without money in the case as is generally too evident how should houses Haud facile emergunt quarum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domus is as true as if it had been domi that is it holds as certain in houses as in men It is mony must raise them But what shall they do that have it not nor can by any means procure it I know no way but one viz. they must fell their ground but there is the misery who will give them to the worth of it They that know they must or are forced to sell think to buy it as they list or at some such rates as too many have bought Debenters it may be at a Noble for the worth and value of each pound Thus poor men are bought and sold as the Prophet expresseth it for a pair of shoes Amos 2.6 A rich commodity in a poor mans hand is nothing worth so barbarously are men upon the catch taking their utmost advantages one against another which is to make a vice instead of a vertue of necessity I mean a vice to themselves out of the necessity of others For doubtless he that buyeth out poor men so cheaply selleth himself to work wickedness Well what said Ahab to Naboth 1 Kin. 21.2 Give me thy Vineyard and I will give thee for it a better Vineyard than that or if it seem good to thee I will give thee the worth of it in money He offered a valuable consideration for Naboths ground will you be worse than that Ahab If your Brethren be hungry will you take occasion thereby to purchase their Birth-right for a mess of pottage as Jacob did who was many wayes crossed afterwards in one kind and in another What blessing can be expected or rather what curse may not be lookt for upon those houses the foundations of which are laid in oppression and grinding the faces of the poor who in order to bread are forced to suffer their own faces to be ground Are no merciful men to be found who in consideration of the necessity of poor men will give them for their ground rather more than it is worth at leastwise full as much yea why should not every man be so far forth merciful sith the latter of the two is but to be just Art thou in a purchasing case buy poor mens ground at a full rate build upon it and when that is done if they be able to pay a moderate Rent and it may be a courtesie to them become their Landlord He may prove a sufficient Tenant who is not able to build his own house and his Landlord may have a blessing for his sake for blessed is he that considereth the poor Psa 40.1 Be not you discouraged if you cannot build your selves another mans house may be as commodious for you as one of your own erecting and if there happen to be inconveniencies in it they will not so much upbraid and vex you as if they had been contracted by your own misbuilding as they might have been Nam quae non fecimus ipsi haud ea nostra voco you are not chargeable with the faults of those houses which you did not make or build your selves I have one thing more to say to such as must sell their ground and are dejected at the thoughts of so doing Were you not so far undone that you could not attempt to build who knows whither you as many others have been and it is supposed will be might not be undone by building DISCOURSE XI That a strict observation of the Lords day might greatly promote the rebuilding of the City THe Lords Day is not that Sabbath which was first so called for that was the last day of the week whereas it is the first yet a Sabbath it is and doubtless injoyned in and by the same Commandment that the Jewish Sabbath was viz. the fourth for whosoever doth not acknowledge it so to be must either say that there is no Sabbath at all or day of holy rest to be kept under the New Testament and consequently that there are now but nine Commandments in the Moral Law the fourth being abrogated and expired whereas Christ hath told us That till heaven and earth pass one jot shall in no wise pass from that Law Mat. 5.18 or else they must say that the last day of the week is that which ought alwayes to be observed by Christians as it is by Jews for the only Sabbath and weekly holy day that is for ever to be celebrated in obedience to that Command Most Christians are averse from Judaizing in taking Saturday for their Sabbath chusing rather to imitate the practise of the Apostles whose manner it was to observe not the last but first day of the week which we conclude they would not have done but by Warrantie and Commission from Christ who alone was Lord of the Sabbath so to do Yet some few Christians there are who symbolize with the Jews in their Saturday-Sabbath and keep the same day as holy as they can And verily if in this case I may speak my mind freely they are much less too blame who keep a Saturday Sabbath than they who keep none at all who understand that Commandment as the Jews do than they who make as if it were abrogated and disannulled But he that shall fall into neither of the extremes aforesaid but shall confess that the first day of the week is that which was instituted for Christians by the fourth Commandment must needs own it to be a Sabbath because instituted and appointed by and under that name Exod. 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and v. 11. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it That it was necessary I should prove there is a Sabbath yet in being and that the day which men ought weekly to observe as holy to the Lord thoroughout all Ages is called the Sabbath to the end I might shew that the Promises made and incouragements given to such as have kept or shall keep holy the Sabbath day are not insignificant and out of date as to us who live under the New Testament Having done that it will be easie to prove what I have affirmed in the Title of this Chapter viz. that a strict observation of the Sabbath for so is the Lords day to Christians would greatly promote the building of the City witness that pregnant promise which of its self were a sufficient testimony Isa 58.12 13. And they that shall be of thee shall build the wast places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and restorer of paths to dwell in If thou turn away thy foot from my Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own wayes nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words v. 14. I will cause thee to ride
