of our prosperity that it will never be removed But we are often mistaken so was Asaph when he did thus expostulate Psa 77.7 Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious hath be in anger shut up his tender mercy will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more is his mercy clean gone for ever and adds v. 10. I said this is my infirmity v. 14. Thou art the God that doest wonders And v. 19. Thy way is in the Sea and thy footsteps are not known Hear the moans of Sion and the answer given by God thereunto Isa 49.14 But Sion saith the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her â—omb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me ver 15 16. Little did the Israelites think when their task of brick was doubled that deliverance was at hand which sense became a Proverb Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses but so it was but the Text saith The children of Israel hearkened not to Moses viz. prophecying of deliverance for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage Exod. 6.9 Little did Abraham think that Isaac should be spared though he came so near unto being sacrificed as that he was laid upon the Altar whence sprung that consolatory saying Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen I shall not extenuate the badness of our present circumstances it is too too evident that we look like a Land meeted out for destruction the face of things at this day is as it were facies Hippocratica as Physitians call it that is we look like death Never was poor Nation more convulst and pulled this way and that way backwards and forwards and other while made or endeavoured to be made more stiff and inflexible by a painful Tetanus as they call that kind of Convulsion that braceth the body so straight it can stir no way It must be confessed these are ill Symptoms but no grounds of despair possibly it is now a critical time with England and the Crises of diseases are often attended with horrid Symptoms even when Nature gets the upper hand at last Are we now in any more danger to be destroyed by our divisions then we were in 65. to be devoured by Plague but thence hath God delivered us He that hath said unto the Sword of War with other Nations Put up thyself into thy Scabbard rest and be still can say the same to the Sword of home divisions which are a kind of intestine war Surely England hath been in a worse condition then now it is and yet saved from thence First in the Marian daies when the weapons of warfare against the true Religion were no other then Fire and Faggot when the Scarlet Whore made her self drunk with the blood of Saints and Martyrs were not those daies shâ—rtned for the Elects sake Matth. 13.20 Afterwards in 88. when the Spanish Fleet called the Invincible Armado came against England in how desperate a case did it seem to be but how soon did that black Cloud blow over Then succeeded the hellish Powder Plot in the next Kings Reign which had it taken effect had rooted the Protestant Interest out of England as in the twinkling of an eye or whilst a small Paper could be burned but that also came to nothing that snare was broken and this poor Land delivered Who doubts whether Popish Archers have not shot at us many times since then and yet our Bow abideth in strength thorough the mighty God of Jacob O England so often saved by the Lord why shouldst thou despair of any more deliverances Is it because thy sins are so many and great call to mind what God saith Ezek. 36.33 In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will cause you to dwell in the Cities and the wasts shall be builded v. 35. And they shall say This Land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden and the desolate and ruined Cities are become fenced and inhabited Look back to v. 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel See also v. 22 23 29 36 38. of the same Chapter Or is it because the Lord seemeth for a time to have forsaken thee having given thee up to flames that thou O London despairest of ever seeing good daies again I see not why thou shouldst cast away the Anchor of thy hope for all that what if thou shouldst cast it upon that Text and others of like import Psa 60.9 10. Who will bring me into the strong City wilt not thou O God which hadst cast us off And Lam. 3.31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Who seeth not the inference plain from such Texts as those that God may cast off a people for a time and yet not cast them off for ever Is it from a fear of being burnt again that you have no heart to build that fear in all likelihood ariseth from a mistrust you have that the former burning came to pass by Treachery if so be of good chear God will discover it in due time it cannot be alwayes hid and when that secret if it be yet a secret shall be brought to light when the true Incendiaries shall once be known London is like to be more secured from fire then ever it was and that fire which consumed the old City will be as a wall of fire that is a defence about the new If the great divisions discontents and heart-burnings that are now in England be alledged as they have been as a main discouragement of the rebuilding of London I would take leave to say I hope one day to see an end of those things Surely there will come a time when passion and fury will hold their peace and give way to reason and conscience to interpose and when ever that time shall come such Rules and Principles as I would now suggest will be hearkened to and cannot but offer themselves being so obvious as they are and whensoever they shall take place we may expect to see England a quiet habitation and all good people therein of one heart though not of one mind The first principle which I would hope will be received in time is this That every man pretending conscience constraining him to what he doth or restraining him from what he refuseth to do if generally trusted and thought worthy to be believed in other cases ought to be trusted and believed in that also and not to be changed with pride prejudice interest faction as the true reasons of those actions for which he pretendeth conscience yea it may be exposeth
