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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	bread_n	lord_n	wine_n	3,679	5	7.3104	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57597	Shlohavot, or, The burning of London in the year 1666 commemorated and improved in a CX discourses, meditations, and contemplations, divided into four parts treating of I. The sins, or spiritual causes procuring that judgment, II. The natural causes of fire, morally applied, III. The most remarkable passages and circumstances of that dreadful fire, IV. Councels and comfort unto such as are sufferers by the said judgment / by Samuel Rolle ...	Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Preliminary discourses.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Physical contemplations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Sixty one meditations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Twenty seven meditations.	1667 (1667)	Wing R1877; Wing R1882_PARTIAL; Wing R1884_PARTIAL; ESTC R21820	301,379	534

upon them never lie down and die whilst you have wherewithall to live yea and to live nobly A stock of well-grounded spiritual comforts or a well-bottomed hope of glory will maintain a man at a great rate though he have little else yea like a Prince if it be well improved Have you not known men live chearfully and joyfully upon the expectance of great things in reversion though they have had but little in possession One would think the assurance or what is next to it of a Crown and Kingdome after a short time of suffering should raise and revive us more than the present fruition of a great Lordship being all that ever we look for He that upon Scripture-grounds believes himself to be an heir of heaven let him but reflect upon what he believes and that alone will be a heaven to him upon earth But do I not hear some say they want a stock of spiritual comforts or grounds of comfort they have no upper Springs to fetch water from none of those Rivers which make glad the City of God and therefore it is that their hearts fail● them in an evil day Yea doubtless therefore it is that their hearts do faile them because they either have not an interest in God or if they have they know it not Now as that holy man said to his friend touching assurance verily assurance is to be had and what have we been doing all this while so say I to you verily an interest in God is to be had and see that you labour for it It was a great fault and oversight not to look after it whilst we had a confluence of other good things but now other things are taken away it were utter madness to neglect it From this time forward make it thy business to get an interest in eternal mercies the sure mercies of David and to know that thine interest and then live upon the comfort of it and then thou that never hadst it before though God have cast thee as it were from the throne to the dunghil even upon that dunghill shalt thou live better than ever thou didst in all thy life before Doubtless a man may live more happily upon a great deale of assurance having but a small pittance of other things than upon great abundance of worldly enjoyments having little or no assurance O Lord my heart deceives me if the consolations of God be small with me or in my accompt if I could not live more contentedly upon bread and water with calling and election made sure than they who have their portion in this life do when their Corn and Wine increase Oh why do I press no harder after that which I take my self to have so great a value for That is the only thing that makes me fear least my heart should in this case deceive me For it is not that God hath been wanting to incourage the endeavours of men in pursuite of spiritual and eternal mercies so that we should have cause to fear our labour would be in vain for hath he not declared he is a rewarder of all them that seek him diligently and that to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory he will give eternal life Rom. ● And what more could have been said I see then there are three sorts of men Some have matter and ground-work for spiritual joy but will not take pains to improve it they have as it were the breast in their mouths but will not draw it because the milk is hard to come by that is they have good evidences for heaven but will not trouble themselves to clear them up and to be ever and anon reviewing and reading them over Lord if I be one of them give me to see how much I stand and have stood in my own light how much I have lessened my comforts by grudging my paines how I might have doubled and trebled my joyes if the fault had not been my own others there are that content themselves with a portion in this life seeing and knowing themselves as yet to have no interest in better things Lord how desperately do they adventure how great a hazard do they run If death should come and finde them provided only for this present World what would become of them And yet there is a sort of men more desperate than these if more can be and they are those who are destitute of this World 's good things and yet neither have an interest in spiritual comforts nor yet regard to have any God hath taken the World from them and possibly will never give it them again do what they can and yet they look not after that better portion that can never be taken away from them To such I may say not only what will they do in their latter end but what will they do at present what shift can they make so much as for the present can men live of nothing without either heaven or earth God or the creature comforts for either soul or body where are they but in hell who are neither in heaven nor yet upon the earth in the World I mean Surely such men care not what becomes of them I cannot better compare them to any thing than to a ship turned adrift in a mighty storm whose Pilot steeres her no longer but exposeth her to the mercy of winds and waves and rocks and sands and it is a thousand to one if ever she get safe to harbour Lord of all sorts of men let me be none of this last Let me secure one World at least and if but one let it be the World to come The more thou abridgest me of earthly comforts the more insatiable let me be in my desires of those that are heavenly The more hungry thou keepest me as to a supply of earthly things the more thirsty let me be after those rivers of pleasure which are at thy right hand for ever more O Lord if I want a ground-work for spiritual joy a root of peace within my self let me want it no longer if I have a foundation for joy within me but know it not oh thou who hast given me to have it give me also to know it and when I once know it give me often to review and recollect it to ruminate and chew the cud upon it that I may enjoy the sweetness of that whereof I am really possest that I may eat the fruit of the Vineyard which thou hast planted within me Lord trust me with a stock of spiritual comforts with plenty of good hope thorough grace kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth and let thy barner over me be love and give me to sit under the shaddow of thy favour with delight and if ever I envy those pittiful worldlings that have more of this than heart can wish but no more of any World but this if ever I be willing to change conditions with them all things considered though they be wealthy honourable