be to sweet but if a little tartness or sharpness be found in them they please us better why then would we have the writings of men to be luscious why should a little sharpness in a book blunt our appetite thereunto instead of whetting it If thou hast no faults he wrongs thee that reproves thee but if thou sayest thou hast none thy so saying or thinking is a fault for he that saith he hath no sin is a lyar and if thou hast faults he that tels thee of them in an humble modest way doth thee a kindness and if a man do thee a kindness why shouldst thou be angry with him for it Books should be read as well to inform us in what we are wrong as to confirm us in what we are right not so much to be our interpreters to speak out that which we thought before and had a mind to have said rather by others than by our selves but to instruct us what we ought to think to rectifie our judgments and practises wherein soever they are amiss If men give us our due commendation I mean why would we have more it being a fault we mislike in watermen and coachmen when they will not be content with their full fare unless you give them something over and above Now he that treates thee as if thou hadst no faults gâ—ves thee more than thy due for all have some He that would profit by this book must resolve before hand to eat his hony comb with his hony Cant. 5.1 to pare his apple and pull out the core if there seem to be any and feed upon the rest he must know how to make a good meal at a table where are many dishes though every dish or part of a dish do not please his palate If I read a book in which are several passages that I can make good use of though in it there be divers other things that do not suit my Genius I ought not to censure the authour or to repent of my reading it Possibly those passages may be of most use to others which were of none to me and those expressions may give others greatest content which gave me least I am beholden to him from whom I receive any good though not all the good I could have wished to receive Set but candor and charity at work and thou mayest find an excuse for all such passages in this book as may not so well sâ—it thee If some expressions to thy thinking do savour of two much melancholy say it may be the Authour hath had a great many things to expose him thereunto and thou sayest right If thou fancy the colour of other passages as much to light and pleasant as the former were too sad bethink thy self that melancholy persons are apt to be in extreams and yet mean no hurt and no wonder neither sith all the mirth of melancholy persons is triumph and that triumph because they have obtained victory over that black enemy melancholy I mean out of whose Clutches they are newly escaped for a time What an uncharitable man would call youthful and aery be thou pleased to call the hypocondriaeal wind and if it seem to lighten in thy face now and then call those flashes the eruptions of a melancholy cloud torn in sunder and rather than be too angry think the Authour to be scarse himself the reputation of being mad is an apron of fig-leaves that will cover any nakedness One thing more I must advertize thee of viz. that if thou deal fairly with the Authour of this poor treatise thou must make him a fourfold allowance one as a man for that all men have their weaknesses another as a man weaker every way than many other men a third as a man weaker at this time than himself having had many troubles and discouragements to make him so and lastly as a man that meaneth well and had an honest design in what he hath written as the serious perusal of the book may assure thee I might have told thee that in many passages of this book I seem to my self to have followed the motion of the primum mobile or movens of the first mover as the spheares do who hath openly proclaimed his desire of uniting c. Nay I deceive my self if I have not in this book answered one of the most difficult and insuperable questions or which hath gone for such that is put at this day upon the answer whereof very much depends and that is what will give men content or what is the likeliest way to satisfie all men or the major part I am hugely mistaken if I have not shewed how that may be done without rasing any one foundation or fundamental law and without laying an axe to the root of any tree that is appointed to rule over the other trees in the Forest alluding to Judg. 9. I say I have indeavoured to build up a structure of peace love and unity upon the foundations that are already laid without presuming to lay any new ones or to do any thing more than humbly propose and modestly offer at some few preterfundamental condescensions If this be as truly performed as it was intended the book cannot be useless though it did signifie nothing else It was a happy cruse full of Salt wherewith Elisha healed the naughty waters casting it into the spring 2 Kings 20. if any thing in this book may prove like that Salt to heal the waters of Marah that is of bitterness which do even overflow us and to sweeten the spirits of men one towards another as hath been indeavoured I shall much rejoyce in the success Fain would I contribute towards raising up the Tabernacle of love and good will that is fallen and unto closing up the breaches thereof alluding to Amos 9.11 If I fall short of what I aimed at I have that old and good excuse to plead viz. magnis tamen excidit ausis that is that I have fallen from great and good designs that I shot at an excellent mark though it was my unhappiness to miss it Here thou wilt find several sins reproved and cautioned against namely Pride Penuriousness Censoriousness Unmercifulness Undutifulness towards superiors Sinister ends seeking other things before and above the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof c. Thou wilt also find in this Treatise several graces commended as namely Humility Charity Heavenly mindedness Publickness of spirit Thankfulness c. also several duties exhorted to viz. Sanctifying of the Sabbath humbling our selves under the mighty hand of God in burning the City reforming what is manifestly amiss seeking unto God by prayer and fasting c. Besides the theological discourses I have mentioned there are several others that are purely moral for so the nature of the subject did require now though in those discourses which are but moral as in Chap. 46. and others I have given scope to my phantasy to be a little youthful or for diversion sake it hath taken leave
and trembling least it should miscarry in the exposition of so mysterious Articles They that differ from the known sense of the Church as to such Articles when ever they treat thereof let them keep entirely to the letter of the Scripture as to their Trench and Fort and not come over the Brook Kidron as I may call it alluding to Shimei and so long they will be safe and the Church of God will be quiet There are things enough of greater concernment to practice upon which no doubt or controversie doth depend expatiate upon them and spare not If the Church be apt to take offence that private persons should diffent from her publick sense as to matter of opinion or practice though modestly delivered by her but as probably true or good shall I make so bold in that case as to offer for peace sake that the Church would not be too inquisitive into such matters but leave it to God to be as by prerogative he is the only searcher of hearts that is let the Church not labour to scrue mens judgements out of them who desire to keep their judgements to themselves and mean time do live honestly and peaceably For by so increasing knowledge and setting it self as it were to shrive and confesse men she will but increase sorrow as Solomon advertiseth Eaves-droppers Eccles 7.21 Take no heed to all words that are spoken least thou hear thy Servant curse thee Listen not too much wink at small faults pry not into the hearts of men which are the Ark of God Some have said that Spain hath dispeopled and undone it self by its Inquisition What needed the Papists in Queen Maries daies to have put that insnaring question to peaceable Protestants