The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 50
MEDITATION L. Upon ſome who, ſ…on after the Fire, could hardly tell whereabouts their own houſes did ſtand.
SO it was, that ſome who attempted to viſit the Ruines and Reliques of thoſe Houſes in which they dwelt, (not above a week before,) though they found the Street in which they ſtood, yet had much ado to be certain which was the ground they ſtood upon. He that ſhould have told them but one day before the Fire began, that within five or ſix dayes, they being in London, and in the ſame Street where their dwelling was, ſhould not be able to find the way to their own Houſes, (where they had lived, it may be, twenty years and upwards,) would have been lookt upon as mad, or replied to in ſome ſuch language as this; What ſhould aile us? Shall we be out of our wits within that time? or, Shall we be ſtruck with blindneſs as the Sodomites were, that ſought for Lots door? or, if ſo, we think we could find our own Houſes blindfold, or in the darkeſt night, at ſo ſmall a diſtance: or, Shall London be changed as much as Sodom and Gomorrah? which were fair Cities, but are now a filthy Lake: Or how, and by what means ſhould it be ſo much altered? He did not more expreſs his admiration and disbelief of what was foretold in another caſe, who ſaid, If God would make Windows in Heaven, how could this be? than moſt men would have expreſſed theirs as to this: Yet do we ſee the thing, which could enter into no mans heart to conceive, till he ſaw it is come to paſs. Methinks it is ſad to hear men, that knew London well enough before, as they walk along the Ruins, asking at every turn, Which is the way to ſuch a place? and, What ſtreet is this? and, What Street is that? But yet more ſad, to think of men, that have ſought their own Houſes, not far from the place where they had wont to ſtand, and could not eaſily find them. There is a phraſe in Scripture, of Mens places knowing them no more: but, in this caſe that phraſe was inverſed, viz. Men, for the time, knew their places no more. Oh ſtupendious Judgment! I ſee it is eaſie for God to do ſuch things as are hardly poſſible for men to believe, till they ſee them done. So true is it, that the wayes of God are above our wayes, and his thoughts above our thoughts, as much as the Heaveris are above the Harth. How good is it then to be armed againſt all ſorts of evil, not only ſuch as are likely and probable, but even thoſe which are no more than poſſible? and, What evil is there which he cannot inſlict, to whom all things are poſſible? For ought I ſee, no man is ſecured againſt any kind of Judgment, but he, that is ſecured againſt all (in ſome ſenſe,) by vertue of that promiſe, Prov. 12.21. Wo evil ſhall happen to the juſt: with others of the ſame import. Nothing could be more improbable, than that ſo many Calamities of different kinds ſhould befall Job, not ſucceſſively, but at one and the ſame time, viz. The Sabae…ms, taking away his Cattel, and killing his ſervants, Job 1.14. And, that whileſt the firſt Meſſenger was yet ſpeaking, another ſhould come, and tell him, that fire, falling from Heaven, … up his ſheep and his ſervants; and, that before the words were out of his mouth, another ſhould come and inform him, That the Caldeans had …rried away his Camels, and ſlain others of his ſervants; and, that before he had made an end of his ſtory, another ſhould come and tell him, That a great Wind had killed his Sons and Daughters, by throwing down the houſe upon them where they were eating and drinking together; and that only one perſon ſhould eſcape each of theſe dangers; being reſerved, as it were, on purpoſe to bring him the tidings of it: Such a conſpiracy of Providences (as I may call it) to ſtrip a man of all his Comforts at once, could ſcarce have been imagined, till the event did declare it: Unexpected and unimaginable miſeries are not much more rare than unexpected and unlookt-for Mercies. Upon this occaſion, I cannot but think of three other ſorts of houſes (as we may term them) which men have or may ſeek for and not be able to find. Firſt, our bodies they are the Houſes or Tabernacles in which our ſouls dwell, (as he ſaid, Anima Galbre male habitat, Galba's ſoul dwelt in an ill-body) when thoſe houſes ſhall be crumbled away to duſt, or devoured of worms, who will be able to find them or to ſay, Which were they? The Graves of men they are the Houſes or Receptacles of their dead bodies, Job 17.13. If I wait, the grave is my houſe, and the grave is called the houſe appointed for all living Job 30.23. How many ſuch houſes as thoſe could not be found, if they ſhould never ſo carefully be ſought for? How ordinarily are the dead turned out of poſſeſſion, and the living come in their room? that is; Charnel-houſes have been turned into dwelling-houſes, and many more ſuch inſtances are like to be: ſo that it hath and will become impoſſible; not only to know the bodies of dead men again, but their very graves. And the then Earth it's ſelf, that is as it were the houſe of all graves, the great Golgotha, or place of skulls: Now when that time ſhall come which is ſpoken of, 2 Pet. 3.10. in which the earth and all the works that are therein ſhall be burnt up, that great Houſe of houſes and graves, if it be ſought for, will be found no more.