thou hast considered this no more Much less know I what to think of those that have not considered it so much as seeming to think of nothing else but how they may make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof How many thought they could have said when time was If I forget thee O London let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth which yet have almost forgotten poor London and now God hath burned it round about scarce lay it to their hearts Methinks we are in an age in which are more Pharaohs than of any other sort of men infinite wisdome can scarce invent judgments that will awaken and make us look about us and consider The Iron age is a name too good for us Fire with the addition of some small matter besides as vinegar c. will melt Iron but will not melt us it will make that capable of any impression or to be cast into any mould but it will not do so by us Lord I see the heart of man will yield to nothing but thy self It can play with judgments and plagues though they were greater than those which came upon Pharaoh and so far forth contemn them as scarce seriously to consider of them at leastwise when past and gone Nor yet whilst present and incumbent as they ought to do Thou who hast created a day of great adversity such as we never lookt for create I beseech thee in me and in others a heart duly to consider it and together with it the things that do belong both to our present and future to our temporal and eternal peace DISCOURSE II. Of God's being a consuming Fire THree several times do I call to mind the holy Scripture saying expresly besides what it mentioneth elsewhere to the same effect that our God is a consuming Fire twice in the old Testament and once in the new First by way of caution Deut. 4.23 24. Take heed to your selves least you forget the Covenant of the Lord your God which he hath made with you and make you a graven Image or the likeness of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee For the Lord thy God is a consuming Fire even a jealous God Secondly by way of comfort Deut. 9.3 The Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a consuming Fire meaning to their enemies as the next words do show he shall destroy them viz. those children of Anak of whom they had learn'd to say who can stand before them vers 2. them and their Cities great and fenced up to Heaven as they are called vers 1. Thirdly by way of counsel or positive exhortation unto serving God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 For saith the text vers 29. Our God is a consuming Fire And well may God be so stiled not only effectivé as he is the first cause and authour of all those fires that consume houses Towns and Cities as God is pleased to own Isa 42.25 That he had set Jacob and Israel on fire round about nor careth the great God who knowes yea he would have all the World to know that all evil of punishment as such and so far forth as it is only such is from himself Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it But not only in that sense may God be called a consuming Fire for that he is so essicienter as Christ upon such an accompt is called the resurrection and the life but also and chiefly because the fire of all Elements yea of all inanimate creatures seemes to bear the greatest resemblance of God in respect of more than one of his glorious attributes as namely of his irresistible power his awfull presence and affrighting Majesty his impartial and devouring severity his consuming anger c. Of the strength and power of Fire What creature here below so powerfull as fire who or what can stand before it how applicable unto fire are many of those expressions whereby God in his answer to Job sets forth some of the most untameable creatures as that which is spoken of the wilde Ass Job 39.7 He scorneth the multitude of the City Did not the fire do so and that of God concerning Behemoth Job 41.4 Will he make a Covenant with thee wilt thou take him for a servant for ever Who can master fire though it be never good but when it is as a servant also in some sense those words in the 27. vers may be applied to this powerful Element It esteemeth Iron as straw and Brass as rotten wood also those words in the last verse He beholdeth all high things He is a King over all the children of pride Methinks some lofty expressions which are used concerning God himself are more applicable to fire than to any other creature It is said of God Isa 40.15 That he taketh up the Islands as a very little thing So doth fire though not whole Islands yet things of great bulk as houses Churches and such like which are easily blown up by it as it were at one breath or puff It darts them up into the aire in an instant like a fleete arrow shot from a strong bow Cranes though made on purpose to mount heavy things yet are long in doing it yea seem to squeek and groan in raising one great beam at a time as if the burthen were more than they could well bear whereas this Giant Fire if I may so call it makes nothing of it to take whole houses upon its back with all their weighty beames massy stones leaden roofes lumbering goods and mount them into the aire presently Moreover it is said of God vers 16. That Lebanon is not sufficient for him to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering Surely London was far before Lebanon and yet when the most of it was burnt up did the fire say it was enough Could not that ravenous Lion have devoured the Suburbs presently with as great an appetite as it had done the City if the great God had not stopt its mouth or pluckt away its prey Doth not Solomon rank fire amongst the Cormorants that are never satisfied Prov. 30.16 Who can write or almost think what Fire can do what building so high be it beacon or steeple that fire cannot presently climbe to the top of it What mettle so hard that fire cannot melt it such as the fire may be It was only for hast that it left the out-sides of Churches standing pickt out the meat as it were and left the bones untouched In length of time it could have so calcined those bricks and stones as to have made them good for nothing but ready like the Apples of Sodom presently to crumble to dust But should I think of all that fire can do I must think of nothing else I less wonder at those Heathens that did worship fire than at those who worshiped any other creature sith no visible creature is
lay submissively at the feet of London like an humble valley at the foot of a high mountain What multitudes of Citizens have flockt to it as glad to be free amongst those that were not free themselves the fire having as it were broken down the partition-wall betwixt those that were Free-men of London and those that were not If the Suburbs had been burnt VVhither would the Inhabitants have sled Trade within the VValls they might not as Citizens may without which liberty they having now taken as it is their due What are the Suburbs now beconâ— but as it were the in-side of the late-Famous City carried and placed without the Walls London its self by a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul of the City being now translated into the Body of the Suburbs So that he who would now look for London must look for most of it not within but without the Walls How easie is it with God to pull down one and set up another To pluck the mighty from their seat and to exalt the poor and needy VVe read though in another sense that every Valley shall be exalted and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low VVho can but think of â—â—annâ—h's words shewing how God turns the VVorld up-side-down like a VVheel the uppermost Spoke whereof is quickly down and the lowest at the top 1 Sam. 2.5 They that were full have hired out themseives for bread and they that were hungry have ceased So that the barren have â—orn seven and she that hath many children is waxen feâ—ble And Vers 7. The 〈◊〉 makes pâ—or and maketh rich he bringeth low and listeth up It is good counsel that an excellent man gives viz. That we should despise no mans present condition seeing we do not know his Destiny It should seem the poor despised Suburbs were destin'd to hold up their heads more than ever when the noble City should lie in dust and ashes as now it doth Let Lâ—ndoners not think much of it that the providence of God hath cast them without the Gates and VValls of London but rather consider of such expressions as those Heb. 13.12 13 14. How that Christ suffered without the Gate Let us go therefore to him without the Camp bearing his reproach For here we have no continuing City I say Let them think of those words and prepare for another-guise suffering without the Gate than as now they do and bearing another-guise reproach than now they bear for this is next to none it being more proper to say and think That they have made the Suburbs honourable than That the Suburbs have made them despicable MEDITATION XXXVII Upon the Tongue being a Fire c. James 3.6 VVHen the Scripture would express how mischievous a Member an evil Tongue is it saith It is a Fire Fire hath done a world of mischief one time or other and so have evil Tongues whereupon it is added That the Tongue is a world of iniquity There is a fire that is called Ignis fatuus quod efficit tales because it makes fools of men leading them out of their way So Solomon speaking concerning a young man seduced by a Harlot saith With her much fair speech she caused him to yield Prov. 7.21 Fire from small beglnnings spreads it self very far so do the evils of mens Tongues So Solomon speaking of a Fool faith The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness and the end of his talk is mischievous madness Eccles 10.13 They are high expressions which St. James useth concerning the Tongue telling us that it desileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of Hell By setting on fire the course of nature we may understand those great Combustions which the tongues of men have made in the VVorld of which there are three famous Instances that come to mind sufficient to demonstrate that so as men may use and imploy their Tongues by means thereof the whole VVorld may be put into a flame How did the Princes of Succoth fire Gideon by that upbraiding Question mentioned Judg. 8.5 Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunnah now in thy hands that we should give bread unto thine Army To which he replyed VVhen the Lord shall give Zeba and Zalmunnah into mine hands then will I teâ—r your flesh with the briars of the wilderness and with thorns And we know he was as good as his word Did not Nabals churlish Tongue kindle such a fire in Davids breast as might have consumed all his family if the greater prudence of Abigail his wife had not seasonably extinguisht it 1 Sam. 25.10 It was gone so far that David had sworn He would not leave of them that did pertain to Nabal by the morning-light any that pissed against a wall Vers 22. And all this because of a provoking Answer he sent him saying VVho is David Many servants nowadayes break away from their Masters c. Yea the Tongue of David himself at what time he came with a lie in his mouth to Abimelech proved no otherwise than a fire which did consume at once four-score and five of the Lords Priests 1 Sam. 22.19 By the same reason that so great Combustions were raised by a few sparks falling from the Tongues of particular men may the whole VVorld be destroyed by the fire of mens Tongues such and so great as it may be which may give us an accompt of what the Text saith concerning the Tongue its setting on fire the whole course of nature Now whereas he adds that he Tongue it's self is set on fire of hell me-thinks he speaks of a wicked Tongue as if it were a sacrifice a Holocaust to the Devil as the Apostle saith in another case The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sâ—crifice to Devils and not to God 1 Cor. 10.20 For whereas the sacrifices which God did accept were kindled by sire from heaven a depraved Tongue is said to be kindled by a fire worse then that which is common viz. by fire from hell as if it were in token of the Devils preparing and challenging of it for himself Yet as ill a construction as calling the tongue a fire may bear in one sense yet in another acceptation of that Metaphor the Tongue ought to be a Fire and it is its excellency so to be The holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles in the form of fiery clâ—ven tongues Act. 2.3 God did touch the mouth of his prophet with a coal from his altar in token that his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged Isa 6.7 There are words that may be used to enemies which would be like heaping coals of fire upon their heads in that good sense that Sâ—lâ—mon wisheth us so to do May my tongue be such a sire as one of these may it be a flame breaking forth to vent and express a fire of God that burns within may it be a fire consuming the vices of others by faithful
