they betrayed their trust they betrayed the lives of men into the hand of divine Justice and the Souls of men into the hands of Satan they polluted the Sanctuary they polluted the Holy things of God by managing of his Worship and Service in a prophane carnal way and with a light slight perfidious spirit and by perverting the true sense of the Law in their ordinary teaching of the people They did violence to the Law or they contemned removed or cast away the Law as the Oriâ—inal runâ— the Hebrew word here used signifies also to ravish Their Prophets and Psal 50. 17. Priests did ravish the Law of God by corrupting the Law and by putting false glosses upon it and by turnâ—ng of it intâ— such shapes and senses as would best suit the times and please the humours of the people Now for these abominations of their Prophets and Priests God denounces a dreadful Wo against the City of Jerusalem in vers 1. Wo to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city Lam. 4. 11-13 The Lord hath accomplished his fury he hath poured out his fierce â—nger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured â—he foundation thereof For the sins of her Prophets and the iniquity of her Priests that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her God sent a consuming flame into Jerusalem which did not only burn the tops of their houses but also the foundations themselves leaving no mark whereby they might know where their houses stood nor any hopes of building them up again But why did God kindle such a devouring fire in Jerusalem which was one of the World wonders and a City that was not only strong in situation and building and deemed impregnable but a City that was Gods own Seat the Palace of his Royal residence yea a City that the Lord had for many years to the admiration of all the world powâ—rfully and wonderfully protected against all those furious â—ssaults that were made upon her by her most potent and mighty Adversaries Answ For the sins of her Prophets â—nd the iniquities of her Priests as God himself testifies who can neither dye nor lye You may see this further confirmed if you please but seriously to ponder upon these Scriptures Mich. 2. 11. Isa 30. 10 11. Jer. 5. ult Hos 4. 9. Isa 9. 16. Lam. 2 14. Ezek. 3. 18. Ezek. 22. 25 26. 31. Jer. 23. 11. 14 15. 39 40. Look as the body Natural so the body Politick cannot be long in a good constitution whose more noble and essential parts are in a consumption The enormities of Ministers have the strongest influence upon the souls and lives of men to make them miserable in both worlds Their falls will be the fall and ruine of many for people are more prone to live by Examples then by Precepts and to mind more what the Minister does then what he says Praecépta docent exempla movent Precepts may instruct but Examples do perswade The Complaint is ancient in Seneca That commonly men Seneca de vita beata cap. 1. live not ad rationem but ad similitudinem The people commonly make the Examples of their Ministers the Rules of their Actions and their Examples pass as current among them as their Princes Coyn. The Common-people are like tempered Wax easily receiving impressions from the Seals of their Ministers vices They make no bones of it to sin by prescription and to damn themselves by following the lewd Examples of their Ministers The Vulgar unadvisedly take up crimes on trust and perish by following of bad Examples I will leave the serious Reader to make such Application as in prudence and conscience he judges meet But Eleventhly Sometimes the sins of Princes and Rulers bring the fiery Dispensations of God upon Persons and Places Jer. It is a strange saying in Lipsius viz. That the names of all good Princes may easily be engraven or written in a small Ring Lips de Constantia lib. 2. cap. 25. 38. 17 18 23. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah Thus saith the Lord the God of Hosts the God of Israel if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the King of Babylons Princes then thy soul shall live and this city shall not be burnt with fire and thou shalt live and thine house But if thou wilt not go forth to the King of Babylons Princes then shall this city be given into the hands of the Chaldeans and they shall burn it with fire and thou shalt not escape out of their hand but shalt be taken by the hand of the King of Babylon and thou shalt cause this city to be burnt with fire Oâ— as the Hebrew runs Thou shalt burn this city with fire that is thou by thy obstinacy wilt be the means to procure the burning of this City which by a rendition of thy self thou mightest have saved So Jer. 34. 2. 8 9 10 11. compared with Chap. 37. 5. to vers 22. Judges and Magistrates are the Physitians of the State saith B. Lake in his Sermon on Ezra and sins are the diseases of it what skills it whether a Gangrene begins at the head or the heel seeing both ways it will kill except this be the difference that the head being nearer the heart a Gangrene in the head will kill sooner then that which is in the heel Even so will the sins of great Ones overthrow a State sooner then those of the meanest sort 2 Sam. 24. 9. to vers 18. But Twelfthly The abusing mocking and despising of the Messengers of the Lord is a sin that brings the fiery Dispensation Turn to these two pregnant Texts and ponder seriously upon them for they speak close in the case upon a People 2 Chron. 36. 15 16 17 18 19 Math. 23. 34. 37 38. Behold your house is left unto you desolate Here is used the present for the future to note the certainty of the desolation of their City and Temple and their own utter ruines and about forty years after the Romans came and burnt their City and Temple and laid all waste before them They had turned the Prophets of the Lord out of all and therefore the Lord resolves to turn them out of all O Sirs will you please seriously to consider these six things First that all faithful painful conscientious Ministers or Messengers of the Lord are great Instruments in the hand of the Lord for stopping or steming the tide of all prophaneness and wickedness in a Land which bring all desolating Isa 58. 1. and destroying Judgments upon Cities and Countries 2. For converting Souls to God for turning poor sinners from Acts 26. 15 16 17 18. Dan. 12. 3. darkness to light and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ 3. For promoting of Religion Holiness and Godliness in mens hearts houses and lives which is the only way under Heaven to render Cities Countries and Kingdoms safe happy and prosperous 4. For the weakning of the Kingdom of
is said to be prepared for the Devil and his Angels because it was firstly and chiefly prepared for them All impenitent sinners shall have the Devil and his Angels for their constant companions and therefore they shall be sure to shear with them in the extremity and inevitableness of their torments But Thirdly Our fire when it burneth it shineth it casts a light Our fire burns and in burning shines light is a natural property of our common fire 't is true the elementary fire in its own sphere shineth not because of its subtilness and the infernal fire of Hell shineth not because of its grosness Yet our ordinary fire being of a mixt nature hath light as well as heat in it and that 's our comfort It hath light to shew it self to us and to our selves and it hath light to shew others to us and us to others c. Some men can work as well as talk by the light of the fire Our fires have their beams and rayes as well as the Sun but the fire of Hell burns but it dos not shine it gives no light at all Infernal fire hath no light or brightness attending of it Matâ—h 25. 30. Chap. 8. 12. and therefore Christ calls it utter darkness or outer darkness that is darkness beyond a darkness I have read of a young man who was very loose and vain in his life and was very Dâ—eâ—â—â—lius Basil speaking of Hell fire saith Vim comburendi retinet illaminaâ—di amisit It retains the proâ—erty of burning it hath lost the property of shining fearful of being in the dark who after falling sick and could not sleep cryed out Oâ— if this darkness be so terrible what is eternal darkness Hâ—ll would not be so uncomfortable a Prison if it were not so dark a Prison Light is a blessing that shall never shine into that infernal prison In Jude v. 6. you read of chains of darkness It would be a little ease a little comfort to the damned in Hell if they might have but light and liberty to walk up and down the infernal coasts but this is too high a favour for them to enjoy and therefore they shall be chained and staked down in chains of darkness and in blackness of darkness that so they may fully undergo the scorchings and burnings of Divine wrath and fury for ever and ever In Verse 13. you thus read To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever The words are an Hebraism and signifie exceeding great darkness Hell is a very dark and dismal Region and extream are the miseries horrors and torments which are there The Poets described the darkness of Hell by the Cimmerian darkness There was a Territory in Italy betwixt Baiae and Cumae where the Cimmerii inhabit which was so environed with Hills and overshadowed with such hanging Promontories that the Sun never comes at it The darkness Exod. 10. 21. The words are figuâ—ative importing extraordinary blâ—ck darkness of Aegypt was such a strong and horrid thick darkness that it was palpable it might be felt Even darkness which may be felt The darkness that is here threatned is called darkness that may be fâ—lt either by way of an Hyperbole to signifie what an exceeding great darkness iâ— should be or else because the Air should be so thickneâ— with gross mists and thick foggy vapours that it might be felt or else because this extraordinary darkness should be caused by a withdrawment of the light of the celestial bodies or by drawing a thick curtain of very black clouds betwixt mens eyes and them Yet this horrid darkness was nothing to the darkness of Hell the darkness of Aegypt was but as an over casting for three dayes Exod. 10. 22 23. And there was a thick darkness in all the Land of Aegypt three dayes They saw not one another neither rose any from his place three dayes For three dayes they were deprived not only of the natural lights and lamps of Heaven but of all artificial light also 'T is possible that the vapours might be so thick and moist as to put out their Candles and all other lights that were kindled by them 'T is probable that they had neither light from Sun Moon or Stars above nor yet from fire or candle below so â—hat they were as blind men that could not see at all and as lame men that could not move from their places and so they sate still as under the arrest of this darkness because they could not see what to do nor whither to go God would teach them the worth of light by the want of it Some think that by that dreadful Judgement of thick darkness they were filled with that terror and horror that they durst not so much as move from the places where they were sate down But after these three dayes of darkness were over the Egyptians enjoyed the glorious light of the Sun again O but sinners are in Hell when they are in chains of darkness when they are in blackness of darkness they shall never see light more Hell is a house without light Gregory and all other Authors that I have cast my eye upon agree in this that though our fire hath light as well as heat yet the infernal fire hath only heat to burn sinners It has no light to refresh sinners and this will be no small addition to their torment A Philosopher being asked Whether it were not a pleasant thing to behold the Sun answered that that was a blind mans question Surely life without light is but a lifeless life But Fourthly Our fire burns and consumes only the body it reaches not it torments not the precious and immortal soul but infernal fire burns and torments both body and soul Now the soul of pain is the pain of the soul Matth. 10. 28. And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destâ—oy bâ—th body and soul in Hâ—ll If the Glutton in the historical Parable Luke 16. 24. who â—ad but one half of himself in Hell viz. his soul cried out that he was horribly toâ—mâ—nâ—ed in that flame What tongue can express or heart conceive how great the damneds torments shall be in Hell when their bodies and souls in the great day shall be re-united for â—orture Beloved it is a just and righteous thing with God that such bodies and souls that have sinned impenitently together should be tormented everlastingly together To this purpose the Hebrew Doctors have a very pretty Parable viz. That a man planted an Orchard and going from home Pet. Mart. was careful to leave such Watchmen as might both keep it from strangers and not deceive him themselves therefore he appointed one blind but strong of his limbs and the other seeing but a Cripple These two in their Masters absence conspired together and the blind took the lame on his shoulders and so gathered the fruit their Master returning and
finding out this subtilty punished them both together Now so shall it be with those two sinful companions the 2 Cor. 5. 10. 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9 10. soul and the body in the great day of our Lord. With Simeon and Levi they have been brethren in iniquity and so shall be in eternal misery As body and soul have been one in sinning so they shall be one in suffering only remember this that as the soul has been chief in sin so it shall be chief in suffering But O Sirs if a consumable body bâ— not able to endure burning flames for a day how will an unconsumable soul and body be able to endure the scorching flames of Hell for ever But Fifthly Our fire wasteth and consumeth whatsoever is cast into it It turns flesh into ashes it turns all combustibles into ashes but the fire of Hell is not of that nature the fire of Hell consumes nothing that is cast into it it rages but it dos not waste either bodies or souls Look as the Salamander liveth in the fire so shall the wicked live in the fire of Hell for ever They shall seek for death but they Rev. 9. 6. shall not find it They shall desire to die and death shall fly from them They shall cry to the Mountains to fall upon Rev. 6. 16 17. them and to crush them to nothing They shâ—ll desire that the fire that burns them would consume them to nothing That the Worm that feeds on them would gnaw them to Maâ—k 9. 44 46 48. nothing that the Devils which torment them would tear them to nothing They shall cry to God who first made Gen. 1. 26. â—hem out of nothing to reduce them to that first nothing from whence thâ—y camâ— But he that made them will not have mercy on them he that fâ—rmed them will not shew them so much Isa 27. 11. favour Semper comburentur nunquâ—m consumentur they shall alwayâ—s be burned but never consumed Ah how well Aug. This fire is poena inconsumpta Jerom. would it be with the damned if in the fire of Hell they might be consumed to ashes But this is their misery they shall be ever dying and yet never dye their bodies shall be alwayes a burning but never a consuming 'T is dreadful to be perpetual fuel to the flames of Hell What misery to this For infernal fire to be stâ—ll a preying upon damned sinners and yet never making an end of them The two hundred and fifty men that usurped the Priests Office were Numb 16. 35. consumed by that fire that came out armed from the Lord against them And the fire that Elijah by an extraordinary 2 Kings 1. 10. 12. spirit of prayer brought down from heaven upon the two Captains and their fifties consumed them The fierce and furious flâ—mes of hell shall burn but never annihilate the bodies of the damned In hell there is no câ—ssation of fire burning nor of matter burned Neither flames nor smoak Hell torments punish but not finish the bodies of men Prosper shall consume or choak the impenitent both the infernal fire and the burning of the bodies of Reprobates in thaâ— fire shall be preserved by the miraculous power and providence of God The soul through pain and corruption will lose its beate vivere its happy being but it will not lose its essentià liter vivere its essential life or being But Sixthly and lastly Our fire may be quenched and extinguished The hottest flames the greatest conflâ—grations have been quenched and extinguishâ—d by water Fires on our hearths and in our chimneys are sometimes put out by the Suns bâ—ams and often they die and go out of themselves Our fire is maintained with wood and put out with water but the fire of hell never goes out it can never be quenched It is an everlasting fire an eternal fire an Jerom was out when he said Iâ—feâ—num nihil esse nisi conscieâ—tiae horrorâ—m And 〈◊〉 was ouâ— who held that theâ—e are no other Hell furies than the stings of conscience unquenchable fire In Mark 9. from v. 43. to v. 49. this fire is no less than five times said to be unquenchable as iâ— the Lord could never speak enough of it Beloved the Holy Ghost is never guilty of idle repetiâ—ions but by these frequent repetitions the Holy Ghost wâ—uld teach men to loâ—k about them and to look upon it as a real thing and as a serious thing and not sport themselves with unquenchable flames nor go to Hell in a dream Certainly the fire into which the damned shall be cast shall be without all intermission of time or punâ—shment No tearâ— nor blood nor time can extinguish the fire of hell Could every damned sinner weep a whole Ocean yet all those Oceans together would never extinguish one spark of infâ—rnal fire The damned are in everlasting chains of darkness they are under the vengeance of eternal fire they are in blackness of darkness for Jude 7. 6. ever The smoke of their torment ascendâ—d for ever and ever and they shall have no rest day nor night The damned in hell Rev. 14. 11. O that word Never said a poor despairing creature on his death-bed breaks my heart They are lying Histories that â—ell us that Trajan was delivered out of Hell by the prayers of Gregory and Falconella by the prayers of Teclaes would fain die but they cannot Mors sine morâ—e they shall be alwayes dying yet never dead they shall be alwayes a consuming yet never consumed The smoak of their Furnace ascâ—nds for ever and ever Aeternis puniâ—ntur poenis They shall be everlastingly punished saith Mollerus on Psal 9. 17. And Musculus on the same Text saith Animi impiorum cruciatibus dâ—bitis apud inferos punientur The souls of the â—ngodly shall be punished in hell with deserved torments Vbi per mi lia millia annorum cruciandi nec in seculo seculorum liberandi saith August Myriades of years shall not determine or put a period to their sufferings Plato could say that who ever are not expiated but prophane shall go into hell to be tormented for their wickedness with the greatest the most bitter and terrible punishments for ever in that prison of hell And Trismegistus could say That souls going out of the body defiled were tost to and fro with eternal punishments Yea the very Turks speaking of the house of perdition do affirm That they who have turned Gods Grace Alcoran Mahom c. 14. p. 160. c. 20. p. 198. into wantonness shall abide eternally in the fire of hell and there be eternally tormented A certain Religious man going to visit Olympius who lived cloistered up in a Monastery near Jordan and finding him cloistered up in a dark Cell which he thought uninhabitable by reason of heat and swarms of Gnats and Flyes and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place he answered All this is but a
