Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	day_n	judgement_n	lord_n	3,080	5	4.0352	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44456	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city of London, in the parish church of S. Mary le Bow, September 3, 1683 being the day of humiliation for the late dreadfull fire / by William Hopkins ...	Hopkins, William, 1647-1700.	1683 (1683)	Wing H2754; ESTC R17537	23,331	39

its Houses as by the banishing Religion Righteousness Truth and Peace out of the midst of it and the general corruption of manners And 't is a far less lamentable sight to behold a people under such calamities than to see them unreformed nay worse after them This seems to be our case We have passed through the Fire but are not purified our dross remains in us We are stupid and insensible and it was but necessary to erect a Pillar in remembrance of it for the Sufferers themselves seem to have forgotten it For this solemn Anniversary Humiliation is dwindled into almost nothing saving I am loth to say the Pomp I hope 't is the Devotion of this Great Appearance How do many flie the Penance of this Fast and entertain themselves with all sorts of Pleasures at their Country-Houses Isai XXII 12.13 On this day when the Lord of Hoasts calls us to weeping and mourning there is nothing but joy and mirth eating Flesh and drinking Wine I should not have mentioned this to this Honourable Auditory but that I have my self with some trouble and concern observed it to be the Practice of many grave and eminent Citizens They seem to have no remembrance of that dreadfull Fire and no fear of those worse Judgments we have to apprehend In one sense they will never forget the Fire they will tell you they feel it yet in their Estates they will with the impotent man as St. Chrysostome speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tell tragical Stories of their losses Chrysost Tom. 5. hom 62. how many hundreds and thousands they are the worse for it and perhaps magnify their losses beyond truth but they forget why God brought this great calamity upon the City and how much fuell their own Sins contributed to its flames If ever our Saviour's advice was necessary sure 't is so now and I can never too often repeat and press it O sin no more sin no more The measure of our iniquities seems to be well nigh filled up and unless a speedy and general Reformation appease the wrath of God it will be too great a favour for us to expect that he should smite us any more for our Correction we must look for some worse thing than either Plague or Fire or any other of those Judgments that have hitherto come upon us Lest a worse thing happen unto us How is it possible No Fire can ever spread in these new brick buildings as the former did in the old timber-houses Some worse thing What can be worse than such a general Calamity which ruin'd thousands which not onely impoverisht the City but the whole Kingdom what have we worse to fear My Brethren be not deceived Though ye have drunk of a bitter cup Rev. XIV 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And● Caesar in loc yet its bitterness hath been hitherto taken off with a large mixture of mercy ye have not yet tasted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wine of his wrath unmixt ye have not drunk up the dregs thereof Flatter not your selves with the thoughts that the worst is already past Psal XC 11. Ye do not understand the power of his Anger and therefore do not entertain just fears of his displeasure He can if he see good punish you again in the same way and with as much ease lay waste your Stately New-Buildings as he did the old Rotten ones Though your City be raised in glory 't is not raised in incorruption If it be not in so great danger of casual Fire yet sure the Vengeance of God can propagate such a Calamity farther than all the Malice Art and Industry of the worst Boutefeus Where the breath of the Lord kindles a Fire all things are as Hay and Stubble before it Have ye nothing worse to fear recollect your selves and consider what ye at that time feared but through the mercy of God escap'd a Massacre by the bloudy hands of those who burnt your City Your fire might have been like that Rev. VIII 7. Mingled with bloud God might have made your ruines everlasting Desolations and whereas he hath graciously said unto this City thou shalt be built Isai XLIV 28. and to our Temples your Foundations shall be laid The Lord might have devoted London as he did Jericho Josh VI. 26. and have laid a Curse upon the man who should have presumed to lay the first Stone of its New-Buildings Have ye nothing worse to fear hath not God by a miracle of mercy newly discovered and delivered us from a greater danger There wanted onely the PERMISSION of HEAVEN to have brought a worse thing upon us For HELL was ready to BREAK LOOSE again upon us with more Barbarous fury than ever See his Majestie 's Declaration In the Murther of our KING and his Royal Brother in the Assassination of the Publick Ministers of State and the Principal Magistrates of this City and all the mischeivous consequences of Cruelty and Confusion Had not God by his wonderfull Providence prevented them the Combustions of Eighty three might have proved more fatal to the City and Nation than the Flames of Sixty six Methinks I hear the Voice of God our Saviour after this great deliverance saying to us of this Nation and City as he did to the Impotent man in my Text Sin no more And if we can be but so wise and happy as to receive his Admonition we are secure from the Threatning that follows it Lest a worse thing come unto thee Let me then beseech you Brethren in Christ's stead both by the Judgments and mercies of the Lord Rom. XII 1. 