time after time been lifted up against us but go on still as Pharaoh did towards the red-sea though we as he of old have met with many rebukes and strivings of God with and against us We have many Jonasses who sent by God to Nineveh will go for Tarshish that is many that are found fighters against God as if they were stronger than he many of us live as if we had no sence at all of Heaven or Hell or could demonstrate that our Souls were not immortal or were by profession Sadducees and not Christians Now as to this whole charg I would say as Job doth Job 24.25 And if it be not so now who will make me a liar and make my speech nothing worth Will God build a City for us or for such as we why was not Sodom and Gomorrah built again why was the building of Jericho prohibited and not the rebuilding of London might we not rather think that if there were no Hell as certainly there is God would make a Hell on purpose for such as we DISCOURSE XLIX On Gods being the maker and builder of all things THe less and greater world are both of Gods making as the Apostle declareth Heb. 5.6 But he that built all things is God He made us saith the Psalmist and not we our selves The upper and lower world are both of them Gods workmanship He made a Chaos out of nothing and out of that Chaos all things How fitly is the world compared to a building what a stately roof is the Heaven over our heads what a goodly floor is the earth under our feet certain it is these could not make themselves nor could any thing else that was made make it self For whatsoever was made sometimes was not and and that which sometimes was not or was nothing could never have been but for him who always was or who did exist from eternity who calleth himself by the name of I am I never knew that creature yet that could create any thing that is that could make any thing out of nothing were it but a mote in the sun or if there be any thing more mean and inconsiderable then that Who can make a building to stand as the world doth stand hanging upon nothing but poised as it were with its own weight By the work of creation or building a world of nothing doth the true and the living God distinguish himself from all that are but called Gods and particularly from Idols Jer. 10.11 The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the earth they shall perish from the earth and from under these Heavens Men and Angels can no more make a worm than they can make a world How fearfully and wonderfully are we our selves made what a curious house is the body of man what chrystal windows are his eyes How full of rare workmanship how many doors are in that building some greater some less by which to let in and to let out every pore in the body being as it were a several door which when they are all shut we find the house so hot there is no induring it till we can open them again What strong and firm timber are our bones compared to such a building as the body is what pretty hinges are the Vertebrae or turning joynts what neat rafters are the ribs what strong pillars and supporters are our leggs what wonderful contrivances are there that man though a walking dunghill I mean though he always carry about with him a great deal of filth and excrement of several kinds yet should be no offence to himself or others though that be many times hard to prevent even in great houses many of which have unavoidable nucencies What a kitchin is the stomack what dairies are the breasts of Women what delicate thatch is the hair upon our heads what drains are the glandules and emuncteries of the body what cunduit pipes are the veins and arteries what chimneyes are our mouthes always letting out smoke as we experiment in frosty weather when our breath can be discerned as being by the cold condensated What handsome lattices are the pores of our bodies to let in air by what spouts are the nostrils I stand upon no order but only design to enumerate most things in the body which bear a proportion to building or to a house taking them as they come to hand To proceed then what a roof is the head what window-shutters are the eye-lids what little wickets are the valves what locks and keyes are the sphincteral muscles what props and shores are our hands and armes to keep those houses from falling to the ground when they are in danger so to do Whither might I not pursue this allegory methinks I am in a kind of meander wandring backwards and forwards and cannot find the way out What pretty closets and butteries are the several ventricles of the head and heart c. what partition walls are the midriffe and the mediastinum what a long entry is the throat and meat-pipe what bloody slaughter-houses are the liver and spleen and yet without annoyance what a cistern is the bladder what a stove is the heart heating the whole body by certain pipes without any visible fire how are pipes and small vessels conveying such nourishing juices as the body stands in need of laid into every part of it what neat plaistring is our flesh what curious painting or colouring is the blood that is in the faces of sanguine and ruddy persons how is every man built three stories high for so I call the three venters as Anatomists do stile them viz. the head breast and belly and how many good and necessary rooms are there in every one of those stories what a house within a house is a child within the womb and how little ground doth one yea sometimes two or three together stand upon Thus have I taken a short and a confused Survey of the little world our bodies I mean the maker and builder whereof is God Well may I cry out with the Psalmist Ps 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all How many artificers and labourers go to the building of one house where men are the builders Carpenters Bricklaiers Plaisterers Smiths Joyâ—ers Glaziers c. each of these ordinarily have their several imployments about one house ere it be brought to perfection besides a Surveyor to supervise the work and poor labouring men to be subservient thereunto God had no such trouble in making the whole world he did but speak and it was done he made all things by the word of his power The building of one house by men requireth a great deal more time than God took to make the whole world in that is than six daies and he whose pleasure it was to be six daies in making it could â—ave made it in one minute or moment of time Must we attribute to God only the building of â—e world at first or must we not
