God's soveraignty displayed from Job 9. 12. : Behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? &c., or, A discourse shewing, that God doth, and may take away from his creatures what hee pleaseth, as to the matter what, the place where, the time when, the means and manner how, and the reasons thereof : with an application of the whole, to the distressed citizens of London, whose houses and goods were lately consumed by the fire : an excitation of them to look to the procuring causes of this fiery tryal, the ends that God aims at in it, with directions how to behave themselves under their losses / by William Gearing ...

CHAP. VII.

THe work which now remains to [use 2] be done, is the application of this to the distressed Citizens of London in special, many of whom have had their goods and houses taken away and con∣sumed to ashes by that late sad and ra∣ging fire that hapned among them.

1. I beseech you enquire into the procuring cause, and that you will find to be sin: if sin be in the City, and in the house, vengeance may quickly be seen at the door, and at the gate; sooner or later God will visit iniquities, sin shall never go unpunished. This was Davids resolution when God took a∣way his subjects, Behold it is I that have done wickedly, but those sheep what have they done? 2 Sam. 24.17. This was Hezekiah's confession for his own life. I have cut off like a Weaver

my life, Isai. 38.12. Thus did that godly Widow of Zareptha acknow∣ledge at the death of her Son. What have I to do with thee O man of God, art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 1 Kings 17.18. She verily thought that either some of her former sins, or else the not using of so holy a man ac∣cording to his place, was the cause of this present punishment: A harsh string to be touched, but will be tune∣able enough in the ears of the Childe of God, that is already touched with the feeling of sin, whose heart is still rather in the house of mourning, than in the house of mirth: it is the Unison of Gods people, We have sinned, and dealt wickedly. Our Saviour prophe∣sied, Mat. 24.12. that iniquity shall a∣bound, &c. and do not the times wherein we live tell us, that iniquity doth abound? It hath abounded, and doth abound exceedingly among us in all our Country Towns and Villages; but I had almost said, it cannot abound more than it hath among you in Lon∣don. I wish I could draw a veil over the sins of these times, and cover the iniquities of the City and Country, as

Constantine did over the errours of learned men in his daies. But the sins of our times, and the iniquities of your City cannot be hid, they are too pub∣lick, too common among us: See whe∣ther all manner of sins do not abound among you? the iniquities of the head, the iniquities of the heart, iniquities of the tongue, iniquities of the life, do a∣bound in the midst of you: have not the streams of all iniquities fallen into your City, as all waters and rivers run into the Sea? There are some particu∣lar sins for which God threatens to poure down fiery showres of wrath and indignation upon a people.

1. The first I shall set before you is Sabbath-breaking, the profanation of the Lords day, Jer. 17.27. See how God threatens the City of Jerusalem for this sin. But if you will not hearken to me, to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devoure the Palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. Examine now whether there were not many among you that neglected and despised the publick wor∣ship

of God; and others, that as soon as they came out of the House of God, laid aside all thought of the Word preached to them, either spending the rest of the day in the Alehouse, or in some idle recreations; yea, many suf∣fering their children and servants in the close of the Publick Worship, to turn Gods Ordinances, sc. prayer, singing of Psalmes, hearing the Word, into shout∣ing and clamors, idle sports, and foolish loud laughter, and that in such a rude manner, as if they would profess them∣selves open despisers of God and of his Ordinances: Is this to bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Is this to do like Abraham, to command your children & servants to keep the way of the Lord? Is it a wonder to see Gods Judgments upon your Ci∣ty, to see the Plague raging among you, & destruction wasting at noon-day, po∣verty encreasing, and a fire kindled in your Gates, and devouring the stately houses and Palaces thereof?

SECT. II.

