By Thomas Brooks, 1670 A serious discourse concerning "The Great Fire"
1. First, See the hand of the Lord in this recent dreadful fire. Acknowledge the Lord to be the author of all judgments, and of this in particular, Lev. 26:41, and Micah 7:9. It is a high point of Christian prudence and piety to acknowledge the Lord to be the author of all personal or national sufferings that befall us. "What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The Lord said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them." Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water." Jeremiah 9:12-15It is very great wisdom to know from whom all our afflictions come, and for what all our afflictions come upon us. God looks that we should observe his hand in all our sufferings. "Heed the rod and the One who appointed it!" Micah 6:9. God claims all sorts of afflictions as his own special administration: Amos 3:6, "When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things," Isaiah 45:7. God takes it very heinously, and looks upon it as a very great indignity which is put upon his power, providence, and justice—when men will neither see nor acknowledge his hand in those severe afflictions and sad sufferings that he brings upon them. Of such the prophet Isaiah complains, chapter 26:11, "Lord, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see." The hand, the power of the Lord was so remarkable and conspicuous in the judgments which were inflicted upon them, as might very well wring an acknowledgment out of them—that it was the Lord who had stirred his wrath and indignation against them; and yet they willfully and desperately shut their eyes against all the severities of God, and would not behold that dreadful hand of his, which was stretched out against them. O sirs! God looks upon himself as reproached and slandered by such who will not see his hand in the amazing judgments that he inflicts upon them: Jer. 5:12, "They have lied about the Lord; they said—He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine." Such was the atheism of the Jews, that they slighted divine warnings, and despised all those dreadful threatenings of the sword, famine, and fire, which should have led them to repentance, and so tacitly said, "The Lord is not God." Such who either say, that God is not omniscient, or that he is not omnipotent, or that he is not so just as to execute the judgments that he has threatened—such belie the Lord—such deny him to be God. Many feel the rod, that cannot hear it; and many experience the smart of the rod, that do not see the hand which holds the rod; and this is sad. How can the natural man, without faith's prospective, look so high as to see the hand of the Lord in wasting and destroying judgments? By common experience we find that natural men are mightily apt to father the evil of all their sufferings upon secondary causes. Sometimes they cry out, "This is from a disorder in nature!" And at other times they cry out, "This is from bad luck!" Sometimes they cry out of the malice, plots, envy, and rage of men; and at other times they cry out of chance and bad fortune—and so fix upon anything rather than the hand of God. But now a gracious Christian under all his sufferings, he overlooks all
secondary causes—and fixes his eye upon the hand of God. You know what Joseph
said to his vicious brethren, who sold him for a slave: "It was not you—but
God who sent me into Egypt!" Gen. 45:7. Job met with many severe
losses and sad crosses—but under them all he overlooked all instruments, all
secondary causes; he overlooks the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans, and Satan, and
fixes his eye upon the hand of God: "The Lord has given, and the Lord has
taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" Job 1:21. Judas, and Annas, and
Caiaphas, and Pilate, and Herod, and the bloody soldiers, had all a deep hand in
the sufferings of Christ—but yet he overlooks them all, and fixes his eye
upon his Father's hand. "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I
not drink it," John 18:11. This cup was the cup of his sufferings. Now in all
his sad sufferings, he had still an eye to his Father's hand. Let us in all our
sufferings write after this copy that Christ has set before us. But of this I
have spoken very largely already, and therefore let this touch suffice
here. 2. Secondly, Labor to justify the Lord in all that he has done. Say, "the Lord is righteous, though he has laid our city desolate!" When Jerusalem was laid desolate, and the wall thereof broken down, and the gates thereof were burned with fire, Nehemiah justifies the Lord: chapter 9:33, "Howbeit you are just in all that is brought upon us; for you have done right—but we have done wickedly." [Neh. 1:4. Just so, Mauricius the emperor justified God when he saw his wife and children butchered before his eyes by the traitor Phocas, and knew that himself should soon after be stewed in his own broth, cried out, "Just are you, O Lord, and just are all your judgments!"] The same spirit was upon Jeremiah: Lam. 1:1, 4, 18, "How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. The Lord is righteous!"The same spirit was upon David: Psalm 119:75, "I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that you in faithfulness have afflicted me." So Psalm 145:17, "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." This maxim we must live and die by, though we do not always see the reason of his proceedings. It is granted on all sides, that the will of God is the chief, the most perfect and infallible rule of divine justice, and that God is a law to himself: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. 18:25. In this negative question is emphatically implied an affirmative position, which is—that God, above all others, must and will do right; because from his judgment there is no appeal. Abraham, considering the nature and justice of God, was confidently assured that God could not do otherwise but right. Has God turned you out of house and home, and marred all your pleasant things, and stripped you naked as the day wherein you were born? Why, if he has, he has done you no wrong; he can do you no wrong; he is a law to himself, and his righteous will is the rule of all justice. God can as soon cease to be, as he can cease to do that which is just and right. Just so, Psalm 97:2, "Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne." Clouds and thick darkness imply the mysteriousness and the dreadfulness of God's administrations. Though God is very dreadful in his administrations—yet righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. It has been a day of God's wrath in London, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasting and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as it was once in Jerusalem, Zeph. 1:15; yet righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne! God's seat of judgment is always founded in righteousness and justice. Just so, Dan. 9:12, "You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem." Verse 14, "The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him." God is only righteous, he is perfectly righteous, he is exemplarily righteous, he is everlastingly righteous, he is infinitely righteous, and no unrighteousness dwells in him, Psalm 92:15; Job 36:23. There are four things that God cannot do: (1.) He cannot lie; (2.) He cannot die; (3.) He cannot deny himself; (4.) He cannot look upon iniquity and not loathe it; he cannot behold iniquity and approve of it or delight in it. God has a sovereignty over all your persons and concerns in this world, and therefore he may do with you and all that is yours as he pleases. Upon this account you ought to say, "The Lord is righteous, though he has laid our habitations desolate, and burned up our houses before our eyes!" It is true, God has dealt severely with London; but he might have dealt more severely with it, Lam. 3:22. He might have burnt up every house, and he might have consumed every inhabitant in London's flames. He might have made good that sad word upon them, "They shall go from one fire—and another fire shall devour them," Ezek. 15:7. The citizens of London may say with good Ezra, "God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve!" and therefore it highly concerns them to say, "The Lord is righteous. All that God does is good!" You know what Hezekiah said: 2 Kings 20:19, "The word of the Lord you have spoken is good." This was a hard word, a sad word, that all Hezekiah's treasure should be carried into Babylon, and his sons also, and made servants there, and yet he says, "The word of the Lord you have spoken is good." Whatever God does, is good. "God, in that he is good," says Luther, "can give nothing, do nothing—but that which is good. Others do evil frequently, he cannot possibly do anything evil." Upon this account also it concerns us to say, "The Lord is righteous, though our city is laid desolate!" It is better to be under a fiery rod, than to be wallowing in the mire of sin! It is better that London should be laid desolate, than that God should say, "England, farewell!" That is a Christian worth gold who can seriously, heartily, and habitually say, "The Lord is righteous, though all our pleasant things are laid desolate!" OBJECTION . I would say, The Lord is righteous; but by this fiery dispensation I am turned out of house and home.Now, in ANSWER to this objection, give me permission to inquire— [1.] First, Give me permission to inquire—Whether your house was dedicated to the Lord by fasting and prayer or not? Deut. 20:5. If it were only dedicated to the service of sin, Satan, or the world—it is no wonder that the Lord has turned it into a heap! But, [2.] Secondly, Give me permission to inquire—Whether you had set up Christ and holiness and holy rules in your house or not? See Psalm 101. Did you in good earnest resolve with Joshua, "That you and your house would serve the Lord," Joshua 24:15. If not, it is no wonder if the Lord has laid your habitations desolate! But, [3.] Thirdly, Give me permission to inquire—Whether you did labor and endeavor to the utmost of what you were able, that Christ might have a church in your house or not? Col. 4:15, "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house." That is, the church which meets together in her house. 1 Cor. 16:19, "The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house." Phil. 2, "And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in your house." Philemon's house was a public meeting-house, where the faithful had their assemblies; and so continued for many years after. Some understand this last scripture of the church which kept their assemblies in Philemon's house. Others understand it of his household, which was as a little church in his house. Romans 16:5, "Likewise greet the church that is in their house." Chrysostom by the church in their house understands their Christian family, who were so godly, as to make their whole house the church. Origen interprets it of the faithful and ready ministry of these servants of the Lord, in entertaining of the saints in their house. Theophylact thinks it to be called the church in their house, because the faithful were entertained there. It seems that their house was a place for the saints to assemble in. "There the congregation used to come together," says Justin Martyr. The last thing in their praise was, that they had a church in their house; either for that their family, for their godly order observed in it, was a church; or else for the faithful gathered together in their house to celebrate their assemblies; for they might not have in most places the free use of their Christian religion, through the malice of the Jews on the one hand, and the rage of the Gentiles on the other hand. Consult Acts 13 and 14, [Wilson.] In this great city of Rome there were divers assemblies of believers, which were held in some private men's houses, where they might meet safest—the state then, and some hundred years after, not permitting them any public temples or buildings to meet in, as our English Annotators observe upon the place. In each particular family last cited, there was a church of Christ. Now have you burnt citizens made it your business to erect a church of Christ in your particular families? if so, well it is with you, though you have lost all. If not, do not wonder that God has laid your houses desolate! Adam had a church in his house, so had Abraham, and Jacob, and Joshua, and David, and Cornelius. Well governed families may in some sense be well reputed churches. Ah London, London! it may be there might have been more houses standing within your walls than now there is—if every particular house had been as a particular church to Christ. As for such houses where there were no exercises of religion; as for such houses where idleness, cheating, lying, cursing, swearing, slandering, gaming, drunkenness, uncleanness, and riotousness were rampant—they were rather the devil's chapel than Christ's church! And therefore it was just with God to lay such habitations desolate. But, [4.] Fourthly, Give me permission to inquire—Whether you were friends or enemies to God's house, 2 Tim. 1:20; Num. 12:7; Joshua 