Londoners whatever others want to fetch an argument of hope even from themselves the real piety and integrity of many of them I say not of all for where but in heaven are all Saints that for their sakes God will return on high and say of London that it shall be built again He that would not have destroyed Sodom for the sake of but ten righteous persons if there had been so many there will I trust not give up London to a perpetual destruction out of the regard he bears to those many tens and hundreds of righteous persons that are found there if persons that live righteously soberly and godlily if they that do generally practise only such things as are honest just pure lovely and of good report as it is Phil. 4.8 if they that seem to be afraid of whatsoever they know to be sin and to make conscience of every known duty I say if men and women of such a character may and ought to be taken for persons truly religious as our Saviour tells us that a tree is known by its fruits if they that bring forth fruits meet of faith and repentance ought to be esteemed to have both and not censured for hypocrites then are there I presume several hundreds in and belonging to London whom we are in duty bound if the exercise of rational charity be a duty to own for good Christians and that they are such I dare appeal to the consciences of their greatest enemies or the most of them who when upon a Death-bed or in great distress shall desire and value their prayers to God for them much more then the prayers of those that have been their most intimate associates I had almost said if there were less Religion in London then indeed there is though God knows there is not that which ought to be some would love it more and give a better report of it then now they do They count it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you Could I speak with their enemies and themselves not over-hear me thereby to be tempted to something of pride I would say that if God have a people in the world that love and fear him he hath some such in London yea I hope he hath much people in that place whose habitation himself is in the sense intended Psa 90.1 and as for other habitations shall in due time be provided for by him I will not now determine in what sense it was spoken but in Exod. 1.21 it is thus written It came to pass because the Midwives feared God that he made them houses For once I 'le venture the scoffs and scorns of this the profanest of Ages by making bold to say that the many fervent prayers which have been daily are and will be offered to God on behalf of this desolate City that it may be revived once again is to me a further ground of hope that it shall be so I have evinced already that there are considerable numbers of good and gracious Christians in and about the City to ply the Throne of Grace for the welfare of it and the Scripture telleth us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much I must first doubt whether there be a God at leastwise whether God be a lover of righteousness and righteous persons which the uncontroulable dictates of my conscience will not suffer me to do before I can think that the prayers of good men signifie nothing and are but as water spilt upon the ground Prayer hath prevailed for greater things then is the building of a City in the use of ordinary means Did it not shut and open heaven in Elijah's daies though himself who offered those prayers were a man of like passions with our selves Can it do the greater and not the lesser Did I know the man that would say let no man trouble himself to pray for the success of my building I shall do as well without as with all the prayers that can be made on that behalf I should expect some Eminent Judgment to fall upon that man as hath done upon some other eminent Builders that have gone by the name of Atheists Tush 't is in vain to contradict experience they that have received many signal answers of prayers and on the other hand have met with great rebukes at such times as they have restrained prayer from the Almighty or prayed as if they prayed not will never believe to the contrary but that any good undertaking may and will be much promoted by the ardent prayers of those that have interest in God of which I doubt not but there is a great Stock going for London at this day and it shall stand for one of the Pillars of my hope in this as in other cases that God hath never said to the seed of Jacob Seek ye my face in vain Next unto the prayers and tears of good men the triumphs and insultings of bad over a famous City laid in ashes gives me some of the greatest hope and confidence that it shall not alwayes lye there Was it not publickly observed that Papists up and down the Land were never more jolly and jocund then they shewed themselves soon after the burning of London Some hellish Persecutors in the Marian daies did not more rejoyce in those flames which burnt the holy Martyrs then some of them are said to have done in those which burnt the City But will the great God alwayes feed and cherish such mirth as that Shall not their laughter be turned to mourning and their joy to heaviness Hath not the Lord seen it and it displeased him and will it not invite him to turn away his wrath from the City Prov. 24.16 God will not alwayes suffer Philistines to make sport with Sampson but will cause the house at last to tumble about their ears and grind them to powder who made him grind in derision Another City which therefore we now hope for would spoil the insolent mirth of Popish enemies above any thing else and put them quite out of countenance God speaking after the manner of men Deut. 32.27 speaks as if himself did fear the insolency of enemies Were it not that I feared the enemy would behave him self haughtily c. And if so doubtless he will take a time to suppress both it and them And now methinks I my self am almost weary of this so long a Chapter though consisting only of incouragements and grounds of hope and though I have stayed and rested my self upon thirteen several Pillars by the way and those Pillars of hope I shall more easily be pardoned because the Subject is lightsome and we know that the length of daies useth not to be complained of though that of nights be troublesome howsoever Solâ—mon telling us that it is not good to eat too much honey Prov. 25.27 advertiseth that shortness may be wanting where sweetness is not saving as want of shortness may somewhat imbitter
