incarnate Devils here upon earth there is a just and jealous God in Heaven This duty will be your best security Do you dedicate and God will protect I always submit to God's Soveraignty and to his secret Reserves which are best known to Himself and how much there was of these as to the dealings of God with many Families in this City in the late judgment I cannot determine But as to the ordinary methods of God and as to his revealed will we have great encouragement to hope for Protection and Preservation whilst we sincerely desire to come up to House-dedicating duty O my Brethren be not offended either at my largeness or plainness in this my advice you have not my Pen but my heart in what I write And I shall think though I am sensible of many defects that I have wrote well if I may but see you to do well All that I aim at is success in bringing you to Dedication-work Lib. 6. c. 31. * Vt se diceret quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse Suetonius tells us a passage of Nero which I shall make use of When he had built him a brave Palace and had dedicated it he said Now he began to live like a man I allude not to his sense for that was naught but to his words You are now preparing new Houses and e're long you hope to dwell in them Oh when ever it shall be so dedicate them to God then you 'l live and act like true Christians 'T is better to be without an House than without an Heart to dedicate it to God 'T is never right ordered and managed till it be dedicated * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cognationem habet cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectus nam initiare aliquid est illud recté disponere Aven This in General but I must not leave the Exhortation thus I will go over the Particulars that make up this House-dedication and press them upon you distinctly CHAP. V. The Particular Branches of House-Dedication urged 1. FIrst therefore Enter upon your Houses by solemn Prayer and Praise These two are as it were the staple Duties of Religion In the One we acknowledg what we want in the other what we have In the one we testifie our own emptiness in the other God's goodness In the one we take from God in the other we give to God But 't is not for me to run out upon these in the general nature or notion of them I am only to speak to them according to the present consideration That which I have to do is this to exhort you as the good Providence of God shall fix you in New Habitations that you would make your Entrance by Solemn Prayer and Praise You know what I mean by Solemn Prayer and Praise that hath been already opened You must have the foundations of your Houses twice laid they are first laid by your workmen in a common and literal sense then they must be laid by your selves again in a spiritual and religious sense
by Prayer and Praise And indeed the first laying is not safe or firm without this In our entrings upon New Houses we have several civil rites and customs there are * Many open House-Dedication by these Feastings See Mariana and others cited in Lorinus upon Deut. 20.5 Dedicari res dicitur quan do cum solenni aliquo ritu vel convivio rei usus inchoaatur Menoch Feastings great Entertainments Friends come and rejoice with us and send in their Provisions to be merry with us and this they call House-airing or House-warming I have nothing to say against this usage provided 1. That this be soberly and temperately managed 2. That the main duty to God be not neglected But the misery of it is this we have these external expressions of Love and Joy when the religious part is omitted This I find former * Nos hodie Conviviis Domos nostras Dedicamus parum expenden tes divinum beneficium Muscul Nunc ferè res tota versa est in luxum Conviviorum plurimas Helluationes Moller Writers much lamenting O let not your Dedications lie in eating and drinking much less in intemperance and insobriety but in Prayer and Praise 'T is observed of the * Hoc etiamnum fit à Judais sed helluando pergraecando ludendo aliisque oblectamentis potius festum agitant quà m seriâ ad Deum gratiarum actione ob reportatam ab bostibus victoriam Buxtorf Synag Judaic cap. 23. Jews that they yet keep the Feast of Dedication but how do they keep it In swilling drinking immoderate use of the Creatures and the like but as for the serious remembrance of God's mercy vouchsafed to their Nation upon which that Feast was grounded that is lost O that it was not thus amongst Christians upon other Accounts what feasting are we like to have in this City as persons shall come into their New Habitations Pray take heed of excess do not so soon forget Gods punishing of you for this which I look upon as one of the Cities sins and withall make Conscience of the main As soon as you are setled in your Houses dedicate them by Prayer and Praise David here as soon as his House was built for so I told you some Expositors time the words he falls upon the dedication of it by Prayer and Praise I beseech you do you do as he did A word to each of these First for Prayer That 's a duty always seasonable but in the present case very seasonable Howshall our dwellings be * Peccatis polluuntur precibus sanctificantur aedes Scultet sanctified but by Prayer This is the Sanctifying Ordinance 1 Tim. 4.5 As sin defiles the House Prayer sanctifies it How will you testifie your dependance upon God for mercy in your Houses but by Prayer How will you own God to be your Chief Landlord Dei se inquilinos esse fatebantur Calv. that you hold all from him that you are his and your House is his and your All is his I say how will you own God thus if you do not enter with Prayer Will you settle upon your Houses and not ask God's leave You will not enter into your Neighbours House but you will say first By your leave Is not your House Estate Goods All the Lord's and will you invade his Blessings without his Leave Do you expect Protection