2 Cor. V. 20. be reconciled to God As ye desire the continuance of his blessings or as ye would avert worse Calamities than any ye have yet felt As ye tender the peace and Prosperity of this City 1. Cor. XV. 34. Awake to Righteousness and sin no more Wash you make you clean Isai I. 16.17 put away the evil of your doings before the eyes of the Lord cease to doe evil learn to doe well Have compassion on your selves forsake those iniquities which separate between you and your God and have hid his face from you Isai LIX 2. if you hope to prevail with him to be mercifull to you and bless you Improve this opportunity of making your peace with him which the Wisedom and Piety of our Government hath put into your hands Let the remembrance of the late dreadfull Fire teach you the Fear of the Lord which is the truest Wisedom and the best Preservative from the like Calamities Let the sincerity of this days Humiliation appear in its happy influence on the future conduct of your lives Let it so refresh the memory of God's Judgments and your sins as to make you walk humbly with him the whole year after The good effects of a Fast depend not so much upon the solemnity as the seriousness of our Repentance not so much upon the number of our Prayers or the noise of our cries as on the lifting up of holy hands and clean hearts to God In vain do we lift up our voice Frustrà etenim vox ad Deum clamat cum scelerata vita reclamat Nic. de Clemang Ep. 77. and cry mightily to the Lord for mercy whilst our Sins cry out against us and call louder to heaven for Vengeance Without reformation we may proclaim but cannot sanctify a Fast the calling of a solemn assembly this day will be but an affront to God Our Sacrifice will be numbred among our abominations and our Prayers will be turned into Sin If we desire to appease the wrath of God which seems not to be yet turned away we must sanctifie such a Fast as he hath chosen Dan. IV. 27. We must break off our Sins by Righteousness and our Iniquities by shewing Mercy on the poor especially such as have been Sufferers by this and the like Calamities We must loose the bands of wickedness Isai LVIII 6 7 8 c. and let the oppressed go free we must deal our bread to the hungry and bring the poor out-casts into our houses when we see the naked we must cover them and not hide our selves from our own flesh We must draw out our soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted Then shall we CALL upon the LORD and he will ANSWER we shall CRY and he will say HERE I AM. Our few old waste places shall be built and our imperfect foundations shall be raised up and the Lord shall for ever be the REPAIRER OF OVR BREACHES THE END

Pritchard Mayor Jovis sexto die Septembr 1683. Annóque Regni Regis Caroli Secundi Angliae c. XXXV to THis Court doth desire Mr. Hopkins to print his Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and Citizens of this City at Bow-Church on Monday last being the day of Humiliation for the Dismal Fire anno 1666. Wagstaffe A SERMON Preached before the RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR Aldermen and Citizens Of the CITY of LONDON In the Parish Church of S. Mary le Bow September 3. 1683. Being the day of Humiliation for the late DREADFULL FIRE By William Hopkins B.D. and Prebendary of Worcester Ezra IX 13 14. And after all this is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such DELIVERANCE AS THIS Should we again break thy commandments Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard 1683. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir WILLIAM PRITCHARD LORD MAYOR Of the CITY of LONDON AND TO THE HONOURABLE COURT of ALDERMEN My LORD I Am sufficiently conscious that there is nothing in this plain Discourse but the honest design it prosecutes worthy of that acceptance it found with the Honourable Audience before whom it was preached Nevertheless since it 's your Lordship's pleasure that I should make it more publick than I ever designed I dare not dispute your commands or doubt your Patronage I am sure I need it in a high degree whether I consider the weakness of the discourse it self or into what an ill-natured and censorious World it adventures But I am little concerned what reception will be given it by curious and critical Readers who reade and hear Sermons as they do Plays merely for entertainment and to shew what Judges they are I was not so sanguine either in the preaching or publishing of it as to expect it should doe much good on that sort of men But to persons of Piety and Candour who receive the Word of God into good and honest hearts I hope it may not be unserviceable And if it may in any measure contribute toward the making us more truly penitent for what is past or a more obedient people for the future I shall think my self happy and thankfully adore him whose strength was made manifest in my weakness To the Divine Protection and Blessing I humbly commend your Lordship your Honourable Brethren and this great City which flourishes under your just and prudent Administration and intreat your acceptance of this poor Testimony that I am in all humility My LORD Your most obedient and faithfull Servant William Hopkins A SERMON Preached before the Lord Mayor c. Sept. 3. 