into the work BLessed be God and blessed of the Lord be they for all that countenance which by those that are in Authority hath been given to the rebuilding of London and particularly by that most prudent Act of theirs which was made for that end and purpose That by that Act Londoners were allowed but a Copy-hold Lease of time viz. the term of three years for rebuilding of the City was enacted upon no evil design such as to surprize and take advantage against them for not being able to finish the work in so short a time but with a full intent to renew their Lease at or before the expiration of it if need should be and that upon better conditions than the former as experience should inform them of any thing that might be better Sure I am London had hitherto been like a Tree that stands in the shade if the beams of Authority had not shone upon it so as they have done it had not been in that good forwardness that it is at this day What if it be the true interest of our Rulers and Governours as doubtless it is that London should be rebuilt with all convenient speed are they therefore neither praise nor thank worthy for contributing their assistance If Magistrates espouse the interest of Religion and cherish it both in themselves and others in so doing they shall pursue their own interest upon the best terms for God will honor those that honor him yet for so doing all good men will acknowledge we ought to praise and thank them more than for any thing else I need not tell our Rulers whose interest I have elsewhere proved it is that London should be rebuilt that great works go on but slowly without countenance from Magistrates and ordinarily as swiftly with it when they afford not only permission and connivance but Commission and countenance Our Proverb saith The Masters eye makes the horse fat Of the Temple it is said Ezra 6.14 They builded and finished it according to the Commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes King of Persia How vigorously Cyrus though a Heathen Prince did bestir himself for and towards the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem We are told almost throughout the sixth Chapter of the Book of Ezra and as if Artaxerxes had vyed with Cyrus for zeal in that matter or laboured to out strip him We read as much of him in the seventh Chapter from the 11th verse till towards the end If either of them had had a Palace of his own to build which his heart had been greatly set upon I see not how he could have promoted it more than both of them did the Temple Ezra 7.23 Whatsoever is commanded by the God of Heaven let it be diligently done said Artaxerxes in his Decree for the House of the God of Heaven for why should there be wrath against the Realm of the King Under those benigne aspects and influences of great ones the Temple went up amain and so doubtless with the blessing of God may our City if the like countenance and encouragement from such as are in chief Authority shall always be afforded to it And what should make us doubt but so it will be For first our Rulers know full well that nothing will be rescented as a greater demonstration of their love and care than an earnest forwardness expressed to see London up again or of the contrary man a want of that nothing will beget a greater confidence of the people in them and affection towards them than that would do Besides that it is more their own concern in point of Honor and profit that London should be built again than it is the concern of any ten men whatsoever as his Majesty was pleased to say in print That his loss by the burning of London was greater than any mans else and certainly it was Was not his Majesty the great Landlord to whom all the houses in London had wont to pay a kind of Quit-Rent othergise than a Pepper-Corn viz. so much yearly for every Chimney Private men may call this or that or some few houses in London theirs but only the Kings of England can call London their City as they use to do though not in such a sense as to destroy the propriety of particular owners But though owners have more interest in some houses Kings have some in all which cannot be said of any Subject Neither is that of profit which Kings have had by the City of London so great but the interest of honor and reputation which hath accrued to them by their dominion over so famous a City the very quintessence of their Kingdoms hath been as great or greater All which things considered it were not unreasonable or effeminate if a King should openly lament the loss of such a City in some such language as David did the loss of Absalom when he cryed out O Absalom Absalom my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son O London London my City my City c. I should think the loss of London to be as great as was that of Callice which one Queen of England laid so much to heart Should then our Rulers express such a passion for London as David did for Absalom or as Rachel is said to have done for the loss of her children as hardly any case would better bear it or should they say concerning London as Rachel concerning children before she had any Give me children or I die Methinks I easily foresee how the generality of the people would do as Davids valiant men did who brake through an Host of Philistims and drow water out of the Well of Bethlehem and brought it to David because he longed for it 2 Sam. 23.15 My meaning is if Rulers shall express such an earnest longing after another London as David did after the waters of Bethlehem people would adventure life and all but they should soon have it and the reason is because Rulers in so passionately wishing for another City would express kindness to the people as well as to themselves and people in pursuing so good a work would shew kindness to themselves as well as to their Rulers the grateful sense of whose love they are ambitious to express and when all those things should meet together it would be as when stream and wind and tide and that a Spring-tide too do all concur to promote a Vessel that is sailing or Galley that goes with Oars When the incouragement of Magistrates together with the interest and inclinations of a people do all run one way then are people like Gyants refreshed with wine who though mighty of themselves are made thereby more mighty to run their Race Had David been to build such a City as London I know what Absâ—lom would have said and many people would have believed him by what I read of him 2 Sam. 15.4 viz. that if it were as much in his as in the power of some other they should not stay long for