A second sin, is a general contempt [ II] and rejection of the Gospel, and a de∣spising of his faithful Messengers. We read, Mat. 23.37, 38. that our Saviour

prophecieth of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, for killing, and crucifying, and stoning some of Gods Prophets, for scourging others in their Synagogues, and persecuting them from City to City; therefore, saith he, Be∣hold your house is left unto you desolate. His Disciples were troubled to hear that so goodly a Structure should be made a ruinous heap: wherefore they shewed him the goodly buildings of the Temple, wishing him but to look on them, vainly imagining, that he could not but admire the stateliness of the house, and sumptuousness of the build∣ings, and would call in his threatning, and prevent the desolation of it: but Christ, who regardeth not the magnifi∣cence of buildings, or persons, but will stain the pride and glory of man; was so far from revoking his threatning, as he doth assure them by an oath, that the stately Temple so much admired for its curiousness, so strongly seated and enriched, should not only be left desolate, but should be totally demo∣lished: Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon ano∣ther, that shall not be thrown down, Mat. 24.2. This was for their con∣tempt

of the Word, and their cruelty toward the Prophets. This sin God hath alwayes avenged, and will avenge with the forest destruction; the Tem∣ple in Jerusalem was afterward burnt and utterly overthrown by the Ro∣mans: no flame is more fierce than when oyl, wine, or sugar are fired: if you will know when the sins of a peo∣ple are at the full, and ripe for the sickle of destruction, it is when the Gospel is rejected, and his Messengers despised, and misused. They mocked the messen∣gers of God, and despised his words, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his peo∣ple, till there was no remedy: There∣fore he brought upon them the King of the Caldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their San∣ctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old men, or him that stooped for age, he gave them all into his hand: and all the vessels of the House of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the King and of his Princes, all these brought he to Ba∣bylon: and they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem,

and burnt all the Palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof, 2 Chron, 36.16, 17, 19. Whe∣ther you are guilty of this sin, you best know.

SECT. III.

[ III] A third sin is the sin of oppression: when men grinde the faces of their needy Brethren, and make the necessi∣ties of others their advantages to op∣press them the more: how can the love of God dwell in such hearts? I may say to such, you rob the poor be∣cause they are poor, and grieve their sad hearts rather than relieve them▪ deal∣ing with them (as the Jews did with our Saviour) in their extreme suffer∣ings, give them gall and wormwood to drink, instead of waters of comfort: their own poverty (like Solomon) cha∣stiseth them with whips, and your op∣pression (like Rehoboam) whips them with Scorpions; and as he told the oppressed people, that his finger should be heavier than his Fathers loins; it is most true of your oppression, it is far more tyranny than their wants: where∣as you should pour oyl into their hearts,

you pour in vinegar to aggravate their calamities; whereas you should shew mercy to them in misery, you shew all cruelty to the miserable; your bounty should relieve them, your cruelty draws more from them. Oppression is like unto a Grindstone, yea, it is as a Milstone hung about the necks of the needy, and sinks them deeper and deep∣er into want and misery: the poor are the grapes, and you are the Wine-pres∣sers squeezing out the blood of the poor: It is a notable phrase of Solo∣mon, Prov. 12.10. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel: it is in the Hebrew, the bowels of the wicked are cruel: The tender mercies] that is, when men seem to shew mercy to their needy brother, their words and actions carry fair shews of compassion, as lending money to them in their necessi∣ty, yet there is much cruelty in those mercies in the event ensuing thereupon: How often do Oppressors fetch home their money lent to needy brothers with a vengeance, and unconscionable ex∣actions? How often do they take the garments which should cover the na∣kedness of their needy brethren for a pledge? aad instead of cloathing the

naked, they expose them to nakedness, Exod. 22.22, 23. God threatens, if thou afflict any stranger, widow, or fa∣therless childe, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry: Op∣pression is a crying sin, it cries for ven∣geance; yea, Gods anger will burn a∣gainst such merciless men; And my wrath, saith he, shall wax hot] and I will kill you with the sword.] God threatens to meet with the Oppressor by one judgement or other: and God will make your Wives and Children to be in the same extremity, that your needy Brethren are. The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, Habak. 2.11. Suppose the poor and needy whom you oppress, do not cry against you, yet these dumb inanimate creatures will cry out against your oppressions for ven∣geance upon you. Amos 5.11. Foras∣much as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: God threa∣tens to take away the habitations of such as oppress the poor and needy.