from God that he will keep your Houses day and night and will you not in a solemn and special manner pray for this Can you look for any blessing but in the way of Prayer O set some time apart for the solemn performance of this duty Oh let your Prayers enter Heaven as soon as you enter into your Houses and plead with God thus Lord I justifie thee in thy judicial dispensations thou wast just in turning me out of my former Habitation for I did not pay thee my rent for it I did not only deserve to have my House in Flames but to have my Soul to burn in Hell for evermore Notwithstanding former forfeitures present unworthiness thou hast provided another House for me and mine Lord I am less than the least of all thy mercies but since out of thy free mercy thou hast made this provision for me help me to own thee in it to carry it better than formerly I have done Let my House and Heart and all be sanctified let me live and walk in it with a perfect heart Let me devote it and all in it to thy glory let thy special presence be with me and thy special providence over me Secure me from all evil and from mischievous men who are set on fire with Hell Let not my House be good and my Heart naught As my House is new let my Heart be new also Lord I here dedicate my House to thee I and my House will serve thee But I must break off from this the Spirit of God will direct you and assist you when with sincerity you set upon the Duty And then as to Praise In antient Dedications they used to give gifts and to offer Sacrifices In the dedicating of your Houses to God let your Gift and Sacrifices be Praise this is more to God than all Legal or Mosaical Sacrifices Psal 50.13.14 Psal 69.30 31. 'T is of great advantage for men to enter upon their Comforts with Thanksgiving * Non potest fieri utqui Donum Dei gratus agnoscit illo abutatur Muscul Minemur hinc pro omnibus rebus pracipuè cum primùm quid in usum venit Gratias Deo agere inde sane mens amore Dei as ita ad oinnem magis pietatem accenditur simulqueadmonemur at Deâ—Ì„ Donis quà m castissim utatur Quis enim re abutatur ad luxum pro quo jam Deo gratias egit Bucer We do not so easily abuse mercies which we solemnly bless God for Get such a sense of the goodness of God upon your hearts as to call upon your selves to bless God Ah and to call in others too to bless God for you and with you This was David's practise as I might show you in several places and in the managing of this I would have you in a special manner to fix upon those mercies which have a more immediate reference to the occasion As for example your Houses were burnt but as to the most of you a considerable part of your Estates was preserved however your Lifes were not touch'd Indeed this was admirable that in so fierce so terrible a fire the Life 's of more were not destroy'd It might have been with us as with Sodom our persons as well as our Houses and Estates might have bin consumed but the merciful God ordered it otherwise Lot own'd it as a singular mercy though he lost much that his Life was spared when Sodom was burnt Gen. 19.19 'T was mercy that when we were in flames we were not in blood too that 't was not killing and murdering as well as burning Blessed be
a little time be remembred no more A Pyramid will not be enough to perpetuate the memorials of this if we be left to our selves I therefore entreat and beseech you the Citizens of London to keep fresh in your memories the late terrible outgoings of Providence both against your selves in particular and against the City in general and in the day of your Praises and in the midst of all your rejoycings for present mercies O remember what is past How that should be remembred and how the remembrance of it is to be improved I cannot here insist upon I desire to shun prolixity and yet I am guilty of it 3dly In your initial Thanksgivings do this also Where God hath blessed you with considerable Estates see that you set something apart for charitable uses Let your Thanksgiving be Thanks-doing Do something towards the relief of them that are in want of them that were great Sufferers by the late Fire and towards others too who are great objects of Charity Hath God yet spared you an Estate O devote it to his glory and the good of his poor necessitous servants Liberality to such is an excellent concomitant to the duty of Praise and a very high Testimony of the reality of your Gratitude I leave this with you and for some reasons I will not further enlarge upon it So much for the enforcing of the First Branch of House-Dedication Secondly In the Dedication of your Houses to God I advise Fiducially commit them to God This implies 1. A casting-off of all Creature-props and dependancies for safety and Preservation 2. A flying to God for his Protection 3. A resting or relying upon God for this mercy Commit your Houses thus to God and if you would do it in a solemn explicit way when you enter into them and then keep the impression of this upon your Spirits all along it would be of great use to you The poor Heathens had their Tutelar Gods upon whom they rely'd for the keeping of their Houses These were the Lares Penates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domestick Gods of whom the Philologers write much The True God must be by you owned and rested upon for the preservation of your Houses Alas where can we be safe or our Houses be safe but under the shadow of the Almighty Psal 91.1 What can secure us but that providence that is always waking and watchful Psal 121.4 look to your persons what a world of accidents are you liable to each of which is enough to make a speedy dispatch of you When you are at home 't is but the breaking of a beam and you are gone when you walk in the Streets 't is but the falling of a Brick or a Tile or a wall or the breaking of a wheel when you are just by a loaden Cart or an hundred such Casualties and contingencies and