East-wind and made it dry Land that the Israelites might pass over Exod. 14.21 And probable it is that the turning of the Wind brought the Sea back again upon the Egyptians And I am much deceived if the Wind and Weather which were much against us in the time of the Fire have not been as much with us and for us since that I mean in reference to the warmth and openness of the Weather which are much what the effects of Winds suitable thereunto Job 37.9 Cold cometh out of the North And v. 17. How thy garments are warm when he quiateth the earth by the South-wind Sith then this last Winter God hath made the Heavens to hear the Ruines and the Ruines to hear the Artificers and the Artificers to hear the cryes of the poor dejected Citizens longing to be restored you know to what I allude why should we dispair of another London at Land more then heretofore at Sea where we have known two already When I consider how speedily many difficult cases and perplext controversies relating to Builders and Proprietors have been brought to an end either by the clearness of the Law made for that purpose or prudence of the Judges or extraordinary peaceableness of the parties concerned or by means of all three together I cannot but look upon it as a good presage that this poor City shall be built again For this methinks is a kind of sudden and unexpected clearing and taking away of that Rubbish which did most of all threaten to obstruct the buildings for who that hath observed how long some one controversie about the title of Houses or Lands being tryed after the usual way and not as in the Act for building is provided doth ordinarily depend some a longer time then I hope the whole City will take up in rebuilding would not have thought that Law-suits and Impleadings one of another would have been so endless that the City the building whereof must needs wait upon the determination of such matters would never have had a beginning But blessed be God it is evident to us by some hundreds of houses already built and many more Foundations laid that an incredible number of Titles are already determined even so many as might have taken up a whole Age in an ordinary course of Law And hence also may we feed our selves with hope that the like dispatch will be made in and about those Causes which are yet unheard or more if more can be sith by variety of Precedents and parallel cases the work of determination will be easier every day then other This good harmony gives me great hope and may do the like to others for why may not a City rise up by Unity and agreement as well as fall by division why may not the former be as powerful to lift up even from the dust as the latter is to throw it down If God please to grant the people of England as good and easie an accord in all other matters I shall yet hope all will be well I see a diligent hand at work for and towards the rebuilding of the City and that increaseth my hope that it will be done When God forsook London for a time and gave it up to the flames we may remember that men forsook it also I mean a great part of its Inhabitants made it their only care and business to secure their goods but did in effect say let the City go But now I find that Citizens are as active and officious in restoring as ever any of them for all were not so did seem remiss and careless in preserving of it methinks every body is huge intent upon it and what his hand findeth to do in it doth it with all his might and that in despite of all both real and supposed discouragements I know not the man whom in this case I can call a Sluggard and wish him without wronging him to go to the Ant and learn his ways all are as busie as so many Ants hastning to and from their several Mole-hills not a few were so intent upon it that when materials could scarce be had for love or money when Coals were three or four pound a Chaldron when Bricks and Timber bore an excessive rate all would not beat them off from building as if they had been as fond of houses within the Walls of London as ever Rachel was of children who cryed out Give me children or I die You might see by the respects which Citizens paid and do yet pay to the dust and ruines of London how they hanker after it not for what it is but for what they hope it shall be Do not as many as had wont to be concerned in those affairs visit the Ruines yearly call every Parish by its former name observe its bounds chuse Officers upon the very place chuse Aldermen and their Deputies for every Ward that is unsupplyed nominate Church-wardens Constables c. as if it might be said of London as was said of Lazarus that he was not dead but slept and all thorough the desire they have it might be raised again for they do know it is more then asleep yea no less then dead and buried A careless unactive heartless posture was that in which London was destroyed and now I see the quite contrary to that it makes me hope it is about to be restored wherewithall did the Psalmist perswade himself That the time to favour Sion yea the set time was come Psa 102.13 The reason he gives us is For thy people take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof v. 14. If that were a good argument that God would arise and have mercy upon Sion as doubtless it was else the Psalmist would not have used it we have said and evinced the same thing as concerning London viz. such an affection towards it as the people of God in those daies had towards their desolate Jerusalem Far be it from me to think that so much love care and pains so many heads and hands and hearts as are set at work about our City with earnest prayers for the restauration of it will all produce nothing What though God had a sufficient controversie against the old City as for which to suffer it to be burnt may it not be said that possibly he hath not the same against another City though standing or intended to stand in the same place so that notwithstanding his permitting the former to be burnt he may permit another to be built in the room of it Though such things were done to the dry Tree to which I may compare the old City must the like or something as bad be done to the green Christ argues from the green Tree to the dry with a quanto magis What then shall be done to the dry but not vice versâ God destroyed the Old World but did he not nevertheless make a new one and that in the same place where the old one stood and peopled it out
