tilings, upon all our pleasant houses, shops, trades, gardens, walks, temples, &c. The plague, the year before, did so rage and spread, that it emptied many thousand houses of persons ; and now this dread- ful fii-e hath so spread itself that it has not left houses enough for many thousands of persons to dwell in, there being more than thirteen thousand houses destroyed by the furious flames. Sin is of a spreading nature, and accordingly it had spread itself over all parts of the city ; and therefore the Lord, who delights to suit his judgments to men's sins, sent a spreading fire in the midst of us. The merciless flames' spreading themselves every way, in four days' time laid the main of our once glorious city in ashes: a judgment so remarkable and past precedent, that he that will not see the hand of the Lord in it, may well be reckoned amongst the worst of atheists. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Consider the impartiality of it. It spared neither sinners nor saints, young nor old, rich nor poor, honourable nor base, bond nor free, male nor female, buyer nor seller, borrower nor lender. God making good that word, Isa. xxiv. 1,2,' Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest,' — or with the prince, for the Hebrew word signifies both; — ' as with the servant, so with his master ; as with the maid, so with the mistress ; as with the buyer, so with the seller ; as with the lender, so with the borrower ; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.' In the day of the Lord's wrath that was lately upon us, all orders, ranks, and degrees of men suffered alike, and were abased alike ; the furious flames made no difference, they put no distinction between the russet coat and the scarlet gown, the leathern jacket and the gold chain, the merchant and the tradesman, the landlord and the tenant, the giver and the receiver.
' There is no difference : fire hatli made Equal the sceptre and the spade.'
Ezek. XX. 47, ' Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree : the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt therein.' I have, in the former part of this treatise, given some light into these words. The fire, the flames in the text, takes hold of all sorts of people, rich and poor, lord and lad, high and low, great and small, strong and weak, wise and foolish, learned and ignorant, commanders and soldiers, rulers and ruled. So did the late lamentable fire in London take hold of all sorts and degrees of men, as the citizens have found by sad experience. The fire, like the duke of Parma's sword, knew no difference betwixt robes and rags, betwixt prince and peasant, betwixt honourable and vile, betwixt the righteous and the wicked, the clean and the unclean, betwixt him that sacrificed and him that sacrificed not, betwixt him that sweareth and him that feareth an oath, Eccles. ix. 1, 2. The judgment was universal, the blow reached us all, the flames brake into every man's house ; such a dreadful, impartial, universal fire, eyes never saw before, nor ears never heard of before, nor tongues never discoursed of before, nor pens never writ of before. Beloved, you know that it is our duty to take serious
114 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
notice of tlie hand of ilic Lord in the least judgment, and in every particular judgment. Oh how much more then docs it highly concern us to take serious notice of the hand of the Lord that has been lifted up against us, in that late dreadful, impartial, universal fire, that has burnt us all out of our habitations, and laid our city desolate! But,
[7.1 Seventhly, Consider the greatness of it, the destructlvenessof if. Oh the many thousand families that were destroyed and impoverished in four days' time ! Of many it might have been said the day before the fire, who so rich as these ? and the very next day it might have been said of the same persons, who so poor as these ? as poor as Job ; yea, poor to a proverb : Jer. xxi. 13, 14, ' Behold, I am against thee, 0 inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord ; which say. Who shall come down against us ? or who shall enter into our habitations ? But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord : and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things I'ound about it.'^ ^ Some by the forest understand the fair and sumptuous buildings in Jerusalem, that were built with wood that Avas hewn out of the forest of Lebanon, and stood as thick as trees in the forest. Others by the forest under- stand the whole city of Jerusalem with the country round about it, that was as full of people as a forest is full of trees. Others by forest understand the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and the houses of the great princes, which were built with excellent matter from the wood of Lebanon. Jerusalem was so strongly defended by nature that they thought themselves invincible, as once the Jebusitcs did, 2 Sam. v. 6 : they were so confident of the strength of their city, that they scorned the proudest and the strongest enemies about them. But sin had brought them low in the eye of God, so that he could see nothing eminent or excellent among them ; and therefore the Lord resolves by the Chaldeans to fire their magnificent buildings in which they gloried, and to turn their strong and stately city into a ruinous heap. Though Jerusalem stood in a vale, and was environed with mountains, yet the upper part of it stood high, as it were upon a rocky rising hill, Ps. cxxv. 2. Now the citizens of Jerusalem trusted very much in the situation of their city ; they did not fear their being besieged, straitened, conquered, or fired ; and therefore they say, ' Who shall come down against us ? Who tshall enter into our habitation ? Where is the enemy that has courage or confidence enough to assault our city, or to enter into our habitations?' but God tells them that they were as barren of good fruit as the trees of the forest were barren of good fruit ; and therefore he was resolved by the hand of the Chal- deans to hew them down, and to fire their most stately structure, and to turn their glorious city, in which they greatly trusted and gloried, into a ruinous heap. All which accordingly was done, not long after, by Nebuzar-adan and his army ; as you may see in Jer. lii. 12-15. How often hath the citizens of London been alarmed with the cry of fire; which hath been as often extinguished before they could well
' London was the lady-city where the riclies of many nations were laid up. I would rather be bound to weep over London, than be bound to sum up the losses of London by this dreadful firo.
IsA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATIOX. 145