1:2. Now God's house is his church, and his church is his house: Heb. 3:5-6, "And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant; but Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we;" 1 Pet. 2:5, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Just so, 1 Tim. 3:15, "That you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Proverbs 9:1, "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars." Wisdom—the Hebrew word is plural, wisdoms; wisdoms has built her a house. By wisdoms some understand the trinity of persons; but most conclude that by wisdoms is meant our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Col. 2:3. The word is plural for honor's sake. As princes write, 'We command;' the Lord Jesus Christ is said to be wisdoms in the plural number, to note that he is the sovereign and supreme wisdom, and that he is instead of all wisdoms, and comprehends all wisdoms in himself, all the world being fools in comparison of him. "Wisdoms has built her a house"— (1.) Some take this house to be the human nature of Christ—which was not then built; (2.) Others understand it of the work of grace in man's soul—but this the Spirit commonly works in this house by the ministry of the word, Gal. 5:22-23; (3.) Others by this house understand heaven, that upper house, that house of state in which Christ says there are many mansions—but this cannot be the meaning, because the house in the text is such a house to which wisdom does immediately invite and call all her guests; but (4.) and lastly, Others by house understand the church of Christ on earth, for the church militant is a house built up of many lively stones, 1 Pet. 2:5. Now by these scriptures it is very plain that God's house is his church, and his church his house. Now if you were enemies to God's house, if you hated his house, and designed and endeavored to pull down his house, no wonder that the Lord has laid your houses desolate, Mat. 23:37-38; Zech. 12:2-3, 6, 9. Such who cry out concerning his house, "Raze it, raze it even to its foundation!" Psalm 137:7, may one day lack a house to live in. It is observable that Christ his apostles, and particular churches, and primitive Christians, frequently used to meet in private houses: John 20:19, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said—Peace be with you!" Verse 26, "A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said—Peace be with you!" Luke 24:33. This was the usual manner of salutation among the Jews, whereby they wished one another all happiness and prosperity. The doors of the room where they were together were shut for the more secrecy and security, to avoid danger from the Jews. Acts 1:13-14, "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room . . . These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." Acts 20:7-8, "On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting." Acts 5:42, "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." Acts 12:12, "And when he had considered the things, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying"—or where many thronged to pray, as it runs in the original. Acts 20:20, "And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you—but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house." Acts 28:30-31, "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all who came in unto him: preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence." Luke 10:38-39, "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." Beloved, by these scriptures it is most evident and clear that our Lord Jesus Christ, and his disciples and apostles, and those Christians that lived in their times, frequently met in private houses, and there performed acts of public worship—namely, such as preaching, hearing, praying, breaking of bread, etc. How the primitive Christians in those hot times of persecution met in the nights, and in woods, and houses, and obscure places, they best understand who have read the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Austin, Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Pliny, etc. But this to some being an unpleasing theme, I shall not enlarge myself upon it. Only remember this—that there was never yet any town, city, or country, kingdom or commonwealth, which did ever fare the worse for a holy praying people. Frequent and fervent prayer, be it in public or in private, in a synagogue or in an upper room, never did, nor ever will, bring misery or mischief upon those places where such exercises are kept up, James 5:17-18. Such conventicles of 'jolly fellows,' as some call them—where there is nothing but swearing and cursing, and carousing and gaming, and all manner of filthiness and profaneness—are the only conventicles that bring desolating judgments upon princes, people, and nations, as is most evident throughout the scriptures. [Several hundred scriptures might be produced to make good the assertion. Remember what one Achan did, and what one Manasseh did, 2 Kings 21:11-12; Eccles. 9:18. "One sinner destroys much good." Oh, then, what a world of good will a rabble of sinners destroy!] Take two texts for all: 1 Sam. 1:12, 25, "But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both you and your kings." When princes and people continue to do wickedly together, then they shall be consumed together. Zeph. 1:12-13, "At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, 'The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.' Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine." verse 17-18, "I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth." Now, if any of you whose houses are laid desolate, have had your spirits embittered and engaged against the poor people of God, for practicing as Christ and his apostles did, then lay your hands upon your mouths, and say, "The Lord is righteous, though he has turned us out of house and home, and laid all our pleasant things desolate!" O sirs, this is and this must be for a lamentation, that there are so many ale-houses, and gaming-houses, and whore-houses, which are usually stuffed with vain people, yes, with the very worst of the worst of men. Certainly these houses are the very suburbs and seminaries of hell. "Where have you been?" "In hell," said Erasmus merrily— comparing ale-houses to hell. Doubtless they are the nurseries of all sin, and the synagogue of incarnate devils. In the above-mentioned houses, how notoriously is the name of God blasphemed, and how shamefully are the precious fruits of the earth abused! and how many hundred families, are there impoverished! and how many thousand children, are there impoisoned! and how is all manner of wickedness and lewdness, are there encouraged and increased! But when, oh when shall the sword of the magistrate be turned against these conventicles of hell? Certainly the horrid wickednesses which are daily committed in such houses, if not prevented by a faithful, zealous, and constant execution of the laws in force, will arm divine vengeance against the land. Magistrates should not bear the sword of justice in vain; for they are ministers of God to revenge and execute wrath upon those who do evil. By their office they are bound to be a terror to evil-doers, and encouragers of those who do well; and oh, that all in power and authority would forever resolve against being Satan's drudges! Rev. 2:10, "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." [The devil in Diocletian, say some; the devil in Trajan, say others—for he reigned next after this book of Revelation was written, and was very cruel against the Christians, delivering them over to prisons and death, and all to drive them through fear from the profession of Christ.] The devil by his imps and instruments whom he acts and agitates, the devil by engaging the civil and the military power of the world against the people of God, should so far prevail as to clap them up in prison. The prison in this text notes, by a synecdoche, the adjuncts and consequences—as namely, torments, punishments, and all sorts of martyrdom. This one punishment, imprisonment, says Brightman, contains confiscation of goods, banishments, slaughters, fires, rankings, or whatever exquisite torment beside, as the history teaches. The heathen emperors, with those wicked governors, officers, and soldiers that were under them, were the great instruments in Satan's hand, to practice the greatest cruelties upon the saints in those days. Some they cast into prisons, some they banished, multitudes they slew with the sword; some of the precious servants of Christ they beat with stripes to death, others they branded in their foreheads, others were tortured and racked. Yes, and many holy women in that day had their breasts cut off, and others of them had their breasts burnt with a hot iron, and sometimes with eggs roasted as hot as could be. These, with many other torments, the people of God were exercised with, as all know, who have read the lamentable stories of those sad times. OBJECTION 1. I would justify the Lord, I would say he is righteous, though my house be burnt up: but I have lost my goods, I have lost my estate, yes, I have lost my all as to this world; and how then can I say the Lord is righteous? how can I justify that God which has even stripped me as naked as the day wherein I was born? etc.To this I ANSWER. [1.] First, Did you gain your estate by just or unjust ways and means? If by unjust ways and means, then be silent before the Lord. If by just ways and means, then know that the Lord will store up in himself, and in his Son, and inf his Spirit, and inf his grace, and in heaven's glory—that shall make up all your losses to you. But, [2.] 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; Isaiah 32:20, and 55:10; Proverbs 11:18; Rev. 22:12. But, [3.] Thirdly, What trade did you drive Christ-wards, and heavenwards, and holiness-wards? [The stars which have least circuit are nearest the pole—and men who are least perplexed with business are commonly nearest to God.] If you did drive either no trade heavenwards, 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-ways and back doors—some to uncleanness, others to merry-meetings, and others to secret gaming. Now if you were one of those who did drive a secret trade of sin, never murmur because your house is burnt, and your trade destroyed—but rather repent of your secret trade of sin, and wonder that your body is not in the grave, and that your 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 concerns of their precious souls, and the great things of eternity. [There were many who sacrificed their precious time either to Morpheus the god of sleep, or to Bacchus the god of wine, or to Venus the goddess of beauty—as if all were due to the bed, the tavern, and the brothel house.] They had so much to do on earth—that they had no time to look up to heaven. Sir Thomas More says, "There is a devil called business, which carries more souls to hell than all the other devils in hell!" Many citizens had so many irons in the fire, and were cumbered about with so many things, that they 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 business 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 time 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 justify the Lord, and to say he is righteous, though he has burnt up your habitations, and destroyed your trade, Num. 22:32, and 2 Pet. 1:10. It is sad when a crowd of worldly business, shall crowd God and Christ and duty out of doors. Many citizens drove so great a public trade in their shops, that their private trade to heaven was quite laid by. Such who were so busy about their farm and their merchandise, see Luke 14:16, 22, that they had no leisure to attend their souls' concernments, had their city set on fire about their ears: Mat. 22:5, "But they paid no attention"—that is, of all the free, rich, and noble offers of grace and mercy that God had made to them—"and went off--one to his field, another to his business." Verse 7, "But when the king heard thereof, he was enraged; and he sent forth his armies"—that is, the Romans—"and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city." It is observable that the Jews, who were commanded six days to labor, were also commanded to offer morning and evening sacrifice daily, Exod. 20:9; Exod. 29:38-39; Num. 28:3; Deut. 6:6-8. They had their morning sacrifice when they entered upon their work, and they had their evening sacrifice when they ended their work. Their particular callings did not steal away their hearts from their general devotions. The Jews divided the day into three parts, the first, to prayer; the second, for the reading of the law; the third, for the works of their lawful callings. Although they were days appointed for work—yet they gave God his part, they gave God a share of every day. God, who is the Lord of all time, has reserved to himself a part of our time every day. And therefore men's particular callings ought to give way to their general calling. But alas! before London was in flames, many men's—Oh, that I could not say most men's!