Hoseah 4.1 that is there is none in compaâ—ison of that which ought to be There is but a litle of that which looks like mercy and charity and part of â—â—at which looks like such is not mercy but partiâ—lity pride and self love as I shall shew hereafter He that is flattered into the relief of those whom â—e doth relieve and will relieve none but those that flatter him that is who will in all things say as he sayeth and do as he doth and seem to think as he thinks and not swerve from him to the right hand or to the left which must needs be flattery for it can scarce be that two men should not be sometimes of two minds he that hath no kindness for any person though an honest Jonathan the arrows of whose opinions or practises either fly beyond him or fall short of him he I say is no merciful man for he seeketh his own things and not the things of others he regardeth his own likeness in other men but not their wants and necessities he doth not good to all that are of the houshold of faith much less to all men whatsoever as he hath opportunity whereto the Apostle â—xhorteth Solomon tells us that the borrower is servant to the lender and some-think it but reason they should be their slaves to whom they not only lend but give and will give to none but them that will be their Slaves or their Apes rather like vain persons that are in love with Parasites and none but such or like children that kiss the glass in which they see their own faces But I like the spaniel better that loves his master for beating him when he deserves it than that masters humour who loves his spaniel for fawning upon him and slabbering him We are commanded not to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons James 2.1 But too many have the love of Jesus Christ with that respect One said he did love Christ dwelling in Augustin but such men love themselves dwelling in others but not Jesus Christ and his image They relieve not a Disciple in the name of a Disciple or a Prophet in the name of a Prophet to which the reward is promised but in the name of a fellow Disciple of theirs not under Christ but under Paul or Apollos or Cephas Go thou partial lover to the good Samaritan and â—earn his ways who finding a naked and wounded â—an in his way as he was journeying never stood 〈◊〉 ask him what opinion he was of but when he saw 〈◊〉 had compassion on him and went to him and bound up â—s wounds powring in Oile and Wine c. Luke 10.33 〈◊〉 Paul tells us Acts 28.2 The Barbarous people shewâ—â— us no little kindness and yet Paul and his compaâ—ions were meer strangers to them only because 〈◊〉 the rain and the cold they received them Serve your own bodies in that fashion as you serve the mystical body of Christ Cloath your â—acks but starve your bellies be kind to one part â—â—d unkind to another and see how it will proâ—er with you Is charity an evil spirit that you â—â—us confine it to a circle and that a very narrow â—ne and fear to let it come out nay God himself â—love whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot cirâ—mscribe Give not the world to think that merâ—â— and charity is become nothing else but oyl powâ—ed in to feed the Lamp of a party and to keep â—â—at bright and burning but let your compassion be â—â—ffused like so much blood throughout all the â—eines of Christ his mystical and suffering body â—â—d assure your selves he loves no Saint as such â—ho loves not every Saint and relieves no man â—â—th true compassion who is not ready in proportion and to his power to relieve every man that â—ands in need thereof But as there is little kindly and genuine mercy 〈◊〉 charity in this part of the world so indeed â—â—ere is but little of any kind as there is little reall so there is not much in appearance unless it be â—ere and there Men lend to God for so they are â—aid to do who give to the poor as if they looked for nothing again as men use to lend to those who they think never can nor never will repay them viz. no more than they need not care if they throw away or never see again Charity so called is usually but the paring of rich mens nails or the crums that fall from their tables and children have no more from them than dogs may lay claim to I mean the children of their heavenly Father than wicked people if indigent might expect Many may be ashamed to sound a trumpet when they give their alms or so much as to let their left hand know what their right hand hath done Should I serve up this indictment against all Englishmen or Londoners I might well reflect upon my self as David did upon himself Ps 73.15 If I say I will speak thus behold I should â—ffend against the generation of thy children For of some I could say as S. Paul of the Churches of Macedonia 2 Cor. 8.3 To their power I bear record yea and beyond they are willing of themselves There are that are ready to every good work But alas how few are they in comparison of them that are otherwise As Solomon saith Prov. 30.13 There is a generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids lifted up so may I of some others there is a generation O how low and sordid are their spirits how much harder are their bearts than is the neather milstone Too many can say to a brother or sister that is naked and destitute of daily food Depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding he giveth them not those things which are needful to the body Men that have more than heart can wish of this worlds goods how often do they shake their heads and say alas such a man or woman hath a great charge and little or nothing to maintain it with here their bowels seem to open but they presently shut again and when they have given them their blessing which is a short ejaculation that God would provide for them and theirs they seem to think it is enough as if their blessing like as is said of the blessing of the Lord could make men rich or supply all their wants How vast is the disproportion betwixt the good which some men are able and that which they do they give in forma pauperis as some are said to sue and as if they had more need to receive than to give as if they were poor Widows they come with their mites They seem to expect a reward for a cup of cold water or what is next to that and should not fail of it if they had nothing better to give but as the case stands with them Christ will never return them wine for that water and they will find as cold comfort in