viz. what understand you by Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body was it not to seek an occasion against them that they might burn them they that shall first examine and then punish the secrets of mens hearts will but make work for themselves and put the Church into a flame They that peaceably follow a Religion that we our selves do think may and will bring them to Heaven at the last ought not frivolously or easily to be disturbed by us sith the end of Religion is to save the souls of men and that which will do so should be incouraged and not infested Another rule laid down by the Apostle for the peace of the Church and of the estate of Religion is that in Rom. 15.1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves They that know the things which are indifferent and lawful to be done or let alone to be so indeed can dispense with them in themselves and others without sin but they that think them to be really unlawful and they are the weak men in the sense of this Text as the former are the strong cannot do them without sin Let then our Christian charity take the chair and let it own them for weak Brethren who to its self shall appear to be such and when that is done you that are strong consider though it might best please your selves to make weak ones stoop to your burthens it will be only pleasing to God that you stoop to their infirmities and bear them viz. by forbearing those that cannot help them What of this chapter is yet behind will prove if I mistake not like the Galaxia or milkie way in the Heavens which is a circle made up of many stars but very small ones or rather like the sparks that fall from a steel or flint struck together which are very little things and soon over though there be many of them To save the pains of numbering particulars make account that every distinct paragraph is a distinct head and it is sufficient I had almost called the following paragraphs by the name of Via lactea ad pacem Ecclesiae Regni but that to baptize or name a child before it be born is not so usual Contend not for those things that are not worth contending for and of that kind are all they our contending for which would prevent a greater good There are certain truths of smaller concernment which though evident enough are yet less valuable than peace not that we may deny or renounce any known truth though the least of all to accommodate the peace of Church or state for that were to lye which is in no case allowable but we may forbear to urge and insist upon them It was as really true as any thing else can be that no sort of meat was common or unclean in it self Rom. 14.14 and that circumcision was not necessary nor yet the observation of such daies as under Moses his Law were appointed but yet the Apostle would not break the peace of the Church about such small matters but suffer every man to abound in his own fense and bids them follow after the things which make for peace and wherewith one may edifie another Rom. 14.19 Offend not the consciences of other men but when if you did it not you must offend your own Paul even before his conversion did not persecute men for their consciences but out of zeal concerning zeal saith he persecuting the Churches and in Acts 26.9 he saith I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth nay in saying that he obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbeliefe he intimateth that if he had not done it out of a misguided conscience he had sinned unpardonably Wo be to them if there be any such that burthen their own consciences that they may burthen other mens whereas no man ought to burthen the conscience of another man but when thereby he may lighten his own viz. By doing that which he thinks to be his indispensable duty If I baptize my children as being perswaded that God requireth me so to do and those that are against Infant Baptism are offended at it that is scandal taken not given For in matter of conscience charity must begin at home I must take more care to gratifie my own conscience than any other mans But to vex the consciences of other men in such cases as our own do not command us so to do but rather countermand us not command but rather check and controle for so doing is to make a great approach towards that great transgression viz. the sin against the Holy Ghost as some do understand it I foresee the Church will injoy a great deal of rest and peace when no more shall be done to the consciences of men then what shall be imposed upon them that do it not by their lusts and interests but by their very consciences Religion should be made use of for the edification of all for the destruction of none Then is Religion or what is so called made a stalking horse in the worst sense that can be when it is designed as a snare upon mizpeh or
be more commodious for Trade and that with respect both to buyers and sellers Buyers will not have far to go for their commodities and sellers by that means will have the more customers more Chapmen Moreover to joyn the new part of the City to the old at both ends and on both sides of the way would make it more speedily to look like a City even as a quarter of an hours discourse upon new matter joyned to half an hours repetition of that which is good and old passeth for a Sermon whereas a quarter of an hours discourse by it self would puzzle men what to call it and be laught at for a short come off A new City joyned to the old would be the Embleme of a sober comprehension mannaged to the best advantage of Church and State and of all good men whereas the scattering of houses some here some there at some distance one from another and all at a distance from the old building would be more the Embleme of an universal tolleration taking in Papists Quakers and every body else and which is best of the two I leave to other men to judge not to joyn the new and old together were to make as if they were two distinct Cities whereas indeed they are but two distinct parts of one and the same City united under the same Governors and Government and comprized within the same wall Drunken men use to see things double which are but single and it is an ill design to make things seem to be more than they are I love unity and that it should be owned to be where it is though I shall not curse the number two as one of the Ancients did for first wording from it I have given my reasons why what was last in the execution of the fire burning both wayes should be first in the intention and prosecution of the builder I will but moralize this head and dismiss it Sin like the fire hath made the greatest havock in the midst of us I mean upon the middle part of our lives not guarded by a harmless ignorance as was our youth nor yet by a preventing impotency as old age is Now the main work of a Christian should begin at the two ends of his life for so the two extremes may be called and the phrase of our latter end seemeth to imply a former end In matter of examination confession c. a Christian should begin at the beginning or hither end of his life In sin was I born Psa 51. but in point of meditation it is good to begin at the further or latter end of our lives proceeding from