—particular callings swallowed up their general calling. The noise is such in a mill, as hinders all fellowship between man and man: so many of the burnt citizens had such a multitude of worldly businesses lying upon their hands, and that made such a noise, as that all fellowship between God and them was hindered. Seneca, one of the most refined heathens, could say, "I do not give—but only lend myself to my business." I am afraid this heathen will one day rise in judgment against those burnt citizens who have not lended themselves to their business—but wholly given up themselves to their business, as if they had no God to honor, no souls to save, no hell to escape, nor no heaven to make sure. But, [4.] Fourthly, Job lost all, and recovered all again: he lost a fair estate, and God doubles his estate to him. [Compare the first and last chapters of Job together.] So David lost all, and recovered all again: 1 Sam. 30:18, "And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away; and David rescued his two wives." Verse 19, "And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them." David recovered all. Here the end was better than the beginning; but the contrary befell the Amalekites, who a little before had framed comedies out of poor Ziklag's tragedies. In the beginning of the chapter you may see that David had lost all that he had, verse 1-5. All the spoil that he had taken from others were gone—his corn gone, his cattle gone, his wives gone, and his city burnt with fire, and turned into a ruinous heap, so that he had not a house, a habitation in all the world to put his head in; he had nothing left him but a poor, grieved, maddened, and enraged army. The people spoke of stoning of him, verse 6: but what was the outcome? Why, David recovers all again. O sirs, when a Christian is in greatest distress, when he has lost all, when he is not worth one penny in all the world—yet then he has a God to go to at last. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. A Christian's case is never so desperate but he has still a God to go to. When a Christian has lost all, the best way to recover all again is to encourage himself in the Lord his God. God sometimes strips his people of outward mercies, and then restores to them again those very mercies that he had stripped them of. If God has taken away all—yet remember that God has a thousand thousand ways to make up all your losses to you, which you know not of; therefore do not murmur, do not fret, do not faint, do not limit the Holy One of Israel. If you made no improvement of your house, your estate, your trade, then it is your wisdom and your work rather to be displeased with yourself for your non-improvement of mercies, than to be discontented at that hand of heaven that has deprived you of your mercies. Remember, O you burnt citizens of London, that you are not the first that have lost your all. Besides the instances already cited, you must remember what they suffered in the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Hebrews; and you must remember that in the ten persecutions many thousands of the people of God were stripped of their all; and so were very many also in the Marian days. Who shrugs or complains of a common lot? It was by grace, that you enjoyed your house, your estate, your trade so long; and therefore it concerns you to be rather thankful that your mercies were continued so long unto you, than to murmur because you are now stripped of all. But, [5.] Fifthly, When all is gone—yet mercy may be near, and you not see it. When Hagar's bottle was empty, the well of water was near, though she saw it not, Gen. 21:19. Mercies many times are never nearer to us than when, with Hagar, we sit down and weep because our bottle is empty, because our streams of mercy are dried up. The well was there before—but she saw it not, until her eyes were opened. Though mercy is near, though it is even at the door—yet until the great God shall irradiate both our eyes, and the object—we can neither see our mercies, nor suck the breasts of mercy. Christ, the spring of mercy, the fountain of mercy, was near the disciples, yes, he talked with the disciples, and yet they knew him not, Luke 24:15. Look! as dangers are nearest to wicked men when they see them not, when they fear them not—As Haman was nearest the gallows when he thought himself the only man who the king would honor, Esther 6. And so when Sisera dreamed of a kingdom, Jael was near with her hammer and her nail, ready to fasten him to the ground, Judges 4. And so when Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past, Samuel stood ready with his drawn sword to cut him in pieces in Gilgal," 1 Sam. 15:32-33. Just so, when Pharaoh said, "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them," Exod. 14:3, and 15:9-10; but presently God blows with his wind, and the sea covered them, and they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Soon after Sennacherib had sent a blasphemous letter to king Hezekiah, "the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, a hundred and eighty-five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses," Isaiah 37: and within five and fifty days after, Sennacherib himself was butchered by his own sons, Tobit 1:21. No sooner had the people applauded Herod, and given him the honor due to God—but he was smitten by the angel of the Lord, or eaten up with worms, or with vermin—with lice, as his grandfather Herod had been before him, Acts 12:22-23. Roffensis had a cardinal's hat sent him; but his head was cut off before it came: the axe was nearer his head than his hat. The heathen historian could not but observe, that as soon as Alexander the Great had summoned a world parliament before him, he was summoned himself by death to appear before God in the other world. Now as you see by these instances that dangers are nearest the wicked when they see them not, when they fear them not; so mercies are very near to the people of God when they see them not, when they expect them not. The Israelites found it so in Asa his time, and in Jehoshaphat's time, and in Pharaoh's time, and in Hezekiah's time, and in Esther's time, and in the time of the judges, as is evident throughout the book of Judges. [Psalm 126:2-3; 2 Chron. 14, and 20; Exod. 15; 2 Kings 19; Esther 6:8; 1 Kings 17:12-16.] When there was but a handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse, supply was at hand. Her barrel and cruse had no bottom, who out of a little gave a little. In all the ages of the world God has made that word good: Isaiah 41:17, "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." Verse 18, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." Chrysostom observes, That it is very delightful to the mother to have her breasts drawn. Oh how much more, then, is it delightful to God to have his breasts of mercy drawn! As many times the mother's breasts are drawn, and near the child, though the child sees them not; so God's breasts of mercy are many times drawn, and near his people, and yet they see them not. Geographers write that the city of Syracuse, in Sicily, is so curiously situated, that the sun is never out of sight. Certainly the mercies of God are never out of sight, though sometimes the people of God are so clouded and benighted that they cannot see their mercies, though they are near them, yes, though they stand before them. But, [6.] Sixthly, I answer, That God many times, by taking away some outward mercies, comforts, and contentments, does but make way for greater and better mercies to come in the room of those he has taken away. He took from David an Absalom, and gave him a Solomon, Psalm 71:20-21; he took from him a scoffing Michal, and gave him a prudent Abigail, 1 Sam. 25; he took away from Isaac his mother Sarah, and made up his loss by giving of him Rebekah to wife, Gen. 24:67; he took away much from Job—but laid twice as much in the room of all the mercies that he had stripped him of. The Lord many times takes away small mercies to make room for greater mercies, and many times takes away great mercies to make room for greater mercies, yes, the greatest of mercies. But, [7.] Seventhly and lastly, Though you have lost all your outward comforts in this world—yet if you are a believer, there are ten choice jewels that you shall never, that you can never lose— [1.] That you shall never totally or finally lose your God, Hosea 2:19-20. [2.] You shall never lose your saving interest in Christ. Whatever your outward losses are—yet your interest in Christ still holds good, Rom 8:33, seq. [3.] You shall never lose the Spirit of grace: John 14:16, "And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." [4.] You shall never lose the seed of grace, the habits of grace: 1 John 3:9, "Whoever is born of God, does not commit sin"—that is, does not give himself over to a voluntary serving of sin; he does not make a trade of sin; he sins not totally, finally, maliciously, habitually, studiously, resolutely, willfully, delightfully, deadly; he does not make it his work to sin, he cannot follow his lusts as a workman follows his trade, "for his seed remains in him." The seed of God, the seed of grace, is an abiding seed, 1 Cor 1:8; Luke 22:32. [5.] You shall never lose the forgiveness of your sins, though you may lose the sense and assurance of your forgiveness: Jer. 31:34, "For I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more;" Micah 7:19. [6.] You shall never lose your interest in the covenant of grace, Psalm 89:30, 35; Jer. 31:31, 38; Isaiah 54:10. Once in covenant—forever in covenant. [7.] You shall never lose your union with Christ, John 15:1, 6. In John 17, Christ prayed that we "might be one, as he and his Father are one;" not essentially, nor personally—but spiritually, so as no other creature is united to God. There can be no divorce between Christ and the believing soul. Christ hates divorce, Mal. 2:16. Sin may for a time seemingly separate between Christ and the believer—but it can never finally separate between Christ and the believer. Look! as it is impossible for the leaven that is in the dough to be separated from the dough after it is once mixed; it turns the nature of the dough into itself: so it is impossible for the saints ever to be separated from Christ; for Christ is in the saints, as nearly and as really as the leaven is in the very dough, [Luther.] Christ and believers are so incorporated as if Christ and they were one lump. Our union with the Lord is so near and so glorious, that it makes us one spirit with him. In this blessed union, the saints are not only joined to the graces and benefits which flow from Christ—but to the person of Christ, to Christ himself, who is first given for us and to us, and then with him we receive all other spiritual blessings and favors, 1 Cor. 6:17; Romans 8:32; 1 Cor. 3:21-23. [8.] You shall never lose your inward peace, either totally or finally. It is true, by sin, and Satan, and the world, and divine withdrawings, your peace may be somewhat interrupted—but it shall never be finally lost. The greatest storms in this life, which beat upon a believer, will in time blow over, and the Sun of righteousness, the Prince of peace, [Psalm 30:5; Mal. 4:2; Isaiah 9:6. shalom; under this word the Jews comprehend all peace, prosperity, and happy success.] will shine as gloriously upon him as ever: John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you,"—it is a good inheritance,—"my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, give I unto you." "My peace I give unto you"—that is, that peace with God and peace with conscience that I have purchased with my blood I give unto you. Men may wish me peace—but it is only Christ who can give me peace. The peace that Christ gives is founded upon his blood, upon his imputed righteousness, upon his intercession, and upon a covenant of peace; and therefore it must needs be a lasting peace, an abiding peace. When a tyrant thus threatened a Christian, "I will take away your house," the Christian replied, "You can not take away my peace." When the tyrant threatened to break up his school, the Christian answered, "I shall still keep whole my peace." When the tyrant threatened to confiscate all his goods, the Christian answered—"you cannot rob me of my peace." When the tyrant threatened to banish him out of his own country, the Christian replied—"yet I shall carry my peace with me." [9.] You shall never lose your title to heaven. Luke 12:32, "Fear not, little flock,"—here are two diminutives in the original; the word translated flock signifies a little flock; but that the exceeding littleness of it might appear, Christ adds another word, so that the words in the original run thus, "Fear not, little little-flock." And indeed in all the ages of the world the flock of Christ have been but little in their own eyes, and little in the world's eyes, and little in their enemies' eyes, and but little in comparison of that world of wolves that has still surrounded them,—"for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." You need neither fear the loss of earthly things or the lack of earthly things, for you have a kind, a tender, a loving Father, whose pleasure it is to give you the kingdom—that is, the heavenly kingdom that is prepared and reserved for you. [10. and lastly], You shall never lose your crown of life, your crown of glory, your incorruptible crown, your crown of righteousness, Rev. 2:10; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 Cor. 9:25. 