SECT. IV.

A fourth sin I will set before you, is [ IV] incorrigibleness under former judge∣ments: God sent the Plague to the great City of this Land the last year, which swept away many thousands of the Inhabitants, week after week, for a great while together; and even to this day the Plague rageth in many Towns, Cities, and other places in this Land: But my Brethren, who is the better af∣ter this sore Visitation? Did not sins of all sorts and kinds abound in the great City, before God consumed great part of it with fire? Oh what wicked and profane practises hath over-spread it since the late devouring Plague, like the Sluggards Field that Solomon speaks of, that was all over-spread with thorns and thistles; and not only so, but per∣sons of all ranks and conditions, and e∣states (it is to be feared) have been A∣ctors, Factors, and Abettors of sin; most men have run into sin with more greediness than before. As Noahs flood covered hills, dales, mountains, vallies, so the flood of ungodliness hath cover∣ed high and low, rich and poor. Though

God justly punished us,* 1.1 yet in the time of his just wrath he remembred to shew mercy, Habak. 3.2. The mercies of God are over all his works, even o∣ver his penal judiciary works, Psa 145.9. his mercy is most conspicuous in times of judgement; to command de∣liverance when we are in the mouth of danger, in the Den of Lions, in the Burning Furnace, is mercy indeed: to save a people being in the very jaws of death, is mercy indeed: it is the Lords mercies you were not utterly consumed, the Sword would have consumed, the Plague would have devoured all; these judgements like fire and water, are merciless; had not God interposed his own mercy, you had been utterly con∣sumed; if mercy had not rebuked his judgements, they had swallowed you up quick, you can no more resist an o∣verflowing judgement, than a level of Sand can withstand the inundation of the Sea. The Lord gave you a respite after the last years wasting plague, he mode∣rated his wrath, and did not make a full end of you; the Lord would make tryal, whether you would act according to your resolutions, vows and promises made in the day of your distress. When

the plague of Frogs was upon Pha∣raoh; when the Frogs were crawling on his bed, on his table, in his chamber, when he heard Frogs every where croaking, and saw all Egypt to be filled with them, then he sent for Moses and Aaron, and begs them to pray for him: Entreat ye the Lord to remove the Frogs; and then he promised to let Is∣rael go, and they should serve the Lord: Moses prayed, and God remo∣ved that plague; then he put Pharaoh upon the tryal whether he would be as good as his promise, but then he har∣dened his heart again, and would not let them go: By this God made a disco∣very of the grand hypocrisie of his heart; hath it not been so among ma∣ny of you, in the time of your sick∣ness, in the day of your calamity, when you supposed your selves to be very neer to death, did you not then promise to let your sins go? God was pleased to give you a respite, to set you at liberty, and have not many of you again har∣dened your hearts, and refused to let your sins go? therefore you may think God hath now suffered this late fire that was kindled among you, to de∣voure your habitations: Certainly, it

were better to have no respite given at all, than to have it, and abuse it: it were better to be taken away by the first judgement, than to have a respite between judgement and judgement, if you repent not; for now ye become greater sinners, and you treasure up for yourselves more wrath; the more re∣spites you have given you, and you a∣buse them, the greater will your con∣demnation be: To such the Lord saith, Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more, Isai. 1.5. They were never the better for all the stroaks of God upon them, but encrea∣sed their revolts; now see what judge∣ment follows hereupon, Ver. 7. Your Country is desolate, your Cities are burnt with fire, and your Land stran∣gers devoure it in your presence. Scul∣tetus on this place saith,* 1.2 it is Theologi∣ca Pictura Germaniae, a Divine Picture of Germany; I may say it is Theolo∣gica Pictura Londini, nec-non totius Angliae; it is a Theological descripti∣on of London, yea of all England, I mean of the wicked in City and Coun∣try, Isai. 26.10. Let favour he shewed to the wicked] i. e. let a respite be given him from destruction, yet will he not

learn righteousness, but return to their former wickedness; see how God threatens them. Ver. 11. The fire of thine Enemies shall devoure them. Though thou bray a fool in a Mortar with a Pestle among Wheat, yet his folly will not depart from him, Prov. 27.22. Though God doth pound them even to powder, following them with stroak upon stroak, yet their folly remaineth with them.