thence to serious reflections upon the midst and worst of them as God spake by Moses Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end DISCOURSE XX. That it would much conduce to the rebuilding of London to have a through search made how and by what means it was burnt I Charge no body with the burning of London but him that charged it upon himself that confessed and died for it But let others produce what they have to say if men will confidently affirm that London was destroyed by the treachery and cruelty of more persons than that one forementioned miscreant it is pity but they were punished if they can produce no probable grounds and reasons for what they say But if they have things to alledge in the case which do amount at least to a strong presumption and just ground of great suspicion that so it was it is great pity but that sent should be followed those footsteps traced and the utmost sagacity of wise and impartial men Magistrates and others imployed to fathom and discover what is at the bottom As Samuel said to Saul what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the Oxen which I bear So say I what meaneth that doleful cry which is daily in our ears such and such have burnt our City That is soon said and may be as soon denyed but proof is all in all Some tell us There is a great cry but no wooll a great smoak of accusation but no fire or so much as a spark of guilt Still I say sub judice lis est When the law hath given a perfect lot in the case then and not till then shall we certainly know who is in the right That old dilemma will never be answered if it be enough to accuse who can be innocent if it be sufficient to excuse who will ever seem guilty Therefore there is a third thing that must of necessity be done and that is tryal to be made by sufficient Juries and the worthy Judges what validity there is in all and every the Allegations pro and con given in upon Oath what all the Plaintiffs can say against and all the Defendants can say for themselves do signify and amount to What moment all the circumstances produced and proved have and are of in the ballance of reason When that is done there is reason for every man to be satisfied and I hope it will be so Have our Laws provided that if the despicablest person that can be lye dead in the streets unknown to any body there present how he or she came by their death a jury shall be impanel'd and the Coroner shall sit upon it to give sentence what the cause of his or her death was And did not God himself by his servant Moses will and command the Isralites that if one were found flain in their land and it were not known who had flain him Deut. 21.1 All the elders of that City which was next unto the slain man should wash their hands over a Heifer that was beheaded and say our hands have not shed this bloud neither have our eyes seen it v. 6 7. And the Priests the sons of Levi shall come near and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried v. 5. which last words seem to imply that the persons who came to the place where the dead body lay or the heifer instead of the dead body were not acquitted by thir meer washing their hands in token of innocency as Pilate did nor yet by professing themselves not to have shed that bloud or to have known who did but that the sons of Levi in those daies had a spirit of discerning given them whereby they were able upon seeing and hearing such passages to judge whether the persons who appeared to purge themselves were guilty or not guilty For the text saith By their word shall every stroke be tried Did the Law of God inquire so strictly after the death of every man the time and manner of whose death was unknown and do the laws of our land do the like at this day and is it not highly reasonable that the death and destruction of a famous City the greater part of which lies slain in the streets to this day and buried in its
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
free-will-offering Moreover they are to make such Laws as all or the generality of men may be able to observe Now all men are not in a capacity to fast frequently yea some it may be so much greater is their leasure can better keep one fast every week than others can keep two in a whole year So that though it may be no fault in our Magistrates to injoyn but one fast in a year in order to imploring mercy for the desolate City yet it may be a great fault in the people to whom it is as lawful to fast as it is to pray without special command from their superiors as having a command for him that is supreme to pray always that is at all opportunities and fasting is but a necessary concomitant of prayer as the case may be to observe no more than one day of religious fasting throughout the whole year upon so great an accompt We read that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah four daies in a year Judg 11.40 Now what was the loss of Jephthahs daughter to the loss of such a City as London was though she were made a sacrifice but if that perpetual virginity whereto she was consigned over by her fathers vow as some understand it from v. 39. Who did with her according to his vow and she knew no man were all they went to bewail four daies in a year one would think that the loss of such a City as London might better deserve four weeks or moneths every year to lament it and which is more to implore mercy for it whereas the condition of Jephthahs daughter was irretrievable whether she were put to death or whether it were only that by her fathers vow and her own superadded consent she was obliged to continue single all the daies of her life Now Davids example may tell us that when our fasting and mourning can do good as he thought it might for his child whilst it lived and we believe it may to our desolate City then chiefly if not only ought we to give way to it How often men should fast upon the loss and for the recovery of such a City as London was can be brought within no rule that will take in every man only so often as God shall afford them real opportunities of which some have ten times as many within the compass of one year as some others have But this may incourage us to be as frequent in prayer and fasting as we can namely that no such service rightly performed shall ever be in vain Physicians need not be farther invited to make frequent visits to their patients that need it than by finding they are always welcom come as oft as they will and do never lose their labour This is just the case let us make as frequent applications as we will or can to the throne of grace for our selves or others in such manner as becometh us we shall be always welcom and not lose our labour once For God is nigh to all that call upon him in truth in all things that they call upon him for Deut. 4.7 What better or more sutable examples of praying and fasting and of the good success thereof in such a case as that of our City I say what better examples can we desire than are afforded us in those two famous men viz. Ezra and Nehemiah Ezra 8.21 Then I proclaimed a fast that we might afflict our selves before our God to seek of him a right way for us Namely when he and others were going from Babylon to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of God there v. 