The Joy of the English Church for the Coronation of Pious Prince James, Meditations on psalm · Part · Meditation 9
The 9. meditation.
Ierusalem is built as a citie.] Here is expressed one principal fruit of Dauids prosperous, good, & peaceable gouernment, that the city was beutified & enlarged with many goodly houses and buildings: which sheweth that it is not the least temporall blessing, when a citie or nation enioyeth peace, that they may build them houses and plant their grounds.
1. Thus the Lord saith by his Prophet, I will bring againe the captiuitie of lacobs tents, and hauehave compassion on his dwelling places, and the citie shall be builded vponupon her owne heape, and the palace shall remaine after the manner thereof. Ierem. 30. 18. The Lord promiseth this as a singular blessing, that Ierusalem which was before destroied and laide wast, should be reedified againe, and recouer the pristine beautie.
2. Thus the Psalmist doth celebrate this as a great fauour of God to Ierusalem, that when the citie was besieged, as it should seeme of Senacherib in the daies of Hezekiah, the Lord so protected it, that no part thereof was defaced: Compasse about Sion, goe round about it, and tell the towers thereof, marke well the wall thereof, behold the towers, that you may tell your posteritie. Psal. 48. 13. 14. There was not so much as one tower, or any part of the wall defaced. So Dauid when he had taken the sort of Sion, he built round about it, & called it the cittie of Dauid (to which building this verse hath speciall relation) and the reason thereof is giuen, Dauid prospered and grew, for the Lord of hosts was with him. 2. Sam. 5. 9, 10.
3. Like as the nest is to the birds, so is a mans house as Iob resembleth it: I shall die in my nest, 29. 18. Euen as when the sillie birds are suffered to build their nestes quietly, where to lay their young; so is it with citizens, when they safely and securely dwel in their houses. They are as mens bowers, wherein they solace and refresh themselues from the heate and cold, as Ionas reioyced in the gourd that shadowed him from the sunne, Ion. 4. so a ioy it is when men may sit quietly vnderunder their owne bowers. VntoUnto this outward flourishing in comely and decent buildings, the Lord compareth the spirituall encreasing of his Church: If shee be a wall, we will build vponupon her a siluer pallace, if shee be a doore, we will keepe her in with doores of cedar.
4. The preacher sheweth what is the cause of this blessing,Cant. 8. 9. that a man sitteth quietly in his owne house, and inlargeth his dwelling place, and prospereth in his affaires: It is of the hand of God, and Gods gift, for a man to take pleasure in his labors. Eccles. 2. 24. c. 5. 17.
5. Wherefore much is this nation of England,The 8. benefit, enlarging of citties & buildings. and especially the goodly citties and townes thereof to reioyce and giuegive thankes to God, and the cittie of London most of all, for this long time of peace, whereby men doe inioy the labours of their owne hands. We hauehave not built houses for others to dwel in, nor planted vineyards, and others eate the fruit thereof, as the Lord threatned the Israelites, 2. Deut. 28. 30. And as other citties hauehave had wofull experience: their houses hauehave beene beaten downe ouer their heads, and the goodly sumptuous buildings made lowe with the ground. Sometime cities and famous buildings hauehave beene ouerthrown with water, as in Noahs deluge: sometime consumed with fire, as Sodome and Gomorrha: sometime deuoured and swallowed vp of the earth, as the tents & houses of Cote, Dathan, and Abiram: beaten downe with windes, as Iobs house. We read in forraine stories of great calamities which hauehave fallen vponupon citties:Calamities vponupon citties by winds and earthquakes Socrat. l. 1. 7. at Antioch there was an earthquake which continued a whole yeare together. At Nicomedia many houses were shaken downe with an earthquake,Zozomen, lib. …. cap. 15. and diuers people slaine with the fall of the houses, and among the rest, Cecropius and Arsacius: at Constantinople vnderunder Leo the Emperour, such a raging fire tooke the cittie,Euagr. l. 2. c. 1…. that it continued foure daies, and the houses were burnt the length of 14. furlongs. The like calamities Seneca reporteth to hauehave beene in his time:Senec. epist. 91. Quoties Asia, quoties Achaia vobes vno tremore ceciderunt? quot oppida in Syria, quot in Macedonia diruta sunt? Howe often hauehave the cities of Asia and Achaia fallen downe by earthquakes▪ how many cities in Syria and Macedonia hauehave beene swallowed vp of the earth, in Cyprus likewise and Paphus? The cittie of London hath not beene free in time past from such losses: ann. 1091.Stowe. in the 4. yeare of William Rufus, 600 houses were blowen downe by tempest in London: ann. 1232. in the 16. of Henrie the third, great hurt was done in the cittie by thunder and lightning Wherfore, much are we all bound to thanke god that hath preserued vsus, our cities, our houses, from these fearefull calamities: that we are not surprised in our houses, and sitting at our tables of our enemies, as Balthasar was in the middest of his feast. Dan. 5. and as many hauehave beene in other places: and how much are we to praise God, that hath so wrought for this Church and common wealth, prouiding a nourcing father for vsus, vnderunder whose shadow we trust to be defended still in peace and true religion, that I hope we may say as Dauid here doeth, of our cities and townes: Ierusalem is a city well built, &c.
Further, because mention is here made of building, it shall not be amisse briefly to obserue, what rules are to be kept in the rearing of edifices among Christians,…esto be obserued in building of houses. which may briefly be reduced to these three, that they be made without oppression or crueltie, not with ostentation and vanitie, nor yet without compassion & charitie.
For the first, the Prophet saith, Woe vntounto him that buildeth his chambers with vnrighteousnesse, and his chambers without equitie, Ierem. 22. 13. So doe they, which oppresse the poore, and ouer-reach vponupon their grounds to enlarge their own dwellings, as Ahab did vponupon Naboth, 1. King. 21. For the next, the prophet reprooueth those, that build them houses, &c. and call their lands by their names: Such was Nabuchadnezzar, that said in the pride of his heart, is not this Babel, which I hauehave built for the maiestie of mine honour? Dan. 4. 17. A vaine thing is it for men to set their heart vponupon their gay houses, and to swell in pride because of their sumptuous edifices, seeing they must one day leaue their lightsome and glorious houses, and lie in darknes. Thirdly, men must not set their minds so to build their houses of timber & stone, as that they forget to releeue the liuing stones, the poore members of Christ, whereof the spirituall building of the Church consisteth: which Iob noteth as a fault in the rich men of his time, that did build in solitarie places, Iob. 3. 14. that they might dwell alone, and not be troubled with the crie of the poore at their gate. Such are those builders in these daies, that delight to build faire to the eye, but the poore there findeth nothing to fill his hū grie bellie: they make many chimneies, but keepe fewe fires: their chambers are lightsome with faire windowes, and their staires loftie with high towres, but their gates not adorned with troupes of the poore. Their palaces are seene a farre off, but not smelt neere hand: their lodgings are hung with greene, and grasse groweth at the doores. Ambrose saith well of such, Clamat ante domum tuam nudus & negligis, & tu sollicitus es quibus marmoribus pavimenta vestias: The poore naked crieth at thy doore not regarded, and yet thou art carefull with what marble the floore should be paued. Wherefore if any will build sure, that their habitation may remaine, and that Ierusalem may still be as a citie well built: let them lay the foundation in equitie. Houses built with vsurie, extortion, wrong iudgement, briberie, deceit, as I am afraid the houses of many in the countrie are, but more in the citie, cannot long continue, nor the owners long enioy them, but as Ieremie saith, …o their posteritie shal soone say, Habitacula nostra proiecerunt nos, our habitations hauehave cast vsus out. Ier. 9. 19.