they have The Israelites in the Wilderness had but bread and water when for their murmuring they were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10. Beware of grumbling at Manna and lusting after Quailes lest for so doing your carcasses fall in the Wilderness as theirs did If the end of life were to eat and drink it were another matter but if the end of eating and drinking be that we may live such food as will keep us alive and in health ought to be accepted with thankfulness what a feast would a belly-full of bread be counted in a time of famine How precious was an Asses head yea a cab of Doves dung in the famine of Samaria 2 Kings 6.28 Are we better than Lazarus who would have been glad of Dives his crums If that were a parable then Lazarus is there put not for one person but for every one that is such as he is described to have been namely defigned for Abraham's bosome and yet glad of crums in this World Let me here diet with Lazarus if the will of God be so may I but be sure hence-forth to lodge with him in the bosome of Abraham Do we make light of food and raiment for us and ours alas what more can this World afford us though we have ever so much of it Solomon complaining how the hearts of men are taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things which is conceived to be the meaning of that difflicult expression Eccles 3.11 He hath set the World in their hearts showes what the benefit of the World and of the things therein is I know saith he that there is no good in them but for a man to rejoyce and to do good in his life And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labours v. 12 13. I finde the rich man spoken of Luk. 16.19 distinguished from the beggar only by this that he are better meat and wore better cloaths For the Text saith That he was cloathed in Punple and fared sumptuously every day Now what great matter is it that our vile bodies should have every thing of the best What are our bodies especially if too much pamper'd but as so many reeking dunghils annoying our soules with ill steames and vapours or like dead carcasses joyned to living men a torture invented by Mezintius which are an unsufferable offence to them As it is said of Eve that she was first in the transgression and as she drew in her husband so our bodies many times like so much tinder do receive the first sparks of temptation or like the thatch of an house are first kindled and as that might set the whole house so do they the whole soul on fire Many sins begin at the body are occasioned or fomented or both by the over-sanguine or melancholy or cholerick temper or distemper thereof which shewes we are no debtors to the flesh to fulfill the desires thereof Moreover if we consider whence our bodies came and whither they are going it will appear there is no such cause to be greatly concerned for them that they should wear the finest wool and eat the sinest of the wheat Dust they were and to dust they shall teturn Why must they needs be sed so daintily which themselves must shortly become food for wormes when we feed our bodies too high what do we but feed our lusts yea feed diseases in our very bodies so that it is become a proverb that the English man digs his grave with his teeth Few kill their bodies by mortifying them but many by indulging them Christmat kills many more than Lent As the Ape is said to hug her young ones to death so many kill their bodies with too much kindness to them As over-pamper'd Horses oft times throw their riders and give them their deaths wound so are men too commonly thrown both in osickness sin and death it self by indulging their bodies over much The body as one saith well ought to be kept as not infra so neither supra negotium sed per negotio not too high for its work but equal to it Paul saith that he did keep under his body and brought it into subjection So far was he from cockring of it till it became his master as too many do There is no small danger in over-exalting our blood and natural spirits Job was never more afraid of his children than when they went a feasting from house to house Then did he offer a Sacrifice for each of them least they should blaspheme God or had done it A cheap and simple diet may preserve health and strength as well as the best dainties and costliest varieties Daniel and the three children who lived of pulse and water were fairer and fatter than all those which did cat the portion of the Kings meat Dan. 1.15 They are sometimes the leanest cattel which devoure the fat As for any service of God or men he shall be much more fit who having no pallatable diet eats but for necessitie and to satisfie his hunger than one that by the deliciousness of his fare is tempted to devoure more than he can well digest As for delight in meats and drinks he that brings but hunger and thirst enough to a course meale shall have more of that and those are sauces which the poor have usuallie most of than he that with balfe an appetite sits down to a great Feast Why then having a comperencie of wholsome food though but mean and ordinarie should we not be therewithall content Are we better then John the Baptist of whom it is said that his diet was Locusts and wilde Honey Some have found more sweetness in a draught of cold water such as their thirst hath been than in all the Wines and Spirits which they have drank at other times Why then may not a mean diet content us yea prove delicious to us as Salomon saith To the hungry soule every bitter thing is sweet Povertie brings such sawce with it as will make a dish of Tripe more savorie than a Venison Pastie is to a rich man Then as for Rayment if we have but that which may serve the turn to keep us warm and decent though it be course and plain why should we not be content therewith We read in Mark 1.6 John was cloathed in Camels-hair and with a girdle of a skin about his lo●ns which was as mean as could be do we not read of some of the primitive Christians that they wandred about in sheepe-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.37 Are we better than they would such habits become us worse than them Time was that God bid the Israelites to put off their ornaments that he might know what to do with them Exod. 33.5 Did God ever speak as if he knew not what to do with a people for want of ornaments Did he ever seem displeased that a people were not fine enough Why should that habit displease us that God may best like us in and know