laborious how industrious are men to add spots to spots bâ—gs to bags houses to houses and lands to lands and Lordships to Lordships as if there were no Hell to escaps nor no Heaven to make sure O Sirs the voice of God in that fiery dispensation that has lately past upon us seems to be this O ye Citizens of London whose habitations and glory I have laid in dust and ashes set loose from this world and set your affections upon Col. 3. 1. Heb. 11. 13. Jâ—r 50. 6. Mich. 2. 10. things above Lâ—ve in this world as Pilgâ—ims and Strangers Remember this is not your resting place never be inordinate in your love to the world nor in your delight in the world nor in your pâ—rsuit of the world any more Never spend so many thoughts upon the wâ—rld nor never send forth so many wishes after the world nor never spend so much precious time to gain the world as you have formerly done Take off your thoughts take off yoâ—r hearts take off your hands from all these uncertain things Remember it will not be long before you must all go to your long home and a little of the world will serve to bear your charges till you get to Heaven Remember I have burnt up your City I have poured contempt upon your City I have stained the pride and glory of your City that so seeing you have here Heb. 13. 14. no continuing City you may seek one to come Remember I have destroyed your houses that so you may make sure a house not made with hands but one eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. I have taken away your uncertain Riches that so you may make sure more durable Riches I have spoiled many of your Prov. 8. 18. Phil. 3. 20. brave full Trades that so you might drive a more brave full Trade towards Heaven Oh that I had no just grounds to be jealous that many who have been great losers by the fire are now more mad upon the world and more eagerly carried after the world than ever they have been as if the great design of God in setting them on fire round about was only to enlarge their desires more after the world and more effectually to engage them to moil and toil as in the fire to lay up treasure for another fire to consume Before I close up this particular let me offer a few things to your consideration First Are there none of the burnt Citizens who seek the world in the first place and Christ and Heaven in the last place that are first for earth and then for Heaven first for Matth. 6. 33. John 6. 27. the world and then for Christ first for the meat that perisheth and then for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life The old Poets note was first for money and then for Christ But Secondly Are there none of the burnt Citizens whose love and hearts and affections are running more out after the world than they are after God and Christ and the 1 Tim. 6 9. Jer. 17. 11. great things of eternity Are there none of the burnt Citizens that are peremptorily resolved to gain the world what ever it costs them The Gnosticks were a sort of Professors that made no use of their Religion but to their secular advantages and therefore when the world and their Religion stood in competition they made no scruple no bones of renouncing their profession to enjoy the world Oh the deadness the barrenness the listlesness the heartlesness to any thing that is divine and heavenly that dos alwayes attend such Christians who are resolved to be rich or great or some body in the world what ever comes on 't O the time the thoughts the strength the spirits that these men spend upon the world whilst their souls lye a bleeding and eternity is posting on upon them Men that are highly and fully resolved to be rich by hook or by crook will certainly forget God undervalue Christ grieve the Spirit despise Sâ—bbaths slâ—ght Ordinances and neglâ—ct such gracious opportunities as might make them happy for ever Rich Felix had no leisure to hear poor Paul though the hearing of a Sermon might have saved Act. 24. 24. ult hit soul But Thirdly Are there none of the burnt Citizens who spend the first of their time and the best of their time and the Pythagoras saith that time is Anima Coelâ— the soul of Heaven And we may say it is a Pearl of price that cost Christ his blood most of their time about the things of the world and who ordinarily put off Christ and their souls with the least and last and worst of their time The world shall freely have many hours when Christ can hardly get one Are there none who will have their eating times and their drinking times and their sleeping times and their buying times and their selling times and their feasting times and their sporting times yea and their sinning times who yet can spare no time to hear or read or pray or mourn or repent or reform or to set up Christ in their families or to wait upon him in their closets Are there not many who will have time for every thing but to honour the Lord and to secure their interest in Christ and to make themselves happy for ever Look as Pharaohs lean Kine eat up the fat so many now are fallen into such a crowd of worldly business as eats up all that precious time which should be spent in holy and heavenly exercises Fourthly Are there none of the burnt Citizens who daily prefer the world before Christ yea the worst of the world before the best of Christ The Gergesins preferred their Swine Matth. 8. 28. ult before a Saviour they had rather lose Christ than lose their Hoggs They had rather that the Devil should still possâ—ss their souls than that he should drown their Piggs They preferred their Swine before their salvation and presented a wretched Petition for their own damnation For they besought him who had all love and life and light and grace and glory and fulness in himself that he would depart out of Col. 1. 19. Chap. 2. 3. their coasts Though there be no misery no plague no curse no wrath no Hell to Christs departure from a people Yet Hos 9. 12. The Reubinites preferred the Countrey that was commodious for the feeding of their Cattle though it were far from the Temple far from the Means of Grace beforâ— their interest in the Land of Canaan men that are mad upon the world will desire this Bernard had rather be in his Chimney corner with Christ than in Heaven without him At so high a rate he valued Christ There was a good man who once cryed out I had rather have one Christ than a thousand worlds Another mourn ed because he could not prize Christ enough But how few burnt Citizens are of these mens minds It was a sweet prayer of one
will certainly look upon them when he comes to die O with what a disdainful eye with what a contemptible eye with what a scornful eye and with what a weaned heart and cold affections do men look upon all the pomp state bravery and glory of the world when their soul sits upon their trembling lips and there is but a short step between them and eternity He that looks upon the world whilst he has it under his hand as he will assuredly look upon it when he is to take his leave of it he will 1. Never sin to get the world Nor 2. He will never grieve inordinately to part with the world Nor 3. He will never envy those who enjoy much of the world Nor 4. He will never dote upon the world he will never be enamoured with the world I have read of a man who lying in a burning Feaver profest that if he had all the world at his dispose he would give it all for one draught of Beer at so low a rate do men value the world at such a time as that is King Lysimachus lost his Kingdom for one draught of water to quench his thirst If men were but so wise to value the world at no higher a rate in health than they do in sickness in the day of life than they do at the hour of death they would never be fond of it they would never be so deeply in love with it Now O that these ten Maxims may be so blest to the Reader as to crucifie the world to him and him unto the world Gal. 6. 14. He gave good counsel who said O man if thou be wise let the world pass lest thou Austâ—n pass away with the world Fix thy heart on God let him be thy portion fix thy affâ—ctions upon Christ he is thy redemption on Heaven let that be thy Mansion O take â—hat counsel Love not the world nor the things of the world 1 John 2. 15. Mark he doth not say have not the world nor the things of the world but love not the world nor the things of the world nor he doth not say use not the world nor the things of the world but love not the world nor the things of the world nor he doth not say take no moderate care for the world nor the things of the world but love not the world nor the things of the world But to prevent all mistakes give me leave to premâ—se these three things First 'T is lawful to desire earthly things so far as they may be furtherances of us in our journey to Heaven As a As Mr. Tindal the Martyr said I desire these earthly things so far as they may be helps to the keeping of thy commandments passenger when he comes to a deep River desires a Boat but not for the Boats sake but that he may pass over the River for could he pass over the River without a Boat he would never cry out a Boat a Boat or as the Traveller desires his Inn not for the Inns sake but as it is a help a furtherance to him in his journey homewards or as the Patient desires Physick not for Physick sake but in order to his health So a Christian may lawfully desire earthly things in order to his glorifying of God and as they may be a help to him in his Christian course and a furtherance to him in his heavenly race Heb. 12. 1. But Secondly We may desire earthly things in subordination to the will of God Lord if it be thy pleasure give me this and that earthly comfort yet not my will but thy will be done Lord thou art the wise Physitian of bodies souls and Nations if it may stand with thy glory give thy sick Patient life health and strength yet not my will but thy will be done But Thirdly We may desire such a measure of earthly things and such a number of earthly things as may be suitable to the Prov. 30. 8 9. 1 Tim. 6. 8. place calling relation and condition wherein the Providence of God has set us As a Master Magistrate Prince Lord Gentleman c. A little of these earthly things and a few of these earthly things may be sufficient to the order place calling and condition of life wherein some men are placed but not sufficient for a King a Lord a Magistrate a General c. These must have their Counsellors their Guards variety of attendance and variety of the creatures c. A little portion of these earthly things is sufficient for some and a great and large portion of these earthly things is but sufficient for others Less may serve the Servant than the Mâ—ster the Child than the Father the Pesant than the Prince c. The too eager pursuit of most men after the things of this world to make up the losses that they sustained by the fire hath been the true cause why I have insisted so largely upon this ninth Duty that we are to learn by that fiery dispensation that hath past upon us The tenth Duty that lyes upon those who have been 10. burnt up is to be very importunate with God to take away those sins that have laid our City desolate and to keep off from sin for the time to come and to look narrowly to your spirits that you do not charge the Lord foolishly because he Mal. 2. 15. has brought you under his fiery rod. Job 1. 16. While he was yet speaking there came also another and said the fire of God is fallen from heaven and hath burnt up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I only am escaped alone to tell thee v. 22. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly The fire of God that is a great fierce and terrible fire that fell from Heaven and consumed Jobs sheep and servants was a more terrible Judgement than all the former Judgements that befell them because God seemed to fight against Job with his own bare hand by fire from Heaven as once he did against Sodom In all this Job sinned not that is in all this that Job suffered acted and uttered there was not any thing that was materially sinful Satan he said that if God would but touch all that he had Job would curse him to his face but when it came to the proof there was no such thing For Job had a fair and full victory over him and Satan was proved a loud lyar For Job sinned not in thought word or deed Job did neither speak nor do any thing that was dishonourable to God or a reproach to his Religion or a wound to his conscience under this fiery tryal Job did not so much as entertain one hard thought concerning God nor let fall one hard word concerning God under all the evils that befell Job Job still thinks well of God and speaks well of God and carries it well towards God Certainly Job had a great deal of God within him
reforms whâ— returns to the Most High who smites upon his thigh whâ— sayes what have I done who finds out the Plague of hiâ— Isa 1. 16 17 18. Psalm 106. Hos 12. 4. own heart who ceaseth from doing evil who learns to do well who stirs up himself to take hold of God who stands in the gap who wrestles and weeps and weeps and wrestles to turn away those judgements that this day threatens us So long as sin remains rampant and men continuâ— impenitent there is reason to fear a worse scourge than any yet we have been under Pharaohs stubbornness did but Exod. 9. 17. increase his plagues the more stout and unyielding we are under judgements the more chains God will still put on Eccles 5. 8. When his hand is lifted up we must either bow or break Such as have been under the smart rebukes of God and John 5. 14. will not take Christs warning to go their way and sin nâ— more have reason to fear his inference that a worse thing will come upon them The face of present Providences looks dismal dreadful sufferings seem to be near very near even at our very doors Yet to prevent fainting we must Isa 26. 20. remember that God never wants chambers to hide his people in till his indignation be over past God hath wayes enough to preserve his wheat even when the whirl-wind carries away the chaff God can find an Ark for his Noahs when a flood of wraâ—h sweeps away sinners on every hand and God can provide a Zoar for his Lots when he rains fire and brimstone upon all round about them Look as God many times by lesser mercies fits his people for greater mercies so God many times by lesser judgements fits his people for greater judgements and who can tell but that the design of God by the late Judgements of Fire Sword and Pestilence is to prepare and sit his people for greater judgements That God might have inflicted greater judgements than any yet he has inflicted upon us I have already proved by an induction of particulars that greater judgements may be prevented and our present mercies continued and â—ncreased it highly concerns us to repent and to turn to the Most High There are seven sorts of men who have high cause to fear worser Judgements than any yet have been inflicted upon them 1. Such who scorn and deride at the Judgements of God Isa 5 19. Jer. 17. 15. and Chap. 20. 8. 2 Pet. 3. 3 4 5. 2. Such who put off the Judgements of God to others who cry out O these Judgements concern such and such but not us 3. Such who are no wayes bettered nor reclaimed by Judgements 4. Such as grow worser and worser under all the warnings and judgements as Pharaoh and Ahaz did Isa 1. 5. Jer. 5. 3. 2 Chren 28. 22 23. 5. Such as make no preparations to meet God when he is in the way of his Judgements Amos 4. 12. 6. Such who are careless Gallioes that do not so much as mind or regard the warnings of God the judgements of God Isa 5. 12 13. 7. Such as put the evil day far from them as they did in Isa 22. 12 13. and as they did in Amos 6. 3. and as the inhabitants of Jerusalem did a little before their City was laid desolate Some Writers tell us that though the Jews had a great many warnings by prodigious signs and fearful apparitions Hegesippus Josephus c. before Jerusalem was besieged and the City destroyed yet most of them expounded the meaning of them in a more favourable sense to themselves than ever God intended till the dreadful vengeance of God overtook them to the utmost It is the greatest wisdom and prudence in the world to prepare and fit for the worst The best way on earth to prevent Judgements from falling upon us or if they do fall to sweeten them to us is to prepare for them But The twelfth Duty that lyes upon those who have been burnt up is to secure the everlasting welfare of their precious and immortal souls O Sirs Londons Ashes tell you to your faces that you cannot secure your Houses your Shops your Estates your Trades but the eternal well being of your souls may be secured Every burnt Citizen carries a Jewel a Pearl of price a rich Treasure about him viz. a Divine Matth. 16. 26. soul which is more worth than all the world As Christ who only went to the price of souls as told us There is Psalm 19. 1 2. much of the Power Wisdom Majesty and Glory of God stampt upon the stately fabrick of this world but there is more of the Power Wisdom Majesty and Glory of God stampt upon an immortal soul The soul is the glory of the Creation What Job speaks of Wisdom is very applicable to the precious Job 28. 13 16 17. soul of man Man knows not the price thereof It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Sapphire The Gold and the Chrystal cannot equal it and the exchange of it shall not be for Jewels of fine Gold The soul is a beam of God a heavenly spark a coelestial plant it is the beauty of man the wonder of Angels Psalm 45. 13. Epictetus and many others of the more refined Heathens have long since said that the body was but the Organ the soul was the man the Merchandize the envy of Devils and the glory of God O how richly and gloriously hath God embroydered the soul The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought Gold The soul is divinely inlaid and enamel'd by Gods own hand The soul is of an Angelical nature it is of a divine Offspring it is a spiritual substance capable of the knowledge of God and of union with God and of communion with God and of an eternal fruition of God The soul is an immortal substance and that not only per gratiam by the grace and favour of God as the body of Adam was in the state of innocency and as the bodies of Saints shall be at the resurrection but per naturam by its own nature having no internal principle of corruption so as it cannot by any thing from within it self cease to be neither can it be annihilated by any thing from without Fear not them which kill the body Matth. 10. 28. but are not able to kill the soul Some have observed to my hand that there are three sorts of created spirits the first of Gregory c. those whose dwellings is not with with flesh or in fleshly bodies they are the Angels the second of those which are wholly immersed in flesh the souls of beasts which rise out of the power of the flesh and perish together with it the third is of those which inhabit bodies of flesh but rise out of the power of the flesh nor dye when the body dyeth and these are the souls
Rulers of this World are as Pliny speaks of the Roman Emperors Nomine Dii Natura Diaboli Monsters not men Murtherers not Magistrates such a Monster was Saul who hunted David as a Partridge slew the innocent Priests of the Lord ran to a Witch and who was a man of so narrow a Soul that he knâ—w not how to look or live above himself his own interests and concernments The great care of every Magistrate Exod. 32. 10 11. 32. Nehem. 5. 6. to 19. Psal 137. 5 6. Acts 13. 36. should be to promote the publick Interest more than their own as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margine together 'T was Caesars high commendation that he never had himself after the World had him for a Governour his mind was so set on the â—ublick that that he forgot his own private Affairs The Stars have their brightness not for themselves but for the use of others The Application is easie My Lord several Philosophers have made excellent and Carneades Aristotle Socrates c. The Roman Orator hath long since observed that the force of Justice is such and so great that even Thieves and Robbers both by Sea and Land who live upon injustice and rapine yet cannot live upon their Trade without some practice of it among themselves Cleobulus one of the seven Sages was wont to say that mediocrity was without compare The very Heathen could set so much divine glory in the face of a Magistrate that he styled him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living Image of the everliving God Magistrates are as Nazianzen expresses it Pictures drawn of God Every Magistrate though in never so low a place bears the Image of God a Penny bears the Image of the Prince as well as a Shilling Magistrates are not immortal Deities neither have they everlasting God-heads Those gods as they had a beginning so they must have an end Quicquid oritur moritur There is a Mene Mene on them their days are numbred their time is computed Hercules his Pillar stands in their way Non datur ultra legant Orations in the praise of justice they say that all Verâ—â—es are compreâ—ended in the distribution of justice Justice saith Aristotle is a Synopsis and Epitome of all Vertues All I shall say is this the world is a Ring and justice is the Diamond in that Ring the world is a body and justice is the soul â—f that body It is well known that the constitution of a mans body is best known by his pulse if it stir not at all then we know he is dead if it stir violently then we know him to be in a Fever if it keep an equal stroke then we know he is sound well and whole So the estate and constitution of a City Kingdom or Common-weal is best known by the manner of executing justice therein for justice is the pulse of a City Kingdom or Common-weal if justice be violent then the City Kingdom or Common-weal is in a Fever in a very bad estate if it stir not at all then the City Kingdom or Common-wealth is dead but if it hath an equal stroke if it be justly and duely administred then the City Kingdom or Common-weal is in a good a safe and a sound condition When Vespasian asked Apollonius what was the cause of Neroes ruine he answered that Nero could tune the Harp well but in Government he did always winde up the strings too high or let them down too low Extreams in Government are the ready way to ruine all The Roâ—â—ns had their Rods for lesser faults and their Ax for capital crimes Extream right often proves extream wrong he that will always go to the utmost of what the Law allows will too too often do more than the Law requires A rigid severity often mars all Equity is still to be perferred before extremity To inflict great penalties and heavy censures for light offences this is to kill a flye upon a mans forehead with a Beetle The great God hath put his own Name upon Magâ—strates Psal 82. 6. I said that ye are gods Yet it must be granted that you are gods in a smaller letter mortal gods gods that must dye like men all the sons of Ish are sons of Adam Magistrates must do justice impartially for as they are called Gods so in this they must be like to God who is no accepter of persons Deur 1. 17. Leviâ— 19. 15. He accepts not of the rich man because of his Robes neither doth he reject the poor man because of his Rags The Magistrates eyes are to be always upon causes and not upon persons Both the Statues of the Theban Judges and the Statues of the Egyptian Judges were made without hands and without eyes to intimate to us that as Judges should have no hands to receive Bribes so they should have no eyes to see a friend from a foe or a brother from a stranger in judgment And it was the Oath of the Heathen Judges as the Orator relates Audiam accusatorem reum sine affectibus personâ—rum respectione I will hear the Plaintiff and the Defendant with an equal mind without affection and respect of persons In the twelfth Novel of Justinian you may read of an Oath imposed upon Judges and Justices against inclining or addicting themselves to either party yea they put themselves under a deep and bitter execration and curse in case of partiality imploring God in such language as this Let me have my part with Judas and let the Leprosie of Gehâ—zi cleave to me and the trembling of Cain come upon me and whatsoever else may astonish and dismay a man if I am partial in the administration of justice The Poet in the Greek Epigram taught the silver Ax of justice that was carried before the Roman Magistrates to proclaim If thou be an offendeâ— let not the silver flatter thee if an innocent let not the Ax 〈◊〉 â—ight thee The Athenian Judges judged in the night when the faces of men could not be seen that so they might be impartial in judgment My Lord your impartiality in the administration of justice in that high Orb wherein Divine Providence hath placed you is one of those great things that hath made you high and honourable in the eyes and hearts of all that are true lovers of impartial justice Some Writers say that some Waters in Macedonia being drunk by black sheep change their fleece into white Nothing but the pure and impartial administration of justice and judgment can transform black mouth'd black-handed and black hearted men into white There is nothing that sweetens satisfies and silences all sorts of men like the Isa 1. 23 24. administration of impartial justice the want of this brought desolation upon Jerusalem and the whole Land of Jury and upon many other flourishing Kingdoms and Countries as all August de Civitate Dei lib. 10. cap. 21 c. lib. 4. cap. 4. Lipsius de constan l. 2. c.