SECT. V.

Whoredome is a sin also which God [ V] threatens to punish with fire. Sodom and Gomorrha burned with lust, and God overthrew and consumed them with fire and brimstone from heaven. O how many have been guilty of this sin in City and Country? how many are there who have eyes full of adultery? 1 Pet. 2.14. How do multitudes of men make lusting after a woman the end of their looking upon them? they look in order to their lusts, making no other use of their eyes than a man doth of a Burning Glass, meerly to set their own hearts on fire of unclean lusting: yea many continue looking, till their

hearts be enflamed with lust after wo∣men; pulchris vultibus oculos Affigunt, they nail their eyes,* 1.3 and fasten them to beautiful faces, as Chrysostome speaks, delighting to feed their eyes with the sight of women, and seeking after beautiful faces to feed their eyes with them, and as the same Father saith, not so much that they would commit cor∣poral uncleanness with them, but only that they may lust after them. As often as a man looketh on a woman with a fixed eye, or a glancing eye, it mattereth not much; if it be accompa∣nied with a lustful motion, this is adul∣tery before God; how many such a∣dulterers are there every where?

And as with the eye, so there are many that commit adultery in the heart, as by unchaste imaginations, and unclean fancies, and by lodging unchaste thoughts in their hearts, and giving en∣tertainment to them: how many are there, whose hearts do long, lodge, dwell, and insist upon unclean things? which is abominable heart-adultery in the sight of God, inwardly wishing to have their lusts and desires satisfied, with an actual Commission of carnal uncleanness with those persons they

lust after? yea, many take great de∣light in such wanton and unchaste fan∣cies and contemplations; this is an high degree of adultery in the heart.

I know it is a question whether eve∣ry such thought and motion of the heart be a sin, as long as a man doth not con∣sent unto them. Papists will not ac∣knowledge them to be sins till they are accompanied with delight and con∣sent; but Paul determineth the que∣stion, Rom. 7. who there tells us, tha•• such motions are sins, whether consent¦ed to, or not, delighted in, or hated Paul did not consent to them, yea Pau•• hated them, yet he acknowledged then to bee sins; whatsoever is a transgres∣sion of the Law, is a sin; now to covet, or lust, is forbidden by the Law, whe∣ther a man consents to it, or not con∣sents to it, hateth or delighteth in it, yet because he coveteth, he sinneth; to con∣sent to them is a higher degree of sin∣fulness; the fuller consent men give, the more hainous sins are; the more men delight in such lustings, it is an higher degree of sinning against God. Hence you see the reason why our Sa∣viour doth so much condemn the filthi∣ness and uncleanness of the heart, Mat.

5 27, 28. Heart-adultery is minoris in∣famiae, of less infamy, because it is se∣cret, and unknown to any man; but it is majoris culpae, a greater fault; the reasons are these. 1. Because heart-a∣dultery argues Atheism and contempt of Gods presence more than the out∣ward act; thou actest that in the sight of God, which thou wouldest not act before a poor sinful man. Moreover, 2. Heart-adultery is more directly a∣gainst a mans own soul than other sins: here a man makes his own soul the a∣dulterer, and the adulteress, the Bed, and the Brothel-house, the Incubus and Succuba, the Agent and Patient, the Whore and the Whoremonger. 3. A∣dultery in the heart is far more fre∣quently committed in the heart, than the outward act is or can be; oppor∣tunity can never fail the Adulterer in his heart, he can have an opportunity when he will: The heart-adulterer can never want an adulterous subject, he can frame one in his mind, and can with de∣light commit folly with his own imagi∣nary Strumpet; he can do it in every place and company, yea, though a thou∣sand eyes be upon him; and when he wanteth strength and ability of body,

yet then his will and fancy is strong to act this wickedness; sick men, old men, can then commit mental unclean∣ness with greediness; yea, many there are that come into our publick Congre∣gations, chiefly to look after and look upon beautiful faces, and when they are outwardly conversant in the Worship of God, when they are hearing the Word, their eyes and heart may then be full of adultery. What cause have we all to bewail the woful pollutions of our hearts? Who can say my heart is clean?