there is an end put to your Life How many in this City every week are taken away by sad and sudden Accidents and indeed I wonder 't is not more We live inviron'd and surrounded by Deaths that may come upon us in ways that we never dreamt of Little did the Poet Aeschylus when he was sitting in his Yard think that there he should receive his mortal wound but so it was for as the story goes he sitting there with his Hat off an Engle hovering over his bald head and mistaking it for a stone let fall an Oyster hoping by the fall to break the shell which falling upon this poor man's head pierced his skull and so he dy'd And thus it happens in a thousand cases What need have we therefore to live in a constant dependance upon God for his Protection And so as to our Houses how many unseen dangers do hang over them if God do not keep them All your care preventions signifie nothing without this Set your Watches build in Brick look to your Fires and Lights this will not do your work without God's keeping Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain Psal 127.1 I would not take you off from the use of means for your safety but do not trust here 'T is God only that makes you to dwell in safety Psal 4.8 And therefore dedicate your Houses to God that is commit them to his vigilant and Holy Protection and then fear not I know upon what is past thousands in this City rise up in in the morning lie down at night full of Fears O that we could quiet our hearts by holy Trust what we put into the hands of God is above the reach of man He that hath the Protection of Heaven needs not fear the malice of Hell Saints may encourage themselves in the midst of all dangers and enemies whatsoever from the consideration of that tender and gracious Providence which is over them for the preserving of their Persons Estates Habitations and all that belongs to them Ps 121.3 4. He that keepeth thee will not slumber Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand The Sun shall not smite thee by day nor the Moon by night The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy Soul The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him Isa 4.5 Vpon all the glory shall be a defence Job 1.10 Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his House and about all that he hath on every side Prov. 12.7 The House of the Righteous shall stand Read Psalm 91. 'T is an excellent Psalm for the support of Faith as to Personal and House-preservation Now upon such encouragements as these be perswaded to commit your Selves and your All to God Put all into his Hands fiducially rest upon him and you engage him to take care of you and to secure you from all evil Prov. 29.25 Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Psal 17.7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them If the Promises of Protection and preservation be not literally accomplished as to the keeping off some particular evils they shall be made good some other way which will be better for you O therefore trust God and do not give way to Fear when you first enter upon your dwellings commit all to God and every morning every night renew this act of trust and it will be well You may be called the House-keepers but in truth God is the House-keeper both as to Provision and also as to Protection and they must needs be well kept if the Almighty God be the keeper of them Men and Devils can neither touch an bair of your Heads nor a tile of your Houses but
'T is more express 2 Sam. 6.11 The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his Houshold O who would not entertain the Ark in his House That precious O intment that was poured upon the head of Aaron Psal 134.2 it went down to the skirts of his Garments If you be faithful in the business of Religion God will pour down his blessings upon your selves and they shall run down also upon all that belong to you All in a Family fare the better for Religion Would you have a blessing upon your Estates look to Religion Piety the Fear and Worship of God owned and farthered by you are the best way both for keeping and encreasing these outward enjoyments Prov. 15.6 In the House of the Righteous is much Treasure but in the revenues of the Wicked is much Trouble Prov. 13.22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his Children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just Holy Job thus dedicated his House Job 1.10 and therefore God made an hedg about him and about all that he had on every side and blessed the work of his hands and increased his substance The Jews have a saying that Decimae are sepes Divitiarum Tythes are a fence or heag to guard and secure all that a man hath O would you have your Estates secured do you secure and exalt Religion and that will secure you and yours You see here is blessing upon blessing in the discharge of this weighty and fundamental Duty But what if men will yet neglect this and suffer Atheism irreligion profaneness wickedness to be in their Houses what O let such know they are under the curse of God they and their Houses are liable to the dreadful curses which the Word denounces And what are all Comforts in the House when the curse of God is upon it God's blessing sweetens all his curse imbitters all Wo to them whose Houses are under a Curse Prov. 3.33 The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the just Zach. 5.4 you read of the Curse entring into the house of the Thief it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof O let Atheistical Masters of Families that never mind Religion in themselves or in their Houses tremble upon the consideration of that flying roll of Curses that hangs over them O you Citizens Merchants Tradesmen whatever your rank or occupation is if you love God if you love your Selves your Children your Servants your Estates let this be the first thing you do Set up Religion in your Houses This was kept up