ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION-. 117
sliall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live, and thine house. But if thou wilt not go fortli to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire ;' or, as the Hebrew runs, ' thou shalt burn this city with fire ;' that is, thou, by thy obstinacy, wilt be the means to procure the burning of this city, which by a rendition of thyself thou mightest have saved. So Jer. xxxiv. 2, 8-11, compared with chap, xxxvii. 5-22. Judges and magistrates are the physicians of the state, saith B[ishop] Lake in l:us sermon on Ezra/ and sins are the diseases of it. What skills it whether a gangrene begins at the head or the heel, seeing both ways it will kill, except this be the difference, that the head being nearer the heart, a gangi-ene in the head will kill sooner than that which is in the heel ; even so will the sins of great ones overthrow a state sooner than those of the meanest sort, 2 iSam. xxiv. 9-18. But,
12. Twelfthly, The abusing, mocking, and despising of the messen- gers of the Lord is a sin that brings the fiery dispensation 2ipon a p)eople, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15-19 ; Mat. xxiii. 34, 37, 38, ' Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.' 2 Here is used the present for the future, to note the certainty of the desolation of their city and temple, and their own utter ruins ; and about forty years after the Romans came and burned their city and temple, and laid all waste before them. They had turned the prophets of the Lord out of all, and therefore the Lord resolves to turn them out of all. 0 sirs ! will you please seriously to consider these six things; (1.) That all faithful, painful, conscien- tious ministers or messengers of the Lord, are great instruments in the hand of the Lord for stopping or stemming the tide of all profaneness and wickedness in a land, which bring all desolating and destroying- judgments upon cities and countries, Isa. Iviii. 1. (2.) For converting souls to God, for turning poor sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ, Acts xxvi. 15-18, and Dan. xii. 3. (3.) For promoting of religion, holiness, and godliness in men's hearts, houses, and lives, which is the only way under heaven to render cities, countries, and kingdoms safe, happy, and prosperous. (4.) For the weakening of the kingdom of Satan and antichrist, the weakening of whose kingdom is the glory, safety, and security of the land. (5.) For the turning away of wrath, either felt or feared. (6.) For the bring- ing down of the greatest, weightiest, and noblest of temporal favours and blessings upon cities and countries, as might be proved from scores of scripture, James v. 16-18. And therefore never marvel if God revenges the abuses done to them in flames of fire. It was on a Sab- bath that the public liberty of the painful, faithful ministers of London was terminated and came to an end, and it was on a Sabbath that London was burned.^
13. Thirteenthly, Shedding of the blood of the just is a crying sin,
1 Viz., on Ezra vii. 26, in Sermons ; folio, 1C29, pp. 273, seq., part iii. — G.
* Turn to these two pregnant texts, and ponder seriously upon them ; for they speak close in the case.
=* The first on the 24th of August, and the other on the 2d of September. [The re- ference is to the ' Ejectment ' of the ' Two Thousand ' iu 16o2. — G.]
118 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.