the thoughts of any such thing Let my only care be to live in my Fathers house and to carry my self alwayes as in his sight and I shall never want a belliful of huskes nor yet have meer husks for thou feedest not thy children like swine wherewith to fill my belly Every thing that is good is not good for me neither is the best of earthly things alwayes best for me no more than the best liquors are for him that is in a feaver Give me to walk in integrity before thee and then I know thou wilt give me every thing that is good for me for thy promise is to give grace and glory and that no good thing wilt thou with-hold from them that walk uprightly Can I expect to eat bread in the Kingdome of God as the phrase is Luke 14.15 and think that God will not give me bread to eat in this World can I believe I shall be one day cloathed upon with an house which it from heaven as it is called 2 Cor. 5.2 and yet think that God will deny me such cloathing as my body stands in need of he hath given life it not that more than meat a body is not that more than raiment Mat. 6.25 he that hath given the greater will he not give that which is less Our Heavenly Father knows we have need of food and raiment whilst we are in this World and cannot live without it vers 32. Lord give me but to trust in thee and to do good and as thou hast said so I believe verily I shall be fed DISCOURSE VI. Of a good conscience being a continual feast HOwever it comes to pass the vulgar and seemingly mistaken quotation of the close of that verse Prov. 15.15 viz. in these words A good conscience is a continual feast sounds much more spiritually and like a saying of the Holy Ghost than doth that translation which is usually given us viz. in these expressions He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast which they that know no mirth but that which Salomon calls madness will be apt to wrest to a very bad sense The word translated merry is in the Hebrew Tob which signifieth good which is a better word in common acceptation than is the word merry for that is but too liable to an ill construction may I take liberty to alter but that one word and render the Hebrew Text verbatim word for word A good heart a continual feast when we have compared it with the context it wil easily enough appear that the true sense and meaning is that which is generally understood by such a saying as this in that a good conscience is a continual feast For if I mistake not that Proverb is seldom used but by a good conscience is intended a conscience not accusing but excusing not testifying against us but with us and for us a conscience speaking peace and such as is a comfort and a rejoycing to us That Salomon by a good heart doth intend such a conscience as that the opposition in the foregoing words seemeth to imply All the daies of the afflicted are evil but a good heart c. intimating thereby as if good were here opposed to grieved wounded afflicted which interpretation is also countenanced by what followeth ver 16. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith probably meaning trouble of mind and conscience for the ill geting of it for other kind of trouble there may be where there is but a little and that both gotten and enjoyed in the fear of God And now we know what it is that Solomon here stileth a continual feast we may be able to speak to those who having with Dives fared deliciously every day which now they are not able to do as formerly think it cold comfort to be told of meer food and raiment and would be fain feasting again if they had wherewithall Feast we may and that not only now and then but every day in the year and every hour of the day and upon greater delicacies than any feast commonly so called consists of if we can but get that good conscience Solomon speaks of to feast withall Indeed there is no contentment but a good conscience our bodies admit not of a continual feast but our souls do A full stomack loathes the honey comb But there is no satiety in those dainties which conscience feeds upon much lesse can we surfeit with them As those that have but almost dined feel no troublesome sense of hunger and yet could eat more so a good conscience though it have that already which may suffice yet is alwaies left with a wholsome appetite What can be desired or what is ever enjoyed in a feast but good chear good company good discourse mirth musick now and then as an help to mirth and above all hearty welcome I am deceived if a good conscience do not afford all and every of these Good meats and good drinks are that we count good chear and if our meats and drinks be both for health and delight then do we account them good A good conscience affords both meats and drinks as they may properly enough be called as wholesome and as delightfull as can be wished Meats and drinks such as our bodies feed upon there are none in Heaven Yet something so called there is else why is there mention of eating bread in the kingdome of God Luke 14.15 or why doth Christ speak of drinking of the fruit of the Vine new in the kingdome of his father Mat. 26.29 The bread of comfort the Wine of joy is that which Saints and Angels feast upon in Heaven and the same for kind though not for degree is that of a good conscience It spreads a Table with first second and third course It s presenting us with a well-grounded perswasion of our being delivered from the wrath to come as the Apostle saith we are not appointed to wrath that is as it were the first course it 's witnessing that we are not only not children of wrath which alone would be a great comfort to be assured of but also that we are the children of God as the spirit of God is said to witness with the spirits of Gods children that is the second and then its telling us that it is our fathers pleasure to give us even us a kingdome and causing us to rejoyce in hope of the glory of God that is the third Nor is a good conscience better chear than it is good company As a bad conscience is the worst companion in the World so a good conscience is the very best unless it be God himself He that hath it is many times never less solitary than when he is most alone that is the best company that is both profitable and pleasant and so is a good conscience it hath that property of a good companion amongst others it will finde good and pleasant discourse What Solomon speaks
with fear c. I observe another property in fire and that is great fierceness and eagerness so that for that matter there is no other creature comparable to it A shee Bear robbed of her Whelps A Bull in a Net full of the sury of the Lord is not half so fierce as fire I would see either of them two in an angry humour gnaw great beames of Iron in sunder and make them crumble to dust or let them but make some massy Oak beams presently fly in two in token of their rage but if they can do neither fire exceedeth them in strength and fierceness but yet not so much as its self is exceeded by the fierceness of the wrath of God for whose wrath the Scripture hath no Epithite more common than that of fierce Num. 25.4 32 14. and Psal 88.16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me and in the abstract Psal 78.49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger and Nahum 1.6 Who can abide the fierceness of his anger The power and fierceness of fire may be conceived of and we may fear as much or more hurt than the fire can have opportunity to dous yea this time many of us did fear it would have done more hurt but the wrath of God is beyond all that our minds can comprehend Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath The wrath of God is a vast Ocean as I may call it his judgments are a great depth and fire is but one stream of that Ocean and therefore fire can be nothing like so fierce as is the wrath of God Sword and Pestilence are two other streames of the wrath of God and there are many more by which you may judge how fierce the main Ocean is every arm and rivulet whereof runs with such a mighty torrent In how many channels of distinct punishments did the wrath of God break out upon Pharaoh and his people and yet towards them he did not stir up all his wrath neither But the next property of the wrath of God viz. its consuming devouring nature which fire may represent to us as much as any earthly thing will plainly prove that divine anger is exceeding fierce Which of all the creatures God hath made is so able to destroy so profound to make slaughter as fire is And is it not in that respect an Embleme of the wrath of God What manner of expressions are those Deutr. 32.22 A fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains also Psal 90.5 They are like the grass which groweth up In the morning it flourisheth in the evening it is cut down and withered For we are consumed by thine anger Also Psal 46.8 Come behold the works of the Lord what Desolations he hath made in the Earth How doth the wrath of God consume persons not only as to their estates but as to their inward comforts which are far more precious Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes doest correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Yea how the wrath of God consumes Families Job 31.12 It is a fire that consumeth to destruction and would root out all mine increase Meaning that the wrath and curse of God which the sin he there purgeth himself from viz. Adultery would procure that which would do so that might root out all his increase both as to estate and off-spring c. might quite consume his Family Of Gods wrath consuming Towns and Cities we have many sad instances as namely in Sodom and Gomorrah in Jerusalem Sometimes the glory of the whole Earth And a much more modern and sad instance as to our selves in London its self with teares be it spoken which none of us ever thought to have survived Yea whole Kingdomes have been consumed by the wrath of God and turned upside down witness the Chaldean Persian and Grecian Monarchies with several others but when was it ever heard that a whole Kingdome was destroyed by Fire These things considered the consumptions and desolations which are made by Fire may justly put us in mind of those greater desolations which the wrath of God is able to make on persons families and Kingdoms Of the intolerable pain that Fire can put men to There is one thing more in Fire and that is the intolerableness of that pain and misery which it is able to put us to in reference to which I would yet further parallel it with the wrath of God I know no pain so exquisite as that which proceeds from Fire I know no person alive so patient as that he is able to bear it if he be grievously burnt or scalded till such time as the fire be taken out that is to say bear it without doleful moans and outcries Of the greater intolerableness of the wrath of God I think there is no man whose heart would serve him to think of lying in a siery surnace such as the three children were cast into Yet is not Fire its self got within us or about us so intolerable as the wrath of God It goes by the name of Fiery indignation Heb. 10 27. not as if it were no worse than fire but as fire being the most tormenting creature we know can best express it It is the sense of divine wrath that wounds the spirits of men and therefore it is said A wounded spirit who can bear that is none can bear Prov. 18.14 I read Heman saying Ps 88.4 I am ready to die from my youth up whilst I suffer thy terrors I am distracted And v. 16. Thy terrors have cut me off And David Psal 38. There is no rest in my bones because of my sins And v. 8. I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart as being under a sense of Gods wrath v. 1. Rebuke me not in thy wrath Whosoever said any thing may be borne but the wrath of God doubtless meant very well but he had spoken better and past all exception if he had said Any thing may be borne better than the wrath of God There is no viall that scalds like to that If Francis Spira whilst despairing in his bed had been burning at a stake instead thereof I question whether that material fire would have put him to so much misery as did the anguish of his mind overwhelmed with the apprehensions of divine wrath and of his future dwelling with everlasting burnings If hell its self be a fire kindled by the breath of Gods wrath as it is said of Tophet that the breath of the Lord like a mighty stream of Brimstone kindleth it Surely the wrath of God is much more intolerable than any visible or culinary fire whatsoever I see then the Spirit of God according to his manner hath couched much sense in a few words when he tells us that our God is a consuming