in the time of the Patriarchs altogether by what they did in their Families for their Families then were as so many Domestick-Churches Familiae Patrum erant Domesticae Ecclesiae Pareus in Gen. 18.19 and all the Churches that were then in being And Religion now rises or falls in the world as men regard it in their Families How many might you bring in to God did you thus dedicate your Houses how many might be converted by living in religious places what a mercy would it be to poor Creatures to live under your roof if you would but do your duty herein whereas upon your neglect of it what a grievous thing is it to persons that have any sense of God to live with you Psal 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar To be in your Houses and there to see nothing but Epicurism Worldliness u there to hear nothing but cursing swearing scoffing at the ways of God nothing that hath the face of Religion to be found there O 't is an Hell upon earth to live with such Be perswaded therefore to do what I have spoke so much to the fewer come up to this the more pleasing to God will your zeal and obedience be you may meet with scoffs and derision from the world but 't is a poor thing to be derided of men if you may be approved of by God Let all this like oyle cast upon the fire make your zeal more intense and fervent and say If this be to be vile 2 Sam. 6.22 you will be yet more vile This in General as to the Third Branch of House-Dedication CHAP. VI. How Religion is to be set up in private Houses The first Particular opened as to Religious Members THat I may be more distinct and clear in this Head under which House-dedication chiefly lies I will fall upon some Particulars and therein both direct you and also further quicken you as to the advancing of Religion in your Houses Are there any workings in you towards this Are you in any measure convinced of your Duty and do you resolve to set upon it Then let me lay these Four Things before you 1. As near as you can take such into your Houses who fear God and none but such 2. Set up the Worship of God in your Houses and the Performance of Holy Duties 3. Let your Education of such as are under you be religious 4. Keep sin out of your Houses and instead thereof let there be an Holy course driven on in them Give me leave to go over these Particulars for I am now at the very heart of that which I mainly designed First See Swinnocks Christian Calling vol. 1. p. 523. As near as you can Take such into your Houses who fear God and none but such I put in as near as you can because sometimes there are such Circumstances in the case that a man cannot do what he desires these must be submitted to in that state of things but our general aim and endeavour must be this To fill up our Houses with persons fearing God He that dedicates his House to God must look to the matter of it that it consist of such as are religious And this was one thing intended in House-dedication or one thing that men were obliged to upon House-dedication Vt hâc Dedicatione admonerentur quamlibet Domum debere esse quoddam Dei Sacrarium nec admittendos in contubernium Homines impuros sceleratos qui suâ turpitudine at que impietate parietes Deo consecratos rursus polluant Moller as one observes upon my Text we have David here dedicating his House and upon this you find him very zealous and resolute as to that which I am treating of Psal 101.4 A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me he that dwelleth in a perfect way he shall serve me v. 6. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my House He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight v. 7. This is an excellent Psalm for Masters of Families often to peruse David first sets down his holy Resolution as to his Personal carriage in his House v. 2. I will
therefore the Prophet joins together Heathens and Families that do not call upon God Jer. 10.25 The Scripture-word by which ungodly men are described is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are such as do not worship God and this is the character of such They call not upon the Lord Psal 14.4 You may attend upon publick Ordinances upon the Lord's day but if you omit secret and Family-prayer you are but ungodly persons in the account of God you defraud him of the Worship due to Him 3. Obj. Others will ask me What profit is there in this much like to them Mal. 3.14 Do not we see that all things happen a like to all As 't is with the Non-praying House so 't is with the praying House we see no difference Did not the late Fire sweep away the one as well as the other If the Fire had pass'd over the Families where Prayer was as once the destroying Angel did over the Houses of the Israelites when the Aegyptians were smitten Exod. 12 27. then we should have been convinc'd that 't is good for men to be consciencious herein but now we are of another opinion Ans O take heed take heed of drawing such inferences from the late tremendous judgment I hope the most of you do tremble at such a thought as this objection doth suggest but yet I fear it prevails in too many The full answering of it would take up much time In short how apt are men to pervert God's Ends in his judicial proceedings Surely in the late dreadful providence God's end was to further Reformation Piety Religion Prayer in all the kinds of it amongst us and here men turn it quite another way and put a contrary construction upon it But O the wickedness as well as the weakness that is in this objection I would lay before such persons as have this in their hearts for I suppose few will speak it out to consider these few things 1. The judgments of God are very often promiscuously inflicted the Good and the Bad are both equally involved in the same external calamities As it fares with the Sinner so it fares with the Saint Piety doth certainly secure from eternal evils but not from temporal evils God