of it and went about to pull it down What quick work can sin and fire make How did that strong Building vanish of a sudden as if it had been but an Apparition How quickly was it taken down as if it had been but a sleight Tent the Cords whereof are presently loosened and the Stakes soon removed Oh that some Jonas might have been sent to tell us that within so many days that Exchange should be burnt down if we repented not Oh that howsoever a timely repentance might have prevented those ruins that we had commuted for our Exchange by parting with our sin● But since it lies in ashes and there is no prevention of it oh that we may not so much lament the burning of our Exchange as the sins that burnt it May the minds of men by this sad Providence be disposed to use another Exchange for onely honest Merchandise and the minds both of men and women to use the upper part of it no more as a Nursery of pride but in order to putting them and theirs into a decent equipage befitting their respective qualities and then may they live to see another Structure in the same place not inferiour to the first and that Royal Burse or Purse which is now a meer Vacuum as well filled as ever it was before and after that if the Will of God be so may it never perish at least wise by fire more till the Conslagration of all things MEDITATION X. Upon the burning of Hospitals and Rents thereunto belonging RIghteous art thou O Lord yet let me plead with thee concerning thy Judgments Why had the fire a Commission to burn down Hospitals Why didst thou dry up those pools of Bethesdah Why didst thou wither the Goards of those poor Jonas's who had nothing else to defend them from the scorching of extream poverty Was ever money given to better uses or with a better intent than what went to the maintaining those houses of Charity Or was it ever intrusted in better and safer hands than that which had so many persons of worth and integrity to take care of it and be as it were Overseers of the poor Or what charity was ever disposed of more according to the will of the Doners than that hath always been which few or none would accept but those that had need of it and for them it was intended I should have thought the Doors of those houses above all others would have been sprinkled that the destroying Angel might have passed over them and that Judgment should not have entered where onely Mercy did seem to dwell Did not Christ say The poor we have alwayes with us and shall we have no Receptacles for the poor The poor increase daily but the places of their relief are diminished and where those places are yet standing yet is not much of their Revenue impaired Shall the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Aire nests but the poor not have where to lay their heads Came this for their sakes whose charity did maintain these places or for those that were maintained in them and by them or for the sake of others or for all the three Whilest some contributed to those places out of pure ends and principles might not others do it out of superstition and conceipt of merit others out of Ostentation though we may not impute those things to any in particular And as for those who were relieved in those places were there not sins amongst them also Some it may be were not more poor than wicked so that though their poverty made them the Objects of Mercy from men yet their wickedness exposed them to the Justice of God Doubtless men by sin may forfeit not only their superfluities and conveniencies but also their very necessaries or such things as they cannot live without and had not too many of these so done Though some whose miseries have brought them to such places are affected with the hand of God and fear to sin whilest his rod is upon them yet were there not others who no whit appalled by all their sufferings were it the loss of limbs or whatsoever else would swear and drink and rant at such a rate as if they had had all the world before them or thought scorn that as to these things even the greatest personages should go beyond them Had all been such as some were possibly the Great God had not forborn to set fire upon those Houses long ago But in relation to others might not this come First to try their sincerity whether their hearts would serve them to give to good uses though by this it appears they can have no assurance of raising any lasting monument to their names thereby Or Secondly to try their Faith whether they would cast their bread as upon the water so upon the fire as it were or that which may easily be burnt in hope to find it after many dayes But the probablest reason of all is that it came to prove and exercise their Charity and to call upon them so many as are able to make to themselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when they fail they may be received into everlasting habitations Why should the poor be alwayes maintained by an old stock of Charity Why should not this Age be as charitable as former Ages were Though many be poor at this time yet all are not yea there are many rich though not comparative to the number of such as are poor nor have rich men ever more to do than when there are most poor Poor men think it a blessed thing to receive but Christ hath told them It is yet a more blessed thing to give The Italians when they begge use to say to them of whom they begge Pray be good to your selves As much as iniquity doth abound I will not believe unlesse I see it that Charity is grown so cold that amongst all the rich men that are in England Nobles Gentlemen and others there will not be found enough to repair that breach which the fire hath made upon the poor Hospitals and the revenues formerly belonging to them You know or if I thought you did not I can tell you where and whence you may defaulk enough to rear up those Structures again as large and fair as before though one of them was sometimes the Pallace of a Prince even Bridewell it's self and to indow them as liberally as ever and not to misse what you have parted with when you have done Think how much extraordinary it useth to cost you every year upon your lusts one or more One mans Drunkennesse costs him an hundred pounds in a year extraordinary another mans Uncleannesse twice so much a third mans Gameing no lesse and so it is like to do from year to year Yea possibly some men have spent as much of their time upon one lust as would have built an Hospitall Now as God saith that he would famish all the gods of the Heathen so do you