so honourable sin can truly debase them but they by their practise can never make sin its self truly honourable Woe unto us that those sins should now be clad in scarlet which formerly did no more than imbrace dunghils which were in use amongst few but those mean and sordid persons that did well become a Cage or Stocks or Whipping-post the just reward of their intemperance We had wont to look upon drunken Gods such as Bacchus as only the fictions of Poets but have we not seen such things too often verified if men in authority be a kinde of Gods as the Scripture calls them But if such Gods as those expect adoration few there are that can heartily give it them or half that reverence which as Magistrates is their due Drunkenness did so abound amongst all sorts that I perswade my self more good liquors were sacrificed to Mens lusts than were spent upon their necessities It grew to be matter of emulation amongst many men who should be able to drink most such as were strong in the sense spoken of Isa 8.22 Woe to them that are mighty to drink wine began to glory in that their woful strength He was accounted a brave fellow that could drink down others under the Table and keep above board himself Drinking with many was the work of the day and the work of the night intituling them to that woe Isa 5.11 Woe to them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue till night till VVine inflame them Many forsook their callings for it in the day time and their sleep in the night As some have their incentives to lust so had not a few their provocations of drunkenness by their salt meates and such like waies adding to drunkenness thirst that to thirst they might add the more pleasing drunkenness As light as some would make of this it hath many great sins in the womb of it and many sad consequences following of it Oh! the woful neglect of Mens callings both general and particular whilst they lay in Taverns from day to day Oh! the mis-spence of precious time that never can be recalled Oh! the wasting of mens estates and making themselves worse than Infidels by not providing for their Families whilst they made provision for their lusts Oh! the abuse of Gods good creatures to luxury whilst others wanted them for their necessity Oh! the abuse that men offered to themselves to their persons their parts their places and offices wherwith they were intrusted and to the image of God which is upon them as men London in its ruines is not more unlike to what it was in its prosperity than some men by noon would be unlike what themselves were in the morning more than ordinary men were they when they rose They could have spoke to any case dispatched any business turned their hands to any affair military or civil but less than men ere they went to Bed again and for the time almost as much altered as Nebuchadnezzar was when turned amongst the beasts of the field If an enemy were at hand ready to cut our throats they have neither heads to advise nor legges to stand upon nor hands to fight were it to save their own lives who have all of these when they are themselves Now nothing but ribbaldry and bawdery and non-sense is to be expected from them Silly looks and antick actions one while you have them spuing like swine that had gorged themselves another while tumbling in their own vomit like Sowes in the mire other-while you had them wrangling and quarrelling with every body as if they would kill and slay all they came neer other-while you might have seen them all in gore blood upon some groundless scuffle they had Prov. 23.29 VVho hath contentions who hath wounds without cause they that tarry long at the Wine And what comes next see vers 33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women vers 34. Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the Sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a Mast that is in eminent danger Neither will they be warned by that for it is said vers 35. VVhen shall I awake I will seek it yet again If this were the trade that many drove as certainly it was if they took this course as it were to drown the City no wonder that God hath destroyed it another way viz. by Fire Men were grown into strange methods of drinking as I may call it they would enforce their company to drink healths that is Aequalis calices They would have all to drink alike or equal cups though all could not bear it alike as if a kind of uniformity were necessary in drinking as well as in other things I forbear to speak how the weaker vessels did sometimes make too bold with the stronger liquors and to the shame of their Sex there were she-drunkards as well as others Things being brought to this pass men would have thought that God had been such a one as themselves if his wrath had not been revealed from heaven in some remarkable judgment But now he that runs may read that our God is an enemy as to other sins so particularly to that beastly vice of drunkenness I had thought here to have dismissed the good fellowes as they call themselves but a strange fancy came in my head and it was this that if your great drunkards were able to retain all they receive and to give it out as good as they took it in a few of them might be able to furnish a well-custom'd Vintner with as much Wine of several sorts as would serve him a good while for his occasions and each of them upon one years collection O monsters of men might contain and yield more than the greatest Casks that Vintners do ever use Did these meâ— look upon London as a body surely they took themselves to be the Glandulae or kernels to which it belongs to suck up superfluous moistures or did they look upon themselves as the sinks and common shoares that all liquors were to pass through or to pass into Let me speak a warm word to you O yee Diveses that use to drink Wine in Bowls till it inflame you if yee repent not the time is hastning in which you will want water to cool your tongues and you that now indulge your selves great draughts will be to seek for one drop Consider two texts well and then be drunk if you dare viz. 1 Cor. 6.10 Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdome of God Also Luke 12.46 If that servant shall say my Master delayeth his coming and shall begin to drink and to be drunken The Lord of that servant will come when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder and appoint him his portion with unbelievers MEDITATION X. Of God's punishing a People by Fire for their great unprofitableness I Meet with a plain denunciation of fire against Jerusalem Ezek. 15.6 7. As
in the Whales belly or Daniel whilst he was in the Lions Den or the three Children in the midst of the fiery Furnace I wish some of our greatest sins had not been committed in the time of our greatest dangers as is spoken to the shame of the Israelites that they provoked God at the Sea even at the red Sea God having threatned that if great judgments do not reform a people he will send yet greater it is no wonder that it is with London as it is but rather that the execution of this punishment was defer'd so long Concerning Gods heating his Furnace seven times hotter for a people when a more gentle Fire hath not consumed their dross we read Levit. 26.24 If yee will not be reformed by these things I will punish you yet seven times for your sins Also ver 18.21 24 28. I will bring seven times more Plagues upon you according to your sins How justly may God complain of us as he did of the Jewes in old time Jer. 5.3 Thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a Rock they have refused to return God hath made us as a boiling Pot but our sâ—â—â— is not gone forth of us Ezek. 24.10 As some Children though their Parents are severe enough are so bad that one would think they were never corrected but suffered to do what they list so hath it been with England Such as is the way of a Ship in the Sea which leaves no foot-steps behind it whereby it may be seen which way it went when it is out of sight So hath it been with the Plague and Sword and other judgments in England they have left little or no impression behind them whereby it might be discerned that God hath attempted to reform us by such terrible judgments We have cause to admire that God hath not in wrath ceased to punish us at the present intending to reserve us to the day of judgment and of the perdition of ungodly men to be punished It is one of the greatest punishments for God in wrath to give over punishing and to say as concerning Ephraim He is joyned to Idols let him alone or why should they be smitten any more they will revolt more and more It would kill the heart of an understanding patient when very ill to hear his Physician say let him have what he will and do what he will for then would he conclude he takes his condition to be desperate and hath no hope of his recovery O Lord sith thou art pleased to condescend so far as yet to chosten us For what is man that thou shouldst magnify him that thou shouldst visit him every morning and try him every moment Job 7.18 intimating thereby that thou hast not utterly cast us off but art in a way of reclaiming us be pleased to bless and sanctifie those thy chastisements and do us good by them as we would do by our Children if we knew how or if it were in our power Thou canst make less correction if thou so please to work a greater reformation in us One twig of thy rod and one lash of that twig being sanctified will do us more good than a Scorpion that is not Suffer us no longer by our incorrigibleness under judgments to add contempt and contumacy to all our other sins which is able to swell a small crime into a hainous offence When Christ who is compared to a refiners fire Mal. 3.2 Shall sit as a refiner and purifier of Silver let him purifie thy people and purge them as Gold and Silver that they may offer to the Lord in righteousness Then shall their Offerings be pleasant to the Lord v. 3 4. Do not thou alwaies correct us for our beeing incorrigible but vouchsafe to correct and cure our incorrigibleness its self so shalt thou receive more glory and we shall henceforth need less correction MEDITATION XIII Of the Aggravations of the sins of London O London how were thy sins out of measure sinful Consider thy sins without their aggravations and I doubt not but there were many places in England proportionably to their bigness more wicked than London was particularly many Sea-towns and some Inland most consisting of Innes and Ale-houses But how few of those places that equallized or possibly exceeded London in wickedness did ever come neer it as in reference to means of grace and other mercies I have heard of a Papist who in a storm did vow in case he were delivered that he would give to the Virgin Mary a ' Taper no less than the Main-mast of the Ship he was in but when the storm was over persideously said that he would make a Farthing-candle serve her turn Were not the means thou didst enjoy like the Taper he promised whilst those which other places enjoyed were but like the Candle which he performed Some wicked Towns have been like Aegypt for darkness whilst London was like Goshen for light Capernaum it self was not more truly lifted up to Heaven in the abundance of means than London had been For gifts and knowledge thou wert another Church of Corinth Had the mighty things which have been done in thee been done in other places who knows how they might have proved To be sure thou hast had line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little In thee an excellent Sermon might have been heard every day of the week and oft times more than one in a day The men that inhabited thee any long time for their time might have been all of them teachers though all did not profit accordingly They could not but know their masters will if they cared to know it and therefore if they did it not were worthy of many stripes I am loath to say what course fare the souls of men had in other places and what short commons whilst thou wert fed to the full Thou hadst Quailes whilst they had scarcely Mannah Thy Ministers spake like the Oracles of God whilst some of theirs could hardly speak sense Paul and Apollos and Cephas were yours whilst amongst them the blind lead the blind and no wonder if both fall into the ditch O London it is impossible thou shouldst sin so cheap as other places might do considering those words of Christ John 15.22 If I had not spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin Had thy sins been but motes there was that sun-shine would have made them all to appear but alas how many of them were beams I know not those sins that were found else-where that were not to be found in the midst of thee Though thou hadst the Prophets of God crying to thee early and late O do not this abominable thing which my soul hateth Some body spake long since by way of admiration or aggravation rather what go to hell out of London England is presumed to have more knowledge in the things