hath an Eternity for the punishing of the bad and for the rewarding of the good as to that there shall be a difference indeed but here as as to temporal rewards and punishments there is no such discrimination He hath very wise ends in this which though at present we cannot fadom in time we shall And therefore let none from the late judgment which was impartially and promiscuously executed be hardened against an holy course or religious duties for this is no new thing 't is but that which hath been in all Ages God will have none to take up religion mainly or chiefly upon Temporal advantages he will let the world see he hath better recompences than what lie in the bestowing of outward good or preservation from outward evil As also that he is not fond or partial in his Government of the world but very just and righteous Insomuch that if his People sin against him it shall be so far from their being exempted from corrective providences that they shall be the first who shall smart under them See 1 Pet. 4.17 Ezek. 9.6 2ly God's judgments are often very mysterious they are nunquam injusta but interdum occulta as Aug. speaks Psal 36.6 Thy judgments are a great deep Psal 77.19 Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the great Waters and thy footsteps are not known Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Such was the late dismal Fire O it was a very mysterious hid dark dispensation we felt it but we do not yet understand it But shall any from a mysterious judgment argue against a clear and known duty such as Family-prayer and an holy life is what ever God's designes were or his reserves that I cannot yet fadom but surely this he never aim'd at to take me off from Duty and I greatly sin if I put such an interpretation upon what he hath done 3ly Though the same judgments may befall God's people and others praying and not praying ones yet there is a vast difference Consider them materially they are the same but consider them in their ends and circumstances Isa 27.7 they are not the same As 't is in Mercies Saints and Sinners have the same Mercies yet there is a great difference for what the one have 't is in Love what the other have is in Anger So 't is in judgments what befalls the Wicked befalls the Godly but yet there 's a great disparity 't is judgment and in judgment to the one 't is judgment but 't is judgment in mercy to the other 't is Poyson to the one 't is but Physick to the other 't is a Knife to kill to the one 't is but a Knife to cut and so to cure to the other 't is Punishment to the one 't is but Chastisement to the other there 's the wrath of a Judge to the one 't is but the anger of a Father to the other Praying Houses 't is true were burnt down as well as others there was no difference as to the external stroke Ah but in other respects the difference was great Such as desir'd in all things to approve themselves to God to dedicate their Houses to God though they drank of the common cup yet the case to them is altered In the Fire they had God's presence with them to support teach sanctifie comfort to make up their losses in himself to make up outward losses with inward gain to show them that House to which no Fire shall reach and the like I doubt not but many of the people of God have found this to be true Now it was not thus with others Therefore let not any argue against Religion or a religious course as being unprofitable for that is false Though it doth not keep off judgment yet it keeps off the sting of judgment it makes it to be a quite other thing so that it carries Honey with it in the midst of all its gall and wormwood it so circumstantiates the worst of common evils that they become wholsome and tolerable Let Atheists then be silent here 's enough to stop their mouths though in outward appearance all things come alike to all Eccles 9.2 4ly Where Prayer was performed there were sins which incensed and provoked God O! God did put no difference betwixt praying families and others for though in this they did their duty yet in other things they did not O the pride the covetousness c that was in praying Houses and therefore no wonder that they shared in the common judgment Were there no sins with them even with them as 't is 2 Chron. 28.10 Now let me tell you You that neglect Religion Prayer in your Houses God will punish you because you do not
where you promise your selves much comfort I heartily wish that all things may answer your expectation but pray enter upon them with this frame of dedicating or resigning up all to God to be improved for his service to be referred to his dispose What if God should bring another dismal Fire upon your Habitations or what if God some other way should see it necessary to call in his blessings are you willing to give up all to him to have all ordered by him Can you lay your Comforts Conveniencies Enjoyments at his feet let me tell you they are better placed when they are laid at God's feet then when they are laid too near your own hearts this is to carry it aright under Domestick mercies and to dedicate them to God O be not wanting in this Dedication As you must commit your Houses to God's Protection so you must submit your Houses and all blessings belonging to them to his holy will and wise dispose and then you act like Christians indeed CHAP. XI The Conclusion of the whole Discourse I Have brought you now just to the shore where I will land you immediately I have thorough God's gracious assistance gone thorough what I propounded to open and apply viz. Holy Dedication both Personal and Domestick The nature of both hath been explained and the Practise of both hath been enforced by those Arguments and Considerations which were proper to the matter in hand And so I have done though with much weakness what was to be done on my part that which remains further to be done is on your part Shall this twofold Dedication be acted by