of its Ruines and to see the Top-stone laid your great readiness and willingness to spend and be spent for the publick Good these are the things that have made your Name as a precious Oyntment and that have erected for you a noble living Monument in the breasts and hearts of all sober serious Christians these are the things that have made you the Darling of the people Let all succeeding Lord Mayors but manage their own Persons Families and Government as you have done by divine assistance and without a peradventure they will have a proportionable interest in the hearts and affections of the people For my Lord 't is not barely the having of a Sword of Justice a Sword of Power but the well management of that Sword that makes most for the interest both of Prince and People and that gives the Magistrate a standing interest in the hearts and affections of the people My Lord the generality of people never concern themselves about the particular perswasions of this or that Magistrate in the matters of Religion their eyes are upon their Examples and upon the management of their Trust and Power for publick Good and they that do them most good shall be sure to have most of â—heir hearts and voices lâ—â— their private opinions in the matters of Religion be what they will My Lord I have not so learned Christ as to give flattering Titles to men the little that I have written I have written in Job 32. 22. the plainness and singleness of my heart and for your Lordships comfort and encouragement in all well doing and to provoke all â—thers that shall succeed in your Chair to write after that fair Copy that you have set them which will be their Honour London's Happiness and Englands Interest Plutarch said of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy Acts of his Ancestors but not so at imitating them The Lord grant that this may never be made good of any that shall succeed your Lordship Carus the Emperours Motto was Bonus Dux bonus Comes A good Leader makes a good Follower The complaint is ancient in Seneca that commonly men live not ad rationem but Seneca de vita beata cap. 1. ad similitudinem Praecepta docent exempla movent Precepts may instruct but Examples do perswade Stories speak of some that could not sleep when they thought of the Trophies of other Worthies that went before them the highest Examples are very quickning and provoking O that by all that shall succeed your Lordship in the Chair we may yet behold our City rising more and more out of its Ashes in greater splendour and glory then ever yet our eyes have seen it that all sober Citizens may have eminent cause to call them the Repairers of the Breaches Isa 58. 12. Chap. 61. 4. Amos 9. 14. Ezek. 36. 33 34 35 36 38. Dan. 9. 25. and Restorers of our City to dwell in Concerning Jerusalem burned and laid waste by the Assyrians Daniel foretold that the streets and the walls thereof should be rebuilded even in troublesom times Though the Assyrians have laid our Jerusalem waste yet even to a wonder how have the Buildings been carried on this last year My Lord the following Treatise which I humbly dedicate to your Lordship has been drawn up some years the Reasons why it has been buried so long in oblivion are not here to be inserted the Discourse is sober and of great importance to all that have been burnt up and to all whose Houses have escaped the furious Flames Whilst the remembrance of London's Flames are kept alive in the thoughts and hearts of men this Treatise will be of use in the world My Lord I do not dedicate this Tractate to your Lordship as if it stood in need of your Honours Patronage I judge it to be of Age both to plead for it self and to defend it self against all Gain-sayers Veritas vincit veritas stat in aperto campo Zeno Socrates Anaxarchus My Lord some sacrifice their labours to great Maecenas's that they may be aton'd to shield them from potent Antagonists but these Sermons which here I present to your Honours perusal being only the blessed Truths of God I hope they need no arm but his to defend them c. sealed the lean and barren truths of Philosophy with the expence of their dearest blood as you may see in the Heathen Martyrologie O how much more should we be ready to seal all divine Truths with our dearest blood when God shall call us forth to such a Service My Lord I humbly lay this Treatise at your Lordships foot to testifie that Love and Honour that I have in my heart for you both upon the account of that intrinsecal Worth that is in you and upon the account of the many good things and great things that have been done by you and publickly to testifie my acknowledgment of your Lordships undeserved Favours towards me My Lord of right this Treatise should have been in your hands several months since and in that it was not it is wholly from others and not from me If your Lordship please but to favour the Author so far as to read it once over for his sake he doubts not but that your Lordship will oftner read it over for your own Souls sake and for Eternities sake and for London's sake also My Lord by reason of my being remote from the City several weeks I have had the advantage but of reading and correcting two or three sheets and therefore must beg your Lordships pardon as to all the neglects and escapes of the Press A second Impression may set all right and straight My Lord that to your dying day you may be famous in your Generation and that your precious and immortal Soul may be richly adorned with all saving Gifts and Graces and that you may daily enjoy a clear close high and standing Communion with God and that you may be filled with all the fruits of Righteousness and Holiness and that your Soul may be bound up in the bundle of Life and crowned with the highest Glory in that other World in the free full constant and uninterrupted Enjoyment of that God who is the Heaven of Heaven and the Glory of Glory is and by divine Assistance shall be the earnest prayers of him who is Your Honours in all humble and due Observance Thomas Brooks The Fiery Jesuits Temper and Behaviour I Fain would be informed by you what ails These Foxes to wear Fire-brands in their tails What did you teach these Cubs the World to burn Or to embottle London in its Vrn Are Hugonots as rank Philistins grown With you as dwelt in Gath or Askelon Bold Wretches must your Fire thus antedate The General Doom and give the World its Fate Must Hells Edict to blend this Globe with Fire Be done at your grave Nods when you require THE TABLE A. Of strange Apparel OF the Vanity of strange Apparel Page 56
remember this inordinate love to the world will expose a man to seven great losses Viz. First To the loss of many precious opportunities of grace Rich Felix had no leisure to hear poor Paul and Martha Acts 24. Luke 10. John 7. busied about many things had no time to hear Christ preach though never man preacht as he preacht Men inordinately in love with the world have so much to do on earth that they have no time to look up to Heaven Secondly To the loss of all heavenly benefit and profiâ— by the Ministry of the World nothing will grow where Ezek. 33. 31 32 33. Math. 13. 22. gold grows where the love of the world prevails there the Ministry of the Word will not prevail If the love of the world be too hard for our hearts then the Ministry of the Word will work but little upon our hearts Thirdly To the loss of the face and favour of God God doth not love to smile upon those who are still smiling upon Psal 30. 6. Isa 57. 17. the world and still running after the world The face and favour of God are Pearls of price that God bestows upon none but such whose conversation is Heaven and who have Phil. 3. 20. the Moon viz. all things that are changeable as the Moon Rev. 12. 1 2. under their feet God never loves to lift up the light of his countenance upon a dunghil-spirited man God hides his face from none so much and so long as from those who are still longing after more and more of the world Fourthly To the loss of Religion and the true Worship and Service of God as you may see by comparing of the Scriptures in the Margine together Many Worldings deal 2 Tim. 4. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 10. Jer. 5. 7. Deut. 32. 15. Hos 4 7. Hos 13. 6. with Religion as Masons deal with their Ladders when they have work to do and to climb c. O then how they hug and embrace the Ladder and carry it on their arms and on their shoulders but then when they have done climbing they hang the Ladder on the Wall or throw it into a corner O Sirs there is no loss to the loss of Religion a man were better lose his name his estate his limbs his liberty his life his all then lose his Religion Fifthly To the loss of Communion with God and Acquaintance with God A man whose Soul is conversant Deut. 8. 10 11. Jer. 2. 31. Chap. 22. 21. Psal 144. 15. with God shall find more pleasure delight and content in a desart in a den in a dungeon and in death then in the Palace of a Prince Mans summum bonum stands in his Communion with God as Scripture and Experience evidences nay God and I are good company said famous Doctor Sibs Macedonius the Hermit retiring into the Wilderness that he might with more freedom enjoy God and have his Conversation in Heaven upon a time there came a young Gentleman into the Wilderness to hunt wild beasts and seeing he Hermit he rode to him asking him why he came into that solitary place he desired he might have leave to ask him the same question why he came thither I came hither to hunt said the young Gallant and so do I saith the Hermit Deum venor meum I hunt after my God they hunt best who hunt most after Communion with God Vrbanus Regius having one days converse with Luther said it was Adam in vit Regii p. 78. one of the sweetest days that ever he had in all his life but what was one days yea one years converse with Luther to one hours converse with God Now an inordinate love of the world will eat out all a mans Communion with God A man cannot look up to Heaven and look down upon the Earth at the same time But Sixthly To the loss of his precious and immortal Soul Shemei by seeking his servant lost his life and many by Math. 16. 26. 1 Tim. 6. 9. an eager seeking after this world lose their precious and immortal Souls Many have so much to do â—n Earth that they have no time to look up to Heaven to honour their God to secure their Interest in Christ or to make sure work for their Souls But Seventhly To the loss of the world for by their inordinate love of the world they highly provoke God to stâ—ip them of the world Ah how rich might many a man have been had he minded Heaven more and the world less When men set their hearts so greedily upon the world 't is just with God to blast and curse and burn up all their worldly comforts round about them Fourthly Many in London were fallen under spiritual decays witherings and languishings in their graces in their comforts in their communions and in their spiritual strength They are fallen from their first love The flame of divine Rev. 2. 4. The Nutmeg tree makes barren all the ground about it so doth the spice of worldly love make the heart barren of grace Vâ—sin observes that the sins and barrenness under the Gospel in the Protestants in King Edwards days brought in the Persecution in Queen Maries days love being blown out God sends a flaming fire in the midst of them Many Londoners were fallen into a spiritual Consumption and to recover them out of it God sent a fire amongst them Many in London were withered in their very Profession where was that visible forwardness that zeal that diligence in waiting upon the Lord in his Ordinances that once was to be found amongst the Citizens of London And many Citizens were withered in their Conversations and Converse one with another There was not that graciousness that holiness that spiritualness that heavenliness that fruitfulness that examplariness that seriousness and that profitableness sparkling and shining in their Conversations and Converse one with another as once was to be found amongst them And many were withered in their affections Ah what a flame of love what a flame of joy what a flame of desires what a flame of delight what a flame of zeal as to the best things was once to be found amongst the Citizens of London but how were those mighty flames of affection reduced to a few coals and cinders and therefore no wonder if God sent a flaming fire in the midst of them and many were withered in their very Duties and Services how slight how formal how cold how careless how remiss how neglective were many in their Families in their Closets and in their Church-communions who heretofore were mighty in praying and wrestling with God and mighty in lamenting and mourning over sin and mighty in their groanings and longings after the Lord and who of old would have taken the Kingdom of Heaven by violence Math. 11. 12. There were many in that great City that had lost their spiritual taste they could not taste that sweetness in Promises 2 Sam. 19. 35 in
green and dry trees and that all these things were dark and of obscure to them they put off all the Prophet spoke as Allegorical as Mystical and as Aenigmatical and as dark visions and as dreams and imaginations and divinations of his own brain and therefore they needed not much mind what he said Now mark these Athâ—ists what do they do they provoke the Lord to kindle a fire a universal fire an unquenchable fire an inextinguishable fire in the midst of Jerusalem which is here termed a Forest by reason of its barrenness and unfruitfulness and the multitudes that were in it and because it was fit for nothing but the Ax and the fire Atheiâ—m is a sin that has brought the greatest woes miseries destructions and desolations imaginable upon the most flourishing Kingdoms and most glorious Cities in the World Holy Mr. Greenham was wont to say that he feared rather Atheism then Popery would be Englands ruine O Sirs were there none within the Walls of London that said in their hearts with Dâ—vids Atheistical Psal 14. 1. fool There is no God Caligula the Emperor was such a one and Claudius thought himself a God till the loud Thunder affrighted him and then he hid himself and cryed Claudius nâ—n est Dâ—us Claudius is not a â—od Leo the X. Hilderbrand the Magician and Alexander the vI and Juâ—w the II. were all most wretched Atheists and thought tâ—aâ— whatever was said of Christ of Heaven of Hell of the day of Judgment and of the â—mmortality of the Soul were but dreams impostures toys and old wives fables Pope Paul the III. at the time of his death said he should now be resolved of three Qâ—estions that he had doubted of all his life 1. Whether the Soul was immortal or no 2. Whether there were a Hell or no 3. Whether there were a God or no And another grand Atheist said I know what I have here but I know not what I shall have hereafter Now were there no such Atheists within the Walls of London before it was turned in ashes The Atheist in Psal 10. 11. say He will never see and in Psal 94. 7. they rise higher they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it They labour to lay a Law of restraint upon God and to cast a mist before the Eye of his Providence And in Isa 29. 15. they say Who seeth us who knoweth us And in Ezek. 9. 9. they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not These Atheists shut up God in Heaven as a blind and ignorant God not knowing or not regarding what iâ— done on the Earth they imagine him to be a forgetful God or a God that seeth not Psal 73. 11. they say How doth God know and is there knowledge in the most High Thus they deny Gods Omnisciency and Gods Omnipresency which to do is to ungod the great God as much as in them lyes Now were there no such Atheists within the Walls of London before it was destroyed by fire O how did practicaâ— Atheism abound in London How many within thy Walls O London did profess they knew God but in their works did deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto Titus 1. 16. every good work reprobate O Sirs some there are that live loosely under the Gospel that run into all excâ—ss of riot and that in the face of all promises and threatnings mercies and Judgments yea in the very face of life and death of Heaven and Hell and others there are that sin freely in secret that can be drunk and filthy in the dark when the eye of man is not upon them Certainly those mens hearts are very Atheistical that dare do that in the sight of God which they tremble to do before the eyes of men How many are there that put the evil day far from them that flatter themselves in their sins that with Agage conclude surely the bitterness of death is past and that Hell and wrath is past and that they are in a fair way for Heaven when every step they take is towards the bottomless pit And divine vengeance hangs over their heads ready every moment to fall upon them Are there not many that seldom pray and when they do how cold how careless how dull how dead how heartless how irreverent are they in all their addresses to the great God Are there not many such Atheists that use no prayer nor Bible but make Lucian their Old Testament and Machiavel their New Are there not many that grant there is a God but then 't is such a God as is made up all of mercy and thereupon they think and speak and do as wickedly as they please And are there not some that look upon God as a sin-revenging God and thereupon wish that there were no God or else that they were above him as Spira did And are there not others that have very odd and foolish conceptions of God as if he were an old man sitting in Heaven with royal Robes upon his back a glorious Crown upon his head and a Kingly Scepter in his hand and as if he had all the parts and proportion of a man as the Papists are pleased to picture him Some there are that are so drowned in sensual pleasures that they scarce remember that they have a God to honour a Hell to escape a Heaven to secure Souls to save and an Account to give up And others there are who when they find conscience begin to accuse and terrifie them then with Cain they Gen. 4. 1 Sam. 18. 6. 10. Job 31. 24. Phil. 3. 19. go to their buildingâ— or with Saul to their musick or with the Drunkards to their cups or with the Gamesters to their sports Some there are that make their gold their God as the Covetous others make their bellies their God as the Drunkard and the Glutton Some make Honours their Amos 6. Math. 23. God as the Ambitious and others make pleasures their God as the Voluptuous Some make religious Duties their God as the carnal Gospellers and others make their moral vertues their God as the civil honest man Now what abundance of such Atheists were there within and without the Walls of London before the fiery Judgment past upon it The Scripture attributes the ruine of the old world to Gen. 6. Atheism and Prophaneness and why may not I attribute the ruine and desolation of London to the same Practical Atheists are enough to overthrow the most flourishing Nations and the most flourishing Cities that are in all the World But to prevent all mistakes in a business of so great a concernment give me leave to say That if we speak of Atheists in a strict and proper sense as meaning such as have simply and constantly denied all Deity then I must say that there was never any such creature in the world as simply and constantly to deny that there is a God It is an
the heels and hurled him over-board and then the storm ceased and the Sea was quieâ— It will be hard to name an Atheist either in the holy Scripture or in Ecclesiastical Histories or in Heathen Writings which came not to some fearful end and therefore no wonder if Austin would not be an Atheist for half an hour for the gain of a million of worlds because he knew not but God might in that time make an end of him I have been the longer upon this Head because Atheist and Atheism did never so abound in this Land as it hath done these last years And that you may the clearer see who they are that have brought that sad Judgment of Fire upon that once glorious City of London Ah London London 't was the gross Atheism and the practical Atheist that was within and without thy Walls that has turned thee into a ruinous heap Mark I readily grant that there is the seeds reliques stirring and moving of Atheism in the best and holiest of the Sons of men but then 1. They disallow of it and discountenance it 2. 'T is lamented and bewailed by them 3. They oppose it and conflict with it 4. They use all holy and conscientious means and endeavours to be rid of it 5. By degrees they get ground against it and therefore God never did nor never will turn Cities or Kingdomâ— into flames for those seeds and remains of Atheism that are to be found in the best of Saints 't is that Atheism that is rampant that raigns in the hearts and lives of sinners as a Prince raigns upon his Throne that brings desolating and destroying Judgments upon the most flourishing Kingdoms and the most glorious Cities that are in the World But Secondly Luxury and Intemperance bring desolating and destroying Judgments upon Places and Persons Joel 1. 5. Awake ye drunkards and weep and howl all ye drinkers of In Ecclesiastical History you may read of one Drunkard who being toucht with his sin wept himself blind but the Drunkards of our days are more apt to drink themselves blind then to weep themselves blind wine because of the new wine for it is cut off from your mouth Verse 19. O Lord to thee will I cry for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flames have burnt all the trees of the field Verse 20. The beasts of the field cry unto thee for the rivers of the water are dryed up and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness Luxury is a sin that brings both famine and fire upon a people it brought the Chaldeans upon the Jews who by fire and sword laid all waste The Horses of the Caldees destroyed their Pastures Vines Fig-trees Pomegranates c. which grew in many places of the Land and their Souldiers set their houses on fire and so brought all to ruine Amos 6. 1. Wo to them that are at ease in Zion Verse 3. That put far away the evil day Verse 4. That lye upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall Verse 5. That chant to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of musick like David Verse 6. That drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments but they are not grieved for the affliction of Josâ—ph Verse 7. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed Verse 8. The Lord God hath sworn by himself saith the Lord God of Hosts I abhor the excellency of Jacob and hate his palaces therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein Verse 11. For behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts Luxury is a sin that forfeits all a mans enjoyments that turns him out of house and home Samaria was a very glorious City and a very strong City and a very rich City and a very populous City and a very ancient City c. and yet Luxury and Intemperance turned it into ashes it brought desolating and destroying Judgments upon it The rich Citizens of Samaria were given up to mirth and musick to Luxuries and excesses to riotousness and drunkenness to feasting and carousing and by these vanities and debaucheries they provoked the Lord to command the Chaldeans to fall on and to spoil them of their riches and to lay their glorious City in ashes So 't was Luxury and Intemperance that provoked the Lord to rain Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah Luxury turned those rich and populous Gen. 18. Cities into ruinous heaps Ah London London the Luxuries and excesses the riotousness and drunkenness the mad feasting and carousing that have been within and without thy Walls that have been within thy great Halls Taverns and other great Houses hath turned thee into ashes and laid thy glory in the dust O you burnt Citizens of London what shameful spewing hath been in some of your Feasts as if Sardanapolus Apicius and Heliogabalus were still alive How often have many of you poured into your bodies such intoxicating drinks as hath many times laid you asleep stript you of your reason took away your hearts robbed you of your selves and laid a beast in your room Drunkenness is so base so vile a sin that it transforms the Soul deforms the body bereaves the brain betrays the strength defiles the affections and metamorphoseth the whole man yea it unmans the man Cyrus the Persian Xenophon Monarch being demanded of his Grandfather Astyages why he would drink no wine answered For fear lest they give me poyson for saith he yesterday when you celebrated your Nativity I judged that some body had poysoned all the wine they drunk because at the taking away of the Cloth not one of all those that were present at the Feast arose in his right mind Hath it not been thus with many of you if it hath lay your hands upon your mouths and say the Lord is righteous though he hath laid your houses in ashes Anacharses used to say that the first cup of wine was for thirst the second for nourishment the third for mirth and the fourth for madness but what would he have said had he lived within or without the Walls of London these last six years Ah London London were there none Isa 5. 22. Hab. 2. 17. within nor without thy Walls that were strong to drink and that gave their neighbour drink and that put the bottle to them to make them drunk that they might look on their nakedness Were there none within nor without thy Walls that with Marcus Antonius Darius Alexander the Great c. did boast and glory and pride themselves in their great abilities to drink down any that should come into their Company Were there none within nor without thy Walls O London