because it would thence follow that he were of a marvellous ill nature and unworthy of any pity to be shewed to himself even in the greatest extremity that could befall him One saith the reason why they that have children are usually more affectionate than those that have none is because their bowels are often called upon By that reason they that have no pity now when that Affection in men is so much called upon are never like to have any But a pity like that charity which S. James speaks of J●m 2.15 Is not worth half the words I have used If a brother be naked and destitute of daily food and one say unto him Depart in peace be you warmed and filled Notwithstanding he gives him nothing c. I say a pity like that charity which yet is more then some men have is little worth But would men shew themselves truly compassionate toward that desolated City and the late miserable Inhabitants of it if they have interest in heaven let them pray for the reflourishing both of it them if they have interest on earth let them promote it if they have parts let them advise and contrive how it may be effected if they have Purses let them contribute towards it if they have all of these let them further it all and every of these ways Call your selves Papists Frenchmen Hectors any thing but true Englishmen true Christians true Protestants if you have no pity for the desolations of London I doubt not but there are some Turks and Jews that have or would have had if they had known London in it's prosperity and should now see it in it's ashes O Lord If men will not pity the miseries of London the matter is not great possibly if they did it might not signifie much onely let Thy bowels yearn towards and thy repentings be kindled within thee and Thou who hast spoken concerning it to pluck up and pull down speak in thy due time to build and to plant it MEDITATION XXV Upon those that have lost all by the Fire VVHat shall we say to them that have lost all who tell us that before the fire they were worth so many hundreds or so many thousands but since then they are worth nothing yea worse than nothing Surely they ought not to mourn as men without hope If they were sometimes as rich as Job was at first they cannot be poorer now than he was afterwards Hatred in God towards men cannot be known by such Events as those for Job who was in like case was a Person greatly beloved of God Do they fear that they and theirs shall perish Not so neither for rather than the Israelites should perish in the Wilderness God gave them bread from Heaven and waters out of the Rock Ravens shall feed them if they be such as put their trust in God rather than they shall famish Some have no Children they it is to be supposed may make a good shift others have bad Children and what should they do with Estates to spend upon their lusts Others have good Children and let not them doubt but God will provide for them Hath the onely wise God no wayes whereby to make up your losses Did he not give to Job double for all that which he had taken away from him and can he not do so by you Is it your great trouble that you have lost all at once I have heard of one who having a great number of costly Glasses did himself break them all at one time that he might not be disquieted time after time by the accidental breaking of them one by one Had your Estates been taken from you by piece-meals now a part and then a part till all had been consumed that might have proved more grievous to you and so it hath fared with many men Will you say All is lost because your Estates are gone Know he that is a Christian indeed cannot lose his All yea the best part of what he hath cannot be lost as is said of Mary that she had chosen that good part which could not be taken from her I have heard of a good Woman who when her Children died had wont to comfort herself with this to wit that The Lord liveth who being more than ordinarily dejected for the death of one of her Children that she had a more particular affection for a Child that had observed what she had wont to say and how full of heaviness she then was came to her and said Mother Is the Lord dead How may the words of that Child upbraid the carriage of those Christians who mourn over their losses as if they had not an Everliving God to rejoyce in Is it strange to you to be poor who have heretofore always enjoyed riches and plenty know that it is one point of a Christians Excellency and heavenly Skill to be able to act several and different parts well as Paul saith I have learned how to abound and how to want how to be full and how to be empty how in every Estate therewithall to be content They are unfound bodies that can onely bear the Summer but not also the Winter Spring and Autumne You say you have nothing now How many are there that never had any thing to speak of Is it no mercy or priviledge to have enjoyed good things for a long time past though we may not enjoy them alwayes If men have had good sight good hearing good health till they come to be old and then all of these begin to decay or be quite lost do they or ought they to reckon it no mercy that they have enjoyed these things so long If you say you cannot live upon nothing that is nothing certain how many hundreds yea thousands are thorough the goodness of God provided for from year to year who have no certainty to live upon Now you have lost the things you had possibly you will thereby be excited to look after the things which can never be lost which otherwise it may be you had never done Hath the sire consumed your money or money-worth as if it had all been but so much dross this peradventure may make you look after that gold tried in the fire which no sire can consume and then your unspeakable loss will prove inconceivable gain What great difference between the worlds leaving us and our leaving it You must shortly have left it if it had not first left you Trust God and doubt not but he will bear your charges thorough the world and more of this world you need not care for What a noise will this make in the world that you have lost all and who that hath any thing to spare if they know your case will not contribute to your relief You have yet the Love of relations and friends the Charity of men the Fruit of your own ingenuity and industry the Bounty of heaven the Result of Divine Promises all these things you have besides several others to help