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
so to be yet have I taken no such liberty when the matter before me was divine and spiritual as being a professed enemy to any thing like a jest in any thing like a Sermon or mingled with any matter which otherwise might become a pulpit If thou art altogether a stranger to the art of Divine Chimistry or of extracting moral and spiritual considerations out of mechanical and ordinary things like good Spirits out of lees and dregs thou thou mayst learn something of it here for though some heads of this book be very unpromising and such as some would wonder what good could come out of them as they said of old can any good come out of Nazareth yet thou wilt find the application somewhat practical and profitable which may reconcile thee to it as a good Moral might do to a fable that at the first hearing did seem but slight There are instances of this in Discourse 5 6 7. the Titles whereof promise little or nothing Wouldst thou have thy mind to be filled with good and useful thoughts as thou passest to and fro the ruins of London as many do very often and as thou takest a view of the new buildings either begun or finished this Treatise may furnish thee with seasonable meditations with some of which if thy heart be in too light a frame thou mayst make it more serious and with others thou mayst make it more pleasant if it be too sad These are all the uses which this Treatise pretendeth it can serve for and these thou wilt say are enough if it perform accordingly now whether it do so or no is and must be left to the reader to judg but if it do not the Authour hath failed of his design in whole or in part Mispointing and misprinting have disturbed the sense now and then and made it unintelligible but if thou pleasest to have recourse to the table of Errata thou wilt there see what the Authour intended the smalness and swiftness of whose hand hath doubtless exposed the Printer to more mistakes than otherwise he had been guilty of I have closed this book with a Discourse of the Resurrection of our bodies those houses of clay in which we dwell which is that Article of our Creed which the resurrection of London doth most naturally and easily put us in mind of as the destruction of that City did most genuinely lead us into the thoughts of our own death and dissolution And thus thou hast an account of the drift and purport of the whole work I am conscious to my self that this Treatise carrieth with it the stamp and impression of many of the Authours weaknesses though the proverb be The eye seeth not its self but if no man shall throw a stone at the Authour till one be found that hath no weaknesses of his own or shall be thought to have none when ever he appears in print though not guilty of or charged with so many as he I say if the Authour escape till then he is like to sleep in a whole skin for good and all I verily think that this poor despicable book will in the main approve its self to every mans conscience and though not to every mans private humour and dishonest interest yet to the interest of the publick and good of the community and that there is not one expression in it but may be taken in a sense that shall give no offence or by which there shall be no scandalum datum or offence justly given whatsoever may be unjustly taken Let those that never exposed themselves in print suspend their censure but till they do and let those that are in print already read these lines but with so much candor as they would desire their own should be read especially if they have treated of matters hard to be treated of and sailed as the Authour hath done from first to last betwixt Scylla and Caribdis that is amongst rocks on every side of him I say let them who would themselves be construed as well as ever their words will bear but do as much for me and it is all the favour in that kind I shall intreat He that doth but glance upon a book his eye may light unhappily upon some passage one or more which singly and by its self considered may prejudice him against the rest and make him resolve to read no more whereas if the same person had read the whole book over he would have liked it well and been no more offended at those very passages than skilful Apothecaries are at the vipers which are in the receit of Venice Treacle which with such and such corrective ingredients wherewith it is compounded makes it a more soveraign antidote than it would otherwise be Reader Thou hast my pains and earnest indeavours on the behalf of London that it may rise and flourish again let me have thy pardon for whatsoever is or seemeth to thee to be amiss in and throughout so well intended a work and which is more let me have thy prayers that God would pardon all the defects and miscarriages of this work as to matter or manner and forgive the Authour those ten thousand talents in which upon other accounts he stands indebted to the great God as who can know the number of his transgressions as also that whatsoever in this book is of real tendency to personal or national civil or spiritual good may be duly considered entertained without prejudice and so far as is possible brought into practise Now my hearts desire and prayer to God is that he would please to say concerning London and Londoners as concerning Israel and Ephraim of old Since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him Jer. 31.20 and v. 4. I will build thee and thou shalt be built O virgin of Israel thou shalt surely be adorned c. and v. 10. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock and v. 11. And they shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oile and v. 12. Their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all and v. 24. Turn again O virgin of Israel turn again to these thy Cities and v. 28. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict so I will watch over them to build and to plant and v. 23. for I may not recite all As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the Cities thereof when I shall bring again their captivity the Lord bless thee O habitation of Justice and mountain of Holiness I say that God would use the like expressions concerning London and Londoners as here concerning Israel and Ephraim is the hearty desire and earnest
so long there is hope it may take place When the great God was resolved that Jeremy should not prevail by his prayer for the Israelites he bids him spare his pains Jer. 11.14 and Jer. 14.11 Jer. 7.16 Pray not thou for this people neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee And at another time God by his Prophet said That though Noah Daniel and Job were in the Land they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness intending thereby that they should not prevail for others Ezek. 14.14 Might not we in like manner have expected some intimation of the Divine Pleasure that the rebuilding of London should not be so much as enterprized that if we took any such work in hand it should be at our peril that we should but sow the Wind and reap the Whirlwind in case that were the Will of God indeed Surely the Divine Goodness would forewarn us that we might not undertake so great a work and all in vain But so far hath God been hitherto from crying aloud to us not to take in hand the rebuilding of the City that I scarce know any whisperings to that purpose Nay methinks that voice whereby God in these daies most of all speaketh to such cases as these and that is the voice of Providence and of the series of Divine Dispensations I say that voice sounds in my ears and it is like in the ears of many more as if it were plainly for it as if it spake articulately Arise and build up and be doing For first of all since this work was to be done the great God hath encouraged it by an unexpected measure of health vouchsafed I say since the City was to be built God hath taken away the noysome Pestilence which staying some time after the fire we had reason to expect the encrease thereof considering how many Families were unhealthfully crouded together in a very small compass and how many green I mean lately before infected houses were forthwith inhabited which otherwise had long remained empty The continuance of that destroying Angel amongst us had been so great a hindrance to the restauration of the City as nothing could have been greater and the removal thereof is doubtless as great a help without which most men would have thought of flying or dying but none of building Surely that gracious hand which so miraculously and seasonably removed the Plague was stretched forth in favour of the desolate City as to matter of rebuilding And doth it signifie nothing that God hath ordained Peace for us since the fire a threefold Peace viz. with France Holland Denmark and may I not add a fourth viz. with Spain also of no small import to trade and traffique as Merchants tell us Hath that Peace no benigne aspect upon the rebuilding of London could we have built without it as well as with it The great dearth and dearness of coals that was before the Peace together with the great plenty and cheapness of them which hath been and is like to be after it assureth us to the contrary Coals being as necessary for the making of Brick of which our new building must consist as Straw its self Had the late war continued who would have had any heart to have built who knoweth not how unhappy it is to build with a brick in one hand and and a bullet in the other and would not the expence of War quite destroy the sinews of building which are the same with the sinews of War viz. Money or had we money enough where should we have materials sufficient for so great a work in a time of War I doubt our Lebanon would not suffice we should find the want of Forreign Timber which now we hope will plentifully come in and that be brought in to build our houses and to repair our City which would otherwise have been imployed to destroy our Ships and to oppose our Fleet. And now I mention Peace I must not forget the doubling of it as of Pharaoh's Dream for more certainty sake betwixt our selves and the Netherlands besides those other Nations that may hereafter cast in their lot with us neither