vindicate the honour of particular Nations How hard is it for Nations to recede from the very punctillio's of their honour Now if God hath disgraced us and weakned our reputation as certainly he hath done by taking away the great City surely it should be for a Lamentation If our Father hath spit in our face as Moses said to Mariam ought we not to be ashamed seven dayes yea seven years we had need for such a spitting of fire in our face as hath befallen us Jeremy puts it amongst his Lamentations Lam. 1.6 From the Daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed We proceed Whose heart would it not grieve to think what precious fuel went to feed that pernicious fire Goodly Houses noble Halls belonging to several Companies ancient and worthy Hospitals affording relief to multitudes of poor and distressed people magnificent Churches built and some of them but lately repaired at a very great charge places of Judicature and for the honourable reception of Magistrates as Guild-hall and others Common places as I may call them of Trade and Tradesmen such as Blackwell-hall and the Royal Exchange the onely sanctuary that I hear of to it 's own Founder useful and eminent Schools as Pauls and others one famous receptacle of Divines by the name of Zion Colledge another for Civilians one Cathedral for largeness and stateliness of building exceeding all that I have before mentioned All these are well known to have been fuel to that fire yea all these were but a part of it's fuel There were other things which though they did not as to bulk equalize those I have mentioned yet in worth and value did far exceed them In some places you might have seen rich wines it may be Sack and Hippocras burning for no bodies use elswhere costly Oils swimming about the streets and afterwards converted into flames Was not the fire fed in some places with rich housholdstuffe and dear furniture in others with shop-goods and wares of great value as fine clothes and such like which their owners wanted opportunity to send away How many precious druggs and odoriferous spices went up in those flames as so much incense How many wholsome Medicines and powerfull Antidotes and great Cordials such as Mithridate Treacle Spirituous Liquors Bezoardick Powders Confection of Alchermies Chymical Oils and Spirits were in great quantities consumed by that fire as if they had been good for nothing or as if nothing had been too good for it And above all other losses What Scholler that is so indeed can with drie eyes mention the inestimable losse of books that was sustained by that mercilesse fire to the undoing of many Booksellers in one sence and of many more Schollers in another How many learned and usefull Authors in several Languages Arts and Sciences Divines both Polâ—mical and Practical Fathers Schoolmen Phylicians Phylosophers Lawyers Historians Antiquaries Mathematicians and others besides many precious manuscripts till then preserved like so many leaves of the Sybils were then burnt to ashes as if our enemies the Papists had been then disarming us of some of our best weapons wherewith we should defend our selves against them Yea the very Sword of the Spirit which â—s the word of God the Bible it 's self as to many hundred Copies of it was then taken from us and burnt as if it had been a piece of heresie or had fallen into Popish hands who brook it not in our genuine translations And this were more to be lamented than all the rest if that sacred book that book of books might not more easily be reprinted than many others that are of greater volume and of which there are but few Copies extant But as for our Biblia Polyglotta midwived into the world at a vast charge and by the unspeakable industry of many learned and famous men to the great renown of themselves and of this Nation how many of them were consumed as if they had been so much waste paper and who is able to repair the losse These things as I said before were the fuel that fed the flames of London Quis talia fando Temperet a lachrymis Who can think of such things as these and not draw waters and poure out before the Lord as the Israelites did at Mizpah To have made or fed as many bonefires as are usuall upon great solemnities with meer Musk and Ambergrease if so much could have been had had not been so great a charge and losse as were all those materials which went to foment the dismall fire of London Those flames were higher fed all things considered than Cleopatra was when as it is storied of her she drank dissolved Pearls How angry was the Almighty with us when he would rather fling all this treasure into the fire than suffer us to enjoy it How unworthy did he proclaim us when in fact he said better the fire should have it than we But where did all this losse light Was it upon LONDON only Were few or none sufferers but the Inhabitants of that City Yea doubtless it was a terrible blow to the whole Nation or to the greatest part of it Who had any considerable interest in England and none in London more or lesse As all Rivers run into the Sea and all the lines of a Circumference meet in one Center so did the interest of most considerable Englishmen in London Who had not some share in that great ship as I may call it which is now blown up They that had no immediate and personall interest in London Had they not Relations Brothers or Sisters yea it may be Sons or Daughters or if not so Kindred more remote that were great sufferers by this fire and whose losses they should lay to heart Nero is said to have wished that Rome had had but one Neck that he might cut it off at a blow In reference to England London was next to that one Neck and hath not this fire cut it off at one blow His Majesty hath told us that his losse in the City was greater than any other mans and what good Subject would not bewail that But surely Reader it is thy losse if thou art an English Protestant as truely though not as much as his The losse was Catholick that is universall in the consequences as well as Roman Catholick in the Causes of it But is this all that can be said of the losse of London Surely no Read but the Book of Lamentations and you will find many more expressions applicable to the Case of London besides those which I have taken notice of already Lam. 1.4 There saith the Prophet The wayes of Sion mourn because none come to the Solemn feasts her gates are desolate All these their calamities are come upon us at once Our Gates are laid waste our selemn Assemblies both Religious and Civil in most places of that which was called London are unavoidably at an end and if our wayes do not mourn that is if they have not a sad
burning multitudes of Books of all sorts VVHat the Prophet speaks in another case Habbak 3.8 Was the Lord displeased against the Rivers Was thing anger against the Rivers Was thy wrath against the Sea I may here allude to and say Was the Lord displeased against the Books Was his anger against the famous Libraries that were burnt I doubt not but there were many Books amongst them fit for nothing but the fire viz. wanton Poems idle Romances prophane Comedies lying Legends heretical Treatises scandalous and pernicious Pamphlets but were they all such It had then been a good riddance and this fire had proved the best Index Expurgatorius that ever was But alas Who knows not that better Books were not extant in the whole World than were thousands of those which this Fire consumed and amongst the rest an innumerable company of Bibles the best of Books I can hardly forbear expostulating as Abraham did Gen. 18.3 Lord Wile thou destroy the Righteous with the Wicked Thou didst do so in this case and yet wert certainly righteous in what thou didst Good Books are made for us and for our sakes too they were destroyed they had not offended but we We by our sins make the whole Creation groan and subject it to vanity Who can sufficiently lament the poor Booksellers more generally undone by this Fire than any one sort of men But Why No man can tell there being amongst them many honest and industrious men But O Lord thy Judgements are unsearchable and thy wayes past finding out The greatest visible crime wherewith I can charge them and but some of them neither was their printing and selling some Books not fit to see the light One Jonas disquieted and indangered â—all that were in the same ship and one Achan trouble all Israel and one Leviathan might mischief an Ocean of Books as we read of the Creature so called Job 41.31 That he maketh the Sea to bâ—il like a pot he maketh the deep to boil like a pot of â—inâ—ment Why did you set up Dagon by the Ark Scripture and Anti-scripturisme did do ill together in one and the same Shop Bibles at one end and Atheisticall books at another Books of Divinity in one corner of your Shops and Books of Obscenity in another What was this but from the same Fountain to send forth bitter and sweet This was like gun-powder put amongst other commodities which hazards the blowing up of all the rest This might be the great provocation on your part but I doubt not but the losse came as much for their sakes that were Buyers as for yours that were Sellers of Books for the sakes of your Customers that either were or should have been as much as for your own Some wanted a heart to buy Books though they could and should have done it others bought books enough but wanted industry to peruse them and so anticipated others that would have read those Books if they had had them or could have gotten them Others both bought Books and read them but did not too many do it onely for ostentation sake or out of curiosity as desirous to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge both of good and evill with design meerly to inform not to reform and amend themselves thereby or for other such low and sinister ends In all this we played the Wantons with our books and Was it not just with God to take them from us as Parents use to take the meat from off their Childrens trenchers when they see they eat out of meer wantonnesse Put to no better uses they would but have risen up against us in the day when the Books mentioned Revelat. 20.12 Shall be opened and the dead judged out of the things therein contained But whatsoever the particular causes of this Judgement were sure I am the losse of so many excellent books was a great blow both to Religion and Learning We lost a far greater treasure in their worth than in their price though that also amounted to a very great sum far surpassing the price of those Books of curious Arts spoken of Act. 19.19 Which those that believed are said to have burnt though they reckoned them worth fifty thousand pieces of silver Alas What was that to four times fifty thousand pieces of Gold which some have judged this losse to amount unto Who seeth not by this instance that Books are of a perishing nature as well as other things he that by means thereof would raise to himself a lasting monument may fail of his end He spake like a vapouring Poet that said Jamque opus exegi quâ—d non Jovis ira nec ignes nec poterunt flammae â—â—câ—edâ—x â—bolere vetustas I doubt not but many of those Poems of his were at this time metamorphosed into flames and by the same reason all may be one time or other Books worth a thousand of that suffered in the same flames and yet I think their sufferings not to have been the same as is usually said Cum duo faciunt idem non est idem so Cum duo pâ—tiuntur idem non est idem is as true Good books burnt like Martyrs Bad ones like Malefactours the former ascended up to Heaven like sweet Incense the latter like the smoke of the Bottomless pit As some waters run by each other and yet mix not so in a morall sense may we judge of these flames which consumed the good Books and the bad ones Were it not in vain to wish for a resurrection of Books How should I long to see it Oh! that at least our forty thousand Bibles might be recovered again though all the other books were irrecoverably lost the next Age may be for books though this be all for News But since à privatione ad habitum non datur regressis in this as in some other cases since we can never look for them again let us remember the Italian proverb which saith Deliver us from that man that reads but one book intimating that he that doth so is like to be too hard for any man in defending the principles of that one Author and be thence encouraged to read those few books that are left us over and over so shall we find dimidium plus to to to be verified in this case a part so improved will do us more good than the whole had wont to do as one dish well fed upon refresheth us more than twenty that do but glut us with the sight and sent of them Let us take occasion from this to acquaint our selves more then ever with those four Books which are of more consequence than all the rest viz. The Book of Creation Providence Scripture and that of our own Hearts and Consciences The multitude of our other Books may have impeded us from looking so much as we ought into these and now they are diminished let us more then ever delight ourselves in these and meditate therein day and night If thou didst make an Idol of thy books