and succour you therefore say not You are undone though all be lost for the present How many have from a fair Estate been brought to a morsel of Bread not by Casualty but by Crimes such as God might have left you to as by that fire which Job saith will consume to destruction and root out all a mans increase Job 31.12 Now consider how much better your condition is than theirs Are you as those that have nothing think of the Apostles words a Cor. 6.10 As having nothing yet possessing all things If either you are true Believers or shall hereafter be such those words of the same Apostle will be verified in you 1 Cor. 3.21 All things are yours ye are Christs and Christ is Gods MEDITATION XXIV Upon those that have lost but half their Estates by this Fire or some such proportion VVHat a mercy is it that you have lost but half when so many others have lost all How much better is half a Loaf as our Proverb speaks than no Bread As David said to Mephibosheth Thou and Zibah divide so hath God decided the case betwixt the fire and you You are at most but like David's Servants the one half of whose Beards were shaven by Hanan and their Garments cut in the middle How much better is it to have one Arm than none to have but one Eye than to be stark blind The man that was wounded and left but half dead recovered again by the help and favour of the good Samaritan and so may you Possibly that half or part which is left you is more than many mens All Your Gleanings better than the Vintage of many others The Ancients ran much upon such a saying as this Dimidium plus toto that half was better then the whole meaning the former with quietness and contentment was much better then the latter without it God can give you twice so much contentment with half so much Estate If you say and say truly that you had scarce enough before and now have but half so much as you had then there are that have more by half then they needed and how knowest thou but God may incline them to consider thee who hast scarce half enough But Oh! the miserable world in which many whose cup overflows will let others have nothing of theirs if they have but something of their own though that something be next to nothing If men that have ten children have but enough to maintain one are they no objects of pity and charity If a man have doublet and breeches such as may serve his turn but neither hat to his head nor shoos to his feet will you not commiserate him Did the good Samaritane overlook the man he met because he was but half dead did he stay till he were ready to give up the ghost before he would do any thing for him This is the manner of but too many men but the comfort is your heavenly Father he knows whereof you stand in need Whether the moiety of what thou sometimes hadst be or be not enough for thy occasions Bless God for it That will be the way to have it multiplied as those loaves were with which Christ fed five thousand to the full Try what double industry double frugality will do towards ●eaking out that allowance that seems to fall short and above all conclusions try if doubling thy faith and confidence in God will not double thy maintenance if need require Learn to think that God did not grudge thee the whole but hath therefore retrencht thee as thou art retrencht because he knew that but half was better for thee MEDITATION XXV Upon those that lost nothing by the Fire HOw well came you off not so much as a hair of your head sindged not so much as the smell of fire about you I cannot call you brands snatcht out of the fire for you were better than so brands are partly burnt so were not you Fall down and adore that distinguishing-mercy which hath so preserved you and made a hedge about you Alas if all had been great losers how should one have been able to help another whereas now some are able to succor others if they be but as willing God is trying you what good Stewards you will be of those Talents which he hath continued to you full and whole whilest others are either totally deprived of theirs or at leastwise much diminished He expects you should make yourselves poorer for the present by your Charity though he hath not made you so by the Fire and woe be to you if you do it not He could have forced all your Estates from you as he did from others but he thought fit to prove you as to what you would part with freely He would see what influence that Text hath upon you He that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in want and shuts up his loads of compassion How dwelleth the love of God in him Think not that all that is left you is lest you for yourselves for it is no such matter It is that you should disperse and give to the poor that your righteousness may remain You are but Feoffees in trust for others as to some good proportion of what is continued with you I expect God will cast fire upon your houses next if you cast not your bread upon the waters Charity may secure what you enjoy and the want of it may hazard all It might have been your lot to have stood in need of receiving and now you are left able to give which is a more blessed thing will you not do it All that was saved from the fire was given you again and will you not lend God a part who hath given you the whole and what is that lending to God but giving to the Poor God hath been tender of your Tabernacles and will not you be kind to his living Temples They that were sent to fetch the Ass that Christ was to ride upon were bid to say The Lord had need of him Now if ever hath Christ need to borrow of those that are able as in reference to his poor members and woe to them that can and will not lend to their Lord and Saviour He could supply them otherwise without being beholden to you but it is your love he values more than your liberality and the latter but as an Expression of the former It is not so much A gift which he desireth as fruit that may abound to your own account as the Apostle speaks Phil. 4.17 You may pretend you are thankful for the great Deliverance vouchsafed you but neither God nor Men will believe you are so unless you be also Charitable to them that were not Delivered MEDITATION XXVI Upon those that were Gainers by the late Fire VVE say It is an evil wind that blows no body any good Some were honest gainers and much good may it do them others dishonest Some could not let their Tenements before the fire who

