The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 13
MEDITATION XIII. Upon the Burning of Tombs, and Graves, and dead Bodies that were buried therein.
VVHere is reſt to be had, either for the quick or dead, in this World? where may men be quiet and ſecure, if they cannot be ſo in their very Graves? One would have thought, nothing would have pluckt them from the horns of that Altar; But, the fire hath done it: That fire, which robb'd the Spittles, Hath it not alſo robb'd the Worms, and taken the meat out of their mouths? We expected, thoſe Bodies would have turned Worms-meat and duſt; but, in ſtead thereof, they are burnt to aſhes. So Job, ſpeaking of the grave, Job. 3.17. There the weary are at reſt: So they are in one ſenſe, but not alwayes ſo in another. The righteous mans grave is called his bed, Iſa. 57.2. They ſhall roſt in their beds. How many dead bodies then were burnt in their beds? and, ſo might many living ones have been, if God had not been more merciful. Now, the fire hath turned many dead bodies to aſhes: could thoſe aſhes (as ſome others) be made into glaſſe, which, they ſay, is the laſt reſolution that bodies can undergo (Vitrificatio eſt ultima reſolutio;) yet would the Reſurrection find them out, and not loſe one grain belonging to them. We read, that Abſalom had reared up a Pillar, or ſtately Sepulchre for himſelf, to preſerve his name, becauſe he had no children; but, it went by the name of A…ſalom's Place, or empty-Monument (foreign) as Tremellius renders it in the Margint; becauſe he never (for ought we read) came to lie in it, but was buried in a pit in a wood, with a heap of ſtones …ſt upon him, 2 Sam. 18.18. So, in that great City, there were many that had provided noble burying-places for themſelves, againſt the time they ſhould be gathered to their fathers; yea, and they were poſſeſſed of them, (which A…ſalom never was of his:) but, How ſhort a time had ſome of their bodies lain in thoſe coſtly Sepulchres, before the ſire came and turned them out of poſſeſsion; or rather deſtroyed both their Carcaſſes and their ſtately Monuments!
I ſee, how vain a thing it is, for men to have their Names, and Titles, and Encomiums, graven upon Marble-Stones in Golden Letters, and ſet up in Churches: How eaſily they may be deceived, that think, with Abſalom, out of thoſe ſtones, to raiſe up to themſelves (I cannot ſay children) but a Memorial in lien of Children. Every body will not believe all the Epitaphs they find inſcribed upon thoſe Monuments-Stones can lie and not bluſh: But, beſides that, if men were prone to believe all they read upon Tombs and Monuments, How ſoon may thoſe Characters be ſo defaced and obliterated, as that they cannot be read? And, look how Abſalom was buried under a heap of ſtones, in ſtead of being laid in that ſtately Pillar, or Pyramid, which he had built for that purpoſe: So, are not many at this day covered, but as it were with a heap of ſtones, who had provided themſelves of ſtately Sepulchres; thoſe Sepulchres of theirs being by the fire converted, but into a rude and formleſs heaps of ſtones: She erected a more durable Monument for her ſelf, who did but pour out a box of precious …i…tment upon the head of Chriſt, Matt. 26.17. for, Chriſt hath ſaid, Whereſoever the Goſpel ſhall be preached in the whole world, there ſhall this be told for a memorial of her. How little doth it ſignifie, that our Names be written upon the Earth, or upon any part of it? Is it not all in all, that our Names are written in the Book of Life? I ſee, there is no reckoning upon thoſe things which men leave behind them when they die; therefore hear, and receive it as a voice from heaven, that which the Spirit ſaith, Rev. 14.1…. Bleſſed are the dead which die in the Lord, and their works do follow them.