Sbiloh, but after it was taken and carried away by the Pbilistincs it was never brought back, and from that time Sbiloh lay ever after desolate, 1 Sam. iv. 10, 11. And tbis the Lord would have engraven upon their memories, and upon their hearts. Though stony hearts are bad, yet iron memories are good : Luke xvii. 32, ' Remember Lot's wife.' Consider her sin and her punishment ; that so fearing the one, you may learn to take heed of the other : 2 Pet. ii. 6, ' And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.' There is much in those words, ' that after should live ungodly.' Why hath God turned those rich and populous cities into ashes, and set them up as burning beacons, but to warn all the world that they live not ungodly, and to work them to keep alive in their memories the desolating judgments of God ? The Rabbins say that the Jews at this day, when they are to build a house, they are to leave one part of it unfinished and lying rude, in remembrance that Jeru- salem and the temple are at present desolate. Oh let the remembrance of London's desolation by fire be for ever kept up in all your hearts. To this purpose consider,
[1.] That the burning of London is a very great judgment, as I have formerly proved. Now great judgments, like great mercies, should be always kept up fresh in our memories.
[2.] The burning of London is a national judgment, as I have for- merly proved. Now national judgments should be always fresh in our memories.
[3.] It is a judgment that carries much of the wrath and anger of the Lord in it : Amos iii. 6, ' Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid ? Shall there be evil in a city, and tlie Lord hath not done it ?' Ver. 8, ' The lion hath roared, who will not fear ? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy ?' Now the more anger and wrath we read in any judgment, the more liighly it concerns us to remember that judgment.
[4.] A serious commemoration of God's judgments is a thing that is highly pleasing to the Lord. God delights as much in the glory of his justice as he does in the glory of his mercy or grace. Now wdien we commemorate his judgments, we glorify his justice that has inflicted them.
[5.] Severe judgments contribute much to the enlightening of men's understandings, and to the awakening of their consciences, and the reforming of their lives, and to work men to judge them, and justify the Lord. And therefore it highly concerns you to keep up the remem- brance of London's desolation by fire always fresh and flourishing in your souls, Hosea v. 14, 15, and vi. 1-3 ; Jer. xxiv. 1-G, and xxii. 8, 9.
[6.] Smart judgments are teaching things. All God's rods have a voice. ' Hear ye the rod, and him that hath appointed it,' Micah vi. 9. Look, as Gideon taught the men of Succoth by thorns and briers, so God, by piercing judgments, teaches both sinners and saints to take heed of despising his patience and long-suffering, and to cease from doing evil and to learn to do well, Isa. i. 16, 17 ; and to fear and fly from all such sinful courses or practices that bring destructive judg-
London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
incuts upon the most glorious cities in the world. And upon this account, how deeply dues it concern us to have always the late fiery disi)ensation in our'tliouglits and upon our hearts !
I7.J All God's judgments are his messengers; they are all at his command. The centurion had not such a sovereign power over his servants, as the great God hath over all sorts of judgments. If the Lord do but hiss for the fly of Egypt and the bee of -Assyria, they shall come and do their office, Ezek. xiv. 13, 15, 17, 19 ; Mat. xxi. 8; Isa. vii. 18, 19. Now all God's messengers, as well as his mercies, .should still be kept in our eye. But,
[8.] and lastly. Consider a serious commemoration of the judgments of God will difference and distinguish you from all profane persons and unsound professors: Ps. x. 5, ' Thy judgments are far above out of his sight.' Thy judgments, that is, the plagues and punishments that thou la3'est upon the ungodly, are high above his sight ; that is, he fears them not, he thinlcs not of them, he minds them not, he does not seriously consider of them, he is not kindly or deeply affected with them, he regards them no more than a tale that is told, or than foreign wars wherein lie is not concerned. Others carry the words thus : He casteth thy judgments out of his sight, he will not so much as once mind them ; they are too high for him to set them before him ; they are hidden before him ; they are above the reach of his understanding and apprehension. Both mercies and judgments have much of Go(l in them. They speak, and si)eak aloud ; but wicked men can neither see, nor hear, nor understand the voice of God either in the one or in the other. I have read of such a pestilential disease once at Athens, as took away the memories of those who were infected with it, so that they forgot even their own names. One pestilential disease or another usually so seizeth upon wicked men. that they easily and usually forget the judgments of God. If God set in with these eight arguments, they will contribute more to the enabling of you to keep the late fiery dispensations of God fresh in your memories, than all the pillars of brass or stone in the world. Yet I am far from questioning the lawfulness of erecting a pillar of brass or stone to com- memorate the late dreadful fire, ^according to an act of parliament [p. 108] that is now before us. But,
9, The ninth duty that lies upon those who liave been burnt up, is io see the vanity, mufahiliff/, and imcertainiy of all icorldly com- forts and enjoyments, and accordingly io sit loose from them, and to get their affections weaned from them, 1 Tim. vi. 17 ; 1 John ii. 17 ; Heb. xi. 25. Behold, in four days' time a glorious city is turned into a ruinous heap, and a little world of wealth is laid in ashes, and many hundreds of families almost reduced to beggary. And are not these loud sermons of the vanity, mutability, and uncertainty of all earthly things? That is good advice Solomon gives: Prov. xxiii. 4, 5, ' Labour not to be ricli. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not ? for riches certainly make themselves wings ; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven.'i All certainty that is in riches is that they
' lie Baitli not, they take wing, but they make them; and not the wings of a hawk, to fly away and to come again to a man's fist, but the wings of an eagle, to fly quite awiiv.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 253