2 Tim. 4:8, "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." A crown is the top of royalty. Here it notes that everlasting glory that is laid up for the saints. Now this crown is called a crown of righteousness: partly because it is purchased by the righteousness of Christ; and partly because he is righteous that has promised it; and partly because it is a just and righteous thing with God to crown them with glory at last, who have for his honor, been crowned with shame and reproach in this world; and partly because they come to this crown in the use of righteous ways and means. And this crown is said to be stored up, to note our sure and certain enjoyment of it, as the Greek word does import. And let thus much suffice for answer to this second objection. OBJECTION 2. I would justify the Lord, I would say he is righteous though my house be burnt up, and I am turned out of all; but this troubles me—I have not an estate to do that good that formerly I have done. I was once full—but the Lord has made me empty. I was once Naomi, that is, beautiful—but now God has made me Marah, i.e bitter, Ruth 1:20-21. The Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me, and consumed me on every hand. I have fed the poor, I have clothed the naked, I have received those who were in bonds: the blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me. But now I can do little or nothing for others; and this troubles me, Job 29:13.[1.] I answer, Firstly, Your condition is no lower than was the condition of Christ and his apostles in this world. "Silver and gold have we none," Acts 3:6. Salvian says that Christ was mendicorum maximus—the greatest beggar in the world, as one who shares in all his saints' necessities. Both Christ and his followers, when they were in world, they were maintained by the charity others. They had no lands nor lordships—but lived upon others' charity. But of this before; therefore let this touch suffice here. But, [2.] Secondly, God many times in this life returns his people's charity with interest upon interest, Mat. 19:27-30; 2 Cor. 9:6-14; Heb. 6:10. Their scattering is their increasing, their spending is their lending, their layings out are but layings up for themselves: Proverbs 11:24, "There is who scatters, and yet increases;" verse 25, "The liberal soul shall be made fat; he who waters shall he watered also himself." It is fabled of Midas, that whatever he touched he turned it into gold. This is most true of charity; whatever the hand of charity touches it turns it into gold, be it but a cup of cold water, Mat. 10:42. More—it turns into heaven itself. I have read of one who, having given to a poor man, and considering with himself whether he had not injured himself by giving beyond his ability, presently corrected himself with those thoughts, that he had lent it to one who would pay well again; and within an hour after he had it restored above sevenfold, in a way which he never thought of. However God may carry it towards his people in this world—yet he will be sure to repay their charity in the eternal world. This is certain, namely, that one day's being in heaven will make us a sufficient recompense for whatever we have given, or do give, or shall give in this world. But, [3.] 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 has, and not according to that he has not." God prefers a willing mind before a worthy work. God measures all his people, not by their works—but by their wills. When the will is strongly inclined and biased to works of charity, so that a man would gladly be a-giving to the poor, and a-supplying the needs and necessities of the needy—but cannot for lack of an estate; in this case God accepts of the will for 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 despatches an ambassador to him to tell him how highly he received with pleasure, his purpose and good-will to build him a house, 2 Chron. 6:8. The widow's will was in her two mites which she cast into God's treasury, and therefore Christ sets a more honorable value upon them than he does upon all the vast sums that others cast in, Mark 12:41-44. Many princes and queens, 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 man's 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 outdone by the king of Persia? Surely not! But, [4.] Fourthly and lastly—there are more ways of doing good to others, than one. If you can not do so much good to others as formerly you have done by your purse—yet you may do more good to others than ever yet you have done by your pen, your services, your prayers, your gifts, your graces, your examples. Though you are less serviceable to their bodies—yet if you are more serviceable than ever to their souls, you have no reason to complain. There is no love, no compassion, no pity, no charity, no mercy, compared to that which reaches immortal souls, and which will turn most to a man's account in the great day of our Lord Jesus. OBJECTION 3. I would justify the Lord, I would say he is righteous, though my house be burned 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, etc. How, then, can I justify God? How, then, can I say that the Lord is righteous? etc.Answer. [1.] Firstly, In all ages of the world, God's dearest children have been deep sharers with the wicked in all common calamities. Abraham and his family were by famine driven into Egypt as well as others, and Isaac and his family were by famine driven into the Philistines' country as well as others, and Jacob and his family by famine were driven into Egypt as well as others, and in David's time there was a famine for three years, and in Elijah's time there was a severe famine in Samaria, Gen. 26, and 42; 2 Sam. 21:1; 1 Kings 18:2; Mat. 5:4-5. The difference which God puts between his own and others, is not seen in the administration of these outward things: Eccles. 9:2, "All share a common destiny--the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them." The privileges of the saints do not lie in temporals—but in spirituals and eternals; otherwise, religion would not be a matter of faith—but sense: and men would serve God not for himself—but for the mirthful and gallant things of this world. But, [2.] 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. God's "way is in the sea, his paths are in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known;" "His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways are past finding out." And yet when clouds and darkness are round about him, "righteousness and justice are the habitation of his throne," Psalm 77:19; Romans 11:33; Psalm 97:2, and 36:6. When his judgments are a great deep—yet then his righteousness is like the great mountains. There are many mysteries in nature 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 seriously consider how many possible deaths lurk in his own bodies, 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, 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 which daily attend upon him. I have read of a father and his son, who being shipwrecked at sea, the son sailed to shore upon the back of his dead father. What a strange, mysterious providence was this! Vives reports of a Jew, that having gone over a deep river on a narrow plank 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 mysteriousness of his providences, they would be 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 herself escaping the danger. What a mysterious providence was this! God's providence towards his servants is as a wheel in the midst of a wheel, whose motion, and work, and end in working, is not discerned by a common eye, Ezek. 1:16. The actings of divine providence are many times so dark, intricate, and mysterious—that it will confound men of the most raised parts, and of the choicest experiences, and of the greatest graces, to be able to discern the ways of God in them. There are many mysteries in the works of God—as well as in the word of God. But, [3.] Thirdly, Sometimes God's own people sin with others, and therefore they smart with others. Thus Moses and Aaron sinned with others, and therefore they were shut out of Canaan, and their carcasses fell in the wilderness as well as others, Num. 20. Psalm 106:35-36, "but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them." verse 40, "Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance." Jer. 9:25-26, "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." See Romans 2:28-29. Such as were outwardly—but not inwardly, circumcised, should be sure to be punished in the day of God's wrath, with those who were neither inwardly nor outwardly circumcised. When the good and the bad join in common provocations, no wonder if they suffer in common desolations, Ezek. 9:6; Rev. 18:4; 1 Peter 4:17. Though gross impieties, like pitch or gunpowder, enrages the fire—yet the sins, the infirmities of God's people add to the flame. Not only Manasseh his bloodshed—but also good Hezekiah's pride and vanity of spirit, boasting and glorying in his worldly riches, brought on the Babylonish captivity upon the Jews, 2 Chron. 32. But, [4.] Fourthly, The people of God many times suffer in common calamities, as they are parts and members of that public body that is punished, 2 Sam. 24:10-18. The sins of a city, a society, a company, or a nation, may involve all the members in the same judgment. Though Lot was not guilty of the sins of Sodom—yet Lot was carried away in the captivity of Sodom, as residing with them, Gen. 14:12, 16. [Common calamities make no discrimination between persons and persons, or houses and houses. All common judgments work according to their commission and according to their nature, without distinguishing the righteous from the wicked.] And so though many of the precious servants of the Lord in London were not guilty of those gross impieties that their neighbors were guilty of—yet, residing either with them or near them, they were burnt up and destroyed with them: Achan's family were not guilty of Achan's sacrilege, and yet Achan's family were destroyed for Achan's sacrilege. The burning of London was a national judgment, and this national judgment was a product of national sins, as I have formerly proved. Now mark, though the people of God may be personally innocent—yet because they are members of a guilty body, they are liable to undergo the temporal smart of national judgments. Doubtless a whole city may be laid desolate for the wickedness of one man, or of a few men, who dwells in it: Eccles. 9:18, "One sinner destroys much good." But, [5.] Fifthly, When godly men who cannot be justly charged with public sins, do yet fall with wicked men by public judgments, you must remember that God has several different ends in inflicting one and the same judgments, both upon the good and upon the bad. The metal and the dross go both into the fire together—but the dross is consumed, and the metal refined, Zech. 13:9; Eccles. 8:12-13. The stalk and the ear of corn fall upon the threshing-floor under one and the same flail; but the one is shattered in pieces, the other is preserved. From one and the same olive, and from under one and the same press is crushed out both oil and dregs—but the one stored up for use, the other thrown out as unserviceable. The same judgments that befall the wicked may befall the righteous—but not upon the same account. The righteous are cast into the furnace for trial—but the wicked for their ruin. The righteous are signally sanctified by fiery dispensations—but the wicked are signally worsened by the same dispensations, Jer. 24:1-3, 5. The very self-same judgment that is as a loadstone to draw the righteous towards heaven, will be as a millstone to sink the wicked down to hell. The pillar of fire that went before Israel had a light side and a dark side; the light side was towards God's people, and the dark side was towards the Egyptians, Exod. 14:20. The flames of London will prove such a pillar both to the righteous and the wicked. That will certainly be made good upon the righteous and the wicked, whose habitations have been destroyed by London's flames, that the Greek epigram speaks of the silver axe, the ensign of justice— "That sword that cuts the bad in twain, Those dreadful judgments that have been the axe of God's revenging justice, to wound and break the wicked in pieces, shall be righteous men's cures and their golden restoratives. But, [6.] Sixthly and lastly, God sometimes wraps up his own people with the wicked in desolating judgments, that he may before all the world wipe off that reproach which atheists and wicked men are apt to cast upon him, as if he were partial, as if he were a respecter of people, and as if his ways were not just and equal, Ezek. 18:25, 29, and 33:20. God, to stop the mouth of iniquity, the mouth of blasphemy, has made his own people as desolate as others by that fiery calamity that has passed upon them. Such men who have been eyewitnesses of God's impartial dealing with his own people in those days when London was in flames, must say that God is neither partial nor unjust. And let thus much suffice, by way of answer to this objection.