take from them his Wine and his Oyl which they had prepared for Baal and Why not yours which you had prepared for Bacchus What an Argument is it of your unworthiness that God should give these good creatures to the Flames rather than to your Selves MEDITATION XXIX Upon the water running down hill so fast that they could not stop it for their use DId not the water make more haste than good speed when it ran down-hill with such a force that they could hardly make any dams to save it Aristotle's description of Water is but slight who describes it by this that it can hardly be contained within it's own bounds vix continetur in suis terminis facile in alienis but this sad occasion may make us think of it for it was found very difficult to stop it in it's career yet I think the main reason was it's running down so great and steep precipices rather then it 's natural extravagancy and aptness to transgress it's bounds But let the cause be what it will that which I would observe is that by overdoing it undid it came not at all or not considerably to their help and aid because it came too fast So blood and spirits flowing too fast to any part of the body that is mis-affected as to the side in a pleurisie give no relief but do hurt How good were it if men knew when and where to stop He was a wise man though he called himself a simple Cobler who advised that men would unload on this side Munster and take heed of overthrowing Charles his Wain Nor was he a fool that observed that some men make so much haste out of Babylon that they run beyond Jerusalem There is no good Musick to be made unless men will keep their due Stops MEDITATION XXX Upon mens being unwilling there should be no fire though fire hath done so much hurt AFter all the mischief that fire hath done in the world first last none would be content there should be no such thing as fire Though sometimes we are the worse for it yet it would be worse for us to be always without it The use of things that are greatly useful ought not to be taken away because they have been abused or may be so For by that reason the Scripture might be withheld from the common people or denied them in their mother-tongue because some passages in the Epistles of Paul have been wrested by ignorant people to their own destruction And by the same reason there should be no Universities because some with the learning they have there received have contended not for but against the truth yea no Preaching because some have done more hurt then good in their Pulpits Yea upon that account men might declame against Christ himself For that Christ hath been and will be to some a stumbling-stone and a Rock of offence and saith of himself that in one sense He came not to send peace upon the earth but a sword They that would banish all good things out of the world have ever argued from this very Topick that such and such things have at one time or other done hurt and may do so again so hath fire when they resolve to abandon it and never use it more then and not till then shall I believe they are true to their principles When the use of things is greater than the abuse but especially when and where the abuse of good things may be effectually provided against to suppress the use of them is a thing that can never be answered MEDITATION XXXI Upon the usefulness of fire in it's proper place and the danger of it elsewhere FIre on a safe Hearth or in a good Furnace or Oven how useful is it What almost can be done without it Yet what more pernicious than the same fire if it chance to burn where it should not Some have expressed it thus that Fire is a good Servant but a bad Master Solomon saith Light is good and it is pleasant to behold the Sun The same is true of Fire especially in the Winter time which we use to commend by the name of a fine Sunny-bank But if it happen to get into a reek of hay or into a stack or field of Corn or into the Timber of a house Oh! What work doth it oft-times make Men have their proper places assigned them by God as well as Fire In case they be of nimble active and fiery Spirits let them but keep within their bounds and they will do no hurt Yea the liveliness of their spirits may inable them to do the more good But if servants once come to ride on Horse-back and make their Masters go on foot if inferiours will become the head and make their Superiours the tail if young Phaetons will get into the Chariot of the Sun nothing but mischief and confusion can insue How good is the Apostle's advice Every man whereunto he is called therein let him abide with God MEDITATION XXXII Upon the Blowing up of Houses MEthinks that saying concerning Babylon is very dismall Happy is he that shall take thy children and dash their brains against the stones Next to the dolefulness of that time seems to be the misery of that sad season in which men rose up called them blessed who would do that good office as to blow up their houses lest they and many more should perish together Did we ever think that a time would come when men would beg and intreat that not only their neighbours houses might be blown up but their own also and count themselves beholden to them that would do it God's ways in Judgements as well as Mercies are above ours as far as the heavens are above the earth I cannot but think what a name that way of Blowing-up-houses hath gotten how much it is applauded and how much men lament that it was either not considered or not permitted sooner We are thankful to men that do us good though by harshest remedies and why should we not be so to God when he is pleased to teach us obedience to himself though it be by briars and thorns as Gideon taught the men of Succoth when he prevents or abates our pride though it be by sending a messenger of Sathan to buffet us But how quickly was a great and stately House first blown up and then laid flat upon the ground It was but as it were a flash of lightning then a clap of thunder then one jumpt upwards as if it had been that it might take the greater Fall then a great smoak and presently all was in the dust Scarce could a strong hand have sooner shuck in pieces the rotten branches of an old worm-eaten tree yea scarcely could it have made the over-ripe fruit of a tender plant as it might be the Vine to fall sooner to the ground then many goodly Fabricks by the irresistible force of Gun-powder were shaken to pieces and presently laid in the dust How easie is the
admonitions and reproofs in kindling and increasing zeal in others by warm and affectionate counsels a fire refreshing the hearts of others by a due and seasonable application of divine and comfortable considerations They whose tongues are a fire in the worse sense viz. inflaming the world with contention concupiscence and other noisome lusts shall have for their reward sharp arrows of the Almighty with coals of Juniper Psal 120.4 Yea the time is coming when in case they repent not they shall cry out with Dives Father Abraham send â—â—zâ—arus that he may dip the tip of hiâ— singer in water and cool my tongue tormented in this flame Luk. 16. As fire is one of usefullest things in the world when well imployed so is the Tongue of man therefore called his glory but as that when it exceeds it's bounds is greatly pernicious so are the Tongues of men and therefore look what care is taken to keep fire within our Chymnies and other places proper for it the like should be taken to set a watch before the door of our lips that we offend not with our Tongues no wonder S. James should say that He who offendeth not in words is a perfect man â—ble to bridle the whole body For he that can master his tongue can master fire which of all creatures is most untameable MEDITATION XXXVIII Upon the Angels being called flames of fire Heb. 1. IS it for their Agility or for their spirituality or for their great power or for their likeness to God that Angels are called flames of five or rather is it not for all of these How quickly doth a flash of lightnings shoot its self from East to West Nor are the Angels of God less nimble Light and fire and slames comprehend both are as spiritual bodies as any we know the fitter therefore to resemble those who are meer Spirits and as the Text calls them ministring Spirits The power of fire and particularly in destroving we know to our cost And did that single Angel show himself less powerful who in one night destroyed a hundred fourscore five thousand men belonging to the host of Senacherib Isa 37.36 It is not for nothing that Angels are called Principalities and Powers Neither have good Angels less power to save than to destroy when they are appointed thereunto God himself being called a fire it is probable enough that Angels go by the same name because of the resemblance which they bear to God who have more of Gods image than man himself though man hath more of it then all other creatures The Chariots of fire which Elisha saw 2 King 6.17 What were they but so many Angels of God that were sent to guard him which made him say there were more with than against him Yea the fiery chariot in which Elijah was said to have been taken up to heaven possibly was no other then a convoy of Angels such as carried Lazarus into Abrahams bosom How happy are the Servants of God in having a guard of Angels How safe are they being compassed about with such walls of fire No wonder that the righteous are more bold than a Lion as Solomon speaks wild beasts are afraid of fire and if there be a sort of men as savage as they yet can those good Angels which God hath ordered to protect his people keep those Salvages in awe What a comfort is it that God hath such nimble Messengers to dispatch upon any expedition for our good An host of Angels can be with us presently even as soon as lightning can glance thorough the air It is well for believers that Angels are so powerful that they excell in strength seeing they are theirs appointed to minister for their good In how much less danger are Gods children many times than they apprehend themselves because their guard is spiritual and invisible which made Elisha's servant more afraid one while than otherwise he would have been than afterwards he was If every Angel be a flame of fire what the Prophet told his man in another case may be applied in this There are more flames and fires I mean with Gods people than are against them MEDITATION XXXIX Upon the word of God it 's being compared to fire Jer. 23.29 HOw shall we understand that question Jer. 22.29 It not my word like as a fire saith the Lord Wherein consists the resemblance betwixt the word of God and fire Surely it 's warnting the hearts of men in whom it takes place is one reason of it's being so called For so said the Disciples of Christ Did not our hearts even burn within us whilst he opened the Scriptures to us Luk. 24.32 Or else it may be so called from it's efficacy in which sense it is also called a Hammer which breaketh the rocks in pieces Fire is able to demolish the strongest places of which we many have sad instances at this day so the Word is said to be mighty through God to pull down strong holds We read of Gold tried by fire 1 Pet. 1.7 and is not the Word of God a trying thing It is said I shall not here examine in what sense that God sent forth his word and tried Joseph Psal 10.19 Who knows not the purifying nature of fire whereby metals are refined and did not Christ ascribe the like virtue to his Word saying Now are ye clean through the word that I have spoken to you What more piercing then fire and in that â—espect also it is much an Embleme of the Word of God which is said to be sharper than a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing a-sunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow Heb. 4.12 These are but some of the Parallels that might be made betwixt the word of God and Fire He whose word it is would have it to be as Fire And if it be Fire where it hath once broken out and got head it will be hard to smother or suppresse it as that Evangelical Fire which was kindled by Luther in Germany could never be extinguished to this day Saint Paul saith though he suffered bonds yet the word of God was not bound 2 Tim. 2.4 And in Phil. 1.12 he saith that the troubles which befell him had happened rather to the furtheranoâ—â—f the Gospel and many did wax confident by his bonds to speak the word without fear If the word of God be Fire as it is I wonder not that there are such combustions in the world by means of it as Christ telling us what through the corruption of men would insue upon his Gospel saith He came not to send peace upon earth but a sword Mat. 10.34 It is not Gods word but something else those men would have who would have nothing preached to them that should be as fire to consume their Lusts or to make their consciences smart at the remembrance of them That which is not apt to search and pierce is nothing akin to fire and therefore cannot be the word of God
