[6.] Sixthly, Who did ever look upon London as a city compact, a city aducmtageously situated for trade and commerce, yea, as the great mart town of the natio7i, that has not a heart to weep over it, now it lies in ashes? Isa. xxiii. 3; Ezek. xxvii. 1 ; Eev. viii. 11. London was the mart of the nation's trade, and the magazine of the nation's wealth. London was that great storehouse, in which was laid up very nuich of the riches and glory of the land. London was the very heart of England ; it was as useful every way to England's
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 161
securitj and felicity, as the heart is useful in the natural body : and therefore no wonder if such as envy at England's greatness, grandeur, and glory, have made London, England's mart-town, to bear the marks of their displeasure. Who is so great a stranger in our English Israel, as not to know how rarely well London was situated as to trade, and as not to know how London was surrounded with plentiful store of all creature-comforts ? If London had not been so nobly situated and surrounded, its desolation had not been so great a judgment ; nor, it may be, the designs of men so deeply laid, as to its ruin. They that did look upon England as rich, could not but look on London as the exchequer of it. But,
[7.] Seventhly, Who are they that have looked upon London as a city^ that hath for many hundred, yea, some thousands of years, been very strangely and wonderfully preserved hy the adnm'able tvisdom, constant care, and almighty power of God — notwitlistanding all the wrath, rage, malice, p)lots, and designs ofivicked men to lay it ivaste, and to turn it into a ruinous heap — and not have a heart to iveep over its desolation ? Isa. xxvii. 3, 4 ; Ps. cxxi. 4, 5. The great pre- servations, the singular salvations, that God hath wrought for London, many hundred years together,, renders the desolation of London the more terrible. And accordingly it concerns all that are well affected to weep over its ashes. But,
[8.] Eighthly, Who can look upon the ashes of London, as those ashes in lohich England's worst enemies, both abroad and at home, do daily triumph and rejoice, and not weep over London s desolation ? Obad. 10-16. Shall the vilest of men glory that England's glory is laid in the dust ; and shall not we lament, when our crown is fallen from our head ? Lam, v. 16. The more wicked men rejoice in our misery, the greater obligation lies upon, us to lie low and mourn at the foot of God. London, like Job, lies on its dunghill. Job ii. 8. Lon- don, like the Jews, lies in its ashes,. Esther iv. 3. And therefore it highly concerns all Londoners to put on sackcloth and ashes. But,
[9.] Ninthly, Surely stich as have looked upon London as the city of their solemnities— such cannot but weep, to see the city of their solemnities laid desolate : Isa. xxxiii. 20, ' Look upon Zion the city of our solemnities,' or meetings. Zion, is here called a city, because it stood in the midst of the city. The city of Jerusalem was very large, and Zion stood in the midst of it; and it is called a 'city of solemnities,' because the people flocked thither to hear the law, to renew their covenant with God, to call upon his name, and to offer sacrifices. 0 sirs! was not London the city of our solemnities ? the city where we solemnly met to wait upon the Lord, in the beauty of holiness? 1 Chron. xvi. 29 ; the city where we offered prayers and praises ? the city where we worshipped the Lord in spirit and in truth ? Ps. xxix. 2 ; the city wherein God, and Christ, and the great things of eternity, were revealed to us ? the city wherein many thousands were converted and edified ; walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost ? Acts ix. 31 ; the city where we had the clearest, the choicest, and the highest enjoyments of God that ever we had in all our days ? the city wherein we have sat down under Christ's ' shadow with great delight; his fruit has been sweet unto our taste'? the city in which
162 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.