IsA. XLTI. 24, 25.] the late fiery dispensation. 51.
the time appointed : and there died of the people, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, seventy thousand men.' But mark the 17th verse, ' And David spake unto the Lord, when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly : but these sheep, what have they done ? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.' And thus did good Nehemiah, chap. i. 3, 6, 7, ' And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great afflic- tion and reproach : the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept thy commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.' Now certainly it is as much our glory as our duty to write after these blessed copies that these worthies have set before us. Alexander had somewhat a wry neck, and his soldiers thought it an honour to be like him. How much more should we count it an honour to be like to David and Nehemiah in such a practice as is honourable to the Lord, and advantageous to ourselves ! But what Plutarch said of Demosthenes, that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his ancestors, but not so at imitating them, is applicable to the present case, and to many who have been burnt up in our day. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly. Premise this with me, There were many sins amongst them that did profess to fear God in that great city, which may and ought to work them to justify the Lord, and to say that he is righteous in his fiery dispensations. I may well say to the burnt citizens of London what the prophet Oded to them in that 2 Chron. xxviii. 10, ' But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?'
But you will say, What sins were there among the professing people in London that may and ought to work them to justify the Lord, and to say that he is just and righteous, and that he has done them no wrong, though he has burnt them up, and turned them out of all ?
A71S. I answer, That there were these seven sins, among others, to be found amongst many of them, I say not amongst all of them, all which call aloud upon them to lie low at the foot of God, and to sub- scribe to the righteousness of God, though he has turned them out of house and home, and burnt up their substance on every hand.
[1.] First, There was among many prof essors of the gospel in London too great a conformity to the fashions of the looiid. How many pro- fessing men in that great city were dressed up like fantastical antics, and women like Bartholomew-babies,^ to the dishonour of God, the shame of religion, the hardening of the wicked, the grieving of the weak, and the provoking of divine justice ! When Darius changed the fashion of his scabbard from the Persian manner into the mode of the Greeks, the Chaldean astrologers prognosticated that the Persian monarchy should be translated to them whose fashion he counterfeited. Certainly that nation may fear a scourge from that nation or nations whose fashion they follow : Zeph. i. 8, ' And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the
^ ' Dolls' sold at Bartholomew Fair. Cf. Morley's 'History.' — G.
62 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.' This is a stino;ing and a flaming check against all fashion-mongers, against all such as seem to have consulted with Frencli, Italian, Per- sian, and all outlandish monsters, to advise them of all their several modes and fashions of vice, and that are so dexterous at following of them, that they are more complete in them than their pattern. Cer- tainly, if ever such wantons he saved, it will be by fire. Strange apparel is part of the old man, that must be put off, if ever men or women intend to go to heaven. What dreadful things are thundered out against those proud, curious dames of Jerusalem, by the prophet Isaiah, who being himself a courtier, inveighs as punctually against the noble vanity of apparel, as if he had even then viewed the ladies' wardrobes, Isa. xxxviii. 16, seq. And those vanities of theirs brought desolating and destroying judgments upon them : Isa. iii. 24-26, ' And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be a stink ; and instead of a girdle a rent ; and instead of well-set hair baldness ; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth ; and burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the Avar. And her gates shall lament and mourn ; and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground.' As light and slight as many make of vain apparel, yet Cyrian^ and Augustine draw up this conclusion : that superfluous apparel is worse tlian whoredom, because whoredom only corrupts chastity, but this corrupts nature. Seneca complained, that many in his time were more solicitous of their attire than of their good behaviour, and that they had rather that the com- monwealth should be troubled than their locks and set looks. I have read of the Grecians, that when they wished a curse upon their enemies, it was this — that they should please themselves in bad customs. There are many who lift their heads high, who seem to be under this curse this day. Why doth the apostle say, saith one of the ancients, [Austin,] ' Above all things swear not ' ? Is it worse to swear than to steal ? worse to swear than to commit adultery ? worse to swear than to kill a man ? No ; but the apostle would fortify us as much as he could against a pestilent custom, to punish the pestilent customs and fashions that were amongst us, James v. 12. God sent the pestilence in 1665, and the fiery judgment in 1666. And the Lord grant that the bloody sword, in the hands of cruel cut-throats, that are brutish and skilful to destroy, be not sent amongst us some other year to jiunish the same iniquity, Ezek. xxi. 31. 0 sirs! what was more common among many professors in London than to be clothed in strange apparel, a la mode de France? Mark, those that affected the Babylonian habit were sent captives to Babylon, Ezek.. xxiii. 15. They that borrowed the fashions of the Egyptians may get their boils and blotches. Cer- tainly such as fear the Lord should go in no apparel, hut, Jirst, such as they are willing to die in ; second!//, to appear before the Ancient of days in, when his judgments are abroad in the earth, Isa. xxvi. 8-10 ; thirdly, to stand before a judgment-seat. But,
[2.] Secondly, There was among many })rofessor8 of the gospel in London much luheivarmness and coldness in the things of God. The city was full of lukewarm Laodiceans, Rev. iii. 16, 17. The love of
^ Qu. 'L'\ priaii '■/ — G.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION, 63