How shall Moneys be Levied for the re-building of London where the Estates of persons concerned do fall short Two Expedients for that I have propounded already One was by the Mercy and Charity of those persons who have lost little or nothing by the fire and who have something they could well spare The other is By the Justice and due Repentance of all those persons Carters Landlords and others who have raised uncoscionable gains to themselves by means of the late Fire whose duty it is to restore not only the principal of what they have unlawfully gotten by the fire but some certain over-plus as was provided under the Law in cases of Restitution When that is done I wish there were a certain Pole-fine or Mulct set upon the head of every common sin not made capital which additional-Pole levied upon all persons that are able when once convicted of Drunkenness Swearing Cousenage Cursing yea Lying its self might be for and towards the re-building of London I speak of an Additional pecuniary Punishment for those Crimes both for that the former and present Mulcts have not been sufficient to restrain Men as also for that great summs are still in arrear to Justice because those kind of Penalties have been but seldom inflicted possibly not one time in a hundred that they ought to have been To do this were not to build London upon the sins of the People as some will object but upon the punishment of Sin and due execution of Justice which would be a glorious foundation If but one shilling extraordinary were levied upon men toties quoties that is so often as they are or might be convicted for any of the fore-mentioned sins How noble a City might those Fines build if men should continue so bad as now they are Whilst some particular persons and those able enough to pay for it stick not to swear hundreds of Oaths in one day besides all the Execrations and Lies they become guilty of in one day But if men had rather reform themselves than by their Crimes help to re-build the City the former shall be as welcom as the latter and the latter may in one sense be promoted by the former But if that way of raising Money be so happily prevented possibly so soon as God shall please to turn our Swords into Plow-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks The Wisdom of our Governors may think fit to make some coercive-levy for once towards the relieving of friends as they have formerly done for and towards the humbling of Forraign-Enemies and as the Ruin of London is a National-Calamity so Who knows whether our Rulers may not please to make the re-building of it somewhat of a National-Charge as it would certainly be an honour and an advantage to the whole Nation But remembring what is said Ps 127.1 Except the Lord build the house and so the City they labour in vain that build it I cannot but further consider what words we should take unto our selves wherewith to plead with God that London if it so seem good to him may be built again And May we not plead thus O Lord How many hundred Families are there whose livelihoods seem to depend upon the re-building of that City What hard shift do they make in the mean-time dwelling many of them like the Israelites in Tents or Bothes Were not many of these good and merciful men And Hast thou not said That with the Merciful thou wilt show thy self Merciful How many are there whose bowels yearn and whose hearts bleed over the desolations of London Shall Men pity them and will not God much more who is of infinite compassions What strong affections have these poor hearts for the place where that City sometimes stood How do they cleave as it were to the Ruins of it How loth are they to remove at any distance from it as if they could settle to no business any where else no more than Irish-Kine which as they say cannot give down their Milk unless their Calves or something in their likeness stand by their sides How do their Enemies yea and thine also insult and triumph whilst poor London lieth in ashes saying Aha Aha so would we have it Shall London be alwayes a Ruinous Heap whilst Rome and Paris continue flourishing Cities Hast thou not a greater Controversie with them than with it Dost thou suffer them to stand not that we beg the destruction of any place Wilt not thou permit London to rise again Shall England never be like its self again or How can it be so if London be no more Was ever the REstauration of a City more prayed for and shall all those Prayers fall to the ground Lord What joy will there be when the re-building of London shall be once finished How will the top-Stone be laid with Acclamations of Grace Grace Psal 71.20 Thou who hast showed that place and People great and sore troubles vouchsafe to quicken them again and bring them up again from the depths of the Earth Increase their greatness and comfort them on every side MEDITATION XXVIII Upon the Wines and Oils that swam in the Streets and did augment the Flames I Have heard that upon some great Solemnities the Conduits have been made to run with Claret But so much precious Wine and Oyl as ran down the Kennels upon this sad occasion was 〈◊〉 known to do so before Then was London a burning Lamp flaming with its own Oyl But worse than the wasting of those Wines and Oyls themselves was their unhappy mixing with that water which some not well considering made use of to throw upon the flames and thereby in stead of extinguishing did increase them Oh the hurtfulness even of costly Mixtures in some cases Water alone had done well but Wine and Oyl added to it did a world of mischief So in Baptism Water alone doth as well as can be suiting the Institution but to add Cream and Spittle is both sinful slovenly and ridiculous But O nasty beasts Why do you use Spittle above all the rest VVould you imitate that Miracle whereby the eyes of the blind-man were opened with Spittle for one thing Why then do you not use Clay too But you are better at making Seers-blind than blind-Folks see Or is it from the great commendation which you have heard of Fasting-Spittle in many other cases that you use Spittle in this Away with your unwarranted-mixtures beastly ones especially you make me digress from a serious Subject to answer Fools according to their folly But I 'le return again Oh How did all things at that time conspire to make poor London miserable Not only did the Streets and Kennels drink freely of their best Wines and Oyls but also made the Fire to pledge them till it became outragious like a man-in-drink Drunkards may read their sin in their punishment God hath inflamed their City with Wine wherewith they had wont to inflame themselves God threatned the Jews Hos 2. That he would