3. The third duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up, is for them in patience to possess their own souls, and quietly to acquiesce in what the Lord has done. Luke 21:19. O sirs! hold your peace, and bridle your passions, and quietly submit to the stroke of divine justice. When Aaron's sons were devoured by fire, Aaron held his peace. [Lev. 10:2-3. The Hebrew word signifies silence or stillness; it signifies a staying of the heart, a quieting of the mind. Aaron's mind was quiet and still; all his unruly affections and passions were stilled and allayed. Oleaster observes that Joshua, in speaking to the sun, "Stand still in Gibeon," uses the same word, that is here used, Joshua 12:10. Just so, that this phrase, "Aaron held his peace," imports thus much, That Aaron stood still, or kept from further vexing, or troubling, or disquieting of himself; though at first his heart was in a strange violent motion—yet he recovers himself, and stands still before the Lord.] And will not you hold your peace, now your houses are devoured by fire? What were your houses, compared to Aaron's sons? All the houses in the world are not so near and dear to a man—as his children are. In this story concerning Aaron and his sons, there are many things remarkable. As,[1.] That he had lost two of his sons, yes, two of his eldest sons, together at a clap. [2.] These two were the most honorable of the sons of Aaron: as we may see, Exod. 24:1, in that they alone, with their father and the seventy elders are appointed to come up to the Lord. [3.] They were cut off by a sudden and unexpected death, when neither themselves nor their father thought their ruin had been so near. What misery to that of being suddenly surprised by a doleful death? [4.] They were cut off by a way which might seem to testify God's hot displeasure against them; for they were devoured by fire from God. They sinned by fire, and they perished by fire. Look! as fire came from the Lord before in mercy, so now fire is sent from the Lord in judgment. Certainly the manner of their death pointed out the sin for which they were smitten. Now what father had not rather lose all his children at once, by an ordinary stroke of death, than to see one of them destroyed by God's immediate hand in such a dreadful manner? [5.] They were thus smitten by the Lord on the very first day of their entering upon that high honor of their priestly function, and when their hearts were doubtless full of joy. Now to be suddenly thunderstruck in such a sunshine day of mercy, as this seemed to be, must needs add weight to their calamity and misery. [6.] They were cut off with such great severity for a very small offence, if reason may be permitted to sit as judge in the case. They were made monuments of divine vengeance, only for taking fire to burn the incense from one place, when they should have taken it from another. And this they did, say some, not purposely—but through mistake, and at such a time when they had much work lying upon their hands, and were but newly entered upon their new employment. Now notwithstanding all this—Aaron held his peace. It may be, at first, when he saw his sons devoured by fire, his heart began to wrangle, and his passions began to work; but when he considered the righteousness of God on the one hand, and the glory that God would get to himself on the other hand, he presently checks himself, and lays his hand upon his mouth, and stands still and silent before the Lord. Though it be not easy in great afflictions, with Aaron, to hold our peace—yet it is very advantageous; which the heathens seemed to intimate in placing the image of Angeronia, with the mouth bound, upon the altar of Volupia—to show that those who prudently and patiently bear and conceal their troubles, sorrows, and anxieties, they shall attain to comfort at last. What the apostle says of the distressed Hebrews, after the confiscation of their goods, "You have need of patience," Heb. 10:34, 36, the same I may say to you, who have lost your houses, your shops, your trades, your all—You have need, yes, you have great need of patience! Though your mercies are few, and your miseries are many, though your mercies are small, and your miseries are great—yet look that your spirit be quiet, and that you sweetly acquiesce in the will of God. Now that God has laid his fiery rod upon your backs—it
will be your greatest wisdom to lay your hands upon your mouths, and to say
with David, "I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one
who has done this." Psalm 39:9. To be patient and silent under the sharpest
providences and the sorest judgments, is as much a Christian's glory as it
is his duty. The patient Christian feels the lack of nothing. Patience will
give contentment in the midst of need. No loss, no cross, no affliction will
sit heavy upon a patient soul. Dionysius says that this benefit he had by
the study of philosophy—namely, that he bore with patience all those
alterations and changes that he met with in his outward condition. Now shall
nature do more than grace? shall the study of philosophy do more than the
study of Christ, Scripture, and a man's own heart? But, 4. The fourth duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up, is to set up the Lord in a more eminent degree than ever, as the great object of their fear. Oh how should we fear and tremble before the great God, who is able to turn the most serviceable and useful creatures to us—to be the means of destroying of us! Heb. 12:28, "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear;" verse 29, "For our God is a consuming fire." Here are two arguments to work the saints to set up God as the great object of their fear. The first is drawn from the dreadfulness of God's majesty, "He is a consuming fire." The second is drawn from the relation which is between God and his people, "Our God." What a strange title is this of the great God, that we meet with in this place! and yet this is one of the titles of God, expressing his nature, and in which he glories, that he is called "a consuming fire." These words, "God is a consuming fire," are not to be taken properly—but metaphorically. Fire, we know, is a very dreadful and dreadful creature; and so may very well serve to set forth to us the dreadfulness and dreadfulness of God. Now God is here said to be a consuming or devouring fire. The word in the original is doubly compounded, and so the signification is augmented and increased, to note to us the exceeding dreadfulness of the fire that is here meant.When God would set forth himself to be most fearful and dreadful to men, he does it by this resemblance of fire, which of all things is most dreadful and intolerable: Deut. 4:24, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." The Hebrew word, that is here rendered consuming, does properly signify devouring or eating; it comes from a word which signifies to devour and eat; and by a metaphor, it signifies to consume or destroy. God is a devouring fire, an eating fire; and sinners, and all they have, are but bread and food for divine wrath to feed upon! Deut. 9:3, "But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you." See Psalm 50:3; Isaiah 33:14; Deut. 28:58. What more violent, what more irresistible, what more dreadful—than fire! Oh how much therefore does it concern us to set up that God as the great object of our fear, who has armed and commanded this dreadful creature, the fire, to destroy us in many or in most of our outward concernments as to this world! Jer. 10:11, "At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation." Job 13:11, "Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?" Psalm 119:120, "My flesh trembles in fear of you." Hab. 3:5, "Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet;" verse 16, "When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble." Ah London, London! it highly concerns you to tremble and
quiver, and stand in awe of that great and glorious God, who has sent so
many thousands to their long homes by a sweeping pestilence, and who
has by a dreadful fire turned your ancient monuments and your stately
buildings into a ruinous heap! That Christian is more worth than the gold of
Ophir, who fears more the hand that has laid on the fiery rod, than the rod
itself. That prudent and faithful counsel which the prophet Isaiah gives,
should always lie warm upon every burnt citizen's heart: Isaiah 8:13, "The
Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to
fear, he is the one you are to dread." But, 5. The fifth duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up, is to be contented with their present condition. [The poets bring in their idols, each one content with his own office and estate—Mars with war, Minerva with sciences, Mercury with eloquence, Cupid with love, Jupiter with heaven, and Pluto with hell.] When a man's mind is brought down to his means—all is well. Contentment of mind under all the turns and changes of this life, makes a believer master both of the world of unruly desires within himself, and of temptations in the world outside of himself. Contentment in a man's present condition—will yield him a little heaven in the midst of all the great hells, which he meets with in this world. Contentment is a hidden treasure, which the believer will carry with him to the eternal heaven, where an exceeding weight of glory and contentment, with full satisfaction to his desires, will be added to that little stock of contentment that he has obtained in this world. Contentment in every condition, is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven, as Jacob once speaks of that gracious manifestation of God, Gen. 28. God dwells in a contented heart, and a contented heart dwells in God. Contentment is that porch wherein the believer waits for an entrance into a house not made with hands—but one eternal in the heaven, 2 Cor. 5:1.Oh labor much with God, that your hearts may be brought fully under the power of these divine commands—"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." 1 Timothy 6:6-8. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said—Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5 So Beza and others, "Be content with things present." The believing Hebrews had been plundered of all they had in this world, Heb. 10:34, when the apostle gave forth this royal command; and yet the apostle requires them to be content. It is as much the duty of a Christian to be content when he has nothing, as when all the world smiles upon him. Christians are soldiers, strangers, travelers, pilgrims—and therefore it concerns them to make do with little things, yes, with anything in this world. The Israelites had no mirthful clothes, nor no new clothes in their wilderness condition; but God made their old clothes to be all clothes to them, and that was enough. Jacob did not ask God for dainties or ornaments—but for food and clothing. Gen. 28:20, "Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, then shall the Lord be my God." Nature is content with a little, grace with less; though nothing will satisfy those men's hearts, whose lusts are their masters. We shall never lack a penny in our purses, for our necessities, until we get to heaven; and therefore let us be content with our present portion in this world. "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:11-12. In these words you have first the vicissitude of Paul's outward condition: at one time he abounds, at another he is abased: at one time he is full, and at another time he suffers need. You have the sweet and gracious composure of his spirit, and this is expressed in two singular acts. The first is his contentment of mind in all conditions: "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation." The second is his prudent and pertinent behavior with his present condition: "I know both how to be abased, and how to abound." You have the way how he attained this contentment of mind in all conditions: "I have learned," says he, "I am instructed;" this lesson of contentment he did not learn at the feet of Dr. Gamaliel—but in the school of Jesus Christ. Contentment in every condition is too high a lesson for any effectually to teach—but Jesus Christ. O Sirs! in the grave it is all the same—to one who has had all, and to another who has had none. What folly is it to lay up goods for many years, when we cannot lay up one day for the enjoyment of our goods! Christ, who never miscalled any, calls him "fool!" who had much of the world under his hands—but nothing of God or heaven in his heart. Zopyrus the Persian was contented to sustain the cutting off his nose, and ears, and lips, to further the enterprise of king Darius, against proud Babylon. Just so, Christians should be contented to be anything, to do anything, or to suffer anything, to further or promote the glory of God in this world. All this whole world is not proportionable to the precious soul. All the riches of the Indies cannot pacify conscience, nor secure eternity, nor prevent death, nor bring you off victorious in the day of judgment; and therefore be contented with a little. All the good things of this world, are but cold comforts: they cannot stretch to eternity, they will not go with us into the eternal world; and therefore why should the lack of such things either trouble our thoughts, or break our hearts? The whole world is but a paradise for fools; it is a beautiful but deceitful harlot; it is a dreamed sweetness, and a very ocean of gall. There is nothing to be found in it that has not mutability and uncertainty, vanity and vexation stamped upon it. And therefore he cannot be truly happy who enjoys it; nor can he be miserable who lacks it. And why then should not he be contented, who has but a little of it? The greatest outward happiness is but honeyed poison; and therefore do not mutter or murmur because you have but little of the world. All your crosses and losses shall be so tempered by a hand of heaven, as that they shall become wholesome medicines. They shall be steps to your future glory. All your present trials are your only hell; your heaven is to come. And therefore be contented in the midst of all your sorrows and sufferings. Remember that many times they who have most of the world in their hands, have least of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of grace, of heaven in their hearts. [It is only an infinite good and infinite God, which can fill and satisfy the soul of man.] And remember, that a man were better to have much of God—with a little of the world; than to have much of the world—with a little of God. God alone is a thousand thousand felicities, and a world of happiness, the only life and light. Algerius the martyr, being swallowed up in a sweet
fruition of God, found more light in his dungeon, than with all which was in
the world. O sirs! if upon casting up of your accounts for the eternal
world, you find that heaven is your home; the world your footstool; the
angels your attendants; your Creator your father; your Judge your brother,
the Holy Spirit your comforter; if you find that God is ever with you, ever
before you, ever within you, ever round about you, and ever a-making of
necessary provision for you—why should you not be contented with your
present condition, with your present proportion, be it more or be it less?