spent a great Estate in luxurious living jesting at his own folly he said that he had left nothing for his Heir more then air and mire Philip King of Macedon making War upon the Persians understood that they were a luxurious people he presently withdrew his Army saying it was needless to make War upon them who by their Luxury would shortly overthrow themselves But Sixthly Intemperance robs men of everlasting happiness and blessedness it shuts them out from all the glory of that upper world and tumbles them down to the lowest Hell as Gal. 5. 19 20 21. Luke 16. 19. 'to the 26. you may see in that great instance of luxurious Dives The intemperate mans table proves a snare to his Soul fulness breeds forgetfulness wantonness blockishness and stupidity and therefore no wonder if God shuts the gates of glory against intemperate persons Look as no Leper might be in Numb 5. Judg. 12. Chap 7. Deut. 23. the Camp of Israel and as no Gileadite might pass over Jordan and as no fearful man might enter into the wars of Midian and as no bastard might enter into the Sanctuary So no luxurious person shall enter into Heaven Of all sorts of sinners the luxurious sinner is most rarely reformed the Adulterer may become chast the Thief may become an honest man the Swearer may obtain a sanctified tongue But how rare is it to see a luxurious person repent break off his sins close with Christ and walk to Heaven Luxurious persons Math. 21. 31 32. Luke 23. 43. eat and drink away their Christ yea they eat and drink away their Souls nay they eat and drink away their own Salvation They that serve their own bellies serve not the Rom. 16. 10. Lord Jesus Christ and therefore they shall never raign with him in the other world Certainly that man that makes Phil. 3. 19. his belly his God shall be for ever separated from God All Belly-gods shall at last be found in the belly of Hell the intemperate person hath his Heaven here his Hell is to come Now he has his sweet cups his merry cups his pleasant cups O but there is a cup of shame and sorrow and this shall be their portion for ever and ever The intemperate person Psal 11. 6. hath been a gulf to devour many mercies and therefore he shall at last be cast into a gulf of endless miseries In a word Intemperance is another sin a breeding sin 't is a sin that is an inlet to all other sins we may well call it Gad for behold Deut. 32. 17. 24. Jer. 5. 7 8 9. a Troop cometh O the pride the oppression the cruelty the security the uncleanness the filthiness the prophaneness that comes trooping after Intemperance And therefore Aristotle concludes that double punishments are due to Drunkards first for their drunkenness and then for other sins committed in and by their drunkenness Now seeing that Intemperance and Luxury is so great a sin is it any wonder to see divine Justice turn the most glorious Cities in the world into a ruinous heap when this sin of Intemperance is rampant in the midst of them Ah London London the Intemperance and Luxury that has been within and without thy Walls has brought the desolating Judgment of Fire upon thee that has laid all thy glory in ashes and Rubbish How many great houses where there once within and without thy Walls that should have been publick Schools of Piety and Vertue but were turned into meer Nurseries of Est 1. 6 7. Luxury and Debauchery How have the â—ules of the Persian Civility been forgotten in the midst of thee How many within and without thy Walls did make their belly their God their Kitchin their Religion their Dresser their Altar and their Cook their Minister whose whole felicity did lye in eating and drinking whose bodies were as sponges and whose throats were as open sepulchres to take in all precious Liquors and whose bellies were as graves to bury all Gods Creatures in And how have many men been forced to unman themselves either to please some or to avoid the anger or wrath of others or else to gain the honourable Character of being a high Boy or of one that was strong to drink among oâ—herâ— or to drink down others O the drunken Matches that have been within and without thy Walls O London the Lord has seen them and been provoked by them to kindle a fire in the midst of thee Luxury is a sin that never goes alone it hath many other great sins aâ—tâ—nding and waiting on it it is as the Nave in the wheel which turning about all the Spokes turn with it Idleness fighting quarrelling jewling whoring cheating stealing robbing Prov. 23. 29 30 31 32 33. are the hand-maids that wait on Luâ—ury and therefore no wonder if God has appeared in flames of fiâ—e against it I have been the longer upon this Head because Luxury Intemperance is one of the great Darling-sins of our Age and day 't is grown to Epidemical not only in the City but in the Countries also and 't is a very God-dishonouring and a God-provoking and a Soul-damning and a Land-destroying sin and O that what I have writ might be so blest as to put some effectual stop to those notorious publick Excesses and Luxuries that have been and still are rampant in most Parts of the Land But now Beloved this sin of Luxury and Intemperance I cannot charge with clear and full evidence upon the people of the Lord that did truly fear him and sincerely serve him whose habitations were once within or without the Walls of London nay this I know that for this very sin among others their Souls did often mourn before the Lord in secret And truly of such Christians that live and wallow in Luxury and Intemperance if we compare their lives and Christs Laws together I think we may confidently conclude Aut haec non est Lex Christi aut nos non sumus Christiani Either this is not Christianity or we are not Christians And thus Tâ—rtullian Cyprian Justin Martyr and others concluded against the luxurious and intemperate Christians of their times Salvian relates Salvianus de Gratia Dei lib. 4. how the Heathen did reproach such luxurious Christians who by their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a reproach Where said the Heathen is that good Law which they do believe where are those Rules of Godlinesâ— which they do learn They read the holy Gospel and yet are unclean they hear the Apostles Writings and yet are drunk they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they profess a holy Law and yet do lead impure lives And Ponormitan having read the 5 6 and 7 Chapters of Mathew and comparing the loose and luxurious lives of Christians with those Rules of Christ concluded that either that was no Gospel or the people no Christians The loose and luxurious lives of many Christians was as Lactantius
much sweetness in it that it made him say that hâ— would not live in Paradise if he might without the Word at cum Verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere but with the Word he could live in Hell it self Dolphins they say love Musick and so do gracious Souls love the Musick of the Gospel The Gospel is like the stone Garamantides that hath drops of gold within it self enriching all that will embrace it and conform to it and this the Saints have found by experience and therefore they cannot but delight in it and draw sweetness from it Aglutuidas never relished any dish better then what was distâ—sted by others So do the Saints relish that Gospel best that others distaste most and therefore I cannot charge this sin fairly upon them But Fourthly There are none that do so highly prize the Gospel and that set so high a value upon the Gospel as those do who have experienced the saving power of the Gospel upon their own Souls such prefer the Gospel before all their nearest and dearest concernments and enjoyments that they Rev. 12. 11. Rev. 2. 12 13. Heb. 11. 33 38. Luther speaking of the Gospel saith that the shortest line and the least letter thereof is more then all Heaven and Earth Tertul. Apol. cap. 5. have in this world As might be made evident from their practice in the primitive times and in the Marian days and in those late years that are now past over our heads The Tabernacle was covered over with red and the purple Feathers tell us they take that habit for the same intent to note that we must defend the truth of the Gospel even to the effusion of blood and this they have made good in all the Ages of the World who have found the saving power of the Gospel upon their own Souls Tertullian concludes that the Gospel must needs be a precious thing because Nero hated it and indeed it was so precious to the Saints in his days that they very willingly and chearfully laid down their lives for the Gospel sake Now the same Spirit rests upon the Saints in our days and therefore upon this ground I cannot charge that horrid sin of slighting scorning and contemning of the Gospel upon them Israel had three Crowns as the Talmud observes 1. of the King 2. of the Priest 3. of the Law but the Crown of the Law that was the chief of the three Fifthly Who were so ready and free to countenance the Gospel and to maintain the Gospel and to encourage the faithful and painful Preachers of the Gospel as those that had found the sweet of the Gospel and the saving power of the Gospel upon their own Souls They like well of Religion without expence in Basil and a Gospel without charge in Nazianzene but if it grow costly 't is no commodity for their money Now this was the very frame and temper of many thousands in London who never experienced the saving work of the Gospel upon their poor Souls but they were of another frame and temper of spirit in London upon whom the Gospel was fallen in power and therefore I may not charge upon them this odious sin of slighting scorning and contemning the Gospel But Sixthly Who were there within or without the Walls of London that were so much in a hearty and serious blessing praising and admiring of the Lord and his goodness for bringing them forth in Gospel-times as those that had a saving work of the Gospel upon their own Souls When Alexander was born his Father Philip blessed such Gods as he had not so much that he had a Son as that he had him in Aristotles days he was thankful for natural and moraldiscoveries The clearest the choicest the fullest and the sweetest visions and discoveries that we have of God on this side Eternity we have in the Gospel and this they frequently experience who have found the Gospel falling in power upon their Souls and therefore they cannot but always have Harps in their hands and Hallelujahs in their mouths Rev. 14. 1 2. 3 4. Chap. 19. 1. to vers 8. upon this very account that they have lived under the warm Sun-shine of the Gospel and therefore I shall not charge this vile sin of slighting scornâ—ng and contemning the Gospel upon them who above all oâ—her men were most exercised in a serious and hearty blessing and praising of God for his glorious Gospel Some there were that blest God for their yearly incomes and others there were that blest God for their prosperous relations and friends and many there were that blest God for their deliverance from various perils and dangers But those that had the Gospel working in power upon them they made it their business and work above all to bless the Lord for the Gospel and therefore who dare charge upon them the contempt of the Gospel But Seventhly and lastly There were none within nor without the Walls of London that have suffered so many things and such hard things for the enjoyment of the Gospel in its power and purity as they have done who have found the powerful and saving work of the Gospel upon their own Souls such have been as signs and wonders in Israel in London Now what folly and vanity would it be to charge Isa 8. 18. them with slighting scorning and contemning of the Gospel who have been the only sufferers for the Gospel sake And thus much for the twelfth sin that brings the fiery Dispensation upon Cities and People The sin that brings the fiery Dispensation upon a People and that provokes the Lord to lay their Cities desolate is a course a trade of lying Nahum 3. 1. Wo to the bloody City it is all full of lyes Verse 7. And it shall come to pass that alâ— they that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say Nineveh is laid waste who will bemoan her whence shall I seek comforters for thee Verse 13. Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thine enemies the fire shall devour thy bars that is thy strong holds for so the word bars is frequently taken as you may see by comparing the â—criptures in the Margine together Nineveh 1 Sam. 23. 7. 1 Kings 4. 13 2 Chron. 8. 5. Chap. 14. 7. Jer. 49. 31. and Chap. 51. 30. Lam. 2. 9. Amos 1. 5. was a great City a rich City a populous city a trading City 't was a City that was wholly made up of fraud and falshood it was all full of lyes or it was full of all sorts of lyes there was no truth to be found either in her private contracts or in her publick transactions and capitulations with other Nations and therefore the Lord resolves to lay her desolate and to consume her with fire So Jâ—r 9. 3. And they bend their tongues like their how for lyes Verse 5. And they will deceive every one his neighbour and
sudden death and of Haman who slandering Mordecai and the Jews and by his lyes plotting their ruine was taken in the same snare that he had laid for them and both he and his Sons hanged upon the same Gallows which he had made for innocent Mordecai The same Chap. 7. 9. And Chap. 9. 13 14. Lyar that was feasting with the King one day was made a feast for Crows the next day Dreadful are the threatnings that the great God has given out against lyars Psal 5. 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing Such as lye in jest will without repentance go to Hell in earnest Psal 12. 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things God by one Judgment or another in one way or another will cut off all flattering lying lips as a rotten member is cut off from the body or as a barren tree that is stocked up that it may cumber the ground no more Psal 120. 2 3 4. Deliver my soul O Lord from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue sharp arrows of the Mighty God will retaliate sharp for sharp with coals of juniper The coals of Juniper burn hot and last long some say a month and more and smell sweet Now upon these coals will God broil lying lips and a deceitful tongue pleasing himself and others in the execution of his wrath upon a lying tongue Prov. 19. 5. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lyes shall not escape Though men sometimes by lying may escape the displeasure of men yet they shall never by lying escape the wrath and displeasure of God Wrath is for that man and that man is for wrath who hath taught his tongue the trade of lying Hos 12. 1. Ephraim daily increaseth lyes and desolation Desolation is the fruit and consequent of lying sin and punishment are inseparable companions they who heap up lyes hasten desolation both upon themselves and the places where they live Now if lying be a sin so hateful and odious to God no wonder if God appears in flaming fire against it But Fourthly and lastly Lying is a sin against the Light and Law of Nature it is a sin against natural Conscience and therefore 't is that a little child will blush many times when he tells a lye It was observed of Pomponius Atticus Ciceroes great Friend that he never used lying neither could he with patience lend his ear to a Lyar. Tennes the Son of Cyrnus who was worshipped as a God was so strict in judgment that he caused an Ax to be held over the witnesses head to execute them out of hand if they were taken with faâ—shood or a lye Among the Scythians when their Priests foretold an untruth they were carried along upon hurdles full of heath and dry wood drawn by oxen and manacled hand and foot and burnt to death Aristotle saith by the Arist Ethic. lib. 4. cap. 7. light of natural Reason that a lye is evil in in self and cannot be dispensed withal it being contrary to the Order of Nature For saith he we have tongues given us to express our minds and meanings one to another by Now if our tongues tell more or less then our minds conceive it is against Nature It is said of Epaminondas a Heathen that he abhorred mendacium jocosum a jefting lye Plutarch calls Lying a Tinkerly sin a sin that is both hateful and shameful Euripedes saith that he is unhappy who rather useth lyes though seemingly good then truths when he judgeth them evil To think the truth saith Plato is honest but a filthy and dishonest thing to lye I could saith my Author both sigh and smile at the simplicity of some Pagan people in America who having told a lye used to let their tongues blood in expiation thereof A good cure for the Squinancy but no satisfaction for lying These Heathens will one day rise in Judgment against such amongst us as make no conscience of lying To bring things close those that lived within and without the Walls of London that were given up to a trade a course of lying those persons sinned with a high hand not only against the Light of Nature but also against as clear as glorious a Gospel-light as ever shined round a people since Christ was upon the Earth and therefore no wonder if God hath laid their City in ashes He that sâ—all seriously dwell upon these four things viz. 1. That lying is a very great sin 2. That Lyes and Lyars are very destructive to all humane Societies Kingdoms and Common-wealths 3. That Lying is a sin most hateful and odious to God 4. That Lying is a sin against the Light and Law of Nature he will see cause enough to justifie the Lord in that late dreadful Fire that has thus been amongst us But before I close up this Particular give me leave to say That this trade this course of Lying that brings that sore Judgment of Fire upon Cities and Countries I cannot charge with any clear evidence upon those that did truly fear the Lord whose habitations were once within or without the Walls of London before it was turned into a ruinous heap and that upon these grounds First Because a trade a course of Lying is not consistent with the truth or state of Grace A trade a course of drunkennesâ— Psal 139. 23 24. 1 Joh. 3. 6 7 8 9 10. of whoring of swearing of cursing is as inconsistent with a state of Grace as a trade a course of Lying is I know Jacob lyed and David lyed and Peter lyed but none of these were ever given up to a trade of lying to a course of lying The best Saints have had their extravagant motions and have sadly miscarried as to particular actions but he Vna actio noâ— denominat that shall judge of a Christians estate by particular acts though notorious bad will certainly condemn where God â—cquits We must always distinguish between some single evil actions and a serious course of evil actions It is not this or that particular evil action but a continued course of evil actions that denominates a man wicked As it is not this or that particular good act but a continued course of holy actions that denominates a man holy Every man is as his course is if his course be holy the man is holy if his course be wicked the man is wicked There is a Maxime in Logick viz. That no general Rule can be established upon a particular Instance And there is another Maxime in Logick viz. That no particular Instance can overthrow a general Rule So here look as no man can safely and groundedly conclude from no better premises then from some few particular actions though in themselves materially and substantially good that this or that mans spiritual estate is good so on the other hand no man ought
you may say Pray Sir why is God so severe as to turn stately Cities rich and populous Cities great and glorious Cities into a ruinous heap for shedding the blood of the Just Answ Because next to the blood of Christ the blood of the Just is the most precious blood in all the world Mark there are these nine things that speak out the preciousness of the blood of the Just First Clear and plain Scriptures speak out the blood of the Saints to be precious He shall redeem their soul from deceit Psal 73. 32 33. Psal 72. 14. and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight And so Psal 116. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints But Secondly The cry of their blood reaches as high as Heaven and this speaks it out to be precious blood Gen. 4 10 11. Crying is ascribed to blood by a figurative speech The blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops and every drop a voice to cry for vengeance and the cry of his blood did strongly ingage the Justice of God to punish it Rev. 16. 6. Give them blood to drink for they are worthy But Thirdly Gods cursing their blessings who have shed the blood of his Saints speaks out their blood to be precious blood Gen. 4. 10 11. And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now this is added by the way 1. To aggravate the sin of Cain 2. To shew the fitness of the punishment 't is as if he had said the earth did as it were in compassion receive into her bosom that blood which thou didst cruelly and wickedly shed and thereforâ— out of the earth which hath sucked in by the pores thereof thy brothers blood shall spring a curse that shall plague thee for shedding that blood The earth which was created for thy blessing and service shall execute this curse against thee in vengeance not yielding thee the fruits which otherwise it would have done As is expressed in vers 12. When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength Heb. It shall not go on to give thee its ability This was a second curse whereby the earth became worse for Cains sin then it was for Adams Now if this curse were not general yet doubtless it was a particular curse upon Cains portion so that wheresoever or whensoever he should till the earth as a Huâ—bandman the earth by its barrenness should upbraid him as a Murderer But Fourthly Gods pouring out of the blood of the wicked as water is poured out upon the ground to prevent the effusion of his Childrens blood speaks out their blood to be precious Isa 43. 4 5. blood At the Red-sea God made way not only through the Sea but also through the blood of the Egyptians Exod. 14. to preserve the blood and lives of his poor people God to â—reserve the lives and blood of his people destroys a hundred four-score and five thousand of Zenacheribs Army by the Isa 37. 36. hand of his Angel in one night And you know in Esthers Esth 9. time how God made way for the preservation of the lives and blood of his people through the blood of Haman his Sons and the rest of their enemies that hated them I might give you twenty other Scriptures to the same purpose but enough is as good as a Feast But Fifthly The strict Inquisition that God has made after the blood of the Just in all Ages of the World argues the preciousness of their blood Psal 9. 12. When he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth them he forgetteth not the cry of the humble Did not Pharaoh Ahab Jezabel Haman Herod Amalek Moab Ammon Zenacherib c. find by woful experience that God did make a strict Inquisition after the blood of the Just And so did those men of violence who shed the blood of the Just in the primitive times c. But Sixthly The speedy and dreadful Vengeance of God upon such as have shed the blood of the Just speaks out their blood to be precious in his eyes Psal 55. 23. But thou O God shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days Psal 94. 21-23 They gather themselves together Heb. Run by troops as thieves do against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Richard the III. and Q. Mary were cruel Princes and shed the blood of the Just and they had the shortest Reign of any since the Conquest Charles the IX was a great shedder of the blood of the History of France pag. 791. to pag. 798. Just he had a deep hand in the Massacre of the Protestants in Paris and in other Parts of his Kingdom he glutted himself with the blood of the Just and gloried greatly in their ruines In his latter days he was surprised with a great debility and tormenting pains in his body after a great effusion Pag. 808 809. of blood which issued out by all the passages of his body he breathed forth his wretched Soul Oh the horrid butcheries that were committed and commanded by this bloody Prince his Reign throughout his whole Realm but at last divine Vengeance overtook him and he dyed wallowing in his own blood c. The Duke of Guise next to the King had the greatest Pag. 793 794. hand in the Massacre of the Protestants he was a most barbarous Prince and at last he falls by barbarous hands for he being called by Revoll Secretary to Henry the III to come to the King into his Cabinet as he lifted up the Tapestry Page 867. with one hand to enter he was charged with Swords Daggers and Partisans and so dyed by the hands of Murderers He that had murthered many thousands of the Protestants was at last murthered by men of his own Religion Henry the III. King of France was a most cruel Enemy to French History pag. 879 880. the Protestants and he was by James Clemmont a Monk stabbed in the same Chamber and on the same day wherein he had helped to contrive the French Massacre Doubtles God will one day reckon with France for all that Protestanâ— blood that they have shed Maximinus was a great Persecutor of the people of God he set forth a Proclamation ingraven in Brass for the utter History of the Council of Trent pag. 417. abolishing of Christ and his Religion he was at last eaten up of Lice The same Judgment befel Philip King of Spain who swore he had rather have no Subjects then Lutheran Subjects and when he had narrowly escaped drowning in a shipwrack he said he was delivered of God to rout off Lutheranism
