2. And your fears cannot chuse but increase, when you con- sider the preparation and progress these enemies have already made. Have they been sleeping, think you, all this while ? No ; they have digged as deep as hell in their counsels, their numbers among us are already formidable, their combinations strong, their confi- dences high, and their foreign assistants ready. As the keepers of afield^ so are our enemies round about us : the Syrians before^ and the Philistines behind, to devour England with open mouth. Jer. iv. 17. Isa. ix. 12.) Two considerable advantages they have already obtained : First^ The removal of so many able and godly ministers out of the way. This is done to their hands by a sad providence. It is an old and true observation, that whosoever will attempt the overthrow of religion, must begin with the ministry first. ' These *■ are set for the defence of the gospel.' It was the counsel that Adam Contzen, a deep-pat ed Ahithophel of theirs, long since gave in this case ; Suppress (saith he) the ministers ; {Et error cm pa^ irociniam deer if, sine pugna concedet ;) and then the error that hath none to patronize it, will fall of itself: so he calls the precious truth of Jesus Christ; I dare not affirm that this was intentionally done to open a door of opportunity to them ; but that eventually it is hke to prove so ; who that exercises reason sees not .'' when so many pious ministers w^ent off the stage, it was apparent enough what an opportunity these men had to ascend it, and act their part.
2. Secondly, The destruction of our famous city, the strength and glory of the nation, which they have laid in the dust ; a design, no doubt, contrived in the popish conclave ; they well enough knew how able London was to give a check to their designs.
IVIy heart bleedeth for thee, London, to see thee made " of a *' city an heap, of a defenced city a ruin ; a place of strangers to " be no city.'"* And if they can have their will, that which fol- lows in the text should be added ; " It shall never be built." If parliaments will hearken to them, they will persuade, like Rehum and Shimshai, Ezra iv. 15. that it may still lie in its ashes, and upon the same pretensions, " Let search be made (say they) in the ** book of records of thy fathers, so shalt thou find in the book of *' records, and know, that this city is a rebeUious city and hurt- *' ful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedi- " tion within the same of old time, for which cause it was de- '^ stroyed.'' But I trust, the Lord will make our rulers wise, to discover their bloody intentions, how speciously soever palliated with pretences of loyalty and fidelity.
ANtlrHARMACUM SALUBERHIMUM. 563
But mean while London is ruined ! that goodly mountain laid waste ! the most glorious city, in all respects, that ever the sun looked upon, now a desolate wilderness. O London ! who can sufficiently bewail thy misery ! For mine own part, as the orator solemnizing a sad funeral, desired to have learned mortality from another subject, rather than that of Scaliger ; so (might it have pleased tlie Lord) I should have been glad to have learned the vanity of all earthly glory from another example than that of London.
" How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people ! She " that was great among the nations, and princess among the prc^- " vinces,'' Lam. i. 1. Lam. ii. 15. O London ! thou sealedst up the sum, and wast perfect in beauty : " Thou wast perfect in thy " way, from the day thou wast created, until iniquity was found " in thee,'' Ezek. xxviii. 15. " Thy renown went forth among " the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through the " comeliness thy God had put upon thee," Ezek. xvi. 14. " But *' thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou didst corrupt " thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness,'' Ezek. xxviii. 17. " Therefore the Lord hath cast thee to the ground, and brought *' forth a fire from the midst of thee, which hath brought " thee to ashes," Ezek. xxviii. 18. London " hath grievously " sinned, therefore is she removed ;" Lam. i. 8. All that knew thee among the people, are astonished at thee, thou art a terror to them. London may now sit down by her sister Jerusalem in the dust, and say, " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? see " and behold, was there ever any sorrow like unto my sorrow, " which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me " in the day of his fierce anger ;" Lam. i. 12. " They have " heard that I sigh, there is none to comfort me : All mine " enemies have heard of my trouble, they are glad that thou hast " done it : thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and " they shall be like unto me," Lam. i. 21. " Let all their " wickedness come before thee, and do unto them, as thou hast " done unto me," ver. 22. " Mine enemies have devoured me, " they have crushed me, and made me an empty vessel ; they have " swallowed me up like a dragon," Jer. h. 34. " The violence *' done unto me and to my flesh, be upon Babylon, shall the " inhabitants of London say," ver. 35. " Remember, O Lord, '' the inhabitants of Babylon, in the day of London, who said, " Raze it, raze it, even to the foundations," Psal. cxxxvii. 7. ver. 8. " O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall '^ he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us."
Let no man think that I endeavour to obscure the righteous hand of God^ which is to be owned and trembled at in such a
564? TIDINGS FROM HOME ; OR,
judgment. Though London nuist acknowledge his justice in all that is come upon her, yet the wickedness of instruments is not in the least to be excused thereby. God and man may concur in the same action, and yet neither his holiness have any fellowship with their wickedness, nor their injustice be excused by his righteousness ; Idem quod duofaciunt non est idem ; " his work is perfect, for all his " ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity; just " and right is he, they have corrupted themselves," Deut. xxxii. 4, 5. Wilt thou not confess, London, that thy sins were the sparks that kindled thy flames? Doubtless thou wilt; such was thy pride, epicurism, formality, and barrenness under such preci- ous waterings as thou once enjoyedst, above all the cities in the wWid, that thou mayest say, It 'is of tlie Lord's mercy thine in- habitants had not all perished with their habitations ; and that God had not made thee like Sodom ; for what couldst thou expect when thy Lots were going, but that devouring flames were coming ?