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this and he was intreated of us Se also Nehemiah 1.4 And when I heard these words I sat down and mourned certain daies and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven viz. when he heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates thereof burnt with fire v. 3. The thing he prayed for was that he might find favour in the Kings eyes to go up to Jerusalem every way furnished to build that desolate City Now v. 8. it is said And the King granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me Now I wish that upon all that I have said the resolution of men may be to keep that Anniversary fast which the Magistrate hath appointed for the City in the most solemn way that can be and over and above that to keep as many more such dayes in private though in publick they cannot without publick leave as they shall have opportunity to do For as Israel prevailed against Amaleck as much by Moses lifting up his hands viz. in prayer as by the peoples brandishing their swords in war Exod. 17.11 for when he let down his hand Amaleck prevailed so it is a real truth how few soever do believe it that those who are builders in the common acceptation of that word viz. Carpenters Bricklayers and other artificers do not more truly contribute to the building of such a City as London is in which religion as having been long known and professed there doth claim a great interest than they do who with tender regard to its recovery do earnestly apply themselves to prayer and fasting The bridegroom of England as in a civil sense I may call London though in a spiritual sense Christ himself likewise is so called being taken away fasting is now in season for saith Christ to which we only allude when the bridegroom shall be taken from them then shall they fast As the mother of Augustin comforted her self with this concerning him viz. That a son of so many prayers and tears should not miscarry so may we comfort our selves concerning London if it be a City as he was a son of many prayers and tears that it shall not miscarry but go out its full time and be brought to its intended perfection DISCOURSE XXXII On Ezra 6.14 And the elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah INtending to treat of all the helps we can think upon as for the rebuilding of London that of good Prophets who in former ages have been very serviceable even to the purposes of building witness the text above mentioned may at no hand be omitted I have shewed before that good Magistrates may contribute very much to such a work as is in hand viz the restoring of the City and now I shall make it as evident that good Ministers also might much contribute thereunto It is said in express terms that the Jews builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai It is like that Haggai did not lay one stone in the building of the Temple and yet all things considered no man was more instrumental in that work than he for he it was who in the name of God put them upon it and incouraged them in it Haggai 1.4 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai
iniquity are afflicted If we can slight their anger who will be angry for nothing and they know not why themselves to be sure his anger is not to be slighted who is never displeased but there is a just cause and a good reason for it God would that we should be more affected with that wrath of his which is the cause of judgments than with those judgments which are the effects of his wrath As Joab doubtless was not so much troubled for the loss of his corn as for the displeasure of Absalom which was intimated thereby Surely David was grieved at Sauls throwing his javelin at him though it hit him not because it did betoken the displeasure he had against him David doth not deprecate chastisement but anger Ps 6.1 Rebuke me not in thine anger chasten me not in thy hot displeasure and it is said Be ye afraid of the sword for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword Job 19.29 as if the wrath of God were the very edge of the sword but for which we should have no cause to fear it God sendeth judgments on purpose to make his anger known against sin and sinners therefore saith the scrip God is known by the judgments which he executeth Ps 9.16 and Rom. 1. it is said The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness of men Judgments are the revelations of Gods wrath and as such they are most of all to be taken notice of How angry was God think you when he burnt our City It is an expression that importeth much wrath when the anger of God and his jealousy is said but to smoke against a man Deut. 29.20 But in this case it did not only smoke against London but flamed out Now to be sensible of the fury of Gods anger which hath set us on fire round about and to lay it to our hearts more than any thing else like ingenious children who are more troubled at their parents frowns than at the smart of the rod I say thus to do might conduce very much towards the building of our City For saith the scripture Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 DISCOURSE XXXIV That greatly to bewail those sins both of our own and others which helpt to burn the old City would help to build the new one WHat those sins were I have shewed at large in my Treatise concerning the burning of London whereunto for the avoiding of Tautologies I refer thee Some it may be can cry not guilty in their own persons as to several of them saying as he I thank thee O God I am not so nor so viz. no Idolater no Adulterer c. but who can wash his or her hands in innocency as to every of them or throw the first stone at another as being himself without any sin therein mentioned As the Prophet Oded said to the men of Israel who dealt severely with their brethren of Judah whom God for their sins had delivered into their hands 〈◊〉 Chron. 28.10 And now ye purpose to keep under the â—â—â—â—dren of Judah and of Jerusalem for bondmen â—â—d bondwomen to you but are there not with you 〈◊〉 with you sins against the Lord your God so say I 〈◊〉 any that shall think themselves so righteous as â—â—t they need no repentance But are there not â—ith you even with you sins against your God Let us then in the first place bewail our own sins 〈◊〉 David did that man after Gods own heart sayâ—ng as he Ps 38.18 I will declare mine iniquity I â—ill be sorry for my sin and doing as he Ps 6.6 All 〈◊〉 night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with â—â—y tears viz. of repentance for his sins whereby â—e had provoked that anger of God which in the beginning of this Psalm he deprecates Let us in the next place bewail the sins of others â—â—â—ch we were bound to do though we had none of â—ur own much more being as it were brethren 〈◊〉 iniquity with other men having been partakers in the sins of others and made our selves by one means or other accessary thereunto This did not â—ot yet vexed he his righteous Soul from day to day with the filthy conversation of the wicked Sodomites 2 Pet. 2. â— And as for David he tells us that he beheld the transgressâ—rs and was