think God must over-turn the course of Nature if he would do this and that for us as he spake of Gods making windows in heaven Whereas himself who is only wise knows how to accomplish what we desire without using such violent extraordinary means Be consident the Lord knows how together with every danger and tempâ—â—tion to make a way for escape and relie upon what is spoken Psal 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty and let the Children of men put their trust under the shadow of his wings MEDITATION LVIII Upon the Warning which other Places may and ought to take by the Burning of London LOndons downfall may Alarm all the World As many bad People as were in it let him that can point out that City in which there are more so far as men can judg that are truly good If ten righteous persons yea if fifty yea if ten times fifty to speak within compass could have saved it London had not been destroyed There were more than a few Names within that Sardis of such as had not defiled their garments like others Yet it should seem not enow to weigh against the sins of the rest Comparing London with other places we may call it a Green-Tree and If this were done to the green Tree What shall be done to the dry If Judgement begin at the House of God where shall the wicked and ungodly appear I doubt not but there were sins enow in London to deserve the Judgment that did befall it yea and a greater than that but by the same reason there is guilt enough in all other places to expose them to as great a desolation Job had sins enow of his own to acquit God in stripping him of all his earthly Comforts and setting him upon a Dunghill to scrape his sores with postheards yet Job had not at that time his fellow in all the East-Countrey for a man searing God and eschewing evil so that God might as justly have done the same thing to any man of that age as to him Sins comparatively small have sometimes been branded with great Punishments witness Davids numbering the People and the Bethshemites looking into the Ark possibly to show that little sins are commensurate with great Judgements in point of evill as a grain of some Poisons may be as hurtful as a dram of others so lesser sinners do sometimes fall under heavy Judgements to show that even they deserve such Scorpions as those and others greater punishments but that the patience of God extends to the reprieving of them for the present as Solomon said to Abiathar Thou art worthy to dye but I will not pâ—t thee to death at this time 1 King 2.26 Such as charge those sins upon London which it was never guilty of might have had more colour for so doing if the Judgement had not fallen upon all sorts of men as well those whom they think free from any such guilt as others who were really free though they do not think them so To speak of London as worse than indeed it was that is as worse than other places is no other than to bespeak security in other places and to prevent that warning which they ought to take and which is indeed given them by the destruction of London Who hath not reason to think that other places shall likewise perish if they repent not All my doubt concerning London is whether it were better than most other places proportionably to the mercies and means of grace which it enjoyed above them or whether those things considered its sins did not preponderate but whether absolutely considered it did not more abound with people of good and unblamable lives then most other places do I do not much question nor can I tell who doth Could I be heard beyond the Seas I would say Let Rome Vienna Venice Madrid and Paris take warning by the destruction of London and repent betimes as in dust and ashes and to keep within our own bounds Let Dublin and Edenborough do so likewise or to come nearer home Let York Bristol Norwich and all other Cities of England nwo in being meet the Lord in the way of his judgements and seek to turn away his wrath lest they drink of the same Cup of trembling whereof London hath drunk so deep lest God do unto them as he hath done unto it as he threatned of old to do to Jerusalem as unto Shiloh Jer. 7.14 lest he rain fire and an horrible tempest upon them as he hath done upon that famous City yea lest when London having humbled its self under the mighty hand of God shall be restored and lifted up again which we pray and hope for their doom should be to succeed it in the same Calamity under which it groaneth at this day Which thing we should all wish may be prevented as to each of them by a Sincere and seasonable Repentance FINIS Twenty Seven MEDITATIONS Consisting of COUNSEL and COMFORT TO DIRECT and SUPPORT CHRISTIANS Under outward troubles But especially calculated for the use of those that were and are great Sufferers by the Fire Part IV. By Samuel Rolle Minister of the Word and sometime Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst Nathaniel Ranew and Jonathan Robinson 1667. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Sir THOMAS ADAMS Knight and Baronet TO Sir FRANCIS BICKLEY Knight and Baronet And to the rest of the wothy Citizens of the now desolate though not despairing City OF LONDON Especially such of them as either reside at Hackney or are Governours of Saint Thomas's Hospital in Southwark S. R. A Native of London and true Mourner for the Calamity thereof in gratitude to several of them and in true respect to all dedicateth this most Consolatory part of his Meditations wishing the reparation of all their losses in Gods due time and their compleat Assurance of an interest in those better things that cannot be lost Mixt Meditations and Discourses of Counsell and Comfort to such as were great sufferers by the firing of London DISCOURSE I. Of Deliverance under losses and troubles as well as out of them TO say there is a Deliverance under Lâ—sses and Troubles as well as another out of them must needs be good sense because it is good Divinity The holy Ghost in the Scripture speaks of such a thing to whom it is impossible to speak either untruly or improperly It were blasphemy and non-sense to charge him either with falshood or folly who is Truth and Wisdom its selfe and the fountain of all that Truth and Wisdom which is dispersed amongst all intelligent creatures He himself tels us how Christ was heard in the prayers which he made for Delive cance unto him that was able to save from death Heb. 5.8 Yet was he not saved from the Cross intimating thereby that there is a Deliverance properly enough so called under the cross as well as from under it
whereas all he stands upon is to make them contented so to be if such be his will concerning them and when they have quietly laid themselves down at Gods feet bound their Isaac to the altar with a true intent to sacrifice him to the good pleasure of God and stretch forth their hand to do it then comes as it were a voice from heaven saying let it alone it is enough that thou hast done already Behold I will accept a Ram for a burnt offering instead of thy son as God dealt with Abraham Gen. 22.13 God doth many things but to try us and make us believe he will take all from us when he means onely to wean us from all that he may say of us as of Abraham Gen. 22.12 Now I know thou fearest God for thou hast not withheld thy Son thy onely Son from me To be content always to be in trouble if God will have it so is the way to come out is one good way to escape Fourthly Affliction teacheth us to live under an awful sense of God It is a Schoole of fear as to God Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements saith David to God If God appear as a consuming fire one maine use we are to make of it is to serve him with Godly fear Heb. 12. Now it is evident that a due fear of God doth make way for Deliverance out of trouble When God saw that Abraham was so fearful to offend him that he durst not withhold his son Isaac whom God had commanded him to sacrifice with his own hands he gave him Isaac again and accepted a Ram in his stead Gen. 22.12 When God had brought Manasseh to know that the Lord was God that is to fear and reverence God as became him and to humble himself before him then saith the text the Lord heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdome 2 Chron. 33.13 Fifthly Affliction is a Schoole of obedience and circumspect walking Eph. 5.15 16. See then that yee walk circumspectly because the dayes are evil Those that walke in the dark take more than ordinary care lest they stumble and fall new dayes of evill or affliction are called dayes of darknesse Prosperity hath hardly more Temptations on one hand than great affliction hath on the other hand hence Agur deprecates poverty Prov. 30.9 Lest I be poor and Steale and take the name of the Lord in vaine The Apostle was afraid lest the incestuous Corinthian if not timely comforted might be swallowed up of two much sorrow 2. Cor. 2.7 and lest Sathan should get an advantage against him verse 11. affliction is a tempest and therefore we must do like Pilots who steer with greatest circumspection in a storm the hard frost of adversity though it be apt to kill certain weeds as pride security and such like yet if care be not taken it may also nip many hopefull blossomes as unseasonable frosts use to do If such eminent worthyes as Elijah Job Jonas Jeremy were between whiles worse for those afflictions which should have made them better as we know they were we had need look to our selves and walk circumspectly at such a time Now that our so doing will make way for our deliverance David tels us Psal 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the Salvation of God And the Prophet Isa 59.20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turne from transgressions in Jacob. Sixthly Another Lesson which affliction teacheth men is to redeem time Eph. 5.16 Redeeming the time because the dayes are evill Young Scholars are not more ordinarily whipt for any thing than for losing their time and in order to making them spend their time better We have never lesse time to lose than when the rod of the Almighty is upon our backs Affliction makes work wheresoever it comes as Sicknesse in a Family useth to do and time is then most precious when we have most work upon our hands when we have most to do yea it also indisposeth for work and when the iron is blunt we had need put to the more streng Travellers make the best of their time in the depth of winter and will hardly draw bit till night because the shortnesse of the dayes and badnesse both of the wayes and weather are great hindrances When we look for the greatest impediments we had need take the most time before us neither is the Redeeming of time more a duty in Affliction than a direct means to get out of it Take one instance for all in Paul and Silas who being in prison were redeeming their midnight time from rest and sleepe for singing and praising of God Acts 16. And the next news we have of them is they were both miraculously set at liberty Lastly Affliction is a Schoole of Faith and Affiance in God David saith Psal 63.3 At what time he was afraid he would put his trust in God and when he was overwhelmed he would fly to the rock that was higher than he meaning to God and upon the wing of faith And it is said that she who is a widdow indeed trusteth in God and why she that is a widdow rather than she who is a wife but because the condition of a widdow is ordinarily more afflicted and disconsolate Moreover Afflictions are called the tryal of our Faith All which passages prove that affliction is a Schoole of Faith as well as of patience Now withall it is famously known that the exercise of Faith and dependance upon God is a notable expedient for the removal of Affliction What miracles of Deliverance are attributed to Faith Heb. 11.33 By Faith they stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword turned to flight the armies of the aliens and passed theâ—ed Sea as upon dry land which the Egyptians essaying to doe were drown'd ver 29. And if you will have it from the mouths of two witnesses let that of the Psalmist be added Psal 22.4 Our father 's trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them they trusted in thee and were not confounded Thus have I mentioned seven doors belonging to the valley of Acor which signifies trouble or so many wayes of escape out of Affliction which are also dutyes in and under it I see then in this case there are two gaps may be stopt with one hedge a man may una fideliâ duos dealbare parietes there are two intentions may be answered with one and the same medicine two questions may be equally satisfied with one and the same answer namely these two how ought I to carry my selfe under Affliction and what course should I take to get out of Affliction He that studieth the latter onely shall be able to do neither he that minds the former well shall doe both under one He that considers onely how to get out of Affliction troubles himselfe with Gods work and
