' Till London was laid in ashes, that effectual means of preservation, viz., the hlowing up of houses, was oither greatly hid or sadly gainsaid. Wlien the disease had killed the patients, then the physicians agreed upon a remedy. When the ladder was turned, then the pardon came.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 149
the hurries, and the hindrances of one another that was now in every street, every one striving, with his pack at his back, to secure what he could from the rage and fury of the flames ! Now one cries out, Five pound for a cart, another cries out. Ten pound for a dray ; in one street one cries out, Twenty pound for a cart, and another in the next street cries out, Thirty pound for a cart; here one cries out. Forty pound for a cart, and there another cries out, Fifty pound for a cart. Many rich men, that had time enough to have removed their goods, their wares, their commodities, flattered themselves that the fire would not reach their habitations. They thought they should be safe and secure ; but when the flames broke in upon them, oh then any money for a cart, a coach, a dray, to save some of their richest and choicest goods ! Oh what fear were many parents now in that their children would either be now trod down in the press, or lost in the crowd, or be destroyed by the flames ! And what fear were many husbands now in concerning their wives, who were either weak, or sick, or aged, or newly delivered ! Words are too weak to express that distraction that all men were under when the fire went on raging and devouring all before it. And this was an evident token to me that the hand of the Lord was eminent in the fire, and that the decree was gone forth that dear London must now fall. But,
[9.] Ninthly, Consider the time that the fire began. It began on the Lord's day, being the second of September, about one or two of the clock in the morning. Our fears fell upon us on the Lord's day, Rev. i. 10 ; on that day that should have been a day of joy and delight unto us, Isa, Iviii. 13, 14. On this day our singing was turned into sigh- ing, our rejoicing into mourning, and all our praisings into tremblings. Oh the fears, the frights, the distresses that men were now under ! Oh the amazed spirits, the bedewed cheeks, the faint hearts, the feeble knees, the weak hands, and the dejected countenances that were now to be seen everywhere ! 0 sirs ! the time when this fatal fire first began was very ominous, it being at a time when most citizens were but newly fallen into a dead sleep, being wearied out in their several employments, several days before, but especially on Saturday, or the last day of the week, that being with very many the most busiest day in all the week. And of all mornings, most citizens did usually lie longest in bed Sab- bath-day mornings. Such as used to rise early every morning in the week to gain the meat that perisheth, to make sure and to treasure up for themselves and theirs the things of this world, Ps. cxxvii. 1, 2, and John vi. 27; such commonly made most bold with the Lord's day, and would frequently be in their beds when they should have been either instructing of their families, or at prayers in their closets, or else a- waiting upon the Lord in his public ordinances. Fire in the night is terrible to all, but mostly to such whose spirits and bodies were tired out in the preceding day. Wasting and destroying judgments are sad any day, but saddest when they fall on the Lord's day. For how do they disturb, distress, and distract the thoughts, the minds, the hearts, and the spirits of men ! so that they can neither wait on God, nor wrestle with God, nor act for God, nor receive from God, in any of the duties or services of his day. And this the poor citizens found by sad experience, when London was in flames about their ears. Cer-
150 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.