grieved and in Ps 119.136 he saith Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law Thus Ezra mourned for the sin of the people in marrying Cananitish wives Ezra 9.1 though he had done no such thing himself And thus Nehemiah bewailed the sins of all sorts of men Nehemiah 9.33 Thou hast done right but we have done wickedly neither have our Kings our Priests nor our fathers kept thy law c. It is better than nothing to be affected with the judgments of God themselves not to be as if we were seared with a hot Iron or past feeling it is better than that to be affected with the displeasure of God manifested in and by those judgments but it is best of all to be grieved at the causes of that displeasure whether in our selves or others viz. our own and the sins of other men It is some ingenuity in a Child to resent a correction and to be ashamed when his Father hath as it were spit in his face it is more to resent his parents anger and frowns but it is most of all to be troubled for his faults unless it be more than that to be troubled even for the faults of others which shall never be laid to his charge A child may be sorry his father is offended and yet not be sorry for the fault as such whereby he gave him the offence Therefore to lament the causes of Gods anger which I am now exhorting to is more than to lament the effects or the anger it self But the question is how the doing of this would help to build our City Now to that I answer that our City blessed be God is in a fair way to be built if our sins hinder not neither shall they hinder it how great soever our former provocations have been if our hearts do but serve us duly to lament our own abominations and the abominations of one another Ezek. 9.4 And the Lord said unto him viz. unto the man with the inkhorn by his side Go through the midst of the City and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof This mark was for preservation and deliverance whilst others were devoted to ruin and destruction like that bloud which was sprinkled upon the posts of the Israelites that their doors might be passed over and the destroying Angel not come into their houses Exod. 12.23 Lot who vexed his soul with the â—â—thy conversation of the wicked had a Zoar a â—â—â—tle City provided for him and his when
have power in their hands reform but all those things which they think in their consciences ought to be reformed and that no good account can be given thereof to the great God when they shall stand before his Tribunal I say let them reform but so much which is also certainly within the verge of their power though there may be difficulty in it and when they have so done that both London England and all the three Kingdomes will reap the happy fruits of it I make no question And now that I have bespoken a Reformation of what is not disputably but manifestly amiss that God may bless us in our great design of rebuilding London it may be expected I should express whom I would have to be the Reformers If then the question be put concerning the reforming not of a person or family but of a Nation and of such abuses as are National I profess sincerely that I am utterly an enemy to a popular Reformation further than of their own persons and families that is unto the people or body of the people or any party from amongst them rising up and saying This and that is amiss either in Church or State and we will reform it As our Saviour replied Luke 12.14 Who made me a Judge or a divider of you So may I say to the people who made them Judges or who hath authorized them to be Reformers If those waters use to overflow their banks instead of making the Land fruitful as Nilus did Egypt they will drown and swallow up all The Law saith a mischief ought to be endured rather than an inconvenience Now for the common people to have a power of judging and determining what is amiss and altering all things at their pleasure were an inconvenience in the sense of our Law viz. a standing evil and principle of mis-rule whereas to deny them that power is a rule that is generally good and safe though it should admit of some exception now and then and breed what they call a mischief As the Wisdom of God hath thought fit to constitute Husbands to be the Head of their Wives because though here and there a woman one of a thousand may have more wisdom than her Husband and could govern the family better than he and to such it is a mischief though but what they deserve for chusing Husbands that have less wit than themselves yet the generality of women being not so fit for government as men are an inconvenience much worse than that mischief is avoided thereby viz. by placing the headship of the family in the Husband The like may be said of Gods placing the sole power of publick reformation in Magistrates and men in Authority and denying any such power to the common people because though the community of the people might now and then do better things than are done by persons in power yet generally they would do worse and be the Authors not of better order but of more confusion People may humbly represent to those that are in Authority what they take for grievances and implore the redress of them so far as to their wisdom shall seem fit beseeching God to incline their hearts thereunto but that is all they can do This Paragraph I have added as a grain of salt wherewith to season what I have said as touching some things which seem necessary to be reformed the notice whereof taken with this grain of salt can do no body any hurt There is no hurt in seeking a Reformation of what is manifestly evil but only in seeking it from the peoples hands from whom it is not to be sought but only from the Magistrate Could we whisper in the ears of Magistrates which we have not opportunity to do what we suppose doth need their reforming hand by my consent the people should never hear of it their Errata's should be mended if it were possible before the people did ever so much as know of them nor have we presumed to acquaint them with any thing of that Nature but what they knew too well before and do ordinarily complain of though not where they should viz. to them that can afford them relief to whom this Treatise directeth all its complaints if there be any in it as to them by whom it is most fit they should be heard Reformation is needful in two cases First in case there be good Laws but ill observed notoriously broken and violated There are not better Laws in the World than many if not most of ours in England as for the curbing and restraining most kinds of vices drunkenness swearing whoredom c. but yet alas they abound as if the Laws were rather for than against them which shews one Law is too much wanting viz. a Law to put the rest in execution And verily they to whom the execution of Laws doth appertain are the persons upon whom it is incumbent and whose proper work it is to see those miscarriages which are contrary to good Laws regulated and reformed But secondly It is possible that Laws themselves humane Laws I mean may some of them not be good or not so good as they should be and in that case a reformation of the Law it self is as necessary as in the former a reformation