But, 6. The sixth duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up—is to mourn, to lie low, to keep humble under this dreadful judgment of fire, under this mighty hand of God. When Ziklag was burnt by the Amalekites, "David and the people lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no power to weep," 1 Sam. 30:1-4. They wept their utmost; they wept themselves even blind. They did not stoically slight that fiery rod—but prudently laid it to heart. Tears are called the blood of the soul. Now a shower of tears, a shower of blood, they poured out to quench those flames that the Amalekites had kindled. When they saw their city laid desolate by fire, their sorrow was so great that they were over burdened with the weight of it; and therefore they sought ease in venting their sorrow in a shower of tears.Just so, when Nehemiah understood that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and the gates thereof were burnt with fire, he sat down and wept, and mourned, certain days, Neh. 1:3-4. Some authors report that the Jews to this day come yearly to the place where Jerusalem, the city of their fathers, stood, which was by Titus and Adrian destroyed by fire and sword, and upon the day of the destruction of it weep over it. Oh how well does it befit all burnt citizens to stand and weep over the ashes of London, and greatly to abase themselves under that mighty hand of God, which has been lifted up against them! [Deut. 8:16; Lev. 26:40-42; Luke 14:11; Dan. 5:22. Augustine says that the first, second, and third virtue of a Christian, is humility. "If I were asked," says he, "what is the readiest way to attain true happiness, I would answer, The first, the second, the third thing is, humility, humility, humility." Humility does not only entitle to happiness—but to the highest degree of happiness, Mat. 18:4.] 1 Pet. 5:6, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." Ah London, London! how has the mighty hand of the Lord been lifted up against you! how has he by flames of fire laid all your glory in the dust! The Lord, by fire, sword, and pestilence, has greatly humbled you. And oh, when shall it once be that you will be humble under the mighty hand of God! It is one thing to be humbled by judgments; it is another thing to be humble under judgments. There have been many nations, cities, and particular people, who have been greatly humbled by amazing and astonishing judgments, who yet never had so much grace as to lie humble under those judgments. When God's hand is lifted up very high, he expects that our hearts should fall very low. To be poor and proud is to be doubly miserable. If men's spirits are high when their estates are low, the next blow will be more dreadful. God has laid our habitations in dust and ashes, and he expects that we should even humble ourselves in dust and ashes. The only way to avoid cannon shot, is to fall down flat on the ground: the application is easy. Humility exalts: he who is most humble shall be most honorable. Moses in his wilderness-condition was the meekest man on earth, and God made him the most honorable, calling him up unto himself in the mount, and making of him the leader of his people Israel. Gideon was very little in his own eyes, "the least in his father's house" in his own apprehension; and God exalted him, making him the deliverer of his Israel. He who is little in his own account, is always high in God's esteem. When one asked the philosopher what God was a-doing? he answered, that his whole work was to lift up the humble and cast down the proud. Those brave creatures, the lion and the eagle, were not offered in sacrifice unto God—but the poor lamb and dove were offered in sacrifice: to note to us, that God regards not your brave, high, lofty spirits, and that he is all for such who are of a dove-like and a lamb-like spirit. They say if dust is sprinkled upon the wings of bees, their noises, humming, and risings will quickly cease. The Lord, in the recent fiery dispensation, has sprinkled dust and ashes upon us all. And oh, that our proud noises, hummings, and risings of heart might cease from before the Lord, who has risen out of his holy place! Ah London, London! you have been proud of your trade, and proud of your strength, and proud of your riches, and proud of your stately buildings and edifices—but God has now laid all your glory in dust and ashes; and therefore it highly concerns you to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. God has abased you, and therefore make it your work to be base in your own eyes. When Nehemiah understood that the Chaldeans, who were a generation of idolaters, had made Jerusalem desolate by fire, he greatly humbled himself under the mighty hand of God. [There is nothing more evident in history than this—namely, that those dreadful fires that have been kindled among the Christians have been still kindled by idolatrous hands.] He looked through all active causes to the efficient cause, and accordingly he abased himself before the Lord: as you may see Neh. 1:3-4, "They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." When Nehemiah heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and that the gates thereof were burnt with fire, his grief was so great that he could not stand under it, and therefore he sits down and weeps. Who is there who is a man, who is an Englishman, who is a Christian, who is a Protestant—who can behold the ruins of London, and not—at least the frame of his spirit—sit down and weep over those ruins? The way of ways to be truly, yes, highly exalted, is to
be thoroughly humbled. The highest heavens and the lowest hearts do both
alike please the most high God, Isaiah 57:15. God will certainly make it his
work to exalt those who make it their great work to abase themselves. Such
who are low in their own eyes, and can be content to be low in the eyes of
others, such are most high and honorable in the eye of God, in the esteem
and account of God. The lowly Christian is always the most lovely
Christian. Now God has laid your city low, your all low, he expects that
your hearts should lie low under his mighty hand. All the world cannot long
keep up those men who do not labor to keep down their hearts under judgments
inflicted or judgments feared. Remember the sad catastrophe of Herod the
Great, of Agrippa the Great, of Pompey the Great, and of Alexander the
Great. If your spirits remain great under great judgments, it is an evident
sign that more raging judgments lie at your doors. But, 7. The seventh duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up—is to bless a taking God as well as a giving God ; it is to encourage themselves in the Lord their God, though he has stripped them of all their worldly goods. Thus did Job when he had lost his all: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord," Job 1:21. One brings in holy Job standing by the ruined house, under whose walls his ten children lay dead and buried, and lifting up his heart and hands towards heaven, saying, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there: the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Behold a spectacle—a spectacle worthy of God himself, were he never so intent upon his work in heaven—yet worthy of his cognisance!When Ziklag was burnt with fire, and David plundered by the Amalekites, and his wives carried captive—yet then he "encouraged himself in the Lord his God," 1 Sam. 30:1-3, 6. "His God" notes: [1.] His nearness and dearness to God. Saints are very near and dear to God. [2.] "His God" notes his relation to God. God is the saint's Father. [3.] "His God" notes his rights to God. The whole of God, is the believer's. All God has, and all he can do, is the believer's, Psalm 148:14; Eph. 2:13; 2 Cor. 6:18. From these, and such other like considerations, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God when all was gone; and so should we. "You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." Hebrews 10:34. And to this duty James exhorts: chapter 1:2, "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into divers temptations," or tribulations, or afflictions. A Christian in his choicest deliberation ought to count it all joy when he falls into divers tribulations. The words are emphatic; the apostle does not say, "be patient or quiet when you fall into divers temptations or afflictions" —but "be joyful." Nor the apostle does not say, "be joyful with a little joy" —but be "joyful with exceeding great joy;" the words are a Hebraism. All joy is full joy; all joy is perfect joy. And this befits the saints when they fall, or are begirt round, not with some—but with divers, that is, with any kind of affliction or tribulation. An omnipotent God will certainly turn his people's misery into felicity; and therefore it concerns them to be divinely merry in the midst of their greatest misery. Oh, that all burnt citizens would seriously consider of these three things— [1.] That this fiery rod has been a rod in a father's hand. [2.] That this fiery rod shall sooner or later be like Aaron's rod. Choice fruit will one day grow upon this burnt tree! No man can tell what good God may do England by that fiery rod which he has laid upon London. [3.] That this fiery rod that has been laid upon London has not been laid on, 1. According to the greatness of God's anger; nor 2. According to the greatness of his power; nor 3. According to the strictness of his justice; nor 4. According to the demerits of our sins; nor 5. According to the expectations of men of a Romish faith; who, it is to be feared, did hope to see every house laid desolate, and London made an Aceldama, a field of blood, Acts 1:19; nor 6. According to the extensiveness of many of your fears; for many of you have feared worse things than yet you feel. Now, upon all these considerations, how highly does it concern the people of God to be thankful and cheerful; yes, and to encourage themselves in the Lord under that fiery dispensation that has lately passed upon them! QUESTION. But what is there considerable in GOD, to encourage the soul under heavy crosses, and great losses, and fiery trials? ANSWER. [1.] First, There is his gracious, his special, and peculiar PRESENCE . Dan. 3:24-25. Psalm 23:4, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 91:15, "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble." Oh, the precious presence of God with a man's spirit will sweeten every fiery dispensation, and take off much of the bitterness and dreadfulness of it. In the gracious presence of God with our spirits lies,(1.) Our greatest happiness. (2.) Our greatest honor. (3.) Our greatest profit and advantage. (4.) Our greatest joy and delight. (5.) Our greatest safety and security. The bush, which was a type of the church, consumed not all the while it burned with fire, because God was in the midst of it. The gracious presence of God with a man's spirit will make heavy afflictions light, and long afflictions short, and bitter afflictions sweet, 2 Cor. 4:16-18. God's gracious presence makes every burden light, Psalm 55:22. He who has the presence of God with his spirit, can bear a burden without a burden, Deut. 33:27, 29. What burden can sink that man, who has everlasting arms under him, and over him, and round about him? But, [2.] Secondly, There is WISDOM in God to encourage them under all their trials. Jer. 24:5; Romans 8:28. There is wisdom in God so to temper and order all judgments, afflictions, crosses, and losses—as to make them work kindly and sweetly for their good. While God is near us, wisdom and counsel is at hand. God is that wise and skillful physician, who can turn poison into cordials, diseases into remedies, crosses into crowns, and the greatest losses into the greatest gains. What can hurt us, while an infinite wise God stands by us? But,[3.] Thirdly, There is strength, POWER, and omnipotency in God to encourage them. Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 46:1-2; Isaiah 26:4; Psalm 3:17. There is nothing too high for him, nor anything too hard for him: he is able easily and speedily to bring to pass all his wise plans and purposes. You read of many who have been mighty—but you read but of one Almighty: Rev. 4:8, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." Chapter 11:17, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty." Chapter 15:3, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty." Chapter 16:7, "And I heard another out of the altar say, etc., even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments." Under all your fiery trials an almighty God can do mighty things for you. And therefore it concerns you to encourage yourselves in him, even when you are stripped of all.O Christians, it highly concerns you to bear all your losses cheerfully and thankfully, "In everything give thanks," says the apostle; "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you," 1 Thes. 5:18. Chrysostom speaks excellently: "This," says he, "is the very will of God, to give thanks always;" this argues a soul rightly instructed. Have you suffered any evil? if you will, it is no evil. Give thanks to God, and then you have turned the evil into good. Say as Job said when he had lost all, "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." What evil have you suffered? What! is it a disease? This is no strange thing to us, seeing our bodies are mortal and naturally born to suffer. What! do you lack money? this may be gotten here, and lost here. Whatever evils or losses therefore do oppress you, give thanks, and you have changed the nature of them. Job then did more deeply wound the devil, when, being stripped out of all, he gave thanks to God, than if he had distributed all to the poor and needy. For it is much more to be stripped of all, and yet to bear it patiently, generously, and thankfully, than for a rich man to give alms, as it here happened to righteous Job. But has fire suddenly taken hold upon your house, destroyed your house, and consumed your whole substance? Remember the sufferings of Job. Give thanks to God, who could, though he did not, have hindered that affliction; and you shall be sure to receive as equal a reward, as if you had put all into the bosom of the indigent. This he repeats over again, and says your reward, being thankful, is equal to his who gave all he had to the poor. To wind up your hearts to thankfulness and cheerfulness under this recent desolating judgment, consider, (1.) God might have taken away all. It is good to bless him for what he has left. (2.) He has taken away more from others than he has taken away from you— consequently, be thankful. (3.) You are unworthy of the least mercy, you deserve to be stripped of every mercy; and therefore be thankful for anything that is left. God has a sovereign right over all you have, and might have stripped you as naked as the day wherein you were born. (4.) God has left you better and greater mercies than any those were that he has stripped you of—namely, your lives, your limbs, your friends, your relations, yes, and the means of grace, which is better than all, and more than all other mercies— consequently, be thankful. (5.) The Lord has given those choice things to you, as shall never be taken from you—namely, himself, his Son, his Spirit, which shall abide with you forever; his grace, which is an abiding seed; and his peace, which none can give to you nor take from you— consequently, be thankful, though God has laid all your pleasant things desolate, John 16; 1 John 3:9. (6.) Thankfulness under crosses and losses, speak out
much integrity and sincerity of spirit. Hypocrites and profane people are
more apt to blaspheme than to bless a taking God— consequently, be
thankful. Ingratitude is a monster in nature, a solecism in manners, a
paradox in grace, damming up the course of donations divine and human. If
there be any sin in the world against the Holy Spirit, said one—it is
ingratitude. The laws of Persia, Macedonia, and Athens, condemned the
ungrateful to death; and unthankfulness may well be styled the epitome of
vices. Ingratitude was so hateful to the Egyptians, that they used to make
eunuchs of ungrateful people, that no posterity of theirs might remain.
Well, sirs, remember this—the best way to get much, is to be thankful for a
little. God loves to sow much where he reaps much. Thankfulness for one
mercy, makes way for another mercy—as many thousand Christians have
experienced. The Lord's payment for all his blessings, is our thankfulness.
Our returns must be according to our receipts. Godly men should be like the
bells, which ring as pleasantly at a funeral as at a wedding. They should be
as thankful when it goes ill with them, as when it goes well with them.
Cicero complained of old that it was a hard thing to find a thankful man. Oh
how hard a thing is it to find burnt citizens really, cordially, frequently,
and practically thankful that they are alive, that they are out of the
grave, out of hell, and that yet they have bread to eat, and clothes to
wear—though their habitations are laid in ashes, and all their pleasant
things destroyed! But, 8. The eighth duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up—is to keep in their hearts a constant remembrance of the recent dreadful conflagration. God expects that his children should commemorate his judgments, as well as his mercies. The severe judgment that God inflicted upon Sodom is mentioned thirteen times in the blessed Scripture, and all to work us to mind it, and to abhor those sins that laid that city desolate, Isaiah 26:8-9; Psalm 119:30, 120. The Lord looks that his people should keep up fresh in their memories such judgments that have been long before executed: Jer. 7:12, "Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel." The ark of old stood at Shiloh—but after it was taken and carried away by the Philistines it was never brought back, and from that time Shiloh lay ever after desolate, 1 Sam. 4:10-11. And this the Lord would have engraved upon their memories, and upon their hearts. Though stony hearts are bad—yet iron memories are good!Luke 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife." Consider her sin and her punishment; so that fearing the one, you may learn to take heed of the other! 2 Pet. 2:6, "He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly." Why has God turned those rich and populous cities into ashes, and set them up as burning beacons—but to warn all the world that they live not ungodly, and to work them to keep alive in their memories the desolating judgments of God? The Rabbis say that the Jews at this day, when they are to build a house, they are to leave one part of it unfinished and lying crude, in remembrance that Jerusalem and the temple are at present desolate. Oh let the remembrance of London's desolation by fire be forever kept up in all your hearts. To this purpose consider, [1.] That the burning of London is a very great judgment, as I have formerly proved. Now great judgments, like great mercies, should be always kept up fresh in our memories. [2.] The burning of London is a national judgment, as I have formerly proved. Now national judgments should be always fresh in our memories. [3.] It is a judgment that carries much of the wrath and anger of the Lord in it: Amos 3:6, "When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" Verse 8, "The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?" Now the more anger and wrath we read in any judgment, the more highly it concerns us to remember that judgment. [4.] A serious commemoration of God's judgments is a thing that is highly pleasing to the Lord. God delights as much in the glory of his justice, as he does in the glory of his mercy or grace. Now when we commemorate his judgments, we glorify his justice which has inflicted them. [5.] Severe judgments contribute much to the enlightening of men's understandings, and to the awakening of their consciences, and the reforming of their lives, and to work men to judge them, and justify the Lord. And therefore it highly concerns you to keep up the remembrance of London's desolation by fire always fresh and flourishing in your souls, Hosea 5:14-15, and 6:1-3; Jer. 24:1-6, and 22:8-9. [6.] Sharp judgments are teaching things. All God's rods have a voice. "Hear the rod, and him who has appointed it," Micah 6:9. Look! as Gideon taught the men of Succoth by thorns and briers, so God, by piercing judgments, teaches both sinners and saints to take heed of despising his patience and long-suffering, and to cease from doing evil and to learn to do well, Isaiah 1:16, 17; and to fear and fly from all such sinful courses or practices that bring destructive judgments upon the most glorious cities in the world. And upon this account, how deeply does it concern us to have always the recent fiery dispensation in our thoughts and upon our hearts! [7.] All God's judgments are his messengers; they are all at his command. The centurion had not such a sovereign power over his servants, as the great God has over all sorts of judgments. If the Lord does but hiss for the fly of Egypt and the bee of Assyria, they shall come and do their office, Ezek. 14:13, 15, 17, 19; Mat. 21:8; Isaiah 7:18-19. Now all God's messengers, as well as his mercies, should still be kept in our eye. But, [8.] and lastly, Consider a serious commemoration of the judgments of God will difference and distinguish you from all profane people and unsound professors: Psalm 10:5, "Your judgments are far above out of his sight." Your judgments, that is, the plagues and punishments which you lay upon the ungodly, are high above his sight; that is, he fears them not, he thinks not of them, he minds them not, he does not seriously consider of them, he is not kindly or deeply affected with them, he regards them no more than a tale that is told, or than foreign wars wherein he is not concerned. Others carry the words thus: He casts your judgments out of his sight, he will not so much as once mind them; they are too high for him to set them before him; they are hidden before him; they are above the reach of his understanding and apprehension. Both mercies and judgments have much of God in them. They
speak, and speak aloud; but wicked men can neither see, nor hear, nor
understand the voice of God either in the one or in the other. I have read
of such a pestilential disease once at Athens, as took away the memories of
those who were infected with it, so that they forgot even their own names.
