The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 2
MEDITATION II. Upon ſight of the Weekly Bill for London ſince the Fire.
VVIth how ſad a heart have I read that Bill, finding but ſixteen Pariſhes within the wals now pretended to, and conſidering with my ſelf by how great a Synecdoche ſome of thoſe Pariſhes do at this day go by their former names? It is that figure, which puts a part for the whole (yea a ſmall part too) the compounding Figure as I may call it, that takes as it were, five ſhillings or half a Crown for a pound) which alone warranteth us to call London, London ſtill, and ſeverall pariſhes (ſaid to be now ſtanding) by the names which they did bear formerly. The unjuſt Steward, Luke 16.7. uſed ſubſtraction; onelyonly where a hundred was owing he bid them ſet down fifty, but we (as if that were to be more juſt) proceed by way of multiplication ſetting down a a hundred for ten or twenty. We view our City as it were through a microſcope, which repreſents the leg of a Flea ſo big, as if it were the leg of ſome creature far bigger than its whole Body. So might we call a ſometimes great and ſamous Inne, the Crown or Miter, as it was formerly called, though burnt down to the proportion of a Cottage, becauſe the ſign and ſign poſt are ſtill to be ſeen, and there is yet ſome ſmall part of the old Building. Is it not rather the Epitom… of London, which we now have than London it ſelf, as if the abridgement of a Book in Folio (be it Aquinas his Summes or any other ſuch) ſhould go by the name of Aquinas his Sums (or what other name it bore in Folio) when contracted into a ſmal Manual or Pocket-Book. It is London in ſhort hand, ſuch as might contain the Decalogue within the compaſſe of a ſingle penny, rather than ſo at length if yet we may call it London.
Is it not rather Londons Remains and Ruins, its …rn and Aſhes than London it ſelf? So a Burgeſſe or two in Parliament ſtands for a whole Town, a Knight or two for a whole Shire, ſo Lords Spi…ual and Temporal write themſelves, London, Yorke, Lincoln, Canterbury, as if they were whole Cities or Towns, being indeed but ſingle and individual perſons. Methinks it is as if Judah and Benjamin were called Iſrael, being indeed but two Tribes of Twelve: Nor am I leſſe affected with that dolefull parentheſis in two ſhort words (viz. Now ſtanding) How am I puſht with the two horns of that parentheſis, putting me upon this dilemma, that I know not whether more to be thankfull, that all London is not fallen, or more to lament that ſo ſmall a part of it is yet ſtanding. The late Plague gave us to ſee and expect London without many Inhabitants (at leaſtwiſe for a time but to ſee London with but a few habitations was that we never lookt for. We have lately known a Plague, that laid thouſands of Citizens under ground, but who dreamt of a Fire that would lay the City it ſelf upon the ground? Hear O Heavens, and be aſtoniſhed O earth. I find as many ſorts of diſeaſes in the Bill now as ever. They find men out go whither they will they crowd into Families, that have ſcarce room enough to turn themſelves in. Death will not ſpa…e, (as if it pitied thoſe whom the fire hath not ſpared): Mens tabernacles muſt go to wrack as well as their houſes. But to confine my ſelf to the buſineſs of the ſire.
Methinks London at this day is a lively Emblem of a Profeſſor fallen from his firſt Love, or rather a backſliding Profeſſor is juſt in ſuch a condition as London is at this day. He goes by the ſame name as formerly, but How far is he from being the ſame perſon he was? How like is he to thoſe Churches the outſides whereof are yet ſtanding; their walls and ſteeples make ſuch a fair ſhow, that they, who ſhould view them at a diſtance, would think, they were juſt as before; but alas! Their inſides are gone, they are fit for no uſe, yea their very out-ſides are ſo frail and brittle, that in a windy day men are loth to paſs by them for fear of being knockt on the head. What havock hath ſin made in all the faculties of ſuch men (which, if the Soul may be compared to a City, may be called the ſeveral ſtreets of that City) How hath error deſtroyed their underſtandings, ill habits their wills and inclinations to good, the World conſumed their ſpiritual affections, all theſe things conſpired to deſolate and lay waſte their Conſciences; and now thoſe men though called Chriſtians ſtill (and glorying in that name) lie juſt like London in duſt, and rubbiſh, and aſhes. O Lord, Give England to meet thee in the way of thy judgements, by a timely repentance, yea give theſe three Kingdomes ſo to do, leſt it come to paſs that hereafter England ſhould be called England; and Great Britain, Great Britain, and the three Kingdomes ſo; by as great a Synecdoche, as the poor Remains of London are now called London, and the Reliques of ſome ſtreets (ſaid to be now ſtanding) by the name thoſe ſtreets had, when in their beauty and glory.