by it I am sure that Decree of Darius Dan. 6.17 That whosoever shall ask a Petition of any God or Man for thirty daies save of the King shall be cast into the Den of Lyons was a sinful Law as was also that of Nebuchadnezzar That every man shall fall down and worship the Golden Image Dan. 3.10 Magistrates are not infallible in Cathedra or in the Seat of Judgment as the Pope pretends himself to be in St. Peters Chair nor do Protestant Magistrates pretend that they who sit in Moses his Chair whilst they sit there cannot erre they know themselves to be but fallible men and the Laws of such cannot be infallibly good I confess that private men ought to be very tender of speaking evil of the Law and judging the Law To allude to James 4.11 yet Laws may have their faults as well as men and when they have so there are but two remedies I can think of and the first is that those who are Legislators or Law-makers should either repeal or alter them as Nebuchadnezzar did his Decree Dan. 3.29 and Darius his Dan. 6.26 though the Laws of the Medes and Persians were said to be unalterable or if that be not done that those who have power to suspend the execution of unwholesome Laws though not to repeal them be pleased to suspend their execution I have only shewed how an evil or sinful Law may be reformed and by whom but not presumed to call any Law evil but that of Darius and of Nebuchadnezzar which themselves by recalling did acknowledge as such But for fear of tediousness I would press hard for that kind of Reformation for which we need not be beholden to any man but our selves viz. personal
Scholars path which usually is spread with most snares they must be spoken to in parables that seeing they may not see nor understand least they should be healed if I may so allude smooth Jacob or what is said to be as smooth and plain as he must apply himself to Scholars with having skins about his neck and hands that being taken for rough Esau he may get the blessing from them If the kernel they are to swallow be soft and easy or said so to be yet the shell is made so hard that it shall even break their teeth ere they can come at it Take one instance for all viz. in the forementioned Ingagement we know it was so worded that many good men left their places were they livings or fellowships or headships rather than they would meddle with it and yet whosoever he was that commented upon it represented the sense and meaning thereof as so just and fair and harmless that if it had sounded no worse in the text than it was sensed in the comment and why mens words should not be as plain as their meaning I know not or why things to be subscribed should be so phrased as to need a comment and that comment not to be allowed neither I know not it is like that many more had taken it It is vain for Scholars to be conjurers as they say if they want money â—nd if they have money enough they need be no â—onjurers that is no very good Scholars Simon â—an do without Magus The world is no where more unequally dealt â—â—en amongst Scholars Captains and Colonels â—nd some gown-men almost as illiterate as they â—ave in dayes of yore bin admitted to the highest â—egree that Universities can confer as if learning were no ways essential to those degrees or as if 〈◊〉 were no affront to salute a man Salve Doctor sine â—â—ctrinâ whereas on the other hand the time hath â—in when persons of as great learning parts and pregnancy as any of their standing have stuck in â—â—e birth of their first and meanest degree Those words of Solomon are no where more verified than amongst Scholars Eccles 9.11 The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance hapneth to them all As if the word Clergy did belong to men of that name because of their preferments falling to them as it were by meer lot or chance without perceding election of fit persons amongst whom it should fall and could not fall amiss as in the Apostles case Acts 1.23 Masters of learning often go a foot whilst those that are not worthy to be their servants or to carry their books after them for matter of learning ride on horseback what he said of Heaven I may say of earth Surgunt indocti terram rapiunt dum alii cum doctrinâ in abyssum paupertatis detruduntur Nay more than so learned men under hatches are scarce owned to be learned They censure them at pleasure for poor Scholars who make and keep them poor men Ingenious Wild gives us a second part to the same tune with thy Ah Poor Schollar whither wilt thou go Were Schollars bred up in Universities to learn the illiberal Sciences of Cutting Tobacco selling Tallow Candles Carding and Spinning they and theirs for bread whilst others Card and Dice for their pleasure Are these the Arts in which they have commenced Batchelors and Masters or were they trained up to live by breaking Laws or not to know which way to get food and raiment for them and theirs without doing it for no Pater-noster no Penny is as true a rule as no Penny no Pater-noster In the dayes of his Majesties exile and about twelve years since as near as I can guess it there was a Proclamation set forth by those that were then in power that no Cavalier as they then called them should teach any School c. I confess that Proclamation did vanish like an ignis fatuus and came to little or nothing for Middlesex I am sure was full of such Schools at and after that time but suppose it had bin insisted upon how many Schollars must have bin starved that had no other way to live or must have broke the Law if that could have bin called a Law to have kept themselves and their Families from starving If Laws be stone walls hunger will break through them as our Proverb is Hunger will break through stone walls If those Walls be built as high as the Tower of Babel was intended hunger will scale them as the Poet tells us Graeculus esuriens in coelum si jusseris ibit The hungry Greeks would climb Heaven for bread before they would go without it If those be stolen waters which men come by against Law how often have Schollars bin fain to bear up themselves with those words of Solomon Prov. 6.30 Men do not despise a Thief if he steal to satisfy his Soul when he is bungry There is one shift more that some good Schollars â—ave bin put to and that is to beg their bread not â—ut that they would rather have stolen imployment if that be theft had not the Laws of that time bin â—oo hard for them than have so done but being too strictly observed to get any sufficient employment for the purpose of a livelyhood they have rather â—eg'd than starv'd I my self have bin sought to for some relief in as good Latine as I would wish to â—ear or as any man need to speak and found the party in other discourse Learned and fluent to admiration O tempora O mores Tell it not in Gath. He that can speak Latine but so as not to break Priscians â—ead makes my bowels yearn towards him if he come a begging but if I meet with a Terence or Cicero or Erasmus that is forced to turn Friar Menlicant it almost breaks my heart and the money burns in my purse till I have relieved him I can but think how much it addeth to the misery of Schollars brought to want to see how some rich â—â—rmugians who are as defective in wit and ingeâ—uity as Schollars can be in money do seem to â—irn at them and to laugh in their sleeves and to â—less themselves as if they had all the wit because they have all the mony or if they are sensible of their weakness how it pleaseth them to think that they have the staff in their hands and will make Schollars smart under the want of money as much â—s themselves have done under the want of wit and Learning Nil habet in sese paupertas durius istis quam quod ridiculos homines facit Methinks it is a sore disease that I have seen under the Sun for Schollars to be made as it were the oft-scouring of all things and some of them such too â—s they of whom the Apostle saith the World was not worthy
