" Deut. viii. 16 ; Lev. xxvi. 40-42; Luke xiv. 11 ; Dan. v. 22. Augustine saitli that the first, second, and third virtue of a Christian is humility. If I were asked, saith he, what is the readiest way to attain true happiness, I would answer, The first, the second, the third thing is, humility, humility, humility: as often as I was asked, I would say, Humility. Humility doth not only entitle to happiness, but to the higliest degree of happiness, Mat. xviii. 4.
246 London's lamentations on [Iha XLII. 24, 25.
liuinltlc umlor judfi^mcnts. There have l)ecn many nations, cities, and particular pcrsdns who liave been greatly humbled by amazing and astonishing judgments, who yet never had so much grace as to lie humble under those judgments. When God's hand is lifted up very high, he ex])ccts that our hearts should fall very low. To be poor and proud is to be doubly miserable. If men's spirits are high when their estates are low, the next blow will be more dreadful. God has laid our habitations in dust and ashes, and he expects that we should even humble ourselves in dust and ashes. The only way to avoid cannon- shot, is to fall down flat on the ground: the application is easy. Humility exalteth : he that is most humble shall be most honourable. Moses in his wilderness-condition was the meekest man on earth, and God made him the most honourablest, calling him up unto himself in the mount, and making of him the leader of his people Israel. Gideon was very little in his own eyes, ' the least in his father's house' in his own api)rehension ; and God exalted him, making him the deliverer of his Israel. He that is little in his own account, is always high in God's esteem. When one asked the philosopher what God was a-doing ? he answered, that his whole work was to lift up the humble and cast down the proud. Those brave creatures, the lion and the eagle, were not offered in sacrifice unto God, but the poor lamb and dove was offered in sacrifice : to note to us, that God regards not your brave, high, lofty s]iirits, and that he is all for such that are of a dove-like and a lamb-like spirit. They say if dust be sprinkled upon the wings of bees, their noises, humming, and risings will quickly cease. The Lord, in the late fiery dispensation, has sprinkled dust and ashes upon us all. And oh that our proud noises, hinnmings, and risings of heart miglit cease from before the Lord, who is risen out of his holy place ! Ah London, London ! thou hast been proud of thy trade, and proud of thy strength, and proud of thy riches, and proud of thy stately buildings and edifices, but God has now laid all thy glory in dust and ashes ; and therefore it highly con- cerns thee to humble thyself under the mighty hand of God. God has abased thee, and therefore make it thy work to be base in thine own eyes. When Nehemiah understood that the Chaldeans, who were a generation of idolaters, had made Jerusalem desolate by fire, he greatly humbled himself under the mighty hand of God.i He looked through all active causes to the efficient cause, and accordingly he abased himself before the Lord : as you may see Neh. i. 3, 4, ' And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach : the wall of Jeru- salem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt ■with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.' When Nehemiah heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and that the gates thereof were burnt with fire, his grief was so great that he could not stand under it, and therefore he sits down and weeps. Who is there that is a man, that is an Englishman, that is a Christian, that is a protestant, that can behold
' There is nothing more evident in history than this — viz., that those dreadful fires that have l>cen kindled amongst the Christians have been still kindled by idolatrous hands.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 247
the ruins of London, and not — at least the frame of his spirit — sit down and weep over those ruins ? The w^y of ways to be truly, yea, highly exalted, is to be thoroughly humbled. The highest heavens and the lowest hearts do both alike please the most high God, Isa. Ivii. 15. God will certainly make it his work to exalt them who make it their great work to abase themselves. Such who are low in their own eyes, and can be content to be low in the eyes of others, such are most high and honourable in the eye of God, in the esteem and account of God. The lowly Christian is always the most lovely Christian. Now God hath laid your city low, your all low, he expects that your hearts should lie low under his mighty hand. All the world cannot long keep up those men who do not labour to keep down their hearts under judgments inflicted or judgments feared. Kemember the sad catas- trophe of Herod the Great, of Agrippa the Great, of Pompey the Great, and of Alexander the Great. If your s^^irits remain great under great judgments, it is an evident sign that more reigning i judgments lie at your doors. But,