The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 56
MEDITATION LVI. Upon Cittizens dwelling in Brothes, or B…th like Houſes ſince the Fire, as in Moor-Fields, &c.
VVHat Wooden-Houſes are thoſe that many Cittizens of good faſhion are now forced, yea glad, to dwell in? May we call than Houſes? or are they any thing but Sheds, and Hovels, or Boothes, at moſt? Such as had wont to be ſet up againſt Bartholomew-Fair, and took down again, when the Fair was ended: But now it is, as if ſome ſuch Fair as that, were continued all the year long. How are the Cittizens in Moore-Fields like an Army incamped, and lodging only within tents? How doth it bring to mind that feaſt of Tabernacles, Booths, or Bowers, which the Iſraelits were commanded to keep Lev. 23.34. and that in the ſeventh month; it being alſo the ſeventh month (according to our accompt, beginning the year in March) which brought Londoners to this. The reaſon of obſerving the Feaſt of Tabernacles is ſet down, Lev. 23.43. viz. That your generations may know that I made the Children of Iſrael to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt. I ſuppoſe, it was in thankful acknowledgement, that, now they dwelt in houſes, they were much better accommodated than either themſelves or their Anceſtors were, when they dwelt in Booths.
Far beit from us to deſpair that Londoners in Gods good time may keep a Feaſt of Tabernacles in thankful remembrance that God, who ſometimes (as at this day) made them to dwell in Booths hath brought them to Houſes again; mean time, I wiſh they may be well contented with that ſmall convenience they enjoy and may conſider with themſelves, how much better it is to dwell in Tents (as it were) as now they do, than to lie in the open fields with only the Canopy of Heaven over their Heads (ſub Dio, ſub ſave frigid…) as in the time of the fire many of them were conſtrained to do. Jacobs lodging was not ſo warm and ſo eaſy as is yours within thoſe tents, when he took ſtones for his pillows and ſlept upon them in the open air, and yet no night ever pleaſed him better, (as to the Dreams and Viſions of it); nor yet ſo much as that. From thence he ſaid of the place where he lay, That 'tis the gate of Heaven, Gen. 28.17. Of the Stones that were his Pillows, he made a Pillar of Thankfulneſs, and poured Oil upon the top of it (I ſuppoſe by way of Thank-offering); and vowed a Vow, that if he came again in peace, that Pillar ſhould be God's Houſe, ver. 22. meaning, that he would build a Houſe for God in that place. How much better and more comfortable are ſuch Booths, than thoſe mountains, Dens, and Caves of the Earth, where the primitive Chriſtians were forced to hide themſelves? Yea, was not Chriſt himſelf worſe accommodated, when he lay but in a Manger? nay, doth not another Text ſay, that The ſon of man (ſometime) had not where to lay his head? It was a long time, that God himſelf dwelt amongſt the Iſraelites but in a Tent or Tabernacle, the Ark I mean, which was the viſible Symbol of Gods preſence amongſt the Jews, (and is ſomewhere called by the name of God): For, till Solomon's time, there was no Houſe or Temple for God to dwell in. Shall men think much to dwell a few months or years in ſuch a way as God himſelf dwelt amongſt men for many ages together? Is the ſervant greater than his Lord?
Bleſs God that you have weathered out a ſharp Winter, in which your cold lodging in thoſe thin paper-houſes (not much better Fences againſt wind and weather, than Moſes his Ark of Bull ruſhes was againſt the water), and now a warm Summer is before you, in which thoſe ſlender Tabern… cles may prove, not only tolerable, but pleaſan… and ſerve, as it were, for Countrey houſes.
If men had had materials, as at other … wherewith to have built ſtrong and … tations, where their booths now ſtand, … ſcarce have done it, becauſe they wait for a remove, and expect the good time when they may have opportunity, to dwell in or near the places where they dwelt before. Is there nothing to be learnt from thence? Why ſhould not all the proviſion we make for this World, be only ſuch, and ſo ſlender, as may argue us mindful, that We have here … City, but look for one to come, a City that hath Foundations, whoſe maker and builder is God?