(6.) Sixthly, Premise this with me : Fiy^e sometimes notes the special presence of God in a way of special love and favour to his people. In Exod. iii. 2 you read how ' the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush ; and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.' Here was a re- presentation of the church's affliction, that was then in Egypt, a house of bondage, in the midst of a fiery furnace, Deut. iv. 20. But now the Lord was in the bush, while the bush— the dry bush, or the bramble- bush, as the Hebrew word signifies — was in a flaming fire. In that Deut. xxxiil. 16 you read of ' the good- will of him that dwelt in the bush.' God was there in a way of merciful protection and preserva- tion. They were in the fire, but the Lord was with them in the fire ; in all their fiery trials God did bear them company. But,
(7.) Seventhly, Premise this with me: In the blessed Scriptures we read of supernal fire, of fire that came down from above, and that first as a sign of God's anger. So fire came down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. xix. 24. Also fire came down from heaven on them that offered incense in the conspiracy of Korah, Num. xvi. 35. And so fire came down from heaven on the two captains and their fifties, 2 Kings i. 10-12. Secondly, we read of fire that came down from heaven as a sign and token of God's favour. And so fire came down from heaven on the saciifice of Solomon, and on the sacrifice of Elijah, 2 Chron. vii. 1 ; 2 Kings xviii. 38. God in those times did delight to shew his special love and favour to his precious servants by fire from heaven. But in the proposition we are to understand not supernal, but material fire. But,
(8.) Eighthly and lastly, Premise this with me : Fire is sometimes taken literally for that material fire that consumes houses, towns, cities, and the most stately stimctures. Jer, xxi. 1 0, ' For I have set my face against this city for* evil, and not for good, saith the Lord ; it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire ;' 2 Chron. xxxv. 13. ' And they roasted the passover with fire ;' Neh. i. 3, ' And they said unto me. The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach ; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire ;' chap. ii. 2, 3, ' Wherefore the king said unto me. Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick ? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever : why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?' See 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19 ; 2 Kings xix. 18, and xxi, 6; Ps. Ixxiv. 7 ; Deut. xiii. 16. Now this ma- terial fire is the fire that is meant in the proposition. 0 sirs ! God is as much the author or efficient cause of this judgment of fire, as he
22 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
is the author or efficient cause of sword, famine, and pestilence. This I have in part ])roved ah-eady ; but shall more abundantly make it good m that which luliow.s.
r>ut you will say, Sir, we know very well that God is the author or efficient cause of this dreadful judgment of tire, as well as he is the author or efficient cause of any other judgment that we have either felt or feared ; but we earnestly desire to know what the ends of God should be in infficting this sore and heavy judgment of fire upon his poor peoj^le, and in turning their glorious city into ashes ? This we are sure of, that whoever kindled the fire, God did blow the coal, and therelbre we shall not now consider what there was of man's treachery concurring with God's severity in that dreadful calamity by fire ; but rather inquire after the grounds, reasons, or ends that God aims at by that fiery dispensation that has lately passed upon us.
Now here give me leave to say, that so far as the late fire was a heavy judgment of God upon the city, yea, upon the whole nation, the ends of God in inflicting that judgment are doubtless such as respect both sinners and saints, the righteous and the wicked, the profane and the holy, the good and the bad. Now such as respect the wicked and ungodly I take to be these that follow : —
[1.] First, That he may evidence his sovereignty, and that they may hnoio that there is a God. The profane atheist saith in his heart, ' There is no God ; ' but God by his terrible judgments startles and awakens the atheist, and makes him unsay what he had said in his heart. i When God appears in flames of fire, devouring and destroying all be- fore him, then the proudest and the stoutest atheists in the world will confess that there is a God — yea, then they will bow and tremble under a sense of the sovereignty of God. Th<} sovereignty of God is that golden sceptre in his hand which he will make all bow to, either by his word or by his works, by his mercies or by his judgments. This sceptre must be kissed and submitted to, or else fire and sword, desolation and destruction, will certainly follow. Jer. xviii. 2-4, 6, ' Arise, and go down to the potter's house ; and there will I cause thee to hear my word. Then I went down to the potter's house ; and, be- hold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, that seemed good to the potter to make it. 0 house of Israel, cannot I do with you as the potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, 0 house of Israel.' The Jews were so stupid and sottish that verbal teaching without signs would not work u})on them, and therefoi-e the Lord sent Jeremiah to the potter's house, that he might see, by what the potter did, that though he had made them a people, a nation, a church, a state, yet he could as easily unmake them and mar them, as the potter marred the vessel that he had made. Ood would have this people to know that he had as much power over them and all they had as the potter had power over the clay that he works uj)on, and that he had as much both might and right also to dispose of them at his ])lea- sure as the potter had over his clay to dispose of it as he judged
^ Ps. xiv. 1, X. 4, .'), and 1. 21; Eccles. viii. 11; Ps. xxiv. 1; Dan. vi. 25-27; Isa. xlv.9; Ps. ii. 9-12; Hosea ii. 8, 9.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 23