you will you fall down before the light and evidence of that Truth which hath been here set forth and live in a blessed Conformity and subjection to it will you come up to what hath been press'd upon you in your Personal and Relative Capacity I say will you do this or will you not Shall these poor Labours of mine have some fruit or shall they be altogether in vain shall it fare with this inconsiderable piece as it doth with many excellent Treatises whose price is asked may be they are bought nay may be they are perused but in a little time they are thrown aside never minded more nothing comes of them and the Reader is but just where he was before O that this was not the entertainment which the worthy Labours of some did find from too many If mine which are not worthy to be named with Theirs do meet with the same entertainment it will much afflict me upon a double account first that God will not use me as an instrument for the doing of that good which I earnestly desire to do Secondly that means used prove ineffective and successless as to the promoting of the Salvation of your precious Souls I say these two things will give me much trouble but as for other things wherein credit esteem reputation are concerned I hope I shall value them no more than the dirt under my Feet You may think of me and say of me and of this poor Birth of mine what you please but know that the matter spoken to is of great weight and importance and that which calls for your highest respect and most serious Consideration Let but that be duly entertained by you and then for personal respects or disrespects you have to do with one who is very indifferent and much unconcern'd Dearly beloved Citizens I renew my Advice to yon and I beseech you in the bowels of Christ for God's sake for your own souls sake 1. That you will dedicate your persons to God as this Personal-Dedication hath been described Hezekiah speaking to this very Argument he presses it upon the people of Israel by these Considerations 2 Chron. 30.6 c. Turn again unto the Lord God c. and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the Kings of Assyria And be not like your Fathers and like your Brethren which trespassed against the Lord God of their Fathers who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see Now therefore be not stiff-necked as your Fathers were but yield your selves unto the Lord c. and serve the Lord your God that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you Are not these Considerations applicable to you in this City you are a remnant escaped out of terrible judgments though Plague and Fire have raged amongst you yet you live God hath wrought dreadful desolations in your City as you see what wrath yet remains you cannot tell how shall it be prevented O yield your selves to the Lord dedicate your selves to him that 's the way to turn away the fierceness of Gods wrath Providential dispensations that are past some in the way of mercy others in the way of judgment the present state and posture of things wherein further judgmensts seem to be impendent over us all call upon you for this Doth God use to begin in this manner and doth he not go on till he hath atttained his end one way or another How shall we put a stop to him in these judicial proceedings but by the yielding of our selves to him Self-dedication and House-dedication will prevent City-desolation O therefore let Self-love if nothing else will prevail and love to this poor City put you upon Self-dedication And besides this pray consider what costly and glorious dedications the great God hath brought about in Christ for you Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither was the first Testament dedicated without blood Heb. 10.20 By a new and living way which he hath consecrated or dedicated for us thorough the vail that is to say his flesh I meddle not with what is Controversial from this place for the Romanists find here their Limbus Patrum I only aim at this here 's costly dedication and consecration for us shall not we now dedicate and consecrate our selves to God in a way of thankfulness I touch upon these Motives here because I said nothing to them in the former Discourse when I was urging the duty upon you O that I might prevail with some with many if it be the Lord 's good pleasure to dedicate themselves to God so as to give up themselves to Him to surrender their wills to his Will to resolve for God to separate from a carnal course and a common conversation to enter into Covenant with God and to devote themselves to his glory What can lie nearer to the heart of Christianity than these things do 2ly When this is done than I further intreat you to dedicate your Houses to God Personal Dedication should not go without this as this cannot be without that What a City should we have if it might be made up of dedicated Houses Religion would put a greater beauty and glory upon it than all our new models in building O will you seriously weigh what hath been presented to you will you make your Entrance into your Houses with Prayer and Praise
