turns his bristles to all the world besides. The Jews have a saying, ' That since the destruction of Jerusalem, the door of prayer hath been shut up.' Oh that we had not cause to fear that, since the burning of London, the door of prayer both for ourselves and one another hath been too much shut amongst us ! Oh that all you whoso habitations are standing, would seriously consider —
(1.) That none need prayer more than the burnt citizens.
(2.) You do not know how soon their case may be yours ; the same hand or hands that hath made them desolate, may make you desolate also.
(3.) Else what do you more than others? Mat. v. 47.
(4.) To pity and pray for those that are in misery, is honourable and commendable.
(5.) It is one of the most compendious ways in the world to prevent all those calamities and miseries that now you fear, and that you think you shall shortly feel.
(6.) To lift up a prayer for those whose sufferings have been sore, is no costly nor chargeable duty, and therefore buckle to it. But,
[7.] Seventhly, It highly concerns you whose houses are standing monuments of God's mercy, seriously to consider that some men's escaping of very great judgments is not properly a preservation, hut a reservation to some gixater destruction, Gen. xiv. and xix. com- pared ; Exod. xiv. 28 ; 1 Kings xix. Witness those kings who escaped the edge of the sword, and were afterwards destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven ; and witness Pharaoh, who escaped all the ten plagues of Egypt in order to his being buried with his host in the Eed Sea. And witness Sennacherib, who escaped the sword of the destroying angel in order to his falling by the swords of his own sons. Upon what discontentment his sons rose up to slay him is uncertain. Some say, [Castalion,] it was because he jirclerred their younger brother Esharhaddon to the kingdom, who was the last of the Assyrian monaichs ; for after him the monarchy was translated from the Assyrians to the Babylonians. R. Solomon, as Lyra cites him, saith that the great men of the country having lost each one his son, brother, or friend, in that expedition against Jerusalem, were so pro- voked that they meant to destroy him, which he hearing, fled to the idol's temple, and ])rayed and vowed that if his god would deliver him from this danger, he would give these two sons for sacrifice to him ; then they hearing of this came and slew him there. I shall leave you to your choice whether you will give ci-edit to this relation, or look upon it as a rabbinical invention. i In this judgment that fell upon Sennacherib there are these things remarkable : —
[1.] Thiit he should see so great and well prepared an army so sud- denly destroyed, Isa. xxxvii. 3(j.
[2.] That the storm should mainly fall upon the great ones of his army : 2 Chron. xxxii. 22, ' And the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.' From whence we may easily gather
' If Tobit may be creJiteJ, he lived not fiftv-fivc davs after his return to Nineveh. Tob. ii. 24.
IsA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 311
that some of the weaker sort, some of the refuse of the army, were spared — the prime men and great officers of his army being only smitten ; upon which account the king and his ragged regiments be- came contemptible. 1
[3.] That he should be forced to fly into his own country with shame and contempt ; his general and great officers being destroyed, he had no heart to keep the field, having none to order the battle ; and the dread and terror of the Lord and his judgments abiding upon him and his army, he provides for his own safety by fleeing home with his routed, scattered troops.
[4.] That himself should be slain, and that in the temple of his idol, and in the very act of his idolatry, and that by his own sons that came out of his own bowels, as the Holy Ghost observes, 2 Chron. xxxii. 21, ' And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.' Certainly this was a far greater judgment than if he had fallen by the sword of the destroying angel. And witness those very persons who escaped pestilence, were now burnt in the very flames, as well as their houses and estates. 0 sirs, though you have escaped the burning- flames, yet you do not know what other judgments you may be re- served to ; and therefore be not secure, but be wakeful and watchful, and provide for the worst. Unexpected judgments many times seize upon persons, and slay them, as the soldier slew Archimedes, whilst he was busy in drawing lines in the dust. Take heed of saying, surely the worst is past.
[8.] Eighthly and lastly, Do not rejoice in the fiery calamity thai hath passed upon others : do not glory in your neighbours' ruins. The fire-fly leaps and dances in the flre ; and so do many wicked men rejoice in the sufferings of others, Prov. xxiv. 17, 18. ^ Such as re- joice in the sufferings of others, are sick of the devil's disease ; but from that disease the Lord deliver all your souls ! It is sad to insult over those whom God hath humbled ; it is high wickedness to triumph over those to whom God hath given a cup of astonishment to drink. Such as make the desolations of their neighbours to be the matter either of their secret repast or open exultation, such may fear that the very dregs of divine wrath is reserved for them. It is bad playing upon the harp, because others have been put to hang their harps upon the willows. We must not pray with him in the tragedy, that it may rain calamities ; nor with Clemens his Gnostic, ' Give me calamities that I may glory in them.' There cannot be a greater evidence of a wicked heart than for a man to be merry because others are in misery. So without repentance such may one day dance in infernal flames, who have sung and danced at the remembrance of London's flames : Prov. xvii. 5, ' He that is glad at calamities,' that is, at the calamities of others, ' shall not be unpunished.' If God be God, such as congratu- late our miseries, instead of condoling them, shall be sure to be pun-
^ The migLity monarcbs of Assyria used to go forth to war with 500,000, and some- times with 1,000,000 men; and therefore this slaughter may well be understood of the grandees of his army. Wherefore Josephus saith, he fled with his army.
* Seriously ponder upon chap. xxv. and xxxv. of Ezekiel, and Lam. i. 21 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 17, S.*) ; and Lam. iii. 14, 4,5.
312 London's lamentations, etc. [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
ished with the worst of punishments ; for sucli do not only sin against the law of grace, but also against the very law of nature — the law of nature teaching men to sympathise with those that are in misery, and not to rejoice over them because of their miseries. 0 sirs, do not make others' mourning your music, do not make others' tears your wine, as you would not be made drunk at last with the wine of aston- ishment.