concerning the Law of God taught by parents to their children Prov. 6.22 When thou goesh it shall lead thee when thou awakest it shall talk with thee So will a good conscience An evil conscience findes such discourse as men have not patience to hear like Micaiah it never prophesieth good but a good conscience commends without flattery and tells those stories than would not be grievous to a man to listen to from morning to night It speaks like God in his sentence of Absolution well done good and faithful Servant No man can frame a discourse so delightful as are the whispers of a good conscience speaking peace and pardon to us in the name of God Where such company and such discourse is there can want no mirth taking mirth in the soberest sense for comfort and refreshment yea it will make the heart more glad than they whose wine and oile increase And as for musick all the voices and instruments in the World cannot make such melody as a good conscience If a man had all those Men-singers and Women-singers that Solomon had Eccles 2.8 their best notes were not comparable to this Nor is it hard to make out how a good conscience can and doth give a man hearty welcome For as Christ in several senses is both Priest Altar and Sacrifice so is that both our feast and our Host our entertainer and our entertainment Conscience doth as it were grudge a wicked man both his meat and his mirth but to a good man it saith eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for the Lord accepteth thy person Conscience bids much good may do him with all he hath and tells him in the name of God he is as welcome to it as his heart can wish and hath it with as good a will We count those men best able to feast that have as we say every thing about them and within themselves Corne Cattel Poultry all of their own Dove-houses Warrens Parks all within their own grounds Ponds affording several sorts of fish Trees yielding all sorts of fruits c. Such is he that hath a good conscience he hath all materials for feasting within himself and therefore may afford to do it Prov. 14.14 A good Man shall be satisfied from himself Viz. from the consciousness of his own integrity As Paul saith this is our rejoycing viz. the testimony of our conscience c. He that hath this hath meat to eat that the World knows not of and such meat as he would not exchange for all the rarities and varieties that are at Emperors Tables He blesseth himself or rather God when he thinks how much happeir he is than the World takes him for and how much better he fares than the World knows of whereas they do or may blush and inwardly bleed to think how much happier they are thought to be than indeed they are I might add he that feasts upon a good conscience hath that kinde of meat which is also sawce for every thing whereas others have the same sawce that spoiles all their sweet meat But possibly I cannot say more of the happiness of a good conscience than many can easily believe from the experience of a bad one and the misery they have felt by meanes of it A good conscience think they were an excellent feast indeed if we had it There is none like that but as Saul said the Philistims were come up against him and God was departed so they The Fire is come up against them and hath taken away what they feasted on before and as for a good conscience they wish they had it but they have it not Such a sound spirit would bear their infirmities but for want of it they are not able to bear them Were I sure such men were in good earnest to look after that good conscience which they confess and complain they want I would tell them for their encouragement that there is a way for a bad yea a very bad conscience to be made good as well as a good one to be made better Who can think that Paul had alwaies a good conscience the Scripture telling us that he was sometimes a persecutor an injurious person and a blasphemer yea that he did compell others to blaspheme Acts 26.12 considering that he had his hand in the death of many of Gods Saints Acts 26.12 Many of the Saints did I shut up in prison and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them But manifest it is that he had a good conscience afterwards therefore I say there is a way for a very bad conscience to be made very good and blessed be God there is so It is against Scripture to say that a conscience once deflowred can never recover its virginity He who himself was born of a virgin can reduce that conscience to a virgin state which hath been the mother of many hainous sins Hab. 9.14 If the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling the ashes of an heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ sanctifie your conscience from dead works to serve the living God It is sin alone that defiles the conscience and makes it evil Now sin is either immediately against God or immediately against our neighbour that is against men and that also is against God ultimately though not firstly and only Therefore David confessing his sin in the matter of Vriah saith to God Against thee have I sinned He that would have a good that is a pure and peaceable conscience must if he be able satisfie men for the wrongs and injuries done to them as Zacheus resolved to do or if he be not able he must be sincerely willing and desirous so to do and fully purpose it in his heart if God shall ever make him able For nisiâ—restitutur oblatum is an old and a true rule that is either actually or intentionally non remittitur peccatum But as for the injury done to God by sin either immediately or mediately that no meere man is able to satisfie for though he could give thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oile or would give the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul Therefore as to that there is no way to get our sins carried into the land of forgetfulness but by laying them by faith upon the head of Christ who was tipified by the Scape-goat under the Law no satisfaction to be tendered for them but that which Christ our surety hath made and intended for the use and benefit of them and them only who do or shall believe in him and by repentance turn from dead works to serve the living Goâ— Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins When these things are once done namely when care hath been taken to satisfie men so far as we are able for the wrongs done to them when we have looked upon him whom
we have pierced by sin and truly mourned when we have confessed our sins and forsaken them both actually for the present and in sincere resolution for ever after and when we have lifted up all eye of faith to Christ as to the antitype of that brazen serpent which was lifted up in the wilderness as he that is able to take out the sting of sin out of the fiery serpent and by faith laid hold upon his grace as upon the horns of an altar I say when this is done then is that conscience which was bad become purely good and when we can reflect upon what we have done then do they become not only pure but peaceable and consequently good upon all accounts Now I see not what notion can be more comfortable to those that have brought a bad conscience into a bad condition than this that a conscience extreamly bad may be made good that which is impure may become very pure and that which is unquiet may become calm and peaceable yea full of joy and triumph This premised I think it no hard matter to tell many a man how he may be much more happie in a mean and impoverished condition than he had wont to be in midst of all his plenty and prosperity Get but a good conscience instead of a bad one Get but peace within viz. that peace which passeth all understanding get but the pardon of thy sins and the well-grounded perswasion of that pardon get but a vision of thy sins as drowned in the red sea of Christ his blood get but to look upon God as thy friend and father and upon death as none of thine enemie and where it is no enemy it is and will be a great friend get but the Spirit of God to witness with thy spirit that thou art the childe of God get but this for thy rejoycing which Paul had viz. the testimony of thy conscience c. and let me be miserable for thee if thou who hast wanted these things in times past when thou hadst the world at will when once possest hereof dost not become more happie in the enjoyment of meer food and raiment than ever thou wert formerly when waters of a full cup were wrung out unto thee Some have said Bread and the Gospel are good cheere It is as true that brown bread and a good conscience are so He that hath those two will finde no cause he hath to complain And as the Prophet speaks Isa 33.24 The inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity so neither will men repine that they are poor and despicable and otherwise afflicted if they come but once to know for certain that they are pardoned The true reason why many men do want so many outward good things as namely so much wine so much company so much recreation c. is because they want better consciences had they more of a good conscience to cheare and to refresh them they would need less of other things If Saul had not been possessed with an evil spirit be had not wanted David to have plaied to him upon the Harp 1 Sam. 16.16 One saith that the life of a wicked man is a continual Dversion If men were not wicked they would not need the one half of those diversions which they betake themselves to as reliefs against the sting of an evil conscience Notable is that counsel of the Apostle Eph. 5.18 Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be ye filled with the spirit v. 19. making melody in your hearts to the Lord. When men want the comforts of Gods Spirit and melody in their own hearts they would supply that defect if they knew how with more than ordinary refreshments from those good comforts of God which do gratifie and entertain their senses and thence probably it is that St. Jude joines those two together Jude 19. Sensuel having not the Spirit They that frequently use Cordials are supposed to be apt to faintings for others had rather let them alone Wine is observed to be a narcorick or stupifying thing witness the proneness of men to fall asleep when they have drunk freely of it and it is to be feated that many do use it but as opium to conscience Now as Physitians say the body is much endangered by the over-frequent use of opiates natural opiates so is the soul much more by those things which cast it for the present into a dead sleep for they do but keep that worm from gnawing at the present which will afterwards gnaw so much the more and never die stupifying things remove not a disease but fix it so much the more I see then O Lord what men must do if they would not only think themselves happy but be so indeed if they would not be like hungry men that dream they eat but finde themselves empty when they awake or thirsty men that dream of drink but awake and finde themselves deceived Isa 29.8 If they would feast in good earnest it must be by means of a good and quiet conscience That men may want though they have houses full of Gold and Silver that men may have though Gold and Silver they have none Riches cannot give it poverty cannot hinder it I am or would be at a point whether my body feast at all more or less but for my soul I desire not only a good meale now and then but that continual feast of a conscience both pure and peaceable I prefer that to all the far fetcht and dear bought varieties of fish flesh and fowle which are at Princes tables I see then men need not bid adieu to feasting or reckon upon a bare commons after all the spoile this fire hath made They need only change their diet for that which is much better than they had wont to live upon and they may feast hereafter ten times for once they did heretofore and be said in a nobler sense than ever Dives was to fare sumptuouslie every day Peace of conscience is a feast of fat things full of marrow and of wines on the lees well refined as I may allude to Isa 25.16 DISCOURSE VII Of getting and living upon a stock of spiritual comforts AS it fareth with children whose nurses have milk enough in both breasts but one is much hardet to be drawn than the other they would willinglie lie altogether or mostlie at that breast which may be drawn with most ease so with many Christians who have an interest both in Spiritual and temporal things wherewith to solace themselves they are too too prone to live upon the breast of their worldlie comforts which may be suckt as it were by sense rather than upon that of their Spiritual priviledges and advantages which breast though much the sweetest and fullest can no otherwise be drawn than by the exercise of faith Now sad experience convinceth us that it is much more hard to exercise our faith than to use our