is it only the same thing ingeminated or two Peaces but numerically distinct but the latter Peace if we mis-understand it not is specifically different from and much better then the former the first having been only an engagement not to offend one another but this to defend and protect each other as the matter shall require It is a great while since I remember any thing so generally well resented so candidly interpreted so thankfully acknowledged as that League hath been and chiefly for that it was made with a people of the same Religion with our selves besides their being most potent at Sea of all our Neighbours That Dove Peace Peace for so I may call it with two Olive Branches in its mouth seemeth to me to bring the best tidings as concerning the rebuilding of London of any Messenger I have heard of though there are several others and they that think otherwise are I doubt under the power of too much melancholly not to say prejudice Is there nothing to be gathered from the late Winter season wherewith to incourage our hope as touching the rebuilding of London If builders might have bespoken a season for their purpose how could they have had a better To be sure the Husbandman did not pray for such a Summer-like mild Winter Frost and Snow had been more suitable to his desires and occasions But as if every thing ought to give place to the restauration of the City as if plenty and health its self were not so needful as that at leastwise for the present behold a Winter if we may call it Winter more accommodate to that occasion and service then to any other purpose so warm as if the Sun had stood still as in the daies of Joshua and would not have stirred further from us till it had seen the City in some good forwardness Thus the great God who sent a fierce Wind to promote the burning of London when it was his pleasure hath sent a mild Winter that hath much promoted the building of it giving us hope thereby it is his will and pleasure it should be built again I observe that God both in the bringing and removing of Judgments hath wont to make much use of Wind and Weather So God brought an East-wind upon the Land of Egypt and that East-wind brought the Locusts Exod. 10.13 And in the ninth verse we read That the Lord turned a mighty strong West-wind which took away the Locusts and turned them into the Red Sea there remained not one Locust in Egypt So when God had a purpose to dry up the Deluge it is said Gen. 8.1 That God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged It is like one Wind brought the waters in as another carried them out So God caused the Sea to go back by a strong
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
that which of its self was sweet even as honey then which nothing is sweeter Therefore lastly methinks God hath given us earnest great earnest of another City in place of that which was burnt and what should I mean by that but the many Foundations that are already laid yea some hundreds of houses that are built in so short a time though those hundreds as yet be fewer then were the thousands of what was burnt But suppose we seven or eight hundred houses finished already it being now March 12. 1667. and not much above one year and half since the Fire in which time two Winters have passed over our heads and but one Summer War with three several Nations was unconcluded when the building began Trading as dead as could be imagined Citizens generally impoverished materials and necessaries such as Coals c. at a stupendious rate admit I say there be yet but eight hundred houses finished though some think there be more is it not a good and a great progress all things considered After one of the burnings of London I do not find that in 70 years and upward so much was done towards the restoring of it as hath now been done in less then two Is it not remarkable that since the rebuilding of London was this last time taken in hand no one disaster hath befallen it there hath appeared nothing like an Angel with a Sword in his hand to obstruct those that have attempted to bless the City by rebuilding of it as did to obstruct Balaam when he went forth to curse Israel How early did the wrath of God break out against the builders of Jericho the very foundation whereof was laid in the death and blood of Hiel the Founder his first-born Son But all the foundations that have been laid in London yea and houses which are finished there for ought I learn have not cost so dear As Mannoah's Wife said unto him Judg. 13.23 If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things So may we probably argue if I be not deceived that if God had purposed to anticipate the full harvest of Londons restauration he would scarce have given us so timely and so ample first fruits as he hath vouchsafed already Reflecting upon all that I have said I doubt not to bid defiance to such as have or shall presume to call London by the odious and misapplied name of Babylon for though it may be said of London It is fallen it is fallen yet not so as of Babylon that it shall never rise again DISCOURSE II. Of such considerations as may incourage heartless and dis-spirited Citizens to build again WHy see I so many people with their hands upon their loyns like a travelling Woman and so many faces turned into paleness as the Prophet expresseth himself Jer. 20.6 Why are the generality of men and women at this day as is said of Ephraim Hos 7.11 like a silly Dove without heart Why