been so if he had burnt it all and would be so if he should never suffer it to be built again and till he have made us see that except the Lord-build the house and so the City they labour in vain that build it Psal 127.1 That it is impossible for us by our own power and strength to build us another City unless he who is the maker and builder of all things shall consent to and concur in it I say till God have so far humbled us though we may build through his permission we shall not build with his blessing and if we continue in the hateful sin of pride he can give us a City in his wrath and take it away again in his wrath As therefore our City goes up let our pride go down It is too much for such worthless creatures as we all are to think our selves to be any thing but as God influenceth and inspireth us as a Trumpet can give no sound but as the trumpiter breaths into it and therefore he said well who said that no man is any thing more meaning that good is than what God makes him daily and hourly Paul saith himself though I preach the Gospel I have nothing to glory of 1 Cor. 9.16 It is a very significant phrase both in our native tongue that when we would say a man is proud we say he thinks himself to be some body as if every man were nothing and those words were applicable to every proud man he that thinks himself to be something when he is nothing deceiveth himself Gal. 6.3 I find the same phrase in the Greek Testament for we read of Theudas boasting himself to be some body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which methinks is a fuller expression than is used of Simon Magus of whom it is said that he gave out that himself was some great one Acts 8.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the former implieth that for any man to think himself to be any thing in and of himself is a point of pride and such a kind of mistake as if one should think a meere shadow to be a real body or substance Ps 144.4 Man is like vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away When I observe how men do treat those that are notoriously proud I fancy them to be like the picture we see in some Almanacks viz. A man every where pierced with arrows from head to foot because every body is ready to wound the reputation of a proud man and to make his name to bleed and be confident that the great God hath as much displeasure against him as men can have I say therefore once again as you love your selves and as you love your City be humble be lowly minded take heed of lifting up your selves after that God hath cast you down Conquer pride and you conquer a third part of the world for S. John speaketh of the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride life as if they three were all that is in the world 1 John 2.16 Conquer pride and take the comfort of that excellent and incouraging passage Joh 22.29 When men are cast down then thou shalt say there is lifting up and he shall save the humble â—erson DISCOURSE XLV That to seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof in the first place for Londoners generally so to do were one of the best ways to obtain a new City HE that reads the title of this Chapter will presently reflect upon Mat. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you and in reflecting upon those words will see a plain proof of that proposition whereof the title doth consist taking it for granted that though meat and drink and cloathing be the only things expressed in that place of which it is said they shall be added to them that seek the kingdom God yet all other needful things for this life are there implied and intended as by a parity of reason which is a good sort of argument may be concluded The foregoing words are your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things v. 32. From whence we may infer that all such things as our heavenly Father knows we have need or necessity of in this life shall be added to them who seek his Kingdom in the first place Our ultimate or last end so far as we foresee it our selves is always first thought of it is first in intention though it be last in execution We think of the end of our journey or that which for the present we intend shall be so before we seâ— out or enterprize the beginning thereof In this sense ought the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof to be sought by us in the first place that is to be made our highest end our ultimate design to which all other designs are to be referred and subordinated as for example If your ends and aims be regular they are in this order you would have a City that you might buy and sell and get gain that is the lowest round of the ladder you would do that that you and yours might live and comfortably subsist you would have a comfortable subsistence that you might attend upon God without distraction and serve him with chearfulness in the midst of all the good things which he shall give you to injoy and you would serve God on earth in righteousness and holiness before him that you might for ever injoy him in Heaven and arrive to that glorious Kingdom which he hath provided for them that love and serve him This is your highest end and thus doing thus aiming you seek the Kingdom of God in the first place For though that end be the last thing in order of time and of attainment yet it is first in order of nature for all causes are before their effects now ends are causes as the final cause is often spoken of and the highest ends of any action is the first cause thereof that is within our selves and consequently it is the first thing that is in our thoughts it is the first mover the great wheel or spring that sets all the rest a going Now I say in this manner to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of it if that were generally done by those that are concerned in London would make that desolate City to spring up as tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain and cause the blessing of God to come down upon it like rain upon the women grass Religion all things considered was never a hinderance to any great and worthy undertaking but always a help and furtherance The prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah as I shewed before made the building of the Temple to prosper A religious standing still to allude to those words of Moses Exod. 14.13 stand still and see the salvation of the Lord Will make the City