1683. JOHN V. 14. Behold thou art made whole Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee IN the beginning of this chapter S. John relates a memorable passage which is not recorded by any other Historian either Sacred or Profane That there was at Jerusalem a pool called Bethesda whose waters were at some times endued with a medicinal virtue For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the waters whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had v. 4. Vide Light-foot Hor. Heb. in Joan. Tertullian adversus Jude●● cap. 13. sub finem How long those waters had been endued with that miraculous virtue or how long it continued after our Saviour's Ascension is unknown This onely is certain from History that Miracles and the Spirit of Prophecy had ceased in the Jewish Church for several ages before our Saviour's birth and both were restored but a little while before his manifestation in the flesh And it is probable this miraculous water was one of the signs of his coming it being a fit resemblance of that more pretious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or bath his own bloud whose healing efficacy was not confined to a single Patient but redounded to the advantage of the whole world and whose purifying virtue was truly universal and able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 The silence of the other Evangelists and the Jewish writers as well as Theophylact's hint may have occasioned the Learned Dr. Hammond to suspect that the virtue of this pool was not miraculous but natural And he offers this Philosophical account of the matter Dr. Hammond on Joh. V. Annot. a. That the waters were impregnated with some beneficial qualities derived from the entrails of beasts slain for Sacrifice which he conceives were cast into that pool And that at some set times an Officer or Messenger not one of God's Angels was sent in who had skill to disturb the waters i. e. to stir up and diffuse the particles of the entrails and bloud in which the virtue lay whereupon for some time after till the virtuous particles sank again to the bottom that pool was an healing Bath The Hypothesis is I confess very ingenious and he confirms it with pertinent observations of what benefit in some distempers the Patient hath received by the application of the warm skin or vitals of a beast or by putting him into the belly of a beast newly killed and opened But if we well consider them several circumstances of our Evangelist's Narrative cannot consist with this Hypothesis For though the entrails of beasts may have a suppling and restorative virtue and in the way of a fomentation may relieve pains and weakness in the limbs bruises and withered members yet this is short of the efficacy which S. John ascribes to this bath which seems to have been an universal Medicine Now there are many distempers for which bathing and fomentation are no proper methods of cure and if we must restrain the universal particle whatsoever to the diseases mentioned by S. John V. I conceive the blind who are expresly named very unlikely to receive benefit thereby Again If those cures were wrought by the stirring up and mixing of the virtue of the entrails with the water it might almost constantly have been kept in motion and many more might have enjoyed the benefit of cure than it should seem there did For the waters were troubled onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seldom at a certain season some think but once in the year See Dr. Hammond's Annot at the Passover others at all the three great Feasts and though perhaps several times at each Feast yet at most but once in the day Again Had the cure been wrought by any natural efficacy why should the benefit be limited to him alone who first stepped in after the troubling of the water it's scarce credible that the Pool was no larger than to hold one person if the entrails of all the Paschal Sacrifices † No less than 255600 according

rebuilt with greater beauty its structures both private and publick Civil and Sacred are far more magnificent than before So that I may very well apply the first part of our Saviour's words to this great and eminent City Behold thou art made whole and add St. Chrysostom's gloss not by thy merit but by the Divine mercy and power For the rebuilding of it in so short a time and so great Splendour is little short of a miracle But though we do upon this account in some measure forget our Sorrows yet there is still just occasion for our solemn Humiliation this day to spend it in mourning and in all sorts of Penitential exercises For though the calamitous effects of the Fire be well nigh worn off yet whilst our Sins which kindled it remain they will afford us perpetual cause of Fasting and give us occasion to look back with Sorrow and to look forward with Fear When we reflect and see what destruction they have already wrought in this Land and City who among us hath so hard a heart as not to melt into Tears And when we forecast what farther and greater Calamities we have reason to apprehend from them is not the dreadfull prospect enough to make our hearts tremble and melt within us like wax What is