glutton shall come to poverty It is a fault in those that gain by it to let their customers have as much wine as they will call for when they have had enough already A greater fault in Parents to let them have money at will knowing they will spend it upon their lusts It is not then to be expected that God who hates to see men make provision for the flesh should bind himself to give them wherewithall to do it As therefore we would be sure of food and raiment let us wisely consider what must be spent and what may be spared Frustra fit per plura He that requires superfluities is like to want necessaries but he may build upon a supply of necessaries who hath learnt to pare off all superfluities They are desires of Gods own creating and in such a measure which do call but for necessaries as food and raiment and therefore he that made these desires we may expect will satisfie them But when we crave supersluities it is sin that opens its mouth wide yea which inlargeth it like hell and what reason is there that God should fill it And as we must be frugal in case we would be sure of food and raiment so one good way is to be mercifull and ready to distribute to the necessities of others so long as we have wherewith Frugality and charity may well stand together It is no ill husbandry to lend what we can spare upon infallible securitie and for great advantage He that gives to the poor lends to the Lord. And if the principal be but a cup of cold water he shall have consideration for it Matth 10.43 He shall in no wise lose his reward See Pro. 11.24 There is that scattereth and yet encreaseth Can a man reap unless he first sow or reap liberallie if he sow but sparinglie Who so shall read Psal 41.1 2 3. will finde that one of the best waies never to want our selves is not to let others want if we can help it He that considereth the poor God will consider him though he have neither strength nor certaintie of friends or money to help him or hardly one that he can promise himself will make his bed for him Where the three last mentioned qualifications do meet in Diligence Frugalitie and merciful disposition it is seldom if ever seen that God doth suffer such persons to want necessaries though saving grace and the true fear of God be not found in them But if any desire yet further securitie as for matter of food and rayment let them consider what is spoken Psal 104.27 These wait all upon thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand they are filled with good viz. Those innumerable creeping things both great and small which are in the Sea spoken of v. 25. also The young Lions which roar after their prey and seek their meat from God spoken of v. 21. also Psal 145.15 The eyes of all wait on thee thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Here we shall do well to remember what the Apostle saith Doth God take care for Oxen that is doth he not take more care for Mankind than for Oxen If then he feed them and creatures of less use than they may we not conclude he will much more feed us may not these words of David Psal 23.1 afford us some reliefe The Lord is my shepheard I shall not want Is not God a shepheard to other of his people as well as he was to David Yea are we not in some sense his sheep as we are meerlie his creatures Psal 100.3 It is he that made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture Should not the extraordinarie waies which God hath taken to supplie men with food and rayment when ordinarie means have failed be some stay to us When the Israelites wanted bread in the Wilderness did not God rain down Manna from heaven and when they wanted water did he not give it them out of the rock and whereas there was no cloathing to be had there did he not keep their garments from waxing old and make them serve them forty years Did not God say to Elijah 1 King 17.4 I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee and accordingly they brought him bread and flesh in the morning and likewise in the evening v. 6. The widdow of Zarephath had but a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oile in a cruse for her self and her son when there was yet three years famine to come so that she reckoned but upon one good meal and so she and her son to lie down and die and out of that the Prophet did demand a cake for himselfe v. 13. 〈◊〉 yet did he assure her that the barrel of meal should not waste nor the cruse of oyle faile till the Lord sent rain upon the earth and accordingly it came to pass v 16. Who knows not the storie of Christ his seeding five thousand with five loaves and two fishes Mat. 14.19 and yet there was enough and to spare I have somewhere read of a good man who in the time of the siege and famine at Rochel was kept alive by a Hen that came every day and laid one egge one or more in the place where he ledged Nor do I doubt but there are many true stories of as remarkable supplies vouchsafed to such as were destitute of ordinarie means Is not God the great housholder of the world from whom the whole familie in heaven and earth is named and do you think he will starve those that are of his familie howbeit he hath told us that he who provides not for his own houshold is worse than an Infidel Is not the earth the Lords and the fulness thereof Are not all the beasts of the forrest his and the cattel upon a thousand hills Psal 50.10 And will he starve us think you either by the want of food or raiment whilst he hath such an overplus of all needful things wherewith to supply us What father would see his childe want whilst he had more than enough to give him If we then that are evil will not let our children want whilst we abound shall we think so hardly of God what if God hath put the world into other mens hands and not into ours hath he not the hearts of those men in his own hands and can he not inlarge them towards us when and as far as he pleaseth He can make enemies not only to 〈◊〉 peace with us but to be kind to us Psal ●● 46 He made them also to be pittied of all them that carried them captives The barbarous people shewed us no little kindness saith Paul Acts 28 2. How easily can God perswade even Egyptians to part with their Jewels Earings to his people how much more Israelites to one another He that can make enemies to

