Fourthly, Whether there are not some other men's sins upon whom in the clear evidence of Scripture Kght this heavy judgment of fire may be more clearly, safely, and fairly fixed, than upon the sins of those who had set up God as the great object of their fear? Now, in answer to this last query, give me leave to say, [1.] First, That sin in the general brings the dreadful judgment of fire upon a people. Mark, personal afflictions and trials may come upon the people of God for trial, and to shew the sovereignty of God, as in the case of Job, whose afflictions were for trial, and not for sin. Job i. The same may be said of the man that was born blind, John ix. But general judgments, such as this fiery dispensation was, never comes upon a people but upon the account of sin. This is evident in my text, Isa. xlii. 24, 25 ; God set Jacob and Israel on fire, and burnt them round about ; but it was because they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Jer. iv. 4, ' Cir- cumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem ; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.' So Ps. cvii. 33, 34, ' He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.' The very country of Jewry, as travellers report, which flowed once with milk and honey, is now for fifteen miles about Jerusalem like a desert, without grass, tree, or shrub. Ah, what ruins doth sin bring upon the most renowned countries and cities that have been in the world ! Such is the destructive nature of sin, that it will first or last level the richest, the strongest, and the most glorious cities in the world. So the prophet Amos tells us that it is sin that brings God's sorest punishments upon his people : Amos i. 3, ' For three trans- gressions of Damascus,' (by which we are to understand the greatness of their iniquities,) ' and for four,' (by which we are to understand the multitude of their transgressions,) ' I will not turn away the punish- ment thereof The same is said of Gaza, ver. 6, and of Tyrus, ver. 9, and of Edom, ver. 11, and of Amnion, ver. 13, and of Moab, chap, ii. 1, and of Judah, ver. 4, and of Israel, ver. 6. Now it is very observable of every one of these, that when God threatens to punish them for the greatness of their iniquities, and for the multitude of their transgressions, he doth particularly threaten to send a fire among them to consume the houses and the palaces of their cities ; so he doth to Damascus : Amos i. 4, ' But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.' So he doth to Gaza, ver. 7, ' But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.' So he doth to Tyrus, ver. 10, ' But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.' So he doth to Edom, ver. 12, ' But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.' So he doth to Ammon, ver. 14, ' But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Kabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. So he doth to Moab, chap. ii. ver. 2, ' But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth ; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shout-
58 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
ing, and with the sound of a trumpet.' So he doth to Judah, ver. 5, ' But 1 will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.' By all these remarkable instances it is evident that God, by his tier}' dispensations, tells all the world that the sins of that peoi)le are great and many, u[)on whom the dreadful judgment of fire is inflicted in its fury, and therefore it is high folly and madness in many men that makes them impute this heavy judgment of fire to anything rather than to their sins. 0 sirs, it is sin that burns up our habitations, and that turns flames of love into a consuming fire. And this the Parliament, in their Act for the Rebuilding of the City of London, well observes. The clause of the Act is this : ' And that the said citizens, and their successors for all the time to come, may retain the memorial of so sad a desolation, and reflect seriously ui)on their manifold iniquities, which are the unhappy causes of such judgments : Be it further enacted, That the second of September (unless the same happen to be Sunday ; and if so, then the next day following) be yearly for ever hereafter observed as a day of i)ublic fasting and humi- liation within the said city and liberties thereof, to implore the mercies of Almighty God upon the said city, to make devout prayers and supplications unto him to divert the like calamity for the time to come.' So Sir Edward^ Turner, knight, in his speech to the king upon the prorogation of the Parliament : ' We must,' saith he, ' for ever with humility acknowledge the justice of God in punishing this whole nation by the late dreadful conflagration of London. We know they were not the greatest sinners on whom the tower of Siloam fell,' Luke xiii. 4, ' and doubtless all our sins did contribute to the filling up that measm'e, which being full, drew down the wrath of God upon that city.' So much the king, in his proclamation for a general last on the 10th of October, observes. The words of the proclamation are these: ' His majesty therefore, out of a deep and pious sense of what himself and all his people now suffer, and with a religious care to pre- vent what may yet be feared, unless it shall please Almighty God to turn away his anger from us, doth hereby publish and declare his royal will and pleasure, that Wednesday, being the tenth of October next ensuing, shall be set apart, and kept, and observed by all his majesty's subjects of England and Wales, and the town of Berwick- upon-Tweed, as a day of solemn fasting and humiliation, to implore the mercies of God, that it would please him to pardon the crying sins of this nation, those especially which have drawn down this last and lieavy judgment upon us, and to remove from us all other his judg- ments which our sins have deserved, and which we now either feel or fear.' Thus you see that not only the blessed Scriptures, but also king and Parliament, do roundly conclude that it was for our sins, our mani- fold iniquities, our crying sins, that God has sent this heavy judgment upon us. His majesty also well observes, that there are some special crying sins that bringdown the fiery judgment upon us. Now this royal hint leads me by the hand to say: —
[2.] Secondly, That though sin in the general lays people under the Jiery dispensations of God, yet ifiue ivill but diligently search into the blessed book of God, ivhich never spoke treason nor sedition, we shall