civil trade. Doubtless there were many citizens who did drive a close, eecret, sinful trade, who had their by-ways and back-doors— some to uncleanuL'ss, others to merry-meetin<^s, and others to secret gaming. Now if thou wert one of them that didst drive a secret trade of sin, never murmur because thy house is burnt, and thy trade destroyed, but rather repent of thy secret trade of sin, and wonder that tliy body is not in the grave, and that thy soul is not a-burning in everlasting flames. Many there were in London, who had so great a trade, so full a trade, so constant a trade, that they had no time to mind the everlasting concernments of their precious souls and the great things of eternity.^ They had so much to do on earth, that they had no time to look up to heaven, as once the Duke of Alva told the king of France. Sir Thomas More saith. There is a devil called negotium, business, that carrieth more souls to hell than all the devils in hell beside. Many citizens bad so many irons in the fire, and were cumbered about with so many things, that they wholly neglected the one thing necessary ; and therefore it was but just with God to visit them with a fiery rod. Look, as much earth jmts out the fire, so much worldly business puts out the fire of heavenly affections. Look, as the earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, so much worldly business swallows up 60 much precious time, that many men have no leisure to secure their interest in Christ, to make their calling and election sure, to lay up treasure in heaven, to provide for eternity ; and if this have been any of your cases who are now burnt up, it highly concerns you to justify the Lord, and to say he is righteous, though he has burnt up your habitations, and destroyed your trade,' Num. xxii. 32, and 2 Pet. i. 10. It is sad when a crowd of worldly business shall crowd God and Christ and duty out of doors. Many citizens did drive so great a public trade in their shops, that their private trade to heaven was quite laid by. Such who were so busy about their farm and their merchandise, see Luke xiv. 16, 22, that they had no leisure to attend their souls' concernments, had their city set on fire about their ears : Mat. xxii. 5, ' But they made light of it ' — that is, of all the free, rich, and noble offers of grace and mercy that God had made to them — ' and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.' Ver. 7, ' But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he sent forth his armies' — that is, the Romans — ' and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city.' It is observable that the Jews, who were commanded six days to labour, were also commanded to ofter morning and evening sacrifice daily, Exod. xx. 9. Vide Exod. xxix. 38, 39 ; Num. xxviii. 3 ; Deut. vi. 6-8. They had their morning sacrifice when they entered ujion their work, and they had their evening sacrifice when they ended their work. Their particular callings did not steal away their hearts from their general callings. The Jews divided the day into three parts, the first, ad TephiUa, orationem, to ))rayer ; the second, ad Torah, legem, for the reading of the law ; the third, ac? Malacha,opiis, for the works of their lawful callings.^ Although
' There were many who sacrificed their precious time either to Morpheus the minister of sleep, or to Bacchus the god of wine, or to Venus the goddess of beauty, as if all were due to the bed, the tavern, and the brothel-house.
» Wocmsc, Mor. Law, p. 223.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 231
they were days appointed for work, yet they gave God his part, they gave God a share of them every day. God, who is the Lord of all time, hath reserved to himvself a part of our time every day. And therefore men's particular callings ought to give way to their general calling. But alas! before London was in flames, many men's — Oh that I could not say most men's [—particular caUings swallowed up their general calling. The noise is such in a mill as hinders all intercourse between man and man : so many of the burnt citizens had such a multitude of worldly businesses lying upon their hands, and that made such a noise, as that all intercourse between God and them was hindered. Seneca, one of the most refined heathens, could say, ' I do not give, but only lend myself to my business.' 1 am afraid this heathen will one day rise in judgment against those burnt citizens who have not lended themselves to their business, but wholly given up themselves to their business, as if they had no God to honour, no souls to save, no hell to escape, nor no heaven to make sure. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Joh lost all, and recovered all again: he lost a fair estate, and God doicbles his estate to him} So David lost all, and recovered all again: 1 Sam. xxx. 18, 'And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away ; and David rescued his two wives.' Ver. ]9, ' And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them.' David recovered all. Here the end was better than the beginning; but the contrary befell the Amalekites, who a little before had framed comedies out of poor Ziklag's tragedies. In the beginning of the chapter you may see that David had lost all that ever he had in the world, ver. 1-5. All the spoil that he had taken from others were gone — his corn gone, his cattle gone, his wives gone, and his city burnt with fire, and turned into a ruinous heap, so that he had not a house, a habitation in all the world to put his head in ; he had nothing left him but a poor, grieved, madded, and en- raged army. The people spake of stoning of him, ver. 6 : but what was the event now? Why, David recovers all again. 0 sirs, when a Christian is in greatest distress, when he hath lost all, when he is not worth one penny in all the world, yet then he hath a God to go to at last. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. A Christian's case is never so desperate but he hath still a God to go to.^ When a Christian has lost all, the best way to recover all again is to encourage himself in the Lord his God. God sometimes strips his people of out- ward mercies, and then restores to them again those very mercies that he had stripped them of. I have read a story of a poor man that God served^ faithfully, and yet was oppressed cruelly, having all his goods taken from him by an exacting knight; whereupon, in a melancholy humour, he persuaded himself that God was dead, who had formerly been so faithful to him, and now, as he thought, had left him. It so fell out that an old man met him, and desired him to deliver a letter into the hands of his oppressor ; upon the receipt and perusal of which, the knight was so convinced, that immediately he confessed his fault,
^ Compare the first and last chapters of Job together.