round about with flames, and could see no door of deliverance open to them ! Oh what a mercy is it that we are yet alive, though we are stripped of many comforts and contentments which formerly we have enjoyed ! Now here give me leave to open myself a little in these fol- lowing particulars : —
[1,] First, What a mercy tvas this to all unregenerate and uncon- verted 'persons, that they have had their lives for a prey when London ivas in flames ! i Had God by the flames or any other accident put an end to their natural days, they might at this time have been a- roUing up and down in unquenchable flames. Sinners, sinners, the greatest weights hang upon the smallest wires. Eternity, eternity depends upon your improvement of that time, that life, and those seasons and opportunities of grace that yet you do enjoy. That Rabbi hit it who said. Nemo est cui non sit hora sua, Every man hath his hour. He who overslips that season, may never meet with the like again all his days. 0 sirs ! to have a little more time to believe, to repent, to secure your interest in Christ, a changed nature, a sanctified frame of heart, a pardon in the bosom, is a mercy more worth than ten thousand worlds. To have a little more time to make your calling and election sure, and to get the new name and white stone that none knows but those that are the favourites of heaven ; to have time to make sure a city that hath foundations, a kingdom that shakes not, riches that corrupt not, an inheritance that fadeth not away, a house not made with hands, but one eternal in the heavens ; to have time to make sure to yourselves a crown of righteousness, a crown of life, a crown of glory, a crown of immortality, are mercies beyond all the expressions, and above all the valuations of the sons of men. 2 The poets paint time with wings, to shew the volubility and swiftness of it. Sumjptus pretiosissimus tempus, Time is of precious cost, saith Tlieo- phrastus. Know time, lose not a minute, saith Psittacus. ^lian gives this testimony of the Lacedasmonians, ' That they were hugely covetous of their time, spending it all about necessary things, and suf- fering no citizen either to be idle or play.' Titus Vespasian having spent a day without doing any man any good, as he sat at supper he uttered this memorable and praiseworthy apophthegm, Amici, diem perdidi, My friends, I have lost a day, [Suetonius.] 0 sirs ! will not these poor heathens rise in judgment against all those that trifle and fool and sin away their precious time ? Take heed of crying Cras, eras. To-morrow, to-morrow. Oh play not the courtier with your precious souls ! The courtier doth all things late: he rises late, and dines late, and sups late, and goes to bed late, and repents late. Remember that manna must be gathered in the morning. The orient pearl is generated of the morning dew. There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a man's spii'it than to know the worth of his time. It is very dangerous putting off that to another day which must be done to-day, or else undone to-morrow. Nunc aut nunquam, Now or never, was the saying of old. If not done now, it may never be done,
1 Austin saith that he would not be a wicked man one half hour for all the world, because he might die in that half hour, and then he was undone for ever
■' 2 Peter i. 10; Rev. ii. 17: iv. 8 ; llev. ii. 10 ; James i. 12 ;
Heb. xi. 10, and xii. 28 ; 1 Peter i. 4: 2 Cor. v. 1 : 2 Ti I ; 1 Peter v. 4.
172 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
and then undone for ever. Eternity depends on this moment of time, Wliat ^vould nut many a man give for a (.lay when it is a day too hite ? i Whilst many hlind Sodomites have been groping to find a door of h()[)e, God has rained hell ont of" heaven npon them. The seasons of grace are not under your locks and keys. Many thousand poor sinners have lost their seasons and their souls together. Judas repented and Esau mourned, but neither timely nor truly; and therefore they ])erished to all eternity. The damned in hell may weep their eyes out of their heads, but they can never weep sin out of their souls, nor their souls out of hell, &c.
Oh that the flames of London might be so sanctified to every poor sinner, who have had their lives for a prey, in that doleful day, that they may no longer neglect those precious seasons and opportunities of grace that yet are continued to them, lest God should swear in his wrath, ' that they should never enter into his rest ! ' Heb. ii. 3, and iii. 18. 0 sirs ! yet you have a woi'ld of gracious opportunities, and oh that God would give you that heavenly wisdom, that you may never neglect one gracious opportunity, though it were to gain a whole world ! God by giving you your lives in the midst 'of those furious and amazing flames, has given you time and opportunity to secure the internal ancl the eternal welfare of your precious and immortal souls, which is a mercy that can never be sufficiently prized or improved. But,
[2.] Secondly, What a mercy ivas this to 2)oor doubting, staggering Christians, that they have had their lives for a prey ichen London luas inflames! Eor by this means they have gained time to pray down their doubts, and to argue down their doubts, and to wrestle and weep down their doubts, &c. Christ ascended to heaven in a cloud, and the angel ascended to heaven in the flame of the altar. Acts i. 9, 10 ; Judges xiv. 20. It is ten to one but this had been the case of many doubting, trembling Christians, had they died when London was in flames. I know it is good getting to heaven any way, though.it be in a whirlwind of affliction, or in a fiery chariot of temptation, or in the flames of persecution, or in a cloud of fears, doubts, and darkness ; but yet that man is more happy that gets to heaven in a quiet calm of inward ])eace, and in the fair sunshine of joy and assurance.2 It is a good thing for a man to get into a safe harbour, though it be in a winter night, and through many storms and tempests, hazards, dan- gers, and deaths, with the loss of masts, cables, and anchors ; but yet he is more happy that gets into a safe harbour in a clear, calm, lair, sunsliiny day, top and top-gallant, and with colours flying and trum- ])ets sounding. The prudent reader knows how to ai)ply it. Oh that all poor doubting Christians would seriously lay this to heart, viz.. That for them to have time, to have their judgments and under- standings enlightened, their doubts resolved, their objections answered, their consciences settled, and their souls assured that all is well, and shall be for ever well between God and them, is a mercy more worth than all the world. But,
' Beroalilus speaks of a fool who cried out, 0 repentance, repentance ! where art thou, wliere art tliou, repentance?