the ground lest it should be any waies soiled or sullied or hoping to seem greater by concealing themselves like those Eastern Princes that would not be seen of their subjects because they would not be known to be but men Or as if that which Salomon saith is the way for a fool to be thought wise viz. by holding his peace were also the way for a wise man to be thought wiser It is all in all in point of serviceableness when men of but comperent abilities do with the blessing of God set themselves to do good and to be useful they out-serve many that out-shine them and have more comfort in two talents wel improved than others have in five that lie dead upon their hands Some are all for the Rake that is what knowledge and other good things they can scrape together for themselves but those that are for the Pitch-fork in a good sense viz. for laying out as well as laying up shall have more peace A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things Matth. 12.35 What should a woman do with full breasts if she will not suffer them to be drawn How many fine children hath some one poor woman brought up with her own breasts whilst many gallant dames of stronger constitutions and that might have made abler nurses never gave suck to one of their own children Creatures without life do act ad extremum virium the fire burns as much as ever it can burn but so doth not mankind in many cases because we limit the exercise of our power by the pleasure of our wills and therefore may be able to do more good in an afflicted than ever we were willing to do in a prosperous condition The good which we receive may refresh our senses but it is the good we do that will more rejoyce our consciences David tells us that In keeping Gods commands there is great reward Psal 19.11 Doing is a kind of giving and the Scripture saith It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive Lord I desire not to insist upon it that I may receive as much good as ever temporal good I mean but oh that thou wouldst give me both an opportunity and an heart to do as much good yea more than ever I would pray read meditate converse with God watch over my self and others warn the unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak fight against sin exercise grace serve the Church of God more than ever or better than ever heretofore and so doing I am confident that though my estate and worldly allowance be diminished yet my real happiness and comfort shall be much enlarged DISCOURSE X. Of al stracting from fancy and looking at those that are below our selves rather than at others TRy if it be not a meer fancy and conceipt of thine that thou dost want any thing Put case no man in the world had any thing better than what thou hast no better meat to eat or cloathes to weare or house to dwell in wouldst thou then finde any fault with thine own or would it not serve thy turn very well If thy reall wants were unsupplied thou wouldst be sensible of them though every body else were under the same want If there were a famine upon the Land thou wouldst feel hunger as much as if no body were deprived of bread but thy self when indeed every body were in the same case But if thy condition be such as doth therefore only seem bad because others have that which is better thou art but fancy-sick and under self-created misery Thou walkest in a vain shadow and disquietest thy self in vain Psal 39.6 Thou wouldest be well enough if thou couldst but see and believe it is so well with thee as it is Crede quod habes habes Meer fancy causeth neither good nor evil really to exist no more than colours do in the Rain-bow or those things which meet us only in our dreams Are not the riches of rich men a strong tower in their imagination but are they therefore really so yea are they not like birds that take wing and flie away Let a melancholly man read of all sorts of diseases incident to the body of man and presently he conceits he hath them all But is he therefore an Hospital or a Pandora's box of all diseases because he fancieth himself so to be Was that mad man in the Comedy robd of any reall happiness when cured who in his distraction fancied himself a Prince and therefore when he came to himself cried out Rem me occidistis amici non servastis You have not cured me but undone me Fancy can make no man truly poor or hungry or naked or deformed though it may make them really miserable by a false supposition of any or all of these For a man to think himself not to have enough onely because others have more is such a kind of deception as if a man of sufficient stature standing by a giant should think himself to be a dwarfe If we have enough what matter is it who hath more Why should our eye be evil because Gods eye is good If you think that others having more eclipseth you and therefore thou art afraid when one is made vich and when the glory of his house is increased Psal 49.16 then it should seem thou art not content with the world for use but wouldst have it for splendor and to glory in Now that is forbidden Jer. 9.23 Thus saith the â—ord let not the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth me c. If the world were any matter of glory if men could really shine with the beames of the world as a wife is said lueare radiis marits it is the manifest pleasure of God that so far forth they should out-shine us to whom he hath given more of the world than to our selves Either thou hast better things than those of this world to glory in or thou hast not If thou hast not thou hast the one thing necessary to look after instead of vying with others about the glory of this world which is but a meer Scheme or fantasie or piece of pure pageantrie And if thou hast interest in better things thou dost out-shine many others in the sight of God and in real worth and therefore hast no cause to envie those whom all things considered thou dost out-shine but to be very contented and thankful If then thou wouldst be happy abstract from fancie undeceive thy self know when thou art well It is easier to fill thy belly than thine eye Nature may quickly be satisfied but fancy is insatiable Lord give me to make Agurs choice and to be pleased with it when I have done viz. not to have riches which some have and others thirst after but to be fed with food convenient DISCOURSE XI Of neer Relations and Friends being greater comforts each to other than they had wont to
the mean time he would turn the world round You want not a place to stand in if that may enable you to turn and wind the world If then our condition be not all misery why should our posture be all mourning If we receive good things at the hands of God why should we not also receive evil Children can brook correction from their parents because they have all things else from them Out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth not good as well as evil Is it God that taketh away and is it not God that leaves also Job 2.10 and should we not therefore bless the name of the Lord Doth God create darkness and doth he not form light also Isa 45.7 See how God makes the scales to play one against another judgment in the one mercy in the other that it is hard to say which weighs heaviest Is it not of the Lords mercies that we are not utterly consumed because his compassions fail not Are we stung with the fiery serpents of misery may we not receive some cure by looking up to the brazen serpents of mercy if I may so call them How can we chuse but call to mind those words of God by his Prophet I will correct thee it measure yet will I not make a full end of thee Jer. 30.11 O Lord if thou hadst mixed no mercy with our misery what could we do more than utterly despond and cast away all our hopes and comfort Thou hast mixed thy dispensations let us also mixe our affections hope with our fear rejoycing with our trembling thanksgiving with our lamentations There is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease if the root thereof be yet in the earth and the stock thereof in the ground Job 14.7 Thorough the sent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant v. 9. Thou hast left us a remnant to escape and given us a naile in the place of the great City that the Lord might lighter our eyes and give us a little reviving in our troubles Thou hast said concerning London as thou spakest to Daniel in vision Dan. 4.14 Hew down the tree cut off its branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit c. nevertheless leave the stump of its root in the carth and let it be wet with the dew of Heaven c. Lord I desire much more to wonder that any thing of London is left than that the greatest part of it is consumed DISCOURSE XXI Of the Discommodities of Prosperity and Benefits of Affliction PRosperity hath its evils and inconveniences as wel as Adversity yea deadly inconveniencies as some use that Epithite For saith Salomon Prov. 1.32 The prosperity of fools shall dastroy them And in Eccles 5.13 he saith he had seen a sore evil under the Sun viz. Riches kept for the owners thereof to their burt Most men are in love with prosperity and therefore cannot or will not see the discommodities of it as our Proverb saith Love is blinde But how often doth it prove a kinde of luscious poison which not only swels and puffs up them that have it but also frets eats into them like some deadly corosive inwardly taken James speaking to those that had more wealth than they knew what to do with saith The rust of their gold should eat their flesh as it were sire Jam. 5.5 Why went the young man from Christ so sorrowfully Luke 18.23 Mat. 19.22 was it not because he had great possessions as Matthew phraseth it or as Luke for that he was very rich Thereupon saith Christ A rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of God and it is easier for a camel to go thorough the eye of a needle and Timothy must charge those that are rich not to be high minded nor yet to trust in uncertain riches implying they are apt to both How hard is it for those that have an arm of flesh not to make flesh their arm and so to incur the curse Jer. 17.5 How hard it is to be so good a Steward of a great estate as may enable a man to give up his account with joy How many that have resolved to be rich yea and have been as good as their resolution have pierced themselves thorough with divers sorrows yea been drowned in perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 When Jesurun waxed sat he kicked he forsook God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation Deut. 32.15 What Salomon saith Prov. 3.23 30. Look not upon the Wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the cup when it moves its self aright at the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder may too often be applied to prosperity which looks and tastes like sparkling wine but oft times proves a stinging serpent I doubt not but the time will come when many rich men will wish they had begd their bread rather than to have had so heavie an account to give for abused prosperity Few men have received that hurt by their povertie that others have done by their plentie as for one that is starved to death there are hundreds killed with surfeiting upon meates or drinks Yea adversity hath its conveniencies and its good things as well as prosperity its mixture of discommodities and evil things As one said he had received some hurt by his graces which innate corruption had abused to pride and some good by his sins which God had taken occasion to humble him by for so I understand him So have many received hurt by their prosperity and good by their adversity been losers by the forrner been gainers by the latter Many may take up the words of Themistocles and say They had perished if they had not perished They had been undone in one sense if they had not been undone in another or say as a Philosopher I have read of They never made a better voyage than at that time when they suffered shipwrack Solomon knew what he said Eccles 7.3 Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better Sweet things are commonly known to turn to choller which is a bitter humour and bitter things to cleanse and sweeten the blood If then I may be better by my affliction and might have been worse for my prosperity why should I think my self undone for the loss of that which might have been my undoing why should I stand and wonder at that passage James 1.10 Let the rich man rejoyce in that he is made low Had not Manasses more cause to bless God for those Iron fetters wherewith he was bound by his enemies the Assyrians than for his crown of Gold 2 Chron. 33.12 When he was in affliction he besought the Lord c. Prosperity had been his worst enemy and afterwards affliction under God became his greatest friend did most befriend him for it brought him