' The French were then drawn down to the 6e.i-side, and great were the fears of many upon that account. Kcincxnbcr the Gunpowder plot.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 159
and upon bloody Esau and his four hundred bloody cut-throats, and upon proud, blasphemous Sennacherib, Gen. xxxi. 24, 29, and xxxiii. 1, 4 ; 2 Kings xix. 27, 28, 32, laid also a law of restraint upon ill-minded men, what mischief might they not then have done, when many were amazed and astonished, and many did hang down their heads, and fold their hands, crying, Alas ! alas ! London is fallen ! and when many had sorrow in their hearts, paleness upon their cheeks, and trembling in all their joints ! yea, when the flames of London were as terrible to most as the hand writing upon the wall was to Belshazzar ! Dan. v. 5, 6. How mightily the burning of Lon- don would have retarded the supplies of men, money, and necessaries which would have been needful to have made opposition against an invading enemy, had we been put to it, I shall not here stand to dis- pute. Whilst London was standing, it could raise an army, and pay it when it had done. London was the sword and sinews of war ; but when London was laid in ashes, the citizens were like Samson when his hair was cut ofiP, Judges xvi. 18-20, and like the Shechemites when they were sore. Gen. xxxiv, 25. Beloved, the people of God have formerly made the firing of their strongholds matter of bitter lamen- tation, as you may see in 2 Kings viii. 11, 12, ' And he settled his countenance steadfastly, until he was ashamed ; ' (till Hazael blushed to see the prophet look so earnestly upon him,) ' and the man of God wept. And Hazael said. Why weepeth my lord ? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel : their strongholds wilt thou set on fire,' — [Well ! and what will he do when their strongholds are in flames or turned into a ruinous heap ? Why, this you may see in the following words,] — ' and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.' Other kings of Syria had borne an im- mortal hatred against the children of Israel, and the prophet knew by revelation from heaven that he should be king over Syria, and that he had as cruel and as bloody a mind against God's Israel as any of the former kings of Syria had. Now to evidence this, the prophet in- stances in those jDarticular excessive acts of cruelty that he should practise upon the children of Israel — ' their strongholds wilt thou set on fire.' Hazael would not think it enough to enter into their strong towns, and cities, and forts, and castles, and other strongholds, and spoil and plunder them of their treasure and goods, but he would burn all down to the ground, that so he might daunt them, and weaken them, and render them the more uncapable of making any resistance against him. But now mark what follows burning work — ' their young men wilt thou slay with the sword.' Such as make no con- science of burning Israel's strongholds, such will never scruple the slaying of Israel's young men with the sword. When their strong- holds were set on fire, Hazael would give them no quarter for their lives, — such as had escaped the furious flames should be sure to fall by the bloody sword. ' And wilt dash their children,' — their poor, innocent, harmless children, that never thought amiss nor never spoke amiss of Hazael, these must have their brains dashed out against the stones, Ps. cxxxvii. 9. Men that are set upon burning work are men of no bowels, of no compassion. 'And rip up their women with child.' He
1(JU London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
would destroy the very infants in the womb, that so he miglit cause to cease the very name of Israel. Such Hazaels as are resohite by fire to lay our cities and strong bulwarks desolate, such will be ready enough to practise the most barbarous cruelties imaginable upon our persons and relations when a fit op])ortunity shall present. When Israel was weary, and faint, and feeble, then Amalek fell upon them, Deut. XXV. 17-19. It was infinite mercy that the Amalekites of our day did not fall upon the amazed and astonished citizens when they were feeble, and faint, and weary, and tired out with hard labour and want of rest. 0 sirs ! shall the prophet Elisha weep, foreseeing that Hazael would set Israel's strongholds on fire ; and shall not we weep to sec London, our stronghold, our noblest bulwark, turned into a ruinous heap ? So Lam. ii. 2, 5, ' The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitation of Jacob, and hath not pitied : he hath thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah ; he hath brought them down to the ground. The Lord was an enemy : he liath swal- lowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces ; he hath de- stroyed his sti'ongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mournings and lamentation.' These two words, ' mourning and lam- entation,' are joined together to note the great and eminent lamenta- tion of the daughter of Judah upon the sight and sense of God's destroying, razing, and levelling to the ground, by the hand of the Chaldeans, &c., all the strongholds and fortresses that were built for the defence of the Israelites. Now shall the daughter of Judah greatly lament to see her strongholds laid desolate ; and shall not v^^e at all lament to see London, to see our strongholds, turned into a ruinous heap ? But,
[5.] Fifthly, Who did ever look upon London as a fountain, as a sanctuary, and as a city of refuge to the poor, afflicted, distressed, and imjMverished people of God, that is not now free to weep to see such a city laid in ashes ? Who can number up the distressed strangers that have been there courteously entertained and civilly treated ? Exod. xxii. 12 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 14. Who can number up the many thousand families that have been preserved, relieved, revived, and refreshed with the silver streams that has issued from that fountain London, and not mourn to see it laid desolate? Fs. xlvi. 4, ' There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God;' Isa. viii. 6. It is an allusion to the river Siloah, which ran sweetly, softly, quietly, pleasantly, constantly, to the refreshing of all that were in need. London was a river, a fountain, whose silver streams ran sweetly, quietly, pleasantly, constantly, to the refreshing of many thousand needy ones in the land. Now who can but weep to see such a fountain, such a river, not only stopped, but dried up by a devouring fire? But,