prayed against riches Prov. 30.9 Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord David himself saith Psal 119.67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word Believe these passages of Scripture and judge afflictions needless if you can Wind to which actions may be compared may do some hurt but if there were no winds the aire would putrifie and there would be no living in it Standing waters as some moats and lakes and such like to which persons alwaies in prosperity may be compared how unwholsome and unuseful are they As it is necessary that the Sea and some other waters should ebbe as well as flow and that the Moon should sometimes decrease or wane as well as wax and increase at other times so for us to have our ebbs as well as our tides our wanes as well as our waxings It is a hard thought of God that he should make us drink bitter and loathsome potions when we need them not We cannot finde in our hearts to use our children so nor yet to correct them so much as gently when we think there is no occasion for it Oh that we should think more meanly of God than of our selves or more highly of our selves than of the great and ever blessed God Do we hear him crying out Hos 11.8 How shall I deliver thee up Ephraim how shall I make thee as Admah and Zeboim my heart is turned within me c. And shall we think he will do such things where there is no need Take heed of charging God with hypocrisie who is truth it self Far be it from us to say Afflictions are not needful because our partial selves do not see how needful they are When will our children confess that they want whipping spare them till then and you shall never correct them Had Paul no need yea he saith he had of a messenger of Sathan to buffet him lest he should be lifted up with the abundance of revelations we have not his revelations yet are we not as proud as he either was or was in danger to have been Some humble servants of God have said they never had that affliction in all their lives which they did not first or last finde they had need of He that wants no correction is better than any of those worthies we read of in Scripture and he that thinks himself so I am sure hath need of it to humble him Read the third chapter and see how many lessons afflictions do teach us and then judge if there be none of them you have yet to learn at leastwise better and more perfectly than you have yet done Can nothing profit us but that which pleaseth us Physicians know that bitter drinks in many cases are more profitable though loathsome than those which are most pleasant O Lord why am I so childishly averse to that which is so needful for me If those to whom I commit the care of my body do counsel me to bleed or purge or to be cupt or scarified and do advise me to it as necessary for my health I submit to it and why do I not submit to thee when thou orderest me unpleasant things which yet are more needful for me Are not frosts and nipping weather as necessary to kill the weeds as warm Sun-shine to ripen the corn Though no chastening be jo●ous for the present but grievous yet if it worketh the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12.11 I desire not only to be patient under it but also thankful for it DISCOURSE XX. Of the mixture of mercies with judgments NO man hath truly either a heaven or a hell in this world For as all our wine here is mixt with water so all our water is mixt with wine God in this life doth still in judgment remember mercy God hath set the one over against the other Prov. 7.14 meaning mercy over against judgment It is not for nothing that the Apostle exhorteth us in every thing to be thankful and saith that is the will of God concerning us But therefore it is because there is a mixture of mercies with all the afflictions of this life Some may sit in so much darkness as to see no light at all but some light there is in their condition only they see it not Our late Fire was as great a temporal judgment as most have been yet he seeth nothing that discerns not a mixture of mercy with it Was it not great mercy that when God burnt the City yet he spared the Suburbs that when mens houses were consumed yet their persons were delivered yea and much of their goods and substance was snatched as a firebrand out of the fire your flight was on the Sabbath-day but it was not in the winter in which the shortness of daies and badness of the waies had scarce permi●ted you to have conveied away the one half of what you did not only by day but by night It was no small mercy that the Plague was gone before the Fire came For had it been otherwise who that fled into the Countrey to save his life durst have come into the City to have saved his goods Yea were not many fled so far from the face of that destroying Angel that they could not have returned till it had been too late Would the Countrey-men have brought their Carts and ventured their persons if the plague had still been raging Where could you have bestowed your goods yea where could you have bestowed your selves if the pestilence had bin then amongst you who would have received them yea who would have received you if you had come from thence The City could not dread the fire more than the Countrey would have done the pestilence and such as had come from the place where it was So far would they have been from putting your goods into their houses that they would not have received your persons into their barns and stables which in the height of the plague they refused to do When the fire burnt your City there was no more it could do but had an invading enemy set the City on fire would they not also have rifled your goods ravished your wives deslowred your daughters and put your selves to the sword Was it no mercy that God by sparing a remnant of the City kept it from being like to Sodom and to Gomorrah that there is something left out of which to make a little of every thing Some places for affemblies yet to worship God in some for Magistrates to dispence justice in some for Merchants and traders to meet and hold commerce in some houses for persons yet to dwell in who cannot convenicutly dwell any where else though now men crowd together as in the winter-time three or four might do into one bed or the most in a family into some little warm parlour which in the heat of weather had wont to keep in spacious rooms Archimedes had wont to say Give him but a place to stand in