own ruines and ashes I say that the means and causes thereof should be inquired into Nay how great a care did the Law of God take to satisfie those husbands one way or other upon whom the spirit of jealousie came though there were no witness to prove that against their wives which they were jealous of Yea if the husband were jealous of his wife and she were not defiled Numb 5.13 14. Though the thing he was jealous of could not be proved yea though the woman was not guilty nevertheless she was to offer the jealousy offering v. 18. to purg her self by an Oath v. 19. and to drink of the bitter water v. 18. and all this was no prejudice to the wife in case she were innocent nay it was an advantage to her for v. 28. it is said If the woman be not defiled but be clean then she shall be free viz. First from the curse or mischief which the bitter water would otherwise have brought upon her v. 19. If thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness be thou free from this bitter water which causeth the curse v. 19 Secondly from the jealousy and suspicion of her husband which would not otherwise have been taken off And one benefit more she was to have by it expressed v. 28. And shall conceive seed that is if she were barren before she should after that have a Child and if she had any formerly she should have more If so much were done to satisfie the jealousy of one private man may nothing reasonably be expected to satisfie and take off the jealousies of thousands if not millions of men and women in City and country in a matter of higher consequence than is that injury which a husband receiveth by the unchastness of his wife though that injury be very great yet this I say was greater For this was a fault not to be pardoned if proved whereas Joseph though a just man when he suspected his espous'd wife to have been unlawfully with Child thought to have past it by and not to have made her an example Mat. 1. How desirous were the Philistines that were smote with Emrods to know whither God had done them that great evil or whether it were not some chance that had hapned to them 1 Sam. 6.9 Was their Plague of Emrods greater than our plague of Fire If not why should we less inqure after this how it came than they after that To inform our selves how the Fire came to pass is not a point of curiosity but of great use For could it be made out at leastwise with great probability that it was the immediate hand of God and as it were Fire from Heaven that did consume our City that circumstance would so much promote our humiliation to think that rather than suffer us to go unpunished God should work a miracle to destroy us And then again upon other accounts it might make much for our comfort to know that men had no hand in the doing of it For if God himself did do it immediately we may hope the like will not be done again in many ages to come For as God after he had once drowned the world did presently promise he would do so no more so it is scarcely to be paraleld amongst the providences of God that he should burn the same City twice in a short time He useth to pause and as it were to deliberate long upon such strange acts of Judgment as those are expostulating with himself and with them as of old How shall I give thee up O Ephraim how shall I make thee like Admah and like Zeboim my bowels are turned within me c. But they that suspect it was burnt by men till that jealousie be removed will always be in fear that they whom they mistrust to have destroyed it once if undiscovered will attempt to destroy it again as soon and as often as they can Now in case the bitter water of a through examination shall confirm the thing they were jealous of viz. that London was fired by Instruments and it shall come to light who those Instruments were it is all the reason in the world they should be made examples that others may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly I reckon the danger would be over for one Age at least as to that sort of men that should once be proved and owned to have burnt the City so firmly as they would be bound to their good behaviour and so watchful an eye as would be held over them from that time forward All opposition made to the sifting out that business doth vehemently encrease the jealousies of men for he that doth well cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest but they that have done evil hate the light lest their deeds of darkness should be reproved One would think that whotsoever is suspected being indeed innocent should be more earnest than any other persons to come to a strict scrutiny that themselves might be vindicated Methinks the chast Wife that had a jealous Husband should and could not but long for the bitter water as knowing it would be so far from causing her belly to swell and her thigh to rot that it would keep her name from rotting and make her of a sorrowful suspected Wife to become a joyful Mother If all men can wash their hands in innocency as from the burning of London I heartily wish that God would bring forth their righteousness as the light and their judgement as the noon day It is pity they should suffer so much as in their names who had no hand in it and if any had besides that poor Hubart who was executed upon that accompt the strangest instance that ever was if he burnt such a City alone to suffer in their names only is not sufficient But now I think of it there lately came down a Command or Commission to the City to take examinations upon oath of all matters relating to the fire which was done accordingly and the injunction to do it was I know accepted with all humble thankfulness and as well resented by many as ever any thing was That considered I must excuse what I have said with that of the Poet He that recommends what is done already thereby commends him that did it Qui monet facias quod jam facis ille monendo laudat What Solomon saith in another case I shall allude to in this After so much enquiry as hath been made already upon the oaths of sufficient persons many of whose depositions are now extant and after all that are like to be hereafter made by vertue of the Authority then granted if there be any guilt at the bottom Whosoever hideth it hideth the wind and the oyntment of his right hand which bewrayeth it self Prov. 27.16 DISCOURSE XXI That the countenance of Rulers expressing much zeal and earnestness to have the City up again and a sad sense of its present ruines would put much life