Now for corporal uncleanness, ne∣ver was this sin thought to be more fre∣quently committed in the great City of this Land, than it hath been within these few years past. The Lord might now take up the same complaint against ma∣ny wanton Gallants, as he did by the Prophet Jeremiah of old. When I had fed them to the full, they then commit∣ted adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses. They were as fed horses in the morning, eve∣ry one neighed after his Neighbours wife: shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall not my soul be a∣venged on such a Nation as this? Jer.

5.7, 8, 9. The Lord chargeth the peo∣ple of Jerusalem, that they had com∣mitted fornication with the Egyptians, and with the Assyrians, and multiplied their fornication in the Land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet they were not satisfied therewith, Ezek. 16.26, 28, 29. Therefore the Lord threatens to give them up into the hands of those that should strip them of their cloaths, and take away their fair jewels, and leave them naked and bare, ver. 39. and ver. 41. saith he, They shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judge∣ments upon thee in the sight of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from playing the Harlot, and thou al∣so shalt give no hire any more. It had been well if London had not been too true a Comment upon this Text, both in the sin, and in the punishment.

SECT. VI.

[ VI] A sixth sin is the sin of drunken∣ness and intemperance. How many might have been seen in every corner of the great City, who drank daily till they could drink no more? who rose up early in the morning to follow

strong drink, and continued until night, till the Wine enflamed them, whose frequent walks were from their own Beds and Houses to the Alehouse, and from the Alehouse to the Tavern, whence (being not able to stand by themselves) they were led or carried to their Beds again, reelling to and fro, staggering, and being at their wits end; and so they who had something of men in them when they arose in the morn∣ing, were (when they came to lie down at night) turn'd into Beasts, their un∣derstandings being departed from them, and themselves at their wits end? As the old world was swallowed up with the flood, so are many mens bo∣dies and souls with liquor: as those waters prevailed exceedingly, so that all the high hills and mountains were covered, and every man (as well as Beast) that was not in the Ark, died; so doth the deluge and flood of drink prevail upon drunkards, not only their bellies, but their brains are covered, not only the valleys of their sensitive powers, but also the mountains and high hills of their rational faculties are over-topt; their reason and under∣standings are drowned, and all their

wisdome is swallowed up: Every thing of a Drunkard dies in him (every thing of a man) and for the present he gives up the Ghost; nor is there any Resurrection or reviving till the next morning, when these strong waters are asswaged, and these floods decayed and dried up: Sad it is to think how this deluge of excess in drink hath drowned the face of City and Country, and ri∣sen many Cubits above the highest mountains of Religion and wholesome Laws. Oh what swarms of drunkards might be seen in some great Town or City in one day? Go but to some great Fair or Market, and you may see drunkards lye in ditches, or upon the high-way at the Towns end where a Fair is kept, as if some field had been fought; here lies one, there lies another, even like unto men that are slain in the field, and are stark dead. I have read, that there was a street in Rome, called vicus sobrius, because there was never a Drinking house in it: but where should a man have found such a street in the great City, or in any other populous Town or City in England? Multi∣tudes there are who take a pleasure in drinking, till their bellies and throats

can hold no more, yea, many there are, who by accustoming themselves to fre∣quent acts of immoderate drinking, have gotten an habit of being able to drink excessively, without being distem∣pered by it, notwithstanding that woe that is denounced against them that are mighty to drink wine, and strong to pour in strong drink; that is, woe unto them that by repeated Acts of drunk∣enness, have made themselves like brewers horses, able to bear away a greater quantity of drink than other so∣ber healthy persons are, or themselves at first were. It is a sign of destructi∣on and desolation approaching upon a people, when they are not ashamed of such a swinish sin, but drink and stag∣ger, and reel to and fro in the face of the Sun: O fearful condition of those that are not ashamed to go on in drunk∣enness, which is one of the most shame∣ful sins, and most contrary to the light of reason. Certainly God hath his times of visitation for this, as well as for other sins, and then the drunkard shall be cast down, and shall bee able to stand no longer.