One pestilential disease or another usually so seizes upon wicked men, that
they easily and usually forget the judgments of God. If God sets in with
these eight arguments, they will contribute more to the enabling of you to
keep the recent fiery dispensations of God fresh in your memories, than all
the pillars of brass or stone in the world. But, 9. The ninth duty which lies upon those whose houses have been burnt up—is to see the vanity, mutability, and uncertainty of all worldly comforts and enjoyments, and accordingly to sit loose from them, and to get their affections weaned from them. 1 Tim. 6:17; 1 John 2:17; Heb. 11:25. Behold, in four days' time a glorious city is turned into a ruinous heap, and a little world of wealth is laid in ashes, and many hundreds of families almost reduced to beggary. And are not these loud sermons of the vanity, mutability, and uncertainty of all earthly things? That is good advice Solomon gives: Proverbs 23:4-5, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." [He says not, they take wing—but they sprout them; and not the wings of a hawk, to fly away and to come again to a man's fist—but the wings of an eagle, to fly quite away.]The only thing certain about riches—is that they are uncertain. Riches, like bad servants, never stay long with one master. Did not the citizens of London see their riches flying away from them upon the wings of the fire and of the wind, when their own and their neighbors' habitations were all in flames? O sirs, what certainty can there be in those things which balls of fire, storms at sea, false oaths, or treacherous friends may in a few days, yes, in a day, an hour, deprive us of? God can soon clap a pair of wings upon all a man has in this world. And therefore he acts safest and wisest, who sits most loose from the things of the world. "Riches are not forever; and the crown does not endure to every generation," Proverbs 27:4. This, Adoni-bezek, Belshazzar, and many other great princes have found by experience, as Scripture and histories do sufficiently testify. In all the ages of the world the testimony of Solomon holds good: Eccles. 1:2, "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." The things of this world are not only vain—but vanity in the abstract. They are excessive vanity; vanity of vanities; yes, they are a heap of vanity; vanity of vanities. [All in heaven write 'vanity of vanities' upon all worldly things; and all in hell write 'vanity of vanities' upon all worldly things: and why should not all on earth write 'vanity of vanities' upon all worldly things? 1 Kings 9:13; Gen. 3.] And this the burnt citizens have found by sad experience. The world is all shadow and vanity. The world is like Jonah's gourd, a man may sit under its shadow for a while—but it soon withers, decays, and dies. He who shall but weigh man's pains with his pay, his miseries with his mercies, his sorrows with his joys, his crosses with his comforts, his needs with his enjoyments, etc., may well cry out, Oh the vanity and uncertainty of all these earthly things! Thus the world in all its bravery is no better than the cities which Solomon gave to Hiram, which he called 'Cabul,' that is, displeasing or dirty. All the great, the mirthful, the glorious things of the world, may fitly be resembled to the fruit that undid us all, which was fair to the sight, smooth in handling, sweet in taste—but deadly in operation. A man may be happy that is not wealthy; witness Lazarus, and those worthies of whom this world was not worthy, Heb. 11. But how hard a thing is it for a man who is wealthy to be happy: Mat. 19:24, "It is easier for a camel,"—or a thick cable-rope, as some render it—"to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." There are several expositions upon these words. [1.] First, Some say that there was a little gate in Jerusalem called the Needle's-eye, which was so low and little that it was impossible for a camel to enter in at it with his burden, and therefore when camels came that way they took off their loads, and the camels themselves were forced to stoop before they could pass through the gate. Some think that our Savior alludes to this. But, [2.] Secondly, Others interpret it of a cable-rope or cord, and then thus they expound the words: A man cannot by any means possible put a cable through a needle's eye—but if he untwist it, he may by thread and thread put it through. [3.] Thirdly, Others say these words are a proverbial speech, for the Talmud had a proverb, "Are you of Pambeditha, who can cause an elephant to go through a needle's eye?" Those of Pambeditha were great braggers; they would boast to others that they could do very great things and very strange things. Hence came that proverb among them, It is easier to cause an elephant to go through a needle's eye, than to do thus or thus. Now our Savior uses the word camel because he was better known to them. It was usual, say others, with the Jews to say, when difficult matters were promised, Have you been at Pambeditha, where camels go through the eyes of needles? But, [4.] Fourthly and lastly, The plain and simple meaning of this proverbial speech is doubtless this—namely, that it is as impossible for such a rich man to be saved, who trusts in his riches, and who set a higher price upon his riches than upon Christ, and who will rather part with Christ than part with his riches, and who will rather go to hell rich than to heaven poor—as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The proverbial speech, say others, notes the difficulty of rich men's being saved. Hab. 2:6, "Woe to him who ladens himself with thick clay." Thick clay will sooner break a man's back—than satisfy his heart. And oh what a folly and madness is it for a man to be still a-loading of himself with the clay of this world! In Gen. 13:2, it is said that Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold; the word signifies—he was very heavy, to show that riches, that gold and silver—which is the great God of the world, the paradise, the all in all, the great Diana that all the world magnifies and worships—are but heavy burdens, and rather a hindrance than a help to heaven and happiness. Though the rich man in the Gospel fared and lived like a gentleman, a noble, a knight; yet when he died he went to hell, Luke 16. Though mammon, as Aretius and many others observe, is a Syriac word, and signifies riches—yet Irenaeus derives mammon of mum, that signifies a spot, and hon, that signifies riches; to show that riches have their spots: and yet, oh how in love are men with these spots! how laborious, how industrious are men to add spots to spots, bags to bags, houses to houses, and lands to lands, and estates to estates—as if there were no hell to escape, nor any heaven to make sure of! Isaiah 5:8. O sirs, the voice of God in that fiery dispensation that has lately passed upon us seems to be this, "O you citizens of London, whose habitations and glory I have laid in dust and ashes, sit loose from this world, and set your affections upon things above! Live in this world as pilgrims and strangers. Remember this is not your resting-place; never more be inordinate in your love to the world, nor in your delight in the world, nor in your pursuit of the world! Col. 3:1; Heb. 11:13; Jer. 1:6; Micah 2:10. Never spend so many thoughts upon the world, nor ever send forth so many wishes after the world, nor ever spend so much precious time to gain the world, as you have formerly done. Take off your thoughts, take off your 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 you, until 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; so that seeing you have here no continuing city, you may seek one to come, Heb. 13:14. Remember I have destroyed your houses, so that 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, so that you may make sure more durable riches, Proverbs 8:18. I have spoiled many of your thriving trades, so that you might drive a more thriving trade towards heaven, Phil. 3:20. 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— [1.] First, Are there none of the burnt citizens who seek the world in the first place—and Christ and heaven in the last place? who are first for earth—and then for heaven? first for the world—and then for Christ? Mat. 6:33; John 6:27; first for the food which perishes—and then for the food which endures unto everlasting life? The old poet's note was, first for money and then for Christ. But,[2.] 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 great things of eternity? 1 Tim. 6:9, and Jer. 17:11. Are there none of the burnt citizens who are peremptorily resolved to gain the world, whatever it costs them?The Gnostics were a sort of professors who 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 listlessness, the heartlessness to anything that is divine and heavenly--which always attends such professors who are resolved to be rich, or great, or somebody in the world! Oh the time, the thoughts, the strength, the spirits that these men spend upon the world--while their souls lie a-bleeding, and eternity is posting on upon them! Men who are highly and fully resolved to be rich--will certainly forget God, undervalue Christ, grieve the Spirit, slight ordinances, and neglect such gracious opportunities as might make them happy forever. Rich Felix had no leisure to hear poor Paul, though the hearing of a sermon might have saved his soul, Acts 24:24-25. But, [3.] Thirdly, Are there none of the burnt citizens who spend the first of their time, and the best of their time, and the 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, yes, 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 everything but to honor the Lord, and to secure their interest in Christ, and to make themselves happy forever?Look! as Pharaoh's lean cows ate up the fat cows, 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. [4.] Fourthly, Are there none of the burnt citizens who daily prefer the world before Christ; yes, the worst of the world before the best of Christ? The Gergesenes preferred their swine before a Savior; they had rather lose Christ than lose their hogs, Mat. 8:28-34, seq. They had rather that the devil should still possess their souls, than that Jesus should drown their pigs. 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 fullness in himself, Col. 1:19, and 2:3—"that he would depart out of their coasts." Though there is no misery, no plague, no curse, no wrath, no hell, compared to Christ's departure from a people—yet men who are mad upon the world will desire this. [Hosea 9:12. The Reubenites preferred the country that was commodious for the feeding of their cattle, though it were far from the temple, far from the means of grace, before their interest in the land of Canaan.]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 godly man who once cried out, "I had rather have one Christ than a thousand worlds!" Another mourned because he could not prize Christ enough. But how few burnt citizens are of these men's minds! It was a sweet prayer of one, "Make your Son dear, very dear, exceeding dear, only dear and precious to me, or not at all." But do all burnt citizens lift up such a prayer? I suppose you have either read or heard of that rich and wretched cardinal who professed that he would not leave his part in Paris, for a part in paradise. But, [5.] Fifthly, Are there no burnt citizens who follow the world so close, that they gain no good by the word? like Ezekiel's hearers, and like the stony ground, Ezek. 33:31-33, and Mat. 13:22. Some say that nothing will grow where gold grows. Certainly, where an inordinate love of the world grows, there nothing will grow that is good. A heart filled either with the love of the world, or with the profits of the world, or with the pleasures of the world, or with the honors of the world, or with the cares of the world, or with the business of the world—is a heart incapacitated to receive any divine counsel or comfort from the word!The poets tells us of Lycaon's being turned into a wolf; but when a worldling is wrought upon by the word, there is a wolf turned into a man; yes, an incarnate devil turned into a glorious saint. Therefore the Holy Spirit, speaking of Zaccheus, whose soul was set upon the world, brings him in with an Behold! Luke 19:2, as if it were a wonder of wonders that ever such a worldling should be subdued by grace, and brought in to Christ. But, [6.] Sixthly, Are there no burnt citizens who are very angry and impatient when they meet with opposition, disappointments, or procrastination in their earnest pursuing after the things of the world? Are there no burnt citizens who are so intent and mad upon the world, that they will hotly seek the world, though the Lord draws, and conscience draws, and the Scriptures draw them away from the world? But,[7.] Seventhly, Are there no burnt citizens who are grown cold, very cold, yes, even stark cold, in their pursuit after God, and Christ, and heaven, and holiness, who once were for taking the kingdom of heaven by storm, who were so eagerly and earnestly set upon making a prey or a prize of the great things of that upper world, that they were highly and fully resolved to make sure of them, whate |