go forward when a prophane activity would but hinder it Suppose the City should require seven years time to build it again some may think that doing nothing to it upon the Sabbath day is a great hinderance and would be the loss of no less than one whole year in seven but if we consider the curse which it prevents and the blessing which it procureth it will be found to be no loss at all and that the City in effect and in due construction goes up as fast or faster on the Sabbath-day than on any day in the week Whilst we are seeking Gods Kingdom and the righteousness thereof God though in an invisible way is adding to us Jer. 17.24 It shall come to pass if ye hallow the Sabbath-day to do no work therein then shall there enter into the gate of this City Kings and Princes and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and this City shall remain for ever God who had set apart a tenth for his own use gave the Jews assurance they should be nothing the poorer but much the richer for paying of it Mal. 3.10 Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it The Israelites when they were before Jericho besieging it lost no time by carrying about the Ark and sounding the Trumpets as was appointed them for it is said It shall come to pass when ye hear the sound of the Trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the City shall fall down flat Joshua 6.5 The Prophet was angry with the King of Israel for smiting the ground but thrice 2 Kings 13.19 Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times said he then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice Alluding to that story I would say if we smote the ground oftner if we were more clothed with the Sun and did more frequently trample the earth under our feet my meaning is if we were more abundant in the duties and exercises of Religion than most of us are it would be no hindrance to our worldly concerns and particularly to that of building our City but rather a help and furtherance The practise of Religion both in refraining what is evil and doing what is good is never more necessary than when some great undertaking is in hand Deut. 23.9 When the host goes forth against thine enemies then keep thee from every wicked thing and are we not as much concerned so to do when we have a City to build as at this day Our way to have another City even upon earth is to imitate those worthies we read of Heb. 11.16 But now they desire a better country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City When Saul went to seek his Fathers Asses he unexpectedly found a Kingdom but it is to be feared that many will lose a Kingdom whilst they seek for Asses I mean for poor trifles an earthly house or City which are no better in comparison of a heavenly Kingdom It is incident to us to invert Gods method we would seek other things either in the first place or altogether and have the Kingdom of God added to us we would seek earth and find Heaven but God will not alter his method and men by going about to do it do indanger the loss of Heaven and earth both both of their interest if I may so call the world which they live upon for the present and of their principal which they expect hereafter How unreasonable a presumption is it that God should mind our concerns and we not mind his that God should regard our houses if we will not regard his Kingdom the beginning increase and perfecting thereof both in our selves and others By the Kingdom of God I mean the Kingdom of Grace which is glory begun and the kingdom of glory which is grace perfected Which being but gradually distinct as the same person in infancy and at full age I may speak of as one kingdom viz. specifically so I speak of that kingdom as Gods concern because his glory is as truly concerned in it as our good his honor as our happiness And thence it is that they who refuse to be subjects of that kingdom are so severely threatned Those mine enemies who would not that I should raign over them bring them hither and slay them before me It is said of the Hebrew Midwives that because they feared God he made them houses Exod. 1.21 But will God build houses and Cities for them that fear him not yea for his enemies whom he hath threatned to slay at leastwise can they promise themselves he will do so or hath he any where promised so to do nay in Prov. 14.11 it is said The house of the wicked shall be overthrown but the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish The children of rich and noble persons need take no care for houses to dwell in let them but study to please their parents and they shall want neither houses nor any thing else let them be good and their parents will be as good to them as they can wish and shall not his children whose name is El-shaddai God alsufficient expect as much from their heavenly Father But ere I proceed in speaking to men let me speak a few words to God on behalf of my self and others Lord give me more faith in this promise this double promise for so I understand it that they who seek thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof in the first place shall have it and all other needful things with it for so the phrase of adding or superadding seemeth to imply And Lord give the same faith to others for hundreds need it at this day who till of late never knew they needed it or went about to make experiment of it O Lord how fearful are most men to swim when they are above their depth when they can feel no ground under them that meer sense and reason can stand upon We would fain be always in those shallows where lambs may wade but never cast into those depths where Elephants must swim but thou Lord dost sometimes try us with the latter of those give us but faith enough in that conditional promise that they who seek thy kingdom c. shall have all things added and together with that faith give us but the condition of that promise viz. hearts to seek thy kingdom as we ought to seek it and having those two we shall not doubt but to arrive at whatsoever is and shall be necessary both for the life that is and that which is to come To me it seemeth a little strang that the great God having made the promise of a Kingdom