SECT. VII.

[ VII] A seventh sin I shall set before you, is the sin of Pride; especially pride of apparel; and to what height of pride in this kinde were people grown every where, especially in the great City of this Land, who knoweth not? it is a note of levity and vanity of minde, to be still devising and following new fangled fashions; it makes the world beleeve the Moon to be our Mistress, and predo∣minant Planet, and then it will plainly appear, we are no better than lunaticks: It is a great reproach to the English Nation, to follow all new devised fashi∣ons, and especially to bee the French∣mens Apes, who are generally haters of our Nation: therefore in Forreign parts they paint an English man naked, with a piece of cloath under his arm, and with a pair of shears in his hand, seek∣ing a Taylor to finde him out a new fashion. The use of Apparel is, 1. for necessity, to cover our nakednesse. 2. for ornament and comlinesse. 3. for distinction of age, of sexe, of quality; for great personages may, and should wear rich apparel, so it be grave, so∣ber,

and seemly: but now people of all ranks almost are grown to an excess in this kind, and the servant can hardly be distinguished by his apparel from his Master, nor Gill from a Gentlewoman. Apparel sheweth what most people are that wear it, it uncovers their hearts to the world, you may know whether people are chaste or wanton, proud or grave, sober or fantastical by the appa∣rel they wear. Is not he condemned for a very fool that takes more care to be comly, proud, and rich in apparel, than to he healthy? Is not he a fool to be laught at, that will brag of a clean Band, and hath a foul dirty face, and will not wash it? Strange it is to see the folly of men, whose special care is to adorn their bodies with costly apparel that they might appear comely and glo∣rious in the sight of men, but regard not how ugly, how deformed, how pollu∣ted and abominable their souls are in the sight of God. As God complain∣ed of the Jews, Is it time for you to dwell in your seiled houses, and this house lye waste? Hag. 1.4. So God may complain, is it time for the daugh∣tets of England, for the daughters of London to be haughty, and walk with

stretched out necks, and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go? when the Lord is pouring out his fury, like fire upon them, and marring the pride of England, and the great pride of Lon∣don, as sometime he threatned to mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem, Jer. 13.9. Ah! how do many people spend more precious time in dressing their bodies, than in trimming their souls; and delight more to see their faces in a glass, than to view their hearts in the glass of the Word! Oh what will become of their souls, when God shall strip them of their gau∣dy cloathes, and pampered bodies! What confusion will fall on them, when their souls shall appear naked before the Lord! Then they will cry out; the joy of our heart is ceased,* 1.4 our daunce is turned into mourning; the crown is fal∣len from our head, wo unto us that we have sinned. Our crown of honour, our crown of pleasure, our crown of pride is fallen from our heads, wo un∣to us that we have sinned, and walked in pride. Pride is the usher of ruine; Pride goes before destruction, Prov. 16. 18. One asked an Heathen Philoso∣pher, what God was doing? hee an∣swered,

Totam ejus occupationem esse in elevatione humiliū, in dejectione super∣borum; It is Gods whole business to exalt the humble, and to abase and cast down the proud. Behold the day com∣eth, that shall burn like an tven, and all the proud, &c. shall bee as stubble. Mal. 4.1. Though now they are like iron and steel, yet then they shall bee like stubble before the fire of his de∣vouring wrath.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Opposita juxta se posita cla∣riùs elu∣cescunt.
• * 1.2

  Scultet. in Jes. 1.5.
• * 1.3

  Chrysost. in Mat. 5.28.
• * 1.4

  Lam. 3.15 16