Pet. 1. 4. 2 Cor. 5. 1. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Rev. 2. 10. James 1. 1â— 1 Pet. 5. 4. White Stone that none knows but those that are the favourites of Heaven To have time to make sure a City that hath foundations a Kindgom that shakes not Riches that corrupt not an inheritance that â—adeth not away a house not made with hands but one eternal in the heavens To have time to make sure to your selves a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life a Crown of Glory a Crown of immortality are mercies bâ—yond all the expressions and above all the valuations of the Sons of men The Poets paint Time with wings to shew the volubility and swiftness of it Sumptus pretiocissimus tempus time is of precious Sophocles Phocilides cost saith Theophrastus Know time lose not a minute saith Pittacus Aelian gives this testimony of the Lacedaemonians That they were hugely covetous of their time spending it all about necessary things and suffering no Citizen either to be idle or play Titus Vespasian having spent a day without doing Suetonius any man any good as he sate at Supper he uttered this memorable and praise worthy Apothegme Amici diem perdidi My friends I have lost a day O Sirs will not these poor Heathens rise in Jâ—dgement against all those that trifle and fool and sin away their precious time Take heed of crying cras cras to morrow to morrow O play not the Courtier with your precious souls the Courtier doth all things late he rises late and dines late and supps late and goes to bed late and repents late Remember that Manna must be gathered in the morning The Orient Pearl is generated of the morning dew There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a mans Spirit than to know the worth of his time 'T is very dangerous putting off that to another day which must be done to day or else undone to morrow Nunc aut nunquam Now or Never was the saying of old If not done now it may never be done and then undone for ever Eternity depends on this moment of time What Beroaldus speakâ— of a Fool who cried out Oh Repentance Râ—pentance where aâ—t thou where art thou Repentance would not many a man give for a day when it is a day too late Whilst many blind Sodomites have been groping to find a door of hope God has rained Hell out of Heaven upon them The seasons of Grace are not under your locks and keyes Many thousand poor sinners have lost their seasons and their souls together Judas repented and Esau mourned but neither timely nor truly and therefore they perished to all eternity The damned in Hell may weep their eyes out of their heads but they can never weep sin out of their souls nor their souls out of Hell c. O that the flames of London might be so sanctified to every poor sinner who have had their lives for a prey in that doleful day that they may no longer neglect those precious seasons and opportunities of Grace that yet are continued to them lest God should swear in his wrath that they should never Heb. 2. 3. Heb. 3. 18. enter into his rest O Sirs yet you have a world of gracious opportunities and O that God would give you that heavenly wisdom that you may never neglect one gracious opportunity though it were to gain a whole world God by giving you your lives in the midst of those furious and amazing flames has given you time and opportunity to secure the internal and the eternal welfare of your precious and immortal souls which is a mercy that can never bâ— sufficiently prized or improved But Secondly What a mercy was this to poor doubting staggering Christians that they have had their lives for a prey when London was in flames For by this means they have gained time to pray down their doubts and to argue down their doubts and to wrestle and weep down their doubts c. Christ ascended to Heaven in a cloud and the Angel ascended Acts 1. 9 10. Judg. 14. 20. to Heaven in the flame of the Altar 'T is ten to one out this had been the case of many doubting trembling Christians had they dyed when London was in flames I know 't is good getting to Heaven any way though it be in a whirlewind of affliction or in a fiery Chariot of temptation or in the flames of Persecution or in a cloud of fears doubts and darkness but yet that man is more happy that gets to Heaven in a quiet calm of inward peace and The whole Scripture saith Luther doth principally aim at this thing that we should not doubt but that we should hope that we should trust and that we should believe that God is a merciful a bountiful a gracious and patient God to his people in the fair Sunshine of joy and assurance 'T is a good thing for a man to get into a safe Harbour though it be in a Winter night and through many Storms and tempests hazards dangers and deaths with the loss of Masts Cables and Anchors but yet he is more happy that gets into a safe Harbour in a clear calm fair Sun-shiny day top and top-gallant and with Colours flying and Trumpets sounding The prudent Reader knows how to apply it O that al poor doubting Christians would seriously lay this to heart viz. That for them to have time to have their judgements and understandings enlightned their doubts resolved their objections answered their consciences setled and their souls assured that all is well and shall be for ever well between God and them is a mercy more worth than all the world But Thirdly What a mercy was this to poor languishing declining and decaying Christians that they have had their lives for a prey when London was in flames There werâ— a great many in London who were fallen from their first love and whose Sun was set in a cloud There were many whose Graces were languishing whose comforts were declining Rev. 2. 4. whose souls were withered and whose communion with God was greatly impaired Many within and without the Walls of London had a Worm knawing at the root of their Graces they had lost their spiritual rellish of God of Christ of Ordinances as dying men lose their rellish Dying men can rellish nothing they sip or eat or drink they had lost theâ—â— spiritual strength and they knew it not as Sampson had lost hâ—s natural strength and knew it not O what an Image of deaâ—â— Judg. 16. 20. was upon their highest professions Now for these men to livâ— for these men to have time to get their Graces repaired their comforts revived their spiritual strength restored their soulâ— fatned and their communion with God raised O what a matchless what an incomparable mercy is this But Fourthly What a mercy was this to poor clouded deserted and benighted Christians that they have had their lives for a prey when London
was in flames Beloved 't is saâ— dying under a cloud 't is sad dying when he who should comfort a mans soul stands afar off Some think that the Lam. 1. 16. Psal 39. 13. face of God was clouded when David thus prayed O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more And some think Hezekiahs's Sun was set in a cloud Isa 38. 1 2 3. See more of thâ—s in my Mute Christian under the smarting Rod pag. 279. 304. Judg. 16. 18 19 20 21. and God had drawn a Curtain between Hezekiah and himself when being under the sentence of death He turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord and said Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight and Hezekiah wept sore or with great weeping as the Hebrew runs It is with clouded and deserted Christians as it was with Sampson when his locks were cut off his strength was gone and therefore though he thought to go out and do wonders as he had formerly done yet by sad experience he found himself to be but as another man So when God dos but withdraw the best of Saints have their locks cut their strength which lyeth not in their hair but in their head Christ Jesus is gone and they Phil. 1. 22 23. are but like other men They think they speak they act they walk like other men Christians under real disertions commonly fall under sore temptations great indispositions barrenness flatness dulness and deadness of Spirit And is this a fit season for such to die in Christians under a cloud usually have their joyes eclipsed their comforts damped their evidences for Heaven blotted their communion with God impaired and their title to Heaven is by themselves in such a day much questioned And is this a case for them to die in O clouded and deserted Christians who have had your lives for a prey in the midst of Londons flames and ever since those flames what a great what a glorious obligation has the blessed God put upon you to labour to recover your selves from under all clouds and desertions and to spend your dayes in a serious and deep admiration of that free that rich that infinite and that Soveraign Grace that spared you and that was active for you in that day when you were compassed about with flames of fire on every hand But Fifthly What a mercy was this to poor solicited tempted Christians that they have had their lives for a prey when London was in flames For by this means they have gained See my Mute Christian pag. 260. to p. 279. Our whole life is nothing but a temptation saith Aâ—stin time to strengthen themselves against all Satans temptations The â—aily Bâ—lâ—s that were given in to pray for poor tempted Christâ—ans did sâ—fficiently evidence how active Satan was to distrâ—ss and perplex poor Christians with all sorts of hideous and blasphemous temptations Were there not many tempted to distrust the power of God the goodness of God the faithfulness of God Were there not many tempted to deny God to blaspheme God and to turn their backs upon God Were there not many tempted to slight the Scriptures to deny the Scriptures and to prefer their own fancies notions and delufions above the Scriptures Were there not many tempted to have low thoughts of Ordinances and then to leave Ordinances and then to vilifie Ordinances and all under a prâ—tence of living above Ordinances Were there not many tempted to presume upon the mercies of God and others tempted to despair of the Grace of God Were there not many tempted to destroy themselves and others tempted to destroy their relations Were there not many tempted to draw others to sin and to uphold others in sin and to encourage others in sin and to be partners with others in sin Were there not many tempted to have hard thoughts of Christ and others to have low thoughts of Christ and others to have no thoughts of Christ Now for these poor tempted souls to have their lives for a prey and to have precious seasons and opportunities to recover themselves out of the snares of the Devil and to arm themselves against all his fiery daris is a comprehensive mercy a big-bellied mercy a mercy that has many thousand mercies in the womb of it But Sixthly and lastly What a mercy was this to all slumbering slothful sluggish lazy Christians who had blotted and Matth. 25. blurred their evidences for Heaven and who instead of runing their Christian race were either at a stand or else did but Heb. 12. 1. halt in the way to Heaven that they have had their lives for a prey when London was in flames and that they have had time to clear up their evidences for Heaven and to quicken Psal 119. 32. up their hearts to run the wayes of Gods commands Surely had all the world been a lump of Gold and in their hands to have been disposed of they would have given it for a little time to have brightned their evidences to have got out of their sinful slumber and to have set all reckonings even between God and their poor souls And let thus much suffice for this second support The third Support to bear up the hearts and to cheer up the Spirits of all that have suffered by the late fiery dispensation is this viz. that this has been the common lot the common case both of Saints and sinners God has dealt no more severely with you than he has with many others Have The commonness of our sufferings doth somewhat mitigate the sharpness of our sufferings c. you lost much so have many others Have you lost half so have many others Have you lost all so have many others Have you lost your Trade so have many others Have you lost yoour goods so have many others Have you lost your credits so have many others Have you lost many friends who before the fire were very helpful to you and yours so have many others Have you lost more than your all so have many others This very Cordial the Apostle hands out to the suffering Saints in his time 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is commâ—n to man by temptation he means affliction as the word is used Jam. 1. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 6. that is there hath no affliction befallen you but that which is incident either to men as men or to Saints as Saints or thus there hath no affliction befallen you but such as is common to man that is there is no affliction that hath befallen you but such as men may very well bear without murmuring or buckling under it So 1 Pet. 5. 9. Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished or finished in your brethren that are in the world or in your brother-hood that is in the
they are houseless monyless breadless friendless tradeless as ever they were when they were most surrounded with all the comforts of this life Wo wo would be to the people of God if their happiness should hang upon the comforts of this world which like a Ball are tost from man to man a Ball of fire a storm at Sea a false Oath a subtle enemy a treacherous friend may easily deprive a man of all his earthly blessings at a clap Now who so miserable as that man whose blessedness lyes in earthly blessings But The Fifth Support to bear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery dispensation is this viz. That the Lord will certainly one way or another make up all their losses to them Sometimes God makes up his peoples outward losses by giving them more of himself more of his Son more of his Spirit more of his favour more of his John 16. Grace as he did by the Disciples of Christ When God takes away your carnals and gives you more spirituals your temporals and gives you more eternals your outward losses are made up to you Now this was the very case of those believing Hebrews who were turned out of house and home and who were driven to live in holes and caves and dens of the earth and who had lost all their goods not Heb. 11. having a Bed to lye on or a Stool to sit on nor a dish to drink in and who had lost all their Apparel not having a ragg to hang on their backs and therefore cloathed themselves in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Ver. 3 4. Heaven a better and an enduring substance When under outward When God takes away Christians estates in this world Manet altera Coelo he looks for a better in Heaven losses God shall seal to his people a Bill of Exchange of better and greater things than any they have lost their losses then are made up to them If a man should loose several baggs of Counters and have a Bill of Exchange sealed to him for the receiving of so many baggs of Gold would not his loss be abundantly made up to him When God takes away our earthly treasures and seals up in our hearts a Bill of Exchange to receive all again with interest upon interest in eternal treasures then certainly our losses are abundantly made up to us If men should take away your old cloathes and give you new your Raggs and give you Robes your Chaff and give you Wheat your Water and give you Wine your Tinn and give you Silver your Brass and give you Gold your Pibble and give you Pearls your Cottages and give you Royal Palaces certainly you would have no cause to complain you would have no cause to cry out undone undone If God takes away your houses your goods your Trades your honors and gives you more of himself and more Grace and more Assurance of Glory he dos you no injury It is an excellent change to get eternals for temporals If God takes away your earthly riches and makes you more rich in Grace in spiritual comforts in holy experiences in divine employments then you are no loseâ—s but gâ—eat gainers What are all the necessary comforts of this life to union and communion with God to interest in Christ to pardon of sin to peace of conscience and to that loving kindness that is better than life or better Chaiim Psal 63 3. than lives as the Hebrew runs If you put many lives together there is more excellency and glory in the least discovery of divine love than in them all Many a man has been weary of his life but never was any man yet weary of the love and favour of God The least drop of Grace the least Cant. 2. 3 4 5 6 7. smile from Heaven the least cast of Christs countenance the least kiss of his mouth the least embrace of his arm the least hint of his favour is more worth than ten thousand worlds That Christian cant be poor that is rich in Grace nor that Christian can't be miserable that has God for his Rev. 2. 8 9. Lam. 3. 24. John 14. 1 2 3 4. Heb. 11. 37 38. Rev. 2. 17. John 4. 30 31. portion That Christian can't be unhappy who hath a mansion prepared for him in Heaven though he hath not a cottage to hide his head in in this world nor that Christian has no cause to complain of want of food for his body whose soul is feasted with Manna with the dainties of Heaven with those rarities that are better than Angels food He that hath but raggs to cover his nakedness if his soul be cloathed with the garments of salvation and covered with Isa 61. 10. the Robe of Christs Righteousness he has no reason to complain When Stilpo the Philosopher had his Wife and Children and Countrey all burnt up before him and was asked by Demetrius what loss he had sustained answered That he had lost nothing for he counted that only his own which none could take from him to wit his virtues Shall blind Nature do more than Grace Shall the Heathen put the Christian to a blush Again Sometimes God makes up his peoples outward losses by giving in greater outward mercies than those were that he took from them as you may see by comparing the first Chapter of Job and the last Chapter of Job together Job had all doubled to him I have read of Dionysius how he Pluâ—arch took away from one of his Nobles almost his whole estate and seeing him as cheerful and contented as ever he gave him all that he had taken from him again and as much more God many times takes away a little that he may give more and sometimes he takes away all to shew his Soveraignty and then he gives them all back again with interest upon interest to shew his great liberality and noble bounty That is a lovely loss that is made up with so great gain But Sir How shall we know or probably conjecture whether Quest in this world God will make up our worldly losses to us or not If you please to speak a little to this question it may be many wayes of use unto us Now that I may give you a little light to the Question give me leave to put a few Questions to such who have been sufferers by the late fiery dispensation First Did you make conscience of improving your estates to the glory of God and the good of others when you did enjoy them or did you only make them subservient to your lusts If you have laid out your estates for God and for his Deut. 32. 15 16. Hos 4. 7. James 4. 3. childrens good 't is ten to one but that the Lord even in this world will make up your losses to you But if you mis-improved your estates and turned your mercies
saith Plato is not to encrease our heaps but to diminish the covetousness of our hearts And saith Seneca Cui cum paupertate bene convenit pauper non est A contented man cannot be a poor man I have read of another Philosopher who seeing a Prince going by with the greatest pomp and state imaginable he said to some about him See how many things I have no need of And saith another It were well for the world if there were no Gold in it But since its the fountain whence all things flow it s to be desired but only as a pass to travel to our journeys end without begging When Croesus King of Lydia asked Solon one of the seven wise men of Greece who in the whole world was more happy than he Solon answered Tellus who though he was a poor man yet he was a good man and content with that which he had So Cato could say as Aulus Gelâ—ius reports of him I have neither House nor Plate nor Garments of price in my hands what I have I can use if not I can want it Sâ—me blame me because I want many things and I blame them because they cannot want Now shall Nature do more than Grace Shall the poor blinded Heathen outstrip the knowing Christian O Sirs he that can lose his will in the will of God as to the things of this world he that is willing to be at Gods allowance he that has had much but can now be satisfied with a little he that can be contented to be at Gods finding he is of all men the most likely man to have all his losses made up to him But Eighthly and lastly Are your hearts more drawn out to have this fiery dispensation sanctified to you than to have your losses made up to you Do you strive more with God to get good by this dreadful Judgement than to recover your lost goods and your lost estates Is this the daily language of your souls Lord let this fiery calamity be so sanctified as that it may eminently issue in the mortifying of our sins in the encrease of our Graces in the mending of our hearts in the reforming of our lives and in the weaning of our souls from every thing below thee and in the fixing of them upon the greathings of Eternity If it be thus with you 't is ten to one but God even this world will make up your losses to you But The sixth Support to bear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery diâ—pensation is this viz. That by fiery dispensations the Lord will make way for the new Heavens and the new Earth he will make way for the glorious deliverance of his people Isa 66. 15. 16. 22. For behold the Lord will come with fire and with his Chariots like Isa 9. 5 6. Psalm 66. 12. â— whirle-wind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire For by fire and by his sword or by his sword of fire will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remain The great and the glorious things that God will do for his people in the last dayes are set forâ—h by new heâ—vens and new earth and Isa 65. 17. Joâ—l 2. 1 2 3 4 5 30 31 32. Zeph. 3. 8 9. these God will bring in by fiâ—ry diâ—pensations The glorious dstatâ— of the universal Church of Jâ—ws and Gentiles on earth is no lower an estate than that oâ— a new heâ—vâ—n and a new earth Now thâ—s blessed Church-State is usheâ—â—d into the world by fiâ—ry Judgements By fiâ—ry dispensations God 2 Pet. 3. 10 11 12 13. will put an end to the glory of tâ—â—s old wâ—rld and bring in the new Look as Gâ—d by a waâ—â—ry Dâ—luge made way for one new world so by a fiery Dâ—luge in the last of the last Gen. 9. â—ee our new Anotationists oâ— Isa 65. Isa 17. oâ— Chap. 66. 15 16 22. and on Rev. 21. 1. dayes he will make way for another new world wherein shall dwell righteousness as Peter speaks All men â—n common speech call a new great change a new world By fiery dispensations God will bring great changes upon the world and make way for his Sons reign in a more glorious manner than ever he has yet reigned in the world Rev. 18 Chap. 19. Chap. 20. and Chap. 21. The summ of that I havâ— in short â—o offer to your consideration out of these Chapters is this Babylon the great is fallen is fallen How much she hath glorified her self so much sorrow and torment shall be given her Her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire Rejoyce over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And after these things I heard a great voice of much people c. Saying Alleluiah salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our God for truâ— and rightâ—ous are thy judgements for he hath judged the great Whore that hath corrupted the earth and hath avenged the blood of his Saints And again they said Alleluiah And the four and twenty Elders said Amen Alleluiah And I heard as it were the voyce of a great multitude and as the voyce of many waters and as the voyce of mighty thunderings saying Alleluiah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth And the Beast and the false Prophet were cast into the lake of fire And the rest were slain with the sword But the Saints reigned with Christ a thousand years in the new Heavens and new Earth to whom the Kings of the earth and Nations of the world bring their honour God by his fiery dispensation upon Babylon makes way for Christs Reign and the Saints Reign in the New Heavens and new Earth But The seventh Support to bear up the hearts of the people of God under the late fiery dispensation is this viz. That by fiery dispensations God will bring about the ruine and destruction Psalm 50. 3 of his and his peoples enemies Psal 97. 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Heb. 3. 5. Before him went the Pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet Ver. 7. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction and the curtains of the Land of Midian did tremble Ver. 12. Thou didst march through the Land in indignation thou didst thresh the Heathen in anger Ver. 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people even for salvation with thine anointed thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation even to the neck Sâ—lah Jer. 50. 31 32. Behold I am against thee O thou most proud saith the Lord God of Hosts for thy day is come the time that I will
rate do men value the whole world when it stands in competition with their lives He very well knew that man was a very great life lover who said Skin for skin or Job 2. 4. skin upon skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life God might have brought upon England I and upon London too the Sword of a forreign enemy as he did upon Jerusalem and the Land of Judea In that one only City of Jerusalem during the time or the siege by Vespasians Armies which Josephâ—s de Bello Jud. were made up of Romans Syrians and Arabians there died and were killed a thousand thousand At this time there were slain in all Judea in several places to the number of twelve hundred and forty thousand Jews The whole City of Jerusalem flowed with blood insomuch that many parts of the City that were set on fire were quenched by the blood of them that were slain In seventeen years time the Carthaginian War only in Italy Spain and Sicily consumed and wasted fifteen hundred thousand men The Civil Wars between Pompey and Caesar swallowed down three hundred thousand men Caius Caesar did confess it and gloried in it that eleven hundred ninety and two thousand men were killed by him in Wars Pompey the great writ upon Minerva's Temple that he had scattered chased and killed twenty hundred eighty and three thousand men Q. Fabius killed an hundred and ten thousand of the Gauls C. Marius put to the sword two hundred thousand of the Cimbrians Aetius in that memorable battle of Catalonia slew an hundred sixty and two thousand Hunnes Who can number up the many thousands that have fallen by the bloody sword in Europe from the year 1620 to this year 1667. Ah London Londâ—n thy Streets migâ—t have flowed with the blood of the â—â—am as once the Strâ—ets of Jerusalem Paris and others have done Whilst the fire was a devouring thy stately â—ouses aâ—d Palaces a Forreign Sword might have been a destroying thine inhabitants Whilst the furious flames were â— consuming thy goods thy wares thy substance thy riches a close and secret enemy spirited counselled and animated from Rome and Hâ—ll might have risen up in the midst of theâ— that might have mingled together the blood of Husbands and Wives and the blood of Parents and Children and the blood of Masters and Servants and the blood of rich and poor and the blood of the honourable with the blood of the vile Now had this been thy doom O London which many feared and others expected what a dreadful day would that have been 'T is better to see our houses on fire then to see our Streets running down with the blood of the slain But Secondly God might have inflicted the Judgement of famine upon London which is a more dreadful Judgement Gen. 45. 46. Joel 1. 2. Chap. 2. 3. Jer. 24. 10. Ezek. 6. 11. 2 Sam. 21. 1. than that of fire How sad would that day have been O London if thou hadst been so sorely put to it as to have taken up that sad lamentation of weeping Jeremiah Mine eyes do fail with tears my bowels are trouâ—led my liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets They say to Lam. 2. 11 12. their Mothers where is corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the City When their soul was poured into their Mothers bosom Arise cry out in the night in the Verse 19. beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord lift up thy hands towards him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street Shall the woman eat her fruit and children of a span Verse 20. long The tongue of the suckling child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst the young children ask bread and no man Chap. 4. 4 5. breaketh it unto them They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets they that were brought up in skarlet embrace dunghils Her Nazarites were purer than snow they were whiter Verse 7. than milk they were more ruddy in the body than â—ubies their polishing was of Saâ—hir Their visage is blacker than a coal Verse 8. they are not known in the streets their skin cleaveth to their bones it is withered it is become like a stick They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with Versâ— 9. hunger for thâ—se pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field The hands of the pitiful women have sodden Verse 10. their own children they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people We have drunken our water for monâ—y Chap. 5 4 Verse 6. our wood is sold unto us We have given the hand to the Egyptians and Assyrians to be satisfied with bread We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the Verse 9. Wilderness Our skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible Verse 10. Lâ—b 6. c 16. dâ— Bello Judaâ—co famine So great was the famine in Jerusalem that a Bushel of Wheat was sold for a talent which is six hundred Crowns and the dung and raking of the Ciâ—y Sinks was held good commons and such pinching necessities were they under that they acted against all piâ—ty honesty humanity c. Women did eat their children of a span long yea the hands of pittiful women did boyl their own children and men eat one other yea many did eat the flesh of their own arms according to what the Lord had long before threatned Isa 9. 19 20. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the Land darkned and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire no man shall spare his brother And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry and he shall eat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied they shall eat every man the flesh off his own arm In the Reign of William the first there was so Sâ— Ricâ—aâ—d Bakâ—â—s Chronocle p. 26. great a Dâ—arâ—h and famine especially in Northumberland that men were glad to eat Horses Dogs Cats and Rats and what else is most abhorrent to nature In Honorius's Reign there was such a scarcity of all manner of provision in Rome that men were even afraid of one another and the common voice that was heard in the Kâ—rk was Pone pretium humanae carni Set a price on mans flesh In Italy when it was wasted by the Goths under Justinian the famine was so great that in Picene only fifty thousand persons died with hunger and not only mans flesh was made meat of but the very excrements of men also In the Reign of Hubid King of Spain there was no rain for six and twenty years together so