hear I little else but the voice of the Turtle viz. Mourning and Lamentation yea like to that of Rachel who refused to be comforted Would you have us say they build so methinks I over-hear them speaking pray what another Babel for alas our Languages are all confounded England is a Kingdome and London a City that are divided against themselves and therefore how can they stand England is a Land as it were of all Ishmaels every mans hand is lifted up against his Brother and his Brothers against him How like is England at this day to a great Army all in mutiny or to a routed Army all whose Ranks are broken and themselves flying some one way some another every man shifting for himself or like a great Fleet riding in a Storm some of which are driven upon the Sands others split upon Rocks and the major part fall foul one upon another Would you have us as secure as the Sodomites were in the daies of Lot who planted and builded till such time as fire came down from heaven and destroyed them all Luk. 17.29 Would you have us build to be burnt again are we not yet to expect the fatal influence and effects of a third prodigious Comet as Astronomers do tell us and if the Product or signification of that shall be such as was of the two former woe be to us Wherewithall shall we build England is become as poor as Job a dunghill served his turn as those words imply Job 2.8 He sat down amongst the ashes and why may it not serve ours Those Primitive Christians of whom the world was not worthy wandred in Desarts and Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the earth Heb. 11.38 And are we better then they The fire hath made a multitude of caves let us go down into them and dwell there let us hide our selves in those clefts of rocks as it were till the indignation be overpast Is it time for us to dwell in cieled houses whilest the House of God lieth wast for so to our thinking it doth at this day or shall we build houses and soon after be made to dwell in prisons either for debt or it may be for Conscience sake Is it for us to build when God seemeth to be pulling down and plucking up and making an utter end England hath not only grey hairs upon it here and there but as some Searchers judge them Plague tokens so that there is no hope or next to none of its recovery And is this a time to build in when we neither expect Religion nor Trade to our content nor any long continuance of Peace either at home or abroad Would you have us trim up our Cabins whilst we suspect the whole Ship will be lost who hath not heard such language as this with his own ears But will it admit of no reply or confutation doubtless it may It was the dark side of the Pillar that was turned to us on which side it was a meer Cloud but the other side is bright and as it were a Pillar of Fire The same Instrument or Subject otherwise played upon may afford us as pleasant Musick as that we heard was doleful First who art thou that limitest the holy One of Israel Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Councellor Rom. 11.34 and Isa 40.14 Have you forgotten what God saith Isa 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my wayes your wayes for as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts That saying Jer. 29.11 should be considered I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord implying they did not know the thoughts of God toward them till he had thus revealed them thoughts of peace and not of evil It is incident to us to think of the Mountain of our adversity as well as of the other
Apostle saith hast thou faith have it to thy self so would I say to them that cannot quit their minds of disobliging fears built upon but slender grounds hast thou fear of that kind have it to thy self that is keepe it to thy self and do not provoke or disturb others with it Spare not to divulg and manifest all the hopes that are or can be in you that persons in authority will not be wanting to the rebuilding of the City cherish not the least suspicion to the contrary so shall they be obliged to be as well by your expectation implying a dependance upon their clemency and goodness as by the great importance of that design Shew a readiness to obey Rulers and Governours in whatsoever you think you shall not disobey God Children obey your parents in all things Col. 3.20 that is in all lawful things for in Eph. 6.1 there is added in the Lord. Magistrates are civil parents and how can they chuse if Christians but love those people who never refuse or boggle at any of their commands but such as are really countermanded by their consciences which to go against were sin in them though they were erroneous and misinformed I wonder what Father having Sons and Daughters that would never displease him but for fear of displeasing God would not hold himself bound to do all he could for so obedient children Patience under those sufferings which men are not conscious to themselves they have deserved as if it happen that men suffer for doing what conscience their own I mean bids them do is another excellent way to win and gain upon the hearts of Rulers and to oblige them to do their utmost for those that are under their authority This is a hard lesson but the Holy Ghost teacheth it 1 Pet. 2.19 20. For this is thank worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God For this the example of Christ is proposed to us who when he was reviled causelesty reviled not again when he suffered threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously v. 23. I would not that men should expose themselves to those sufferings which may without sin be avoided for so to do is not patience but phrensy not meekness but madness Christ gave leave and order to his disciples if they were persecuted in one City to flie to another If men be injur'd against Law they may flie to the Laws of their land to right them but if the Law it self be against men and seem to be injurious to them there is no sin in flying from it nor no lawful avoiding of it ordinarily but by flight as there is no armour that can defend a Cannon bullet or way to be out of the danger of it but by keeping out of its way But when the case is so that men cannot fly either to the Law because against them or from the Law because their circumstances will not permit them so to do their wings are clipt so that they are under a necessity of suffering to avoid sinning at leastwise against their own consciences I say when it is so with men as the case is very ordinary that the providence of God hath brought them under a necessity of suffering as they think for righteousness sake would they then imitate Christ who was as a sheep dumb before the shearers he opened not his mouth his voice was not heard in the streets c. Would they instead of rendring evil for evil love their enemies bless them that curse them pray for them that use them despightfully as they interpret it that were the likeliest way to make friends of them whom they take for their foes and to ingage them for who have been ingaged against them Who doth not remember Sauls words to David Thou art more righteous than I extorted by the clemency of David towards him who might have avenged himself upon him and would not who might have taken his life and took but the lap of his garment If sufferings fall short of undoing persons and families I may hope that patience I have pleaded for may be exercised but if it come to that I may rather wish than hope that what I have said might take place But let us rather think that Christian patience exercised under lesser punishments will so mollifie those by whom they are inflicted for causes not altogether indisputable that it will never come to that yea that the enemies of such meek and quiet sufferers touched with the hardness of their case and softness of their Spirits and especially by the hand of him who turneth the hearts of men as the rivers of water which way he pleaseth may become their friends and do more for than ever they have done against them For patience under sufferings the desert whereof is not so manifest is as I said at first a most obliging thing and apt to overcome the hearts of those by whom punishments are inflicted and to provoke them to double kindness as it were by way of compensation That way of obliging Governors which cometh next to hand is by rendering honour to all and every of them proportionable to the dignity of their respective places and consequently a superlative honour to them that are supreme in power To do otherwise is a most provoking thing as for instance it would be to give more respect to a private Colonel and to ascribe greater things to him than to him that were his General and commander of the whole Army Saul could never forget but did always stomack it that they had sung in their dances that Saul had slain his thousands but David his ten thousands Whereas Saul was a King and David then but a subject He that would oblige his King must honour him as such and what is that but to honour him more than any other man and no other man so much as him and that as he is his King loyal honour being like conjugal love which then only is sincere when it is superlative Contrary to that honour we owe to governors not only as supreme but as such viz. as Governors though in a lower orb is our doing any thing in such a way and manner as may imply a contempt of them which to make shew of is a most disobliging thing Contempt ordinarily is not so much expressed in the matter of an action as in the manner of doing one man may steal in the most private way he can meerely to satisfie his hunger and in that theft of his though the sin be great no contempt of the Law or Magistrate is either expressed or intended but he that having mony enough shall rob a judge at noon day knowing who he is aggravates his offence by a manifest contempt of Law and Justice And here that rule holds true cum duo faciunt idem non est idem Conscience may prompt men to
saying is it time for you O yee to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lie wast v. 8. Thus saith the Lord go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it v. 13. Then spake Haggai in the Lords message to the people saying I am with you saith the Lord. And Haggai 2.4 Be strong O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and be strong O Jeshua the high priest and be strong all ye people of the land for I am with you saith the Lord. In like manner we find the prophet Zechariah incouraging the people Zech 8. from v. 7. to 15. and Zech. 12.2 3. Now as it is in war they that beat the drums and sound the trumpets thereby animating those that ingage in the battle and drowning those doleful noises of shriekes and groans which would otherwise dishearten the Souldiers do or may do as much service though themselves do not strike one stroke as those that fight most skilfully and valiantly yea each of them is or seemeth to be of