onely intimated in the case of the Paralytick is a notorious truth in ours Our Sins were the cause of the Fire We confess it in the Publick Office of the Day we have erected a Pillar of Infamy in the midst of our City to be an everlasting memorial of the dreadfull Judgments of God and the dreadfull Sins of this Generation and which is sad to consider our Sins themselves reign in the midst of us and testify against us I hope therefore no man will have either the Folly or the Impudence to wash his hands and say I have contributed no Fuell to these Flames of London Though a late Inscription charge the Papists with the Fire it was not designed to absolve our Sins the undoubted Boutefeus and the worst sort of Incendiaries Though it might be intended to continue an immortal hatred of Popery sure it was never meant to reconcile us to our provoking abominations This would have been to ridicule the Wisedom and Piety of our Governours and contradict the best design of the Monument There is nothing so much hinders the good effects of Chastisements as transferring the blame on others or imputing them to accidents and resting in the second causes of them But certainly we have the least Temptation that may be to any thing of that kind For never were there more visible tokens of the just Vengeance of God than in the Fire of London Those circumstances which we are too prone to call accidents that concurred to the spreading of the Fire shew the Providence of that God whom we had provoked Whatever creatures assisted to the swift propagation of the Flames whether evil Instruments or the heat and drought of the preceding Summer or the Winds they were all God's Militia armed against us And neither strong East-winds nor the famous Popish or French Fire-balls carried on the Fire so much as the Trains our Sins had laid in all quarters of the City and the fierce Blasts of God's just displeasure Having so severely smarted for our Faults already methinks we should be well disposed to receive our Saviour's advice Sin no more One would think our sad experience should afford us some security against suffering again in the same way and on the same account We see that Beasts and Birds will not be twice taken in the same snare and shall we be more irrational than Brutes and suffer our selves to be often overtaken with the same Faults Oh that we could be blest with so happy a sight as that Reformation one might reasonably expect Jer. VI. 28. Iis ipsis quibus coercebantur plagis scelera crescebant ut putares poenam ipsam criminum quasi matrem esse vitiorum Salv. de Gub. l. 6. that either so heavy a Judgment as the Fire or so great a Mercy as the Resurrection of this City should singly produce But alas we are all grievous Revolters We have been made worse by our Afflictions and hardned by our Sufferings we like the Anvil have reverberated the strokes of God's hammer and they have made no impression upon us It is a sad Observation that Lactantius makes of the Heathen Romans Lactant. Instit l. 2. c. 11. nisi dum in malis sunt That they never remember God but in times of publick Calamity And yet Salvian's observation of the incorrigible temper of the Christian Romans is much more lamentable Neque ullam penitus Romani orbis aut Romani nominis portionem quamlibèt graviter plagis coelestibus caesam unquam fuisse correctam Salvian de Gub. l. 6. That no part of the Roman Empire though chastised with the severest plagues by Heaven was reformed thereby It behoves us to consider how far both these sad observations may be verified of us and whether what the Prophet saith of Judah may not be too truly and pertinently applied to us This is a Nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord neither receiveth Correction Jer. VII 28. How little influence had this sore Judgment upon us Did those of us that escaped that Plague repent of their Sins Zach. XI 2. Did the Fir-tree howle because the Cedar was fallen or the Oaks of Bashan for the Forest of the Vintage Did our lesser Cities and neighbouring Places take warning by this Calamity of our Metropolis No sure for then they would not as since they have done have tasted of the same cup. How did the Sufferers behave themselves was there any visible amendment did they come purer out of the Fire Nothing less The Fire that consumed our estates abated nothing of our Luxury and the Flames of our Lust raged when most of the fuell that had maintained them was spent How many here as Salvian observes at Triers lay drunk up and down in the warm ruines How did we ruffle it in rich Silks Lace and all sorts of bravery when it would have better become us to have lain prostrate before God in Sackcloth and Ashes How many were feasting and carousing at the Tavern when they should have been in the Temple fasting and deprecating farther miseries When the greatest part of the City lay in heaps and the poor remainders of it were black and disfigured by the Fire when which way soever we turned our eyes we could not avoid observing our desolations and the sad marks of God's displeasure how few of us abated the least delight saw one Play the less or spent in Devotion one hour the more If any did not run to the same excess of riot they had done before Salv. de Gub. l. 6. was it not as Salvian speaks Miserioe beneficium non disciplinoe rather to be ascribed to their Poverty than their Vertue But perhaps these