sent them to the University they had bound them to some sorry trade by which they might have been able to have got their bread and to have lived like themselves Surely Scholars would as fain live as other men they love themselves and their Families as well as others do the light of learning in them hath not extinguished the light of nature If they have not lived as well and as plentifully as other men it was because they did not dare to do so or as Nehemiah said So did not I because of the fear of God Neh. 5.15 Three Apprentiships at the University with three degrees on a mans back well deserved have not turned to so good an account to many as one Apprentiship to a mean Shop-keeper hath done to many others Tradesmen can live upon their Callings but Schollars have bin put to live upon their friends if they had any Many excellent Schollars put out of the way of Learning know not how to earn a penny as they say if their lives did depend upon it In times of many Revolutions Schollars are of all men most miserable unless they be men of such volatile wits that they can turn every way unless they be perfect weather-cocks or unless together with their wisdome they have an Inheritance It is expected that Schollars should be Commonwealths-men Protectorians Presbyterians Independants and every thing else that is uppermost and the way of their times as if in that sense it were true That every thing is good in its season A Schollar must be every thing successively or he must be nothing or rather no-body He must change his shape as oft as doth the Silk-worm if he would be clad as he is that is clothed with soft and costly raiment He must be like a door turning upon the hinges that is this way and the other way if he will come to any thing though that be the comparison that Solomon useth for a sluggard He must either be materia prima or he must be reduced to it that is either susceptible of all forms or stript of all enjoyments I write not this to blame the policy or reason of state that hath thought fit it should be so though he that will may censure those times whence I have taken the instances of this kind of severity but to condole the misery of Schollars in regard it hath bin so Many do distrust that saying which hath bin applyed to learning viz. that Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros that is that it softens the manners of men and suffers them not to be fierce For who have bin more profound to destroy one another than Schollars If homo homini lupus be a Proverb it hath bin no where more verified than amongst Schollars who have bin lupi in fabula one to another and devoured one anothers maintenance and livelyhoods by the imposition of Ingagements and such like Artifices instructing after-times in methods of policy which the depraved nature of man is but too prone to follow Hath it signified any thing to a livelyhood in some times and places for a Schollar to be excellent at his Profession and very vertuous besides if weighed in other scales he hath bin found too light his little kingdom I mean his work and wages have both bin taken from him He that would not provide for his Family by going beyond the line of his Principles if dissenting hath bin so dealt with as if he had bin worse than an infidel and had denyed the Faith For whilst Jews and other Infidels have bin permitted to live and provide for their Families so might not he He is a Cavalier an Episcopal man or c. Sequester him c. A waggish Inn-keeper was once in my hearing commending an officious lye it may be himself had sometime tryed the sweetness of it but what if all Schollars be not of his mind yea what if none that are conscientious be what if some could not or durst not tell such alye if it might save their lives must they turn out upon it as if lying were a gift essential to a Minister whose work it is to Preach the truth at leastwise as if the Apostle Paul his becoming all things 〈◊〉 all were his professing himself to be of every other mans mind and his saying and doing whatsoever others would have him the contrary whereof doth plainly appear from Gal. 2.11 where speaking of Peter he saith That he withstood him to the veâ—y face because he was to be blamed c. If a man had written as many books as ever Groâ—â—us did and to as good purpose to have bin able to have underwritten his name to a small Script an Ingagement or such like thing might when time was have done him more service yea the other it may be none at all An excellent Artificer Limâ—er or such like of what Nation or Religion soever whether Jew or Turk shall be set at work by every body rather than a bungler of whatsoever Judgment but it useth not to be so amongst Schollars Though Shibboleth and Sibboleth differ but by one letter and that near in sound yet the right pronouncing and due distinguishing of them useth as to Schollars to signify more than their knowledg of all the letters in the Alphabet besides and of all the words made out of those Letters and things that are signified by those words Why doth our Mother the University put such respect upon her sons that are Fellows of Colledges why will she have them capt as far as they can be discerned are they there lifted up that they may take the greater fall Tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant Are they there so honoured that they may be elswhere more despicable there they sit with the sons of Nobles but how soon do many of them come to sit as it were with the dogs of their flock if there they be cloathed in Scarlet they quickly come as it were to imbrace dung-hills Some Schollars that have had excellent Libraries could neither sell their books without great loss nor keep them without great vanity For what should they do with books that can make no use of their learning any more than a Musician with a great many Lutes and Viols who is not permitted to play one Lesson upon any of them Some have even idolized their Books their Books have bin as it were their God and yet those very persons have bin forced to an unhappy Transubstantiation viz. to turn that their God into bread If Schollars continue Batchelors as few of them do in that sense make themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake alluding to Mat. 19.12 possibly they may be received into some good Family and be there entertained so as the Prophet was by the Shunamite 2 Kings 4.10 Let us make a little Chamber in the Wall and let us set for him there a bed and a Table and a stool and a Candlestick and it shall be when he commeth to