greater use than any one single souldier because what they do hath an influence upon the whole company or regiment putting heart and spirit into every man even so may it fall out in building and every other undertaking of great consequence viz. that Gods Prophets or Ministers though it be not proper for them to be mechannically imployed therein yet may each of them more advance and promote the business than any ten men that are so imployed They if I may so allude are the greatest builders of all who as is said of God do build without hands Tongues may either help or hinder more than hands help if united and ingaged for the work but hinder if divided as in the case of Babel There was a prophet Jeremy who lived a great while since Haggaies time and much nearer to ours whose influence upon the people was so great for the exceeding veneration they had both for his life and doctrine that I verily think that the interest of ten such prophets as he were enough to build such a City as London if all England could but afford men and monies wherewithall to do it Doubtless Haggai and Zechariah were men of eminent holiness and that brought them into so much esteem with the people It was not meerely as they were prophets nor yet as men of good abilities that they were so much had in honour Hophni and Phineas were priests and able men it is like being the sons of Eli but yet the people had no respects for them yea for the greatness of their sin men abherred the offering of the Lord 1 Sam. 2.17 Sanctity is so essential to a prophet to a minister that where it is not in truth or in appearance at leastwise where at leastwise it is not thought to be it is as it were natural to men to withold from such persons that veneration and esteem which as prophets is fit for them both to deserve and have not men of the greatest parts and abilities but men of the greatest zeal and holiness or reputed for such are generally they who carry the greatest stroke with the people as if they thought that such Elijah's could take up others to Heaven in the same chariot with themselves or that the Ship in which those Pauls do sail must needs come safe to land at leastwise all the passengers be spared and therefore would chuse to imbarque with them The very semblance of sanctimony where it may be it hath not been in truth hath made a greater interest for some men and made them greater leaders of the people than the substance and manifest reality of parts and gifts could ever make others But then suppose a Minister to have the true Thummim the truth of grace and holiness I mean which one would think should be more universally owned than the meer shew or shadow thereof and besides that to have the Urim also I mean a fair proportion of parts and gifts as for his work a man so qualified would compel a very Herod to pay him reverence and to be much perswaded by him as he was by John the Baptist for the very reason Mark 6.20 For Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and a holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly We read that John was a shining light as well as a burning light John 5.35 but it was for his burning and not so much for his shining light that Herod did reverence him and do many things by his direction Herod was no less than a Prince John but a mean man to see too The same John had his raiment of Camels haire and a leathern girdle about his loins Mat. 3.4 Yet for that he was a just and a holy man Herod feared him who doubtless would not have feared a loose unholy prophet one that he had known to be such no not in all his pontificalibus if for the gravity majesty and glory of his habit he had outvied the most reverend Pope A holy prophet commands more respect in a hairy garment and a leathern girdle and his word shall go farther than shall the word and authority of an unholy one were his habit as rich as a very Prince and his titles of honour more than are the grand Seigniors I see then if a Zerubbabel would have his word to prosper he must have holy prophets about him as was Haggai and Zechariah or those that are generally esteemed and reputed such For otherwise it is little service that can be done for Princes by those that serve them in the capacity of Ministers or Prophets unless those prophets of theirs are generally in request as good and holy men whose lips the people are willing should preserve knowledg for them and to receive the law from their mouths Now every such prophet as Haggai and Zechariah was is able to do a Prince more than knight service whether he have a City to build or any other great design to carry on The hands of Moses had flagged and so Amaleck prevailed if Aaron Exod. 17.12 had not held them up and what is Aaron called but the Saint of the Lord. They must be Aarons or such as he in point of repute viz. Saints who shall be found able to bear up the hand of Moses whilst he is conflicting with Amaleck I mean with any great opposition or difficulty nor can our Aaron be well spared whilst Amaieck is yet unabdued No persons more able to make the people for any good purpose than those prophets for whom they have great respects which can be only such as are generally owned and accounted of as good and holy men Therefore they that are such ought in Point of prudence as well as upon other considerations to be obliged and incouraged when any great work is in hand that by their means and by virtue of their interest others may be brought in even the