sin yet abide with you God forbid Are you to enter into your New Habitations let your great care be to keep sin out of them O that all the Inhabitants of London might wisely consider of Gods doings Psal 64.9 that they would hear and fear and do no more such wickedness Deut. 13.11 that all would set themselves against sin with the greatest dread and abhorrence of it Give me leave to plead with you for surely God is pleading with you to some purpose about this very thing After such dreadful evils as you have seen and felt will you yet sin against God Hath he so emptyed his quiver that he hath no more judicial Arrows to shoot against you though he hath punished you thus and thus cannot he yet punish you seven times more Levit. 26.21 will you provoke the Lord afresh and force him to strike again Will you lay in new fewel for another Fire Is it not enough to see the City once laid desolate Have you sustained so much loss and caused God to do such terrible things against you and yet shall Sin be little in your eye Hath it cast you out of your Habitations and will not you cast it out of your Habitations Can you build so strong as to have your Houses safe if sin be in them O I beseech you take heed of this Do not carry your old sins into your new Houses you 'l bring your goods to them again your Wares your Selves your Families bring what you please but do not bring your sins to them your pride your luxury your covetousness your extortion c. If you would have your Habitations to be peaceable safe comfortable let not Sin be in them Job 5.24 Thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace How shall this be brought about thou shalt visit thy Habitation and shalt not sin so it follows O if you visit your Habitations and defile them God will visit your Habitations and consume them If sin come in at one door judgment is ready to come in at another Sin no more least a worser thing befall you 〈…〉 there are moâ—ser flames for your selves than those which lately laid your Houses in ashes Job 21.28 Where are the dwelling places of the wicked Sin will undermine all your Buildings 〈…〉 't is that Leprosie which will eat out the walls the stone the timber thereof and rot the foundation thereof We read of Phocas he built a very strong wall about his Palace and then he thought he was safe but this voice came from Heaven to him Though thou buildest thy walls as high as Heaven Sin is within and that will pluck it down O do not flatter your selves with foolish confidence that now you build in Brick and so you are not liable to danger for Brick and Timber are all alike to God he can as easily fire the one as the other and if sin be in your Houses they lie open to Gods judicial hand they are under that flying Roll which Zachary speaks of Zach. 5.2 c. Cuivis Patri Familias incumbit ut operam det quo puras habeat aedes Scultet and this sooner or later will fall upon them How therefore doth it concern you the owners and masters of Houses to keep sin out of them to keep your selves and your Houses too pure from Sin And whereas there are some particular and special sins which you may be very liable to through Satans temptations and the corruptions of your own hearts when you enter upon your New Houses as Pride Security not eying of God and the like be sure that here you be very watchful Deut. 8.11 12 13 14 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God c. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly Houses and dwelt therein c. Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God And as you must not sin your selves so you must not let others sin so far as it lies in your power to prevent it You have Children and Servants in your Families do not suffer them to sin you must suffer for that sin which you may hinder and do not You have a sad proof of this in Eli 1 Sam. 3.13 His Sons made them vile and he restrained them not O what dreadful judgments did God inflict upon him for this He did reprove his Sons as you may see 1 Sam. 2.22 23 c. but he did not do it with that sharpness which the hainousness of their crime deserved and he did not interpose his Paternal Authority for the restraining of them from sin and therefore though he himself was a good man God threatned he would do that at which the eares of every one that heard it should tingle 1 Sam. 3.11 and what befell him and his you know very well The Apostle dehorts Timothy from being a partaker of other mens sins 1 Timothy 5.22 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lies in two things either in the committing of the same sins which others do or else in bearing a part of their guilt in what they do 'T is the latter of these that I meddle with You that are Parents and Masters take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heed how you involve your selves in the guilt of your Childrens and Servants sins may be they lie they curse they swear they profane the Sabbath keep bad company Do you let them alone Do you not reprove them Vitia aliorum si feras facis tua correct them restrain them Alas you sin in their sin they commit the fact but the guilt of that lies upon you as well as upon them Non-impedition is interpretatively an allowance or approbation of what they do a consenting to what they do nay 't is a tacit command According to that known saying Qui non vetat jubet and according to that maxim in the Civil Law See Tayl. Duct Dub. B. 4. Ch. 1. Rule 2d Ames Cas Cons l. 5. c. 10. In maleficio Ratihabitio mandato comparatur This is agreed upon by all Casuists He that omits what is to be done for the preventing of sin or doth that which is not to be done upon which sin follows in another this person is accessary to the sin of others and a partaker with them Now think of this I intreat you and do not suffer those who are under your power to sin against God Have you not sin enough upon your own account have you any need to take in the guilt of your Childrens and Servants sins too where is your zeal for God if you may hinder sin and yet do not Do you love your Children and yet stand still and look on and let them damn their souls for ever what Parent would suffer his child to drink poyson or to run into the fire and he restrain him not Are unquenchable flames nothing to you Do you love your selves and yet contract and bring that guilt upon you which will