6. 5. Job 21. 12. Dan. 5 23. Amos 6. 4. burning from burning in sin to burning in Hell from burning in flames of lusts to burning in flames of torment except there be sound repentance on their sides and pardoning Grace on Gods O Sirs in this devouring fire in these everlasting burnings Cain shall find no Cities to build nor his posteriâ—y shall have no instruments of Musick to invenâ— there none shall take up the Timbrel or Harp or rejoyce at the sound of the Organ There Belshazzar cannot drink Wine in Bowls nor eat the Lambs out of the flock nor the Calves out of the midst of the Stall In everlasting burnings there will be no merry company to pass time away nor no Dice to cast care away nor no Cellars of Wine wherein to drown the sinners grief There is everlasting fire Matth. 25. 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for thâ— Devil and his Angels This terrible sentence breaths out nothing but fire and brimstone terror and horror dread and wo. The last words that ever Christ will speak in this world will be the most tormenting and amazing the most killing and damning the most stinging and wounding Depart from me there iâ— rejection Pack begone get you out of my fight let me never see your faces more It was a heavy doom that was past upon Nebuchadnezzar that he Dan. 4. 25. should be driven from the soâ—iâ—ty of men and in an extremity of a sottish melancholly spend his time amongst thâ— Beasts of the fiâ—ld but that was nothing to this soul killing word depart from me It was nothing to mens being cast out of the presence of Chrâ—st for ever The remembrance Berâ—ard in Psal 91. of which made one to pray thus O Lord deliver me at the great day from that killing word Depart And what saith another This word Depart the Goats with horror hears Sphynx But this word Come the Sheep to joy appears Basil saith That an alienation and utter separation from God Basil Asc Etic c. 2. Chrysost in Mal. Hom. 24. is more grievous than the pains of Hell Chrysostome saith That the torments of a thousand Hells if there were so many comes far short of this one to wit to be turned out of Gods presâ—nce with a Non novâ— vos I know you not What a grief were it here to be banisht from the Kings Court with Aâ—solom or to be turned out of doors with Hagar and Ismael or to be cast out of Gods presence with cursed Cain But what is all this to a mans being excommunicated and cast out of the presence of God of Christ of the Angels and out of the general Assembly of the Saints and Congregâ—tion of the first born to be Heb. 12. 22 23. secluded from the presence of God is of all miseries the greatest The serious thoughts of this mâ—de one say Many do abhor Hell but I esteem the fall from that glory to be a greater punishment than Hell it self 't is better to endure ten thousand Thunder-claps than be deprived of the beatifical vision Certainly the tears of Hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of Heaven If those precious souls wept because they Acts 20. 38. should see Pauls face no more how deplorable is the eternal deprivation of the beatifical vision Depart from me is the first and worst of that dreadful sentence which Christ shall pass upon sinners at last Every syllable sounds horror and terror grief and sorrow amazement and astonishment to all whom it doth concern Ye cursed there is the malediction But Lord if we must Cursings now are wicked mens Hymns but in Heâ—l they shall be their woes Rev. 16. 9. 11 21. depart let us depart blessed No depart ye cursed you have cursed others and now you shall be curst your selves you shall be curst in your bodies and curst in your souls you shall be curst of God and curst of Christ and curst of Angels and curst of Saints and curst of Devils and curst of your companions Yea you shall now curse your very selves your very souls that ever you have despised the Gospel refused the offers of Grace scorned Christ and neglected the means of your salvation Oh sinners sinners all your curses all your maledictions shall at last recoyle upon your own souls Now thou cursest every man and thing that stands in the way of thy lusts and that crosses thy designs but at last all the Curses of Heaven and Hell shall meet in their full power and force upon thee Surely that man is cursed with a witness that is cursed by Christ himself But Lord if we must depart and depart cursed Oh let Of this fire you had need of some Devil or accursed wretch to descant saith One. us go into some good place No Depart ye into everlasting fire There is the vengeance and continuance of it You shall go into fire into everlasting fire that shall neither consume it self nor consume you Eternity of extremity is the Hell of Hell The fire in Hell is like that stone in Arcadia which being once kindled could never be quenched If all the fires that ever were in the world were contracted into one fire how terrible would it be Yet such a fire would be but as painted fire upon the Wall to the fire of Hell If it be so sad a spectacle to behold a malefactors flesh consumed by piece-meales in a lingering fire Ah how sad how dreadful would it be to experience what it is to lie in unquenchable fire not for a day a moneth or a year or a hundred or a thousand years but for ever and ever If it were saith One but for a thousand years I could bear it but Cyril seeing it is for eternity this amazeth and affrighteth me I am afraid of Hell saith Another because the Worm there Isâ—dor clar Orat. 12. never dies and the fire never goes out For to be tormented without end this is that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation Grievous is the torment of the Dionys in 18. Apocaâ—yps Fol. 301. damned for the bitterness of the punishments but it is more grievous for the diversity of the punishments but most grievous for tâ—e eternity of the punishments To lye in everlasting torments to roar for ever for disquietness of heart to rage for ever for madness of soul to weep and grieve and gnash the teeth for ever is a misery Matth 25. ult beyond all expression Bellarmine out of Barocius tells of De arte moriendi a learned man who after his death appeared to his friend complaining that he was adjudged to Hell torments which saith he were they to last but a thousand thousand years I should think it tollerable but alas they are eternal And it is called eternal fire Jude 7. I have read of a Prison among the Persians which was
as go about to make the fire of Hell only spiritual fire they go about to make it no fire at all for it passeth the natural fire to be spiritual But Thirdly We see in this life that bodily tortures work upon the spirits in the same bodies And why may it not be so in Hell Don't men by their daily experience find that their souls are frequently afflicted in and under corporeal distempers diseases and weaknesses Doubtless God can by his Allmighty Power infuse such power into material fire as to make it the instrument of his dreadful wrath and vengeance to plague punish scorch and burn the souls of damned sinners Bodies and souls are co-partners in the same sins and therefore God may make them co-partners in the same punishments Every creature is such as the great God will have it to be and commands it to be and therefore if the Lord shall lay a command upon the fire of Hell to reach and burn the souls of damned sinners it shall certainly do it God is the God of Nature as well as the God of Grace and therefore I can't see how the fire of Hell can be said how to act against its own nature when it do but act according to the will and command of the God of Nature I readily grant that if you consider infernal fire in it self or in its own nature and so it cannot have any power on such a spiritual substance as the soul of man is but if you consider infernal fire as an instrument in an Allmighty hand and so it can act upon such spiritual Beings as Devils and damned souls are and make the same dreadful and Vide August â— 21. c. 10. de Civitate Dâ—i painful impressions upon them as it would do upon corporeal Beings Though Spirits have nothing material in their nature which that infernal fire should work upon yet such is the Almighty Power of God that he can make Spirits most sensible of those fiery tortures and torments which he has declared and appointed for them to undergo Let them tell us saith One how it is possible that the soul Dr. Jackson of man which is an immortal substance should be truly wedded to the body or material substance and I shall as easily answer them that it is as possible for the same soul to be as easily wrought upon by a material fire It is much disputed and controverted among the Schoolmen how the Devils can be tormented with corporeal fire seeing they are Spirits and as I suppose it is well concluded of them thus First That in Hell there is corporeal fire as appears thus First Because the Scripture affirms it Matth. 3. 10 Matth. 5. 22. Matth. 25. 41. Secondly Because the bodies sinning against God are to be vexed and tormented with corporeal pains Secondly They conclude that the Devils are tormented in that fire Because Christ saith so Mat. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Thirdly It being demanded how the Devils are tormented in that fire they answer they are tormented not only First With the sight of it or Secondly With an imaginary apprehension thereof But Thirdly As an instrument ordained of God for that very end And Fourthly Vt locus locatum continens c. cogens Hell is a fiery Tho. Supplâ—m 70. 3. corp Region or a Region of fire and therefore the Devils being contained and included therein must needs be tormented thereby Cum Dives ab igne patiatur quis neget animas ignibus puniri None must question this truth saith my Author that souls and spirits are punished by fire seeing our Gâ—â—g Dial 4. cap. 28 29. Saviour himself telleth us that Dives who was in Hell but in soul was tormented in the flames Luke 16. 24. But Fourthly It is not safe to leave the plain letter of the Scripture to Allegorize and whether the opinion of Metaphorical fire in Hell hath not been an introduction to that opinion that many have taken up in these dayes viz. That there is no other Hell but what is within us I shall not now stand to determine I know Calvin and some others are for the Allegory and they give this for a Reason that there is mention made of Wood and of a Worm as well as fire Now these are Allegorical and therefore the fire is Allegorical also But by their favour we find in the Scripture that those things which are spoken together are not alwayes taken in the same nature and manner As for example Deut. 32. 15 18 30 31. 2 Sam. 22. 47. 1 Cor. 10. 4. Christ is called the Rock of our salvation Now the Rock is Allegorical Is our salvation therefore Allegorical So likewise Luke 22. 30. Ye shall eat and drink saith our Saviour at my Table in my Kingdom Eating and drinking is Allegorical is therefore the Kingdom Allegorical too Allegories are not to be admitted but where the Scripture it self doth warrant them and commonly where an Allegory is propounded there it is also expounded As in Galat. 4. 24. Which things are an Allegory for these are the two Testaments Many men have been too wanton with Allegories Origen Ambrose Hierom and several others of the Ancients have been blamed for it by learned men But Fifthly and lastly I cannot tell but that the fire by which the damned shall be punished may be partly material and partly spiritual partly material to work upon the body and partly spiritual to torment the soul Dr. Gouge puts this Question Is it a material fire wherewith the damned in Dr. Gouge on Heb. 10. 27. Sect. 98. Hell are tormented and gives this answer viz. This is too curious a point to resolve to the full but yet this answer may safely be returned It is no wasting or consuming fire but a torturing and so far corporal as it tormenteth the body and so far incorporeal as it tormenteth the soul Socrates speaking of Hell saith I was never there my self neither have I ever spoke with any that came from thence Suppose saith One there be no fire in Hell yet I assure thee this that thou shalt be scorched with fire the fire of Gods Mr. Boulton wrath shall torment thee more than bodily fire can do and therefore it will be your wisdom not so much to question this or that about Hell fire as to make it your work your business not to come there He gave good counsel who Bernard said Let us go down to Hell while we are alive that we may not go to Hell when we are dead And so did he who speaking of Hell said Ne quaeramus ubi sit sed quomodo illam Chrysostome fugiamus Let us not seek where it is but how we shall avoid it The same Author gives this further counsel viz. That at all Banquets Feasts and Publick Meetings men should talk of Hellish pains and torments that so their hearts may be over-awed
and they provoked to avoid them and secure themselves against them Doubtless the serious thoughts of hellish pain while men live is one blessâ—d way to keep them from those torments when they come to die Another gives this pious counsel Let us earnestly importune the Lord that this knowledge whether the fire of Hell be material or not be never manifested to us by experience 'T is infinitely better to endeavour the avoiding Hell fire than curiously to dispute about it Look as there is nothing more grievous than Hell So there is nothing more profitable than the fear of it But what difference is there between our common fire and Hell Obj. fire I answer a mighty difference a vast difference Take it Answ in these six particulars First They differ in their heat no heart can conceive nor no tongue can express the exquisite heat of infernal fire were all the fires under Heaven contracted into one fire yea were all the Coles Wood Oyle Hemp Flax Pitch Tarr Brimstone and all other combustibles in the world contracted into one flame into one fire yet one spark of infernal fire would be more hot violent dreadful amazing astonishing raging and tormenting than all that fire that is supposedly made up of all the combustibles the earth affords To mans sense there is nothing more terrible and afflictive than fire and of all fires there is none so scalding and tormenting as that of brimstone Now into that lake Rev. 14. 10. Chap. 21. 8. The fire in a Lantskip is but ignis pictus a painted fire and the fire of Purgatory is but ignis fictus feigned fire Now what are these to Hell fire which burns with fire and brimstone for ever and ever shall the wicked of the earth be cast Infernal fire far exceeds ours that are on our Hearths and in our Chimneyes in degree of heat and fierceness of burning Our fire hath not that terrible power to scorch burn torment as the fire of Hell hath Our fire as Polycarpus and others say compared to Hell fire is but like painted fire upon the Wall Now you know a painted fire upon the Wall will not hurt you nor burn nor affright you not torment you but the fire of Hell will beyond all your conception and expression hurt burn affright and torment you The fire of Hell for degrees of heat and fierceness of burning must wonderfully surpass our most furious fires because it is purposely created by God to torment the creature whereas our ordinary fire was created by God only for the comfort of the creature The greatest and the hottest fires that ever were on earth are Alsted but Ice in comparison of the fire of Hell Secondly There are unexpressible torments in Hell as well as unspeakable joyes in Heaven Some who write of Purgatory tell us that the pains thereof are more exquisite though of shorter continuance than the united torments Bâ—llarm de Parg. l. 2. c. 14 Bâ—llâ—rm de Aeâ—â—r Faeli Saâ—â—â— l. 1. c. 11. that the earth can invent though of longer duration If the Popes Kitchin be so warm how hot is the Devils Furnace A Poetical Fiction is but a Meiosis when brought to shew the nature of these real torments the lashes of Furies are but petty scourgings when compared to the stripes of a wounded conscience Tytius his Vulture though feeding on his Liver is but a Flea-biting to that Worm whick gnaweth their hearts and dieth not Ixion his Wheel is a place of rest if compared with those Billows of Wrath and thaâ— Wheel of Justice which is in Hâ—ll brought over the ungodly the task of Danaus his Daughter is but a sport compared to the tortures of those whose souls are filled with bitterness and within whom are the arrows of the Alâ—ighry the poison whereof doth drink up their spirits Hell is called a Furnace of fire which speaketh intolerable heat a Matth. 13. 42. Luke 16. 28. Matth. 5. 25. 5. 22. place of torment which speaketh a total privation of ease A Prison which speaketh restraint Gehenna from the valley of Hinnom where the unnatural Parents did sacrifice the fruit oâ— their bodies for the sin of their souls to their merciless Idols the which word by a neighbour Nation is retained to signifie a Rock than the torture of which what more exquisite It is called a Lake of Fire and Brimstone than the torment of the former what more acute than the smell of the latter what more noisome But Secondly Our fire is made by the hand of man and must be maintained by continual supplies of fuel take away the Coals the Wood the combustible matter and the fire goes out but the infernal fire is created and tempered and blown by the hand of an angry sin revenging God Isa 30. 33. For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is A River of Brimstone is never consumed by burning fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it and therefore the breath of all the Reprobates in Hell shall never be able to blow it out Our fire is blown by an aiery breath but the infernal fire is blown by the angry breath of the great God which burns far hotter than ten thousand thousand Rivers of Brimstone The breath of Gods mouth shall be both Bellows and fuel to the infernal fire and therefore Oh how terrible and torturing how fierce and raging will that fire be If but three drops of Brimstone should fall upon any part of the flesh of a man it would fill him so full of torment that he would not be able to forbear roaring out for pain and anguish Oh how dreadful and painful will it be then for damned sinners to swimm up and down in a Lake or River of Fire and Brimstone for ever and ever There is no proportion between the heat of our breath and the fire that it blows O then what a dreadful what an amazing what an astonishing fire must that needs be which is blown by a breath dissolved into brimstone Gods wrath and indignation shall be an everlasting supply to Hells conflagration Ah Sinners how fearful how formidable how unconceivable will this infernal fire prove Surely there is no misery no torment to that of lying in a torrent of burning Brimstone for ever and ever Mark this infernal fire is a fire prepared by God himself to punish and torment all impenitent persons and reprobate rebels who scorned to submit to the Scepter of Christ Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared Matth. 25. 41. for the Devil and his Angels The wisdom of God hath been much exercised in preparing and devising the most tormenting temper for that formidable fire in which the Devil and his Angels shall be punished for ever and ever Not as if it were not prepared also for wicked and ungodly men but it
Sea how many millions of ages would pass before they could make up one River much more a whole and when that were done should he wâ—ep again after the same manner till he had filled second a third a fourth Sea if then there should be an end of their miseries there would be some hope some comfort that they would end at last but that shall never never never end This is that which siâ—ks them under the most tormenting terrors and horrors Drexelâ—ius makes this Observation from the words of our Saviour John 15. 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and it is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned Where he observeth that the words do not run in the Future Tense he shall be cast forth and shall be cast into the fire and burned but all in the Present Tense he is cast forth is withered men cast them into the fire and they are burned This saith he is the state and condition of the damned They are burned that is they are alwayes burning When a thousand years are past as it was at first so it is still they are burned after a thousand thousand years more as it was before so it is still they are burned If after millions of years the question was asked What is now their state and condition what do they What suffer they how doth it fare with them there can be no other answer returned buâ— they are burned continually and eternally burning Socinians say There will come a time when the fallen Angels and the wickedst men shall be freed from infernal torments And Augustine speaks of some such merciful men in Aug. l. 21. c. 17. c. 18. c. 19 c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. de Civitate Dâ—i his time And Origen held and taught that not only impenitent Christians but even Pagans and Devils after the term of a thousand years should be released out of Hell and become as bright Angels in heaven as they were before But these dangerous fancies and ungrounded opinions fall flat before the clear evidence of those sad and serious truths that I have now tendered to your consideration And thus I have shewed you the difference between our Fire and Hâ—ll fire Now O ye Citizens of London who truly fear the Lord and who are united to Christ by faith know for your everlasting comfort and support that Christ has secured you from infernal Fire from everlasting Fire from unquenchable Fire from eternal Fire and from the Worm that never dieth as you may see clearly and fully by comparing the Scriptures in John 3. 17. 18 36. Luke 1. 68 69 70 71 74. Rom. 6. ult Chap. 8. 1. 31 32 33 34 35. 37. 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Chap. 15. 54 55 56 57 58. 1 Thess 1. ult Rev. 20. 5 6. the Margent together Christ by his blood hath quenched the violence of infernal flames so that they shall never scorch you nor burn you hurt you nor harm you Nebuchadnezzars Fiery Furnace was a Type of Hell say some Now look as the three Children or rather Champions had not one hair of their heads sindged in that Fiery Furnace so Hell Fire shall never singe one hair of your heads Your interest in Christ is a noble and sufficient security to you against the flames of Hell Pliny saith that nothing in the world will so soon quench fire as Salt and Blood and therefore in many Countreys where they can get plenty of blood they will use salt and bâ—ood rather than Water to quench the Fire If you cast water on the Fire the Fire will quickly work it out but if you cast blood upon it it will damp it in a moment O Sirs Christs blood has so quenched the flames of Hell that they shall never be able to scorch or burn those souls that are interested in him The effusion of Christs blood is so rich and available saith my Author Leo de Pas Serm. 12. c. 4. that if the whole multitude of captive sinners would believe in their Redeemer not one should be detained in the Tyrants Chains All those spots that a Christian finds in his own heart shall first or last be washed out in the blood of the Lamb. 1 John 1. 7. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all our sins Now such as are washed and cleansed from their sins in the blood of Jesus such shall never experimentally know what everlasting burnings or a devouring Fire means Such as are washt in Christs blood needs no purifying by Hells flames Pliny saith of Polium that it is a preservative against Serpents Sâ—re I am that thâ— blood of Christ is an effectual preservative against all infernal Serpents and infernal torments You believing Citizens who have set up God as the object Nâ—ro haâ—l a Shirt made oâ— a Salamanders â—kin so that iâ— he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning O Sirs Christ is the true Saâ—amanders skin that will certainly keep every gracious soul from burning in everlasting flames of your fear and whose hearts are enflamed with love to Christ know for your everlasting refreshment that Christ has freed you and secured you from everlasting Fire from unquenchable Fire from eternal Fire and therefore bear up sweetly bear up cheerfully under that Fiery dispensation that has past upon you What is the burning of your houses and substance to the burning of bodies and souls in Hell What was the Fire of London to infernal Fire What is a Fire of four or five dayes continuance to that everlasting Fire to that unquenchable Fire to that eternal Fire that you have deserved and that free-Grace hath preserved you from A frequent and serious consideration oâ— Hell Fire as I have opened it unto you and of your happy deliverance from it may very well bear and cheer up your hearts under all your greatest sufferings by that dreadful Fire that has turned beloved London into a ruinous heap Sir You have been a discoursing about hellish torments but for the further clearing up of the truth we desire your serious Answer to this sad Question viz. How will it stand with the unspotted Holiness Justice and Object Righteousness of God to punish a temporary offence with eternal punishments for the evil of punishment should be but commensurate to the evil of sin Now what proportion is there betwixt finite and infinite Why should the sinner lye in hellish torments for ever and ever for sinning but a short time a few years in this world I judge it very necessary to say something to this important Answ Question before I come to discourse of those Duties that are incumbent upon those Citizens whose houses are turned into a ruinous heap and therefore take me thus First Gods Will is the Rule of Righteousness and therefore what he doâ—h or shall do must needs be righteous He is Lord of all he
