The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 22
MEDITATION XXII. Upon the fire, it's beginning on the Lords-Day in the Morning.
VVAs there nothing in the Circumſtance of Time, in which that fire began, viz. upon the Lords-Day? Doth not Providence determine the times before-appointed, as well as the bounds of our habitations? Acts 17.26. Might not Herod read his ſin in the time in which the Angel of God ſmote him, and the Worms received a commiſsion to eat him up? which was immediately after he had received that Acclamation from the People, ſaying, It is the voice of God, and not of man, Acts 12.23. Neither can I think it was without its ſignification, that London began to burn upon the Lords-Day. Were not the Sabbath-Dayes-ſins of London greater, than its ſins upon other dayes; it being a certain truth, that, if mens actions be evil, the better day, the worſe action; as, in caſe they be good, The better day, we ſay, the better deed? Juſtly might ſuch a fire have hapned, had it been only to puniſh the uſual profanations of the Lords Day. How many had been playing on that very day, if, by this ſad providence, they had not been ſet at work? How many had been then imployed in ſervile, and (at that time) unlawful Works, if ſuch a work of Mercy, and Charity, as was delivering themſelves and their ſubſtance from the fire, had not been put upon them? How many had then been exerciſing themſelves in Gluttony and Drunkenneſs; in Rioting and Chambering; in Filthineſs and Uncleanneſs; if the care of preſerving themſelves and their Goods had not diverted them? How many, that followed their honeſt Labours all the Week, had wont to find their ſinful pleaſures on the Lords-Day?
Alaſs! That the Day, which God at firſt bleſſed, as well as ſanctified, ſhould then be curſed, (if I may ſo call it,) above any other dayes that went before it: That Londoners ſhould have the moſt reſtleſs Day that ever they had generally had, both as to Body and Mind; of that, which was at firſt appointed for a Day of Reſt: On that Day, in which God began to Create the World, in the firſt Day of the Week did he begin to deſtroy that great City: Yea, The Day of Chriſt his Reſurrection, was the firſt Day of London's Death and Burial. Did not good Men hope to have been Praying, Hearing, Singing of Pſalms; Eating and Drinking, in remembrance of Chriſt, on that very day, in which they were forced to be quenching of Houſes, carrying out of Goods, conveying away their Wives and Children? How ſadly were Churches filled on that Day, not with Men and Women, (as upon other ſuch Dayes,) but with Wares and Houſhold-ſtuff? And, How much more ſadly were they emptied, ſome of them, on that very Day; not by exportation, but by conflagration? Poor Londoners carried their Goods to ſeveral Churches, to ſacrifice them to ſlames, (as it proved,) though with an intention to have ſecured them; thoſe places proving Sepulchres, which they repaired to as Sanctuaries.
O fatal, and never to be forgotten Sabbath! No emblem, as other of thoſe dayes, of that reſt, which glorious Saints injoy in Heaven; but rather of the day of Judgment, which is called, The great and terrible day of the Lord: Black-Sunday, ſome will call it; (as formerly there was much diſcourſe of a Black-Monday:) That was expected, and came not this was not expected, and yet it came, like a thief in the night. I doubt not but men went to their beds over-night as ſecurely as ever they had done in their lives: yea, thoſe that dwelt in the houſe where it firſt began, and ſlept as ſoundly, for the time, as ever they uſed to do, not queſtioning but the inſuing-Sabbath would be like all the reſt; but when the early morning began to fall-in-travel with that un-lookt-for-evil, which it was big with; when it began to cry out with a very lowd and doleful out-cry: How did it awaken them, with a witneſ, and make them call all their Neighbours round about them; and, in a few hours give a dreadful Alarme to the whole City. That Lords-Day was much more a repreſentation of Hell, than of Heaven; though both the Work, and Reſt of the Sabbath, at other times, be a repreſentation of Heaven, not of Hell. I ſee then, how eaſily God can turn our Bleſsings into Curſes; and, the Songs of the Temple into Howlings: Aines 8.3. Not only the Jews of old had need to Pray, but we alſo, That our ſlight may not be upon the Lords Day: For, ſo it was at this time notwithout a real aggravation of the Judgment, (as they eſteem'd it,) who did unfeignedly deſire to have been at that time waiting upon God in his Ordinances, and who know what it is, in effect, to loſe a Sabbath.