endanger you for ever Do you desire the prosperity of your Houses your Families and yet connive at sin and permit sin there O let your souls be all on fire with an holy zeal against sin Do not suffer your nearest and dearest Relations to sin improve your Authority against sin if you suffer it you must suffer for it you may let it alone but it will not let you alone Omissions here are Commissions Thus I would have you to keep sin out of your Houses and instead thereof let there be even steddy fixed Vniversal Holiness kept up and practised in them Holiness becomes God's House Psal 93.5 Ah and it becomes your Houses too O that your Common Houses might be Holiness to the Lord Zach. 14.21 21. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the Horses HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD and the pots in the Lords House shall be like the bowles before the Altar Yea every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be Holiness unto the Lord of Hosts c. That which I drive at is this Let you and yours be Holy carry it in all things as a people consecrated to the Lord Let Piety be liv'd by your selves and by all that belong to you Let nothing be seen in your Houses but what becomes the Gospel and savours of God and Religion How are Houses bless'd when a trade of Godliness is driven on in them when Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants all set themselves as with one shoulder to an Holy Course it cannot go amiss with such Houses But no more of this CHAP. X. The last Branch of House-Dedication urged IN long Chases Doggs are apt to lose the Scent Reader that thou mayst not think in this long Discourse we have lost our Matter and Method let me tell thee where we are The Dedication of the House I made to consist in four things In a Religious Entrance upon it by Prayer and Praise In the solemn commitment of it to God's Protection In the setting up of Religion in it In a right carriage under Domestick mercies Hitherto I have been speaking to the Three first of these and I have very largely insisted upon the Third Head because of its vastness and comprehensiveness and also because of its special reference to the Duty in hand namely House-Dedication I come now to the fourth and last thing to stir you up to a right deportment and carriage under Domestick mercies I told you that House here is not to be limited to the bare walls to the external structure but 't is to be considered as it includes those several blessings mercies comforts accomodations that are enjoy'd there Now all these must be dedicated to God I need not tell yon that a fixed Habitation to have an House to dwell in is a great mercy 'T is that mercy which Christ himself had not Math. 8.20 The Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head He that made the world and was Lord of all things had not an House to be in He that went to Heaven Joh. 14.2 3. to prepare a place for us there had not a place here on Earth prepared for himself 'T is that mercy which the Apostles and Primitive Saints had not for they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute c. Heb. 11.38 Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffetted and have no certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4.11 Blessed be God it is not thus with you yon have your Houses to dwell in and some of you very convenient beautiful Houses too Is not this mercy I hope you do not forget how it was lately with you when you had not an House to be in if God had not in your straights graciously provided for you And further your Houses are full of Mercy God fills them with good things as 't is Job 22.18 they are richly furnished with all kinds of Mercies Personal and Relative Spiritual and Temporal c. There 's good food to nourish you good apparel to cloath you good beds to ease yon good Relations in whom you take much comfort every day your Tables are spread mercies are new upon you every morning Lam. 3.21 God loadeth you daily with his benefits Psal 68.19 you live under a constant succession of mercies My God thou art all Love Not one poor minute ' scapes thy breast But brings a favour from above You have Mercies not only ultra merita Bernard but also supra vota such as are not only undeserved but undesired and unexpected too Your enjoyments are above what you could well have looked for As Jacob said to Joseph I had not thought to see thy face and lo God hath shewed me thy Seed also Gen. 48.11 I appeal to many of you when you first came up to this City did you then expect such Estates as God hath now blessed you with your beginnings were very low and now you are greatly advanced as to wordly possessions Shall not all now be dedicated to God Shall not Domestick mercies pass under this holy Dedication If you ask me How is this to be done Take a short account of that in three things 1. Let God be owned and acknowledged in all your Mercies Ascribe all to Him as the proper Fountain from which all doth flow Thus David did Psal 87.7 All my springs are in thee And so your All it is of God The Wife that lies in your bosom that is the desire of your eyes Ezek. 24.16 God gave her to you Prov. 19.14 Houses and riches are the inheritance of Fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord. The Children that are so dear to you are the gift of God Psal 127.3 Lo Children are an Heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Psal 128.2 3 4. The estate you possess is not so much the fruit of your own industry as of God's blessing Prov. 10.22 The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich Instance in what mercy you will you may say of it what Jacob said of his Children this is that which the Lord hath graciously given to me Gen. 33.5 O let your eye be upon God in every comfort 't is the property of gracious persons to do this as the bird hath no sooner sipp'd a little water but it looks upwards and falls a chirping And here 's one great difference betwixt a godly man and a wicked man The latter looks no higher than Self he ascribes all to Self Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty The former ascribes all to God and admires God in all O the different language of David from that of Nebuchadnezzar 2 Sam. 7.18 19. Who am I O Lord God and what is my House that thou hast