guilt and stain of sin of its own nature and unpardoned endures eternally upon the soul and therefore what can follow but eternal torments The lasting continuance of sin is remarkably deseribed by the Prophet Jeremiah Chap. 17. 1. The sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond it is graven upon the table of their hearts Not only written but engraven that no hand can deface it Slight not the commission of any sin it perishes not with the acting The least vanity hath a perpetuity nay an eternity of guilt upon it Sin leaving a blot in the soul brings the matter of Hell fire is eternally punished because there is still matter for that everlasting fire to work upon But Fifthly I answer Though death put an end to mens lives yet not to sins Hell is as full of sin as it is of punishment or torment Though the Schoolmen determine that after this life men are capable neither of merit nor demerit and therefore by their sins do not incurr a greater measure of punishment yet they grant that they sin still Though when the creature is actually under the sentence of condemnation the Law ceases to any further punishment yet there is an obligation to the precepts of the Law still Though a man be bound only to the curse of the Law as he is a sinner yet he is bound to the precept of the Law as he is a creature so that though the demerit of sin ceaseth after death yet the nature of sin remaineth though by sinning they do not incurr a higher and a greater degree of punishment yet as they continue sinning so it is just with God there should be a continuation of the punishment already inflicted But Sixthly I answer It is no injustice in God to punish temporal offences with perpetual torments God measureth the punishment by the greatness of the offence and not by the time wherein the sin was acted Murder Adultery Sacriledge Treason and the like capital crimes are doomed in the Judicatories of men to death without mercy and sometimes to perpetual imprisonment or to perpetual banishment and yet these high offences were committed and done in a short time Now this bears a proportion with eternal torments O Sirs if the offences committed against God be infinitely heinous why may not the punishment be infinitely lasting Sinners offences as Austin well observes are not to be measured temporis longitudine Aug. de Câ—vâ—t Dâ—â— l. 1. c. 11. by the length of time wherein they were done but iniquitatis magnitudine by the foulness of the crime and if so then God is just in binding the sinner in everlasting chains We must remember that God is a great and a glorious God and that he is an omniscient and an omnipotent God and that he is a mighty yea an almighty God and that he is a â—oly and a just God and that he is out of Christ an incomprehensible incommunicable and very terrible God and that he is an infinite eternal and independent God And Heb. 12. 29. 30. we must remember that man is a shaddow a bubble a vapour a dream a base vile sinful worthless Worm Now these things being considered must we not confess that eternity it self is too short a space for God to revenge himself on sinners in But Seventhly and lastly I answer Such sinners have but what they chose Whilest they lived under the means of Grace the God of Grace sat before them Heaven and Hell Glory Deut. 11. 26 27. Chap. 30 15. Heb. 2. 2 3. Chap. 10. 28 29. John 3. 14 15 16 17 36. Chap. 1. 11. and misery eternal life and eternal death so that if they eternally miscarry they have none to blame but themselves for choosing Hell rather than Heaven misery rather than glory and eternal death rather than eternal life Ah how treely how fully how frequently how graciously how gloriously hath Christ been offered in the Gospel to poor sinners and yet they would not choose him they would not close with him they would not embrace him nor accept of him nor enter into a marriage Covenant with him nor resign themselves up to him nor part with their lusts to enjoy him They would not come to Christ that they might have John 5. 40. Matâ—h 22. 2 3 4 5. 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. life they slighted infinite mercy and despised the riches of Grace and trode under foot the blood of the everlasting Covenant and scorned the offers of eternal salvation and therefore 't is but just that they should lye down in everlasting sorrows How can that sinner be saved that still refuses salvation How can mercy save him that will not be saved by mercy yea how can Christ save such a man that will not be saved by him All the world can't save that man from going to Hell who is peremptorily resolved that he will not go to Heaven Sinners have boldly and daily refused eternal life eternal mercy eternal glory and therefore 't is but just that thâ—y should endure eternal misery And let thus much suffice for answer to the Objection But Sir pray what are those duties that are incumbent upon Quest those that have been burnt up and whose habitations are nâ—w laid in its ashes I answer They are these that follow Answ First See the hand of the Lord in this late dreadful fire acknowledge the Lord to be the Author of all Judgements and of this in particular 'T is a high point of Christian Prudence Lev. 26. 41. Mich. 7. 9. and Piety to acknowledge the Lord to be the Author of all personal or National sufferings that bâ—fall us Jer. 9. 12. Who is the wise man that may understand this for what the Land perisheth and is burnt up like a Wilderness that none passeth through It is very great wiâ—dom to know from whom all our afflictions come and for what all our afflâ—ctions come upon us God looks that we should observe his hand in all our sufferings Hear the rod and who hath appointed it God challenges all sorts of afflictions as his own special Administration Mich. 6 9. See this Text fully opened in my first Epistle to my Treatise on â—loset Prayer Amos 3. 6. Is there any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all thâ—se things Isa 45. 7. God takes it very hainously and looks upon it as a very great indignity that is put upon his Power Providence and Justice when men will neither see nor acknowledge his hand in those sore afflictions and sad sufferings that he brings upon them Of such the Prophet Isaiah complains Chap. 26. 11. Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see The hand the power of the Lord was so remarkable and conspicuous in the Judgements that were inflicted upon them as might very well wring an acknowledgement out
the more he laboured to block up the way of Christ the more passible As they said once of the Graeciaâ—s in the Epigramm whom they thought invuâ—nerable We shâ—ot at them but they fail not down we wound them but do'nt kill them See Exod. 1. 10 11 12 13. Acts 8. Acts 14. it became And what ever of Christ he thought to root out it rooted the deeper and rose the higher thereupon he resolved to engage no further but retired to a private life All the oppositions that the Dâ—vil and his instruments had raised against the Saints in all the ages of the world hath not diminished but encreased their number For the first three hundred years after Christ there was a most terible perfecution Historians tell us that by seven and twenty several sorts of deaths they tormented the poor people of God In these hot times of persecution many millions of Christians were destroyed And yet this was so far from diminishing of their number that it encreased their number for the more they were oppressed and perfecuted the more they were encreased And therefore some have well observed that though Julian used all means imaginable to suppress them yet he could never do it He shut up all their Schools that they might not have learning and yet never did learning more flourish than then He devised all manner of cruel torments to terrifie the Christians and to draw them from their holy faith and yet he saw that they encreased and multiplied so fast that he thought it his bâ—st course at last to give over his persecuting of the Saints not out of love but out of envy because that through his persecution they encreased This was represented unto Daniel Dan. 2. 34 35. in a vision Dan. 2. The Kingdom of Christ is set forth there by a little stone cut out of the Mountain without hands without art or industry without Engines and humane helps The stone was a growing stone and although in all the ages of the world there have been many hammers at work to break this stone in pieces yet they have not nor shall not prevail but the little stone shall grow more and more till it becomes a great Mountain and fills the whole earth And let this suffice for Answer to the first Objection I would justifie the Lord I would say he is righteous though Object 2 my house â—e burnt up but I have lost my goods I have lost my estate yea I have lost my all as to this world and how then can I sâ—y the Lord is righteous how can I justifie that God which has even stript me as naked as the day wherein I was born c. To this I answer Answ First Dâ—dst thou gain thy estate by just or unjust wayes and means If by unjust wayâ—s and means then be silent before the Lord. If â—y just wayes and means then know that the Lord will lay in that of himself and of his Son and of his Spirit and of his Grace and of Heavens glory that shall make up all thy losses to thee But Secondly Did you improve your estates for the glory of God and the good of others or did you not If not why do you complain If you did the reward that shall attend you at the long run may very well bear up your spirits under all your losses Consult these Scriptures 1 Cor. 1. 15. 2 Cor. 9. 6. Eccles 11. 1. Gal. 6. 7 8. Isa 32. 20. Isa 55. 10. Prov. 11. 18. Rev. 22. 12. But Thirdly What Trade did you drive Christ-wards and Heaven-wards and Holiness-wards If you did drive either The Stars which have least circuit are nearest the Pole and men that are least perplexed with business are commonly nearest to God no Trade heaven-wards or but a slender or inconstant Trade heaven-wards and holiness-wards never wonder that God by a fiery dispensation has spoiled your Civil Trade Doubtless there were many Citizens who did drive a close secret sinful Trade who had their by wayes and back-doors some to uncleanness others to merry meetings and others to secret Gaming Now if thou wert one of them that didst drive a secret Trade of sin never murmur because thy house is burnt and thy Trade destroyed but rather repent of thy secret Trade of sin and wonder that thy body is not in the grave and that thy soul is not a burning in everlasting flames Many there were in London who had so great a Trade so full a Trade so constant a Trade that they had no time to mind the everlasting concernments of their precious souls and the great things of Eternity They had so much to There were many who sacrificed their prâ—ciâ—us â—â—me â—â—ther to 〈◊〉 the Mâ—niâ—tâ—r of sleep or to Baccâ—us the Gâ—d of Wine or to 〈◊〉 â—he Goddes◠〈◊〉 Bâ—auty 〈◊〉 iâ— all â—ere due to the Bâ—d the Tavern and the â—rothel-house Numb 22. 32. 2 Pet 1. 10. do on Earth that they had no time to look up to Heaven as once the Dake of Alva told the King of Fraâ—ce Sr. Thomas More saith there is a Devil called negâ—tiuâ— business thâ—â— carrieth more souls to Hell then all the Dâ—vâ—â—s in Hell beside Many Citizens had so many Irons in the fire and were cumbred about with so many things that theâ— wholly neglected the one thing necessary and therefore it was but just with God to visit them with a fiery Rod. Look as much earth puts out the fire so much worldly bâ—siness puts out the fire of heavenly affections Look as the earth swallowed up Korah Dathan and Abiram so much worldly business swallows up so much precious time that many men have no leisure to secure their interest in Christ to make their calling and election sure to lay up treasure in Heaven to provide for eternity and if this have been any of your cases who are now burnt up it highly concerns you to justifie the Lord and to say he is righteous though he has burnt up your habitatâ—ons and destroyâ—d your Trade 'T is sad when a crowd of worldly business shall crowd God and Christ and Duty out of dooâ—s Many Citizens did drive so great a Publick Trade in their Shops that their private Trade to Heaven was quite laid by Such who were so busie about their Farm and their Merchandise that they had See Luke 14. 16. 22. no leisure to attend their souls concernments had their City set on fire about their ears Matth. 22. 5. But they made light of it that is of all the free rich and noble offâ—rs of Grace and mercy that God had made to them and went their wayes one to his farm another to his Merchandise Ver. 7. But when the King heard thereof he was wroth and he sent forth his Armies that is the Romans and destroyed those murderers and burnt up their City It is observable that the Exod. 20. 9. Vidâ— Exod. 29. 38 39. Numb 28. 3. Deut. 6. 6 7 8. Jews who were
advantage and the very next night after his departure he appeared to the Bishop delivering the Bond cancelled and fully discharged thereby acknowledging that what was promised was made good It is probable that the relation is fabulous But this is certain viz. That one dayes being in Heaven will make us a sufficient recompence for whatsoever we have given or do give or shall give in this world But Thirdly If the constant frame and disposition of your hearts be to do as much good as ever you did or more good than ever you did then you may be confident that the Lord accepts of your will for the deed 2 Cor. 8. 12. For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not God prefers a willing mind before a worthy work God measures all his people not by their works but by their wills When thâ— will is strongly enclined and byassed to works of charity so that a man would fain be a giving to the poor and a supplying the wants and necessities of the needy but can't foâ— want of an estate in this case God accepts of the will foâ— the deed David had a purpose and a will to build God a house and God took it so kindly at his hands that he dispatches 2 Chron 6. 8 an Embassadour to him to tell him how highly he resented his purpose and good will to build him a house The Widows will was in her two mites which she cast into Gods Treasury and therefore Christ sets a more honourable Mark â—2 41 42 43. 44. value upon them than he dos upon all the vast summs that others cast in Many Princes and Queâ—ns Lords and Ladies are forgotten when this poor Widow who had a will to be nobly charitable has her name written in letters of Gold and her charity put upon record for all eternity The King of Persia did lovingly accept of the poor mans handful of water because his good will was in it and put it into a Golden Vessel and gave the poor man the Vessel of Gold And do you think that the King of Kings will be out-done by the King of Persia Surely no. But Fourthly and lastly As there are more wayes to the Wood than one so there are more wayes of doing good to others than one If thou canst not do so much good to others as formerly thou hast done by thy Purse yet thou maâ—st do more good to others than ever yet thou hast done by thy Pen thy Parts thy Prayers thy Gifts thy Graces thy examples Though thou art less servicable to their bodies yet if thou art more serviceable than ever to their souls Thou hast no reason to complain there is no love no compassion no pity no charity no mercy to that which reaches immortal souls and which will turn most to a mans account in the great day of our Lord Jesus I would justifie the Lord I would say he is righteous though Object 3 my house be burnt up and I am turned out of all but God has punished the righteous with the wicked if not more than the wicked this fiery Rod has fallen heavier upon many Saints than upon many sinners c. How then can I justifie God How then câ—n I say that the Lord is righteous c. In all the Ages of the world Gods dearest children have Answ 1 been deep sharers with the wicked in all common calamities Abraham and his Family were by Famine driven into Aegypt Gen. 1. 12. Gen. 26. as well as others And Isaac and his Family were by Famine driven into the Philistins Countrey as well as others And Jacob and his Family by Famine were driven into Aegypt Gen. 42. 2 Sam. 21. 1. 1 Kings 18 2. Matth. 5. 4 5. as well as others And in Davids time there was a Famine for three years And in Elijahs time there was a sore Famine in Samaria The difference that God puts between his own and others are not seen in the administration of these outward things All things come alike to all there is Eccles 9. 2. one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and Communia esse voluit c. commoda prophanis c. Incommoda suis Tertul. to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath The priviledges of the Saints lye in temporals but in spirituals and eternals else Religion would not be a matter of faith but sense and men would serve God not for himself but for the gay and gallant things of this world But Secondly There are as many Mysteries in Providences as there are in Prophecies and many Texts of Providence are as hard to understand as many Texts of Scriptures are Gods way is in the Sea his paths are in the great waters and his footsteps are not known His judgements are unsearchable and Psalm 77. 19. Rom. 11. 33. Psalm 97. 2. Psalm 36. 6. his wayes are past finding out And yet when clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his Throne When his Judgements are a great deep yet then his righteousness is like the great Mountains There are many Mysteries in nature and many mysteries of State which we are ignorant of and why then should we wonder that there are many mysteries in Providence that we do not understand Let a man but sâ—riously consider how many pâ—ssible deaths lurk in his own bowels and the innumerable Hosts of external dangers which beleaguers him on every side how many invisible Arrows fly about his ears continually and yet how few have hit him I have read of a Father and hâ—s Son who being shipwrackt at Sea the Son sailed to shoar upon the back of his dead Father What a strange mysterious Providence was this Plâ—â— Nat. Hâ—st lib. 2. cap. 51. and that none hitherto have mortally wounded him and it will doubtless so far affect his heart as to work him to conclude that great and many and mysterious are the Providences that daily attend upon him Vives reports of a Jew that having gone over a deep River on a narrow planck in a dark night and coming the next day to see what danger he had escaped fell down dead with astonishment Should God many times but open to us the misteriousness of his Providences they would be matter of matter of amazement and astonishment to us I have read that Marcia a Roman Princess being great with child had the Babe in her killed with lightning she her self escaping the danger What a mysterious Providence was this Gods Providence towards his Servants is as a wheel in the midst of a wheel whose motion Ezek. 1. 16. and work and end in working is not discerned by a common eye The actings of Divine Providence are many
a few Fishes yea Lazarus his scraps crusts and raggs and Johns Garment of Camels hair from reconciled love is infinitely better than all the riches and dainties of the wicked which are all mixed and mingled with crosses and curses All the mercies and Prov. 3. 33. Mal. 2. 2. Psal 78. 30 31. abundance that wicked men have is in wrath and from wrath there is wrath in every cup they drink in and in every dish they eat in and in every bed they lye on and in every stool they sit on But the little the righteous man hath flowes from the sweetest springs of divine love so that they may well say as Gideon did The gleanings of the Grapes Judges 8. 2. of Ephraim is it not better than the Vintage of Abiezer The very gleanings of the righteous are better than the greatest Vintages of the wicked The abundance of the wicked still flowes in upon them from the bitter streams of Divine Wrath. A little water flowing from a sweet spring is much better than a great deal that flowes from the salt Sea The loving kindness of God dos raise the least estate above the greatest estate in the world yea it raiseth it above life it self or lives Chajim which is the best of all temporal Psalm 63. 3. blessings Ten pound given by a King out of favour and respect is a better gift than a thousand given in wrath and displeasure But Fourthly The little that the righteous man hath is blest and sanctified to him as you may see by comparing the Deut. 28. 8 9. Psalm 3. 8. Gen. 22. 17. Chap. 26. 12. Prov. 10. 22. Deut. 28. 16 17 18 19 20. Prov. 3. 33. Mal. 2. 2. Scriptures in the Margent together A little blest unto a man is better than all the world curst Now all the blessings and mercies that the wicked do enjoy though they are matetially blessings yet they are formally curses as all the crosses that befalls a righteous man though they are materially crosses yet they are formally blessings The habitations relations honors riches c. of the wicked are all crust unto them There is poyson in every cup the wicked man drinks and snares in every dish he puts his fingers in the Plague in all the clothes he wears and a curse upon the house in which he dwells Zech. 5. 3 4. Then he said unto me this is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it I will bring it forth saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall enter into the house of the Thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof So Job 24. 18. Their portion is cursed in the earth A fat purse and a fat heart a whole estate and a whole heart a fat body and a lean soul Psal 106. 15. He sent leanness into their souls All the blessings of the wicked have their but. As the Cup in Benjamins Sack which proved a snare to him rather than a mercy O the curses and vexations that attend all the blessings of the wicked It may be said of the little that a righteous man hath as it was once said of Jacobs Garment It is like a field which the Lord hath blessed He blesseth the habitations of the just Esau had Prov. 3. 33. a fair estate left him and Jacob a less yet Jacobs was a better estate than Esau's because his little was blest to him when Esau's much was curst to him One little draught of clear watâ—r is better than a Sea of brackish salt water The application is easie But Fifthly A little improved and well husbanded is better than a great deal that is either not improved or but ill improved Every estate is as 't is improved a little Farm well improved is much better than a great Farm that is either not improved or ill improved A little money a little stock in a Shop well improved is better than a great deal of money a great stock that is either not improved or ill improved Now here give me leave to shew you briefly how a godly man improves his little Take me thus First A godly man improves his little to the stirring up of his bea rt to thankfulness and to be much in admiring and Psalm 103. 1 2 3. Psalm 116. 12 13. blessing of God for a little Every drop the Dove drinks he lifts up his head to Heaven Every Bird in his kind saith Ambrose doth chirp forth thankfulness to his Maker So the righteous man will bless God much for a little yea he will bless God very much for a very little But Secondly A righteous man improves his little to the humbling and abasing of himself before the Lord as one that is 2 Sam. 7. 18. much below the least of mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy servant A righteous man labours to have his heart lye low under the sense of the least sin and under the smart of the least rod and under the sight of the least mercy But Thirdly A righteous man improves his little to the arming and fencing of himself against sinful temptations Little Gen. 39. 7 8 9 10. mercies are many times great arguments to keep a gracious soul from sin But Fourthly A righteous man improves his little to the relief and refreshing of the bowels of others that are in want 2 Cor. 8. 1 2 3 4. Heb. 6. 10. and whose pinching necessities call for supplyes A poor man begging at a Christians door who was very poor he spoke to his Wife to give him something she answered that she had but three-pence in the house saith he give him that for if we never sow we shall never reap There was another Christian who having given a little of his little to a man began to think whether he had injured himself but presently he corrected himself with these thoughts that he had lent â—â— one that would pay all again with advantage with interest upon interest within an hour after he had it restored above seven-fold in a way which he never thought of The Italian form of begging is Do good for your selves But Fifthly A righteous man improves his little to the stirring up and provoking of his own heart to look after better and greater mercies viz. spiritual and eternal favours O saith the righteous man if there be so much sweetness in a few drops and sips and small draughts and crusts and scraps Psal 16. ult Joh. 4. 10 11. 14. Chap. 6. 4. Rev. 19. 8. What is in those everlasting springs of pleasure and delight that be at Gods right
of men When the body returneth to the Eccles 12. 7. earth as it was the Spirit shall return to God who gave it O Sirs the soul being immortal it must be immortally happy or immortally miserable Certainly there is no wisdom nor policy to that of securing the everlasting welfare of your souls All the honours riches greatness and glory of this world are but chips feathers trâ—fles pâ—bbles to your precious and immortal souls and therefore before all and above all other things make sure work for your souls if they are safe all is safe but if they are lost all is lost and you cast and undone in both worlds Chrysâ—stom observeth that whereas God hath given many other things double two eyes to see with two ears to hear with two hands to work with and two feet to walk with to the intent that the sailing of the one might be supplyed by the other he hath given us but one soul if that be lost hast thou another soul to give in recompence for it If you save your souls though you should lose all you have in this world your loss would be a gainful loss but if you lose your precious souls though you should gain all the world yet your very gains will undo you for ever You have found by the late dreadful fire that there is no securing of the things of this world and therefore make it your business your work to get a Christ for your souls grace for your souls and a Heaven for your souls that so though all go to wrack hâ—re yet your souls may be saved in the day of Christ What desperate madness and folly would it have been in any when London was in flames to mind more and endeavour more to save their Lumber than their Jewels their goods in their Shops than their Children in their Cradles or their Wives in their Beds but it is a thousand times greater madness and folly for men to mind more and endeavour more to secure their temporal estates than they do to secure their eternal estates But The thirteenth duty that is incumbent upon those who have been burnt up is to get a God for their portion You Psalm 16. 5. Psalm 63. 26. have lost your earthly portion your earthly possâ—ssions O that you would now labour with all your might to get God Psal 119. 57. Jer. 10 16. Lam. 3. 24. for your portion If the loss of your earthly portions shall be so sanctified to you as to work you to make God your portion then your unspeakable losses will prove inconceivable gain unto you O Sirs God is the most absolute need ful and necessary portion the want or the loss of earthly portions may afflict and trouble you but the want of God for your portion will certainly damn you it is not absolutely necessary that you should have a portion in Gold or Silver or Jewels or Goods or Houses or Lands or Lordships but it is absolutely necessary that you should have God for your portion Suppose that with the Apostles you have no certain dwelling place nor no Gold nor Silver 1 Cor. 4. 11. Acts 3. 6. Luke 16. 20 21. in your purses Suppose with Lazarus you have never a rag to hang on your backs nor never a dry crust to put in your bellies Suppose with Job you should stript of all your worldly comforts in a day yet if God be your portion you are happy you are really happy you are signally happy you are greatly happy you are unspeakably happy you are eternally happy However it may go with you in this world yet you shall be sure to be glorious in that other world To have God for thy portion O man is the one thing necessary for without it thou art for ever and ever undone If God be not thy portion thou canst never enjoy communion with God in this world if God be not thy portion thou canst never be saved by him in the other world Will you consider a little what an excellent transcendent portion God is 1. He is a present portion he is a portion in hand he is See my Matchless Porâ—â—on from p. 8. to p. 107. where all these particulars are fully proved a portion in possâ—ssion 2. God is an immense portion he is a vast large portion he is the greatest portion of all portions 3. God is an all-sufficient portion 4. God is a pure and unmixed portion God is an unmixed good he hath nothing in him but goodness 5. God is a glorious a happy and a blessed portion he is so in himself and he makes them so too who enjoy him for their portion 6 God is a peculiar portion a portion peculiar to his people 7. God is a universal portion he is a portion that includes all other portions 8. God is a safe portion a secure portion a portion that none can rob a believer of 9. God is a suitable portion No object is so suitable and adequate to the heart as he is 10. God is an incomprehensible portion 11. God is an inexhaustible portion a portion that can never be spent a spring that can never be drawn dry 12. God is a soul satisfying portion he is a portion that gives the soul full satisfaction and content 13. God is a perminent portion an indeficient portion a never failing portion a lasting yea an everlasting portion 14. And lastly God is an incomparable portion God is a portion more precious than all those things which are esteemed most precious Nothing can make that man miserable that has God for his portion nor nothing can make that man happy that hath not God for his portion O Sirs why do you think that God by his late fiery dispensations has stript you of your earthly portions but effectually to stir you up to make him your only portion c. But The fourteenth Duty that is incumbent upon them that have been burnt up is to make God their habitation to make Ponder seriously on these Scriptures Psal 91. 2 9 10. Psal 71. 3. Psal 57. 1. 2 Cor. 6. 8 9 10. Ezek. 11. 16. God their dwelling-place Psal 90. 1. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place or place of retreat in all generations or in generation and generation as the Hebrew runs it is an Hebraisme setting forth God to be the dwelling place of his people in all generations before the flood and after the flood The Israel of God in all their troubles and travels in their wilderness condition were not houseless nor harbouâ—less God was both their hiding place and their dwelling place He that dwelleth in God cannot be unhoused because God is stronger than all 'T is brave for a Christian to take up in God as in his Mansion-house It was a witty saying of that learned man Picus Mirandula viz. That God created the earth for Beasts ro inhabit the Sea for Fishes the Air for Fowls the Heavens for Angels and Stars and therefore man hath no
encrease the graces the comforts the communions and the enjoyments of his people But Thirdly There is the eye of fury and indignation Gods looks can speak his anger as well as his blows His fury is visible by his frowns Mine eyes shall be upon them for evil Gods sight can wound as deeply as his sword He sharpneth Job 16. 9. his eyes upon me sâ—ith Job Wild Beasts when they fight whâ—t thâ—ir eyes as well as their teeth He sharpneth his eyes upon me as if he would stab me to the heart with a glance of his eye he that waits on God irreverently or worships him car lesly or that prophaneth his day either by corporalla boâ—r or spiritual Idleness may well expect an eye of fury to be fixt upon him Jer. 17. ult Ezâ—k 22. 26 31. Bâ—t Sâ—venthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by pressing after immediate communion with God and Christ in all the duties â—sâ—lm 27. 4. â—salâ— 42. 1 2 â—sâ—â—m 43 4 Psaâ—m 63. 1 2 â—saâ—m 84. 1 2. of the day Oh do not take up in duties or Ordinances or priviledges or enlargâ—ments or meltings but press hard after intimate communion wiâ—h God in all you do Let no duty satisfie thy soul without communion with God in it Câ—n. 7. 4. The King is hil'd in the Galleries that is in his Oâ—dinances The Galleries the Ordinances without King Jesus be enjoyed in them will never satisfie the Spouse of Cant. 3. 1 2 3 4. Christ What is a purse without money or a Tâ—ble without meat or a Ship without a Pilot or a fountain without water or the body without the soul or the Sun without light or the Cabinet without the Jewels no more are all Ordinances and duties to a gracious soul without the enjoyment 2 Kings 2. 13 14. The Sea ebbs â—nd flowes the Mâ—on â—ncreaseâ— and decreases so it is with Saints in their communion with God in Ordinances sâ—metimes they rise and sometimes â—hey fall sometimes â—hey have more and sometimes less communion with God of God in them Moses had choice communion with God in the Mount and that satisfied him The Disciples had been with Jâ—sus and this was a spring of joy and life unto them John 20. 20. Then were the Disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Here is the Mantle of Elijah but where is the God of Elijah said Elisha So saith a gracious soul here is thâ—s Ordinance and that Ordinance but where is the God of the Ordinance Psalm 101. 2. O when wilt thou come unto me O Lord I come to one Ordinance and another Ordinance but when wilt thou come to me in the Ordinance when shall I be so happy as to enjoy thy self in the Ordinances that I enjoy The Waggons that Joseph sent to setch his Father were the means of bringing Joseph and his Father together All the Ordinances should be as so many Wagons to bring Christ and our souls nearer together Mans summum bonum stands in his communion with God aâ— Scripture and experience evidences Eâ—ghthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by labouring after the highest pitches of grace and holiness on this day Every Christian should labour after an Angelical holiness on Isa 58. 13. this day on this day every Saint should walk like an earthly Angel Mark the Sabbath is not only called holy but holiness to the Lord Exod. 31. 15. Six dayes may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord or as the Hebrew runs holiness to the Lord which shews that the day is exceeding holy and ought to be kept accordingly The Sacrifices on this day was to be double Numb 28. 9. And on the Sabbath day two Lambs of the first year without spot and two tenth deals of flower for a meat-offering mingled with Oyle and the drink-offering thereof The Sacrifices here appointed for every Sabbath day are full double to those appointed for every day ver 3. and yet the daily sacrifices the continual burnt-offering ver 10. was not omitted on the Sabbath day neither So that every Sabbath in the morning there was offered one Lamb for the daily sacrifice and then two Lambs more for the Sabbath and this was appointed 1. To shew the holiness of that day above other dayes and that God required more service from them on that day than he did on any other day Secondly To testifie their thankfulness for the worlds Exod. 20. 11. creation Thirdly To put them in remembrance of Gods bringing them out of Aegypt by a mighty hand and by a stretched Deut. 5. 15. out arm Fourthly For a sign of their sanctification by the Ezek. 20. 12. Heb. 4. Lord. Fifthly and lastly for to be a figure of grace and a sign of that rest in Heaven that Christ hath purchased for his people with his dearest blood Now mark as this day was a sign of more than ordinary favours from the Lord so he required greater testimonies of their thankfulness and holiness on this day than he did on any other day Every day should be a Sabbath to the Saints in regard of their ceasing to do evil and learning to do well but on the seventh day Sabbath our dutiâ—s and services should be doubled In Psâ—â— 92. which Psalm is titled a Psalm for the Sabbath there is mention made of morning and evening performances the variety of duties that are to be performed on this day may very well take up the whole day with delight and pleasure on this day in a more especial manner we should labour to do the will of God on earth as the Angels and Spirits of just men Heb. 12. 22 23. made perfect do it now in Heaven viz. wisely freely readily cheerfully saithfully seriously universally and unweariedly If we are not wanting to our selves God on this day will give out much of hâ—mself and much of his Christ and much of his Spirit and much of his grace into our souls But Ninthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by managing all the duties of the day with inward reverence seriousness John 4. 23 24. and spiritualness 'T is the pleasure of God that we reverence his Sanctuary Lev. 19. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. Twâ—ce in this Chapter the observation of the Sâ—bbath is commanded that it may be the better remembred and that men may know that it is not enough to rest on that day but that rest must be sanctified by a reverent management of all their soul concernments in all our drawings nigh to God We must look that our hearts lye under a holy awe and dread of his presence To the commandment of sanctifying Gods Sabbath this of reverencing his Sanctuary is joyned Gen. 28. 16 17. because the Sabbaths were the chief times whereon they resorted to the Sanctuary The Jews made a great stir about reverencing the Temple they tell us that they were not to go in with a
we then put off God with a part of a day Shall we be worse than the Heathens Shall we act below Heathens Shall nature shall blind devotion do more than Grace The Lord forbid But Thâ—rteenthly You must sanctifie the Sabbath by such an abstinence or moderate use of all your lawful comforts conâ—entments and enjoyments as may tender you most apt and fit for the sanctification of the Sabbath Let your moderation â—e known among all men alwayes but especially on the Lords day be moderate in your eating drinking entertainments Phil. 4. 5. c. Oh how do many by their immoderate use of lawful comforts on this day indispose and unfit themselves for the duties of the day It is a Christians duty every day to eat and drink soberly Titus 2. 11 12. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to us teaching us to live soberly in this present world It is both the duty and the glory The Greeks call Sobriety the Keeper and Guard of Wisdom of a Christian to be temperate in his diet A little will satisfie nature less will satisfie Grace though nothing will satisfie mens lusts Sobriety is a gift of God whereby we keep a holy moderation in the use of our dyet Prov. 23. When thou sittest to eat c. consider diligently what is before thee and put the knife to thy throat That is be very careful and circumspect in taking thy food bridle thine appeâ—iâ—e take heed thou dost not exceed measure He may endanger his health his life his soul that gives way to his greedy appetite Some read the words thus For thâ—u puttâ—â—t a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite Thou shortnest thy life and diggest as it were thine own grave with thine own teeth Meat kills as many as the Musket the Board as the Châ—ysost Sword I know that the bodies stomacks callings constitutions and climates wherein men live differ and therefore In the hot Eastern Countreys men have lived long with parâ—hed Corn and a Cake but their example is no rule for us Phil. 3. 18 19. no such particular Rules as to eating and drinking can be laid down as shall be binding to every one Yet this is certain that a man that eats or drinks so much on the Lords Day as oppresses nature and as unfits him for praying working or hearing work or reading work or closet work that man is guilty of intemperance Such who feed till they unfit themselves for service are Belly-Gods Paul wept over such in his day and so should we in ours Thou shouldst use thy food O Christian as a help and not as a hinderance to thee in thy Christian course A full belly never studies well nor never prayes well nor never hears well nor never reads well nor never repeats well nor never doth any thing well either on the Lords day or any other day What a shame is it to see a Christian a slave to his palate on any day but especially on the Lords day I may use the creatures so as to support and chear nature but not so as to clog it and weaken it and debase it I may use the creatures as my servants but I must never suffer them to be my Lord. Daniel was very temperate in his diet Though there was not a greater born of a woman than John the Baptist yet his Dan. 1. 8. Matth. 11. 11. fare was but Locusts and wild-honey A little bread was Basils provision Hilarion did seldom eat any thing till the Sun went down and then that which he did eat was very mean Jerom lived with cold water and a few dry'd Figgs And Augustine hath this expression concerning himself Hoc Lâ—b 10. Confessionum me docuisti Domine c. Thou Lord hast taught me this that I should go to my meat as to a medicine his meaning was that he went to his meat not to satisfie his appetite but to repair nature And Luther made many a meal with Bread and â— Heâ—ring Socrates Anacharsis Cyrus Caesar Herodicus Augustus and many other Heathens were very temperate in â—hâ—ir diet The old Gaules were very sparing in their diet â—nd used to fine them that out-grew their Girdles These Hâ—athens will one day rise in judgement against those nominal Christians who are intemperate both upon the Lords day and other dayes also But Fourteenthly and lastly You must sanctifie the Sabbath â—y abstâ—ining from speaking your own words The Spouses lips are like a thread of Scâ—rlet they are red like a thread of Cant. 4 3. scarlet in discoursing of a crucified Christ and they are thin like a thred of scarlet and not swelled with frothy empty worldly discourses on the Lords dayes or on other dayes Such words as will neither profit a mans own soul nor better â—thers are not to be spoken on the Lords day It is Gods express pleasure that we should not speak our own words on his day Isa 58. 13. Nâ—r speaking thine own words Caesar passing through the streets of Rome and seeing many of the Ladies Pluta ch in the life of Peâ—icles playing with little Dogs Monkies and Baubones askt them if the women in that Countrey had no children So when men spend the Lords day in playing sporting toying or talking of this or that trifle of this or that person of this or that fashion of this or that vanity we may ask them whether they have no God no Christ no Heaven no Promisâ—s no Experiences no Evidences to talk of There are Matth. 12. 36. Alexander forgave many sharp swords but never any sharp tongues c. many idle talkers of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account at the day of Judgement An idle word is a profuse or needless word used rashly or unadvisedly wanting a reason of just necessity bringing neither honor to God nor edification to others nor conducing to any profitable end And as there are many idle talkers so there are many over-talkers and they are such who spend a hundred words when ten will serve the turn And as there Eccles 5. 2 3. are many over-talkers so there are many that are only talkers that can do nothing but talk To fall under the power Prov. 14. 23. or scourge of these mens tongues is to fall under no easie persecution And as there are many that are only talkers so there are many that are unprofitable talkers The beginning of the words of their mouth is foolishness and the end of his Eccles 10. 13. talk is mischievous madness And as there are many unprofitable talkers so there are many unseasonable talkers that place one word where another should stand A wise man Eccles 8. 4. discerneth time and judgement And as there are many unseasonable talkers so there are many rash talkers who speak Chap. 5. 2. first and think afterwards God hath set a double bar about the tongue the teeth and
that he in his instruments Rev. 2. 10. makes against the strictest observers of that day and witness his constant prompting and spurring such on to the prophanation of the Sabbath whose examples are most dangerous and encouraging to wicked men as Magistrates Ministers Parents and Masters c. and witness his strong endeavours constant attempts crafty devices and deep policies that he has made use of in all the Ages of the World to keep people off from a religious observation of the Sabbath yea and to make them more wicked on that day then on any other day of the week May I not say then on all other days of the week I have been the longer upon this ninth Particular partly because of the weightiness of it and partly to encourage the Reader to a more close and strict observation of the Sabbath and partly to justifie those that are conscientious observers of it and partly to justifie the Lord in turning London into ashes for the horrible prophanation of his day The Sabbath-day is the Queen of days say the Jews The The Sabbath-day differs as much from the rest of the days as the wax doth to which a Kings Great Seal is put from ordinary wax Sabbath-day among the other days is as the Virgin Mary among Women saith Austin Look what the Phenix is among the Birds the Lyon among the Beasts the Whale among the Fishes the Fire among the Elements the Lilly among the Thorns the Sun among the Stars that is the Sabbath-day to all other days and therefore no wonder if God burn such out of their habitations who have been prophaners of his day Ah London London were there none within nor without thy Walls that made light of this Institution of God and that did offer violence to the Queen of days by their looseness and prophaneness by their sitting at their doors by their walking in Moor-fields by their sportings and wrestlings there and by their haunting of Ale-houses and Whore-houses their tossing of Pots and Pipes when they should have been setting up God and Christ and Religion in their Families and mourning in their Closets for the sins of times and for the afflictions of poor Joseph How did the wrath and rage of King Ahasuerus smoak against Haman Esth 7. 8 9 10. when he apprehended that he would have put a force upon the Queen And why then should we wonder to see the wrath of the Lord break forth in smoak and flames against such a generation that put a force upon his day that prophaned his day the Queen of days Ah Sirs you have greatly prophaned and abused the day of the Lord and therefore why should any marvel that the Lord has greatly debased you and laid your glory in dust and ashes In these late years how has prophaneness like a flood broke in upon us on the Lords day and therefore it highly concerns all the prophaners of the day of the Lord to lay their hands upon their hearts and to say the Lord is righteous the Lord is righteous though he has laid our habitations desolate Who is so great a stranger in our English Israel as not to know that God was more dishonoured on the Sabbath-day within and without the Walls of London then he was in all the other six days of the week and therefore let us not think it strange that such a fire was kindled on that day as has reduced all to ashes What Antick habits did men and women put on on this day what frothy empty airy discourses and intemperance was to be found at many mens Tables this day How were Ale-houses Stews and Moor-fields filled with debauched sinners this day No wonder then if London be laid desolate Now this abominable sin of open prophaning the Sabbaths of the Lord I cannot with any clear evidence charge upon the people of God that did truly fear him within or without the Walls of London For first they did lament and moâ—rn over the horrid prophanation of that day Secondly I want eyes at present to see how it will stand either with the truth of Grace or state of Grace for such as are real Saints to live in the open prophanation of Gods Sabbaths Thirdly because an ordinary prophaning of the Lords Sabbaths is as great an Argument of a prophane heart as any that can be found in the whole Book of God Fourthly because Sabbath-days are the Saints Market-days Prov. 10. 5. Prov. 17. 16. Isa 25. 6. Math. 5. 47. the Saints harvest-days the Saints summer-days the Saints seed-days and the Saints feasting-days and therefore they will not be such fools as to sleep away those days much less will they presume to prophane those days or to toy and trifle away those days of Grace Fifthly what singular thing do they more then others if they are not strict observers and conscientious sanctifiers of the Lords day â—ixthly and lastly of all the days that pass over a Christians head in this world there are none that God will take such a strict and exact account of as of Sabbath-days and therefore it highly concerns all people to be strict observers and serious sanctifiers of that day Now upon all these accounts I cannot charge such throughout Saints as lived within or without the Walls of London with that horrid prophanation of the Sabbath as brought the late fiery Dispensation upon us and that turned a glorious City into a ruinous heap Whatever there was of the hand of man in that dreadful Conflagration I shall not now attempt to divine but without a peradventure it was Sabbath-guilt which threw the first Ball that turned London into flames and ashes When fire and smoaking was on Mount Sinai God was there but when London was in Exod. 19. 18. flames and smoak Sabbath-guilt was there Doubtless all the power of Rome and Hell should never have put London into flames had not Londons guilt kindled the first coal But We come now to the Use and Application of this important Point Tenthly The prophaneness lewdness blindness and 10. wickedness of the Clergy of them in the Ministry brings the Judgment of Fire and provokes the Lord to lay all waste before him Zeph. 3. 4-6 Her Prophets are light and treacherous persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done violence to the law I have cut off the nations their towers are desolate I have made their street wâ—ste that none passeth by their cities are destroyed so that there is no man that there is none inhabitant Their Prophets and Priests were rash heady and unstable persons they were light faithlâ—ss men or men of faithlesness as the Hebrew runs They were neither faithful to God nor faithful to their own Souls nor faithful to others Souls they invented and feigned Prophesies of their own and then boldly maintained them and imposed them upon their Hearers they were prophane and light in their carriages they fitted their Doctrines to all fancies humours parties and times