The Burning of London, Part 4 · Discourse 1
DISCOURSE I. Of Deliverance under loſſes and troubles, as well as out of them.
TO ſay there is a Deliverance under L…ſſes and Troubles, as well as another out of them, muſt needs be good ſenſe, becauſe it is good Divinity. The holy Ghoſt in the Scripture ſpeaks of ſuch a thing, to whom it is impoſſible to ſpeak either untruly or improperly. It were blaſphemy and non-ſenſe to charge him either with falſhood or folly, who is Truth and Wiſdom its ſelfe, and the fountain of all that Truth and Wiſdom which is diſperſed amongſt all intelligent creatures. He himſelf tels us how Chriſt was heard in the prayers which he made for Delive cance, unto him that was able to ſave from death. Heb. 5.8. Yet was he not ſaved from the Croſs, intimating thereby, that there is a Deliverance (properly enough ſo called) under the croſs, as well as from under it, elſe how was Chriſt heard and delivered as to the cup which duplicate page duplicate page he beg'd might paſs from him? Luke 22.42. Which nevertheleſs he was made to drink, unleſs his being ſtrengthened to undergoe it, as the next verſe tells us, that then there appeared an Angel, from heaven ſtrengthening him: as alſo his being inabled to triumph over principallities upon the Croſs? (as is ſaid Cor. 2.15.) might be interpreted an eminent Deliverance vouchſafed him in and upon the Croſs. I am miſtaken if the Apoſtle Paul in Rom. 7.25. doth not give thanks to God thorough Jeſus Chriſt for delivering him as to the body of Death, which yet he carryed about with him, and therefore was not delivered from but under it, as the foregoing words do ſhew, O wretched man that I am, who ſhall deliver me from this body of Death? And in 1 Cor. 10.13. the Apoſtle ſaith, God is faithful who will with the temptation alſo make a way to eſcape (or to be delivered) that ye may be able to beat it; ſeeming thereby to inſinuate that Deliverance and Temptation may ſtand together, and do ſo, when a man is not tempted above what he is able, but together with the temptation, hath aſſiſtance to bear it. Were not the Iſraelites delivered in the red Sea, Jonas in the great deep and Whales belly? Daniel in the Lions den? the three children in the fiery furnace, I ſay were they not firſt truly delivered in each of theſe, as afterwards from and out of them? To be kept under water from drowning and in the midſt of fire, from being burnt, is Deliverance with a witneſs. Had the buſh that did burn and was not conſumed been preſently quencht, or ſnatcht out of the fire, it had not been ſo eminently delivered as it was. Deliverances under great troubles though leaſt obſerved by many, are of all others moſt oblervable and Emphaticall: what more admirable promiſe than that Iſa. 43.2. When thou paſſeſt thorough the rivers, they ſhall not overflow thee, when thou walkeſt thorough the fire, thou halt not be burnt, neither ſhall the flame kindle upon thee. No place can be more pertinent than that is, to prove there is ſuch a thing as Deliverance under trouble: the notion is worth our purſuing, becauſe it is full of Comfort; it opens as it were a new ſpring of conſolation to thoſe that are under trouble which many did overlook before, as Hagar did thoſe wells of water which were neareſt to her. Many people have no more joy and comfort than they have hopes of having their loſſes repaired in kind, and their temporal troubles removed, and God knows whether that may ever be, when they themſelves deſpair of it, their hearts faile within them, he that thinks himſelf utterly undone, and that it will not be worth while for him to live, if London be not ſuddenly rebuilt, trading ſpeedily reſtored, when theſe things appear unlikely, will be at his wits ends, but he that knows and believes that God (who is onelyonly wiſe) can make him and his happy, though London ſhould ſtill lye in aſhes, and trade not revive in many years to come; that God can work a Deliverance for him in and under all publick calamities, and in deſpight of all and every of them, he I ſay will in patience poſſeſſe his ſoul. St. Pauls words, 1 Cor. 1.4. are much to be heeded, where he ſaith, Bleſſed be God who comforteth us in all our Tribulations; he doth not ſay who delivereth us out of all, but who comforteth us in all our Tribulations, and what is that but a Deliverance under trouble, when God doth comfort us in it? If there be ſuch a thing as Deliverance under trouble, many may and will rejoyce in the hopes of that, who are paſt all hope (though I think that ſhould not be neither) of ever ſeeing an end of their preſent troubles. They look upon Deliverance out of the preſent calamities to be at ſo great a diſtance, that they think the ſteed will ſtarve whilſt the graſs grows, and their carkaſſes will fall in the wilderneſs, ere the time come for entring into Canaan. But now by virtue of the notion I am ſpeaking of, though I ſhould grant men of miſgiving minds, there are as great unlikelyhoods as they can ſuppoſe, that they ſhould ever re-enjoy, ſuch houſes trades, eſtates, conveniencies, as formerly, or any thing comparable thereunto, yet may they live in a dayly expectation of a comfortable Deliverance, with and under thoſe calamities, which are like to continue upon them; that God together with their temptations, will make a way for their eſcape, men ſo perſwaded will be able to ſay with Habakkuk, though the fig-tree bloſſome not, and the labour of the Olive faile, yet will (or may they) rejoyce in the Lord, and joy in the God of their Salvation. When Paul praved that the Meſſenger of Sathan, which buffetted him might depart, God gave him no aſſurance of that, at leaſt-wiſe for the preſent, but yet told him that which ſatisfied him, though that evil meſſenger were likely to continue, namely, that his Grace ſhould be ſufficient for him. The Iſraelites knew that their captivity in Babylon would certainly laſt ſeventy years. Therefore it was not thehopes of a ſpeedy Deliverance from thence, that did bear up the hearts of believers amongſt them, but the hopes they had, that God would be good to them, in and under their captivity, and ſhow them mercy in a ſtrange land. If the Iſraelites knew, as it is like they did, that they muſt wander no leſſe than ſorry years in the wilderneſs, ere they came to Canaan, it was the Mercy and Deliverance which they did expect in the wilderneſs, not out of it, during all that time, that did ſupport them; as hoping that in that howling deſert, God would be no wilderneſs or Land of Darkneſs to them. If God ſpread a table for his people in the wilderneſs, if he give them water out of the Rock, and Manna from heaven, are not thoſe things to be reckoned Deliverances (namely from the evils that in ſuch a place, they might expect) though Quailes ſhould be with-held? Though the famine were not removed, yet ſeeing Elijah was ſed the mean time, though but by Ravens, it muſt be acknowledged, that he was delivered in and under famine. If to the righteous there ariſe light in darkneſs, as is promiſe there ſhall, is not that Deliverance? Though Paul and Silas were in priſon, and their feet in the ſtocks, yet if they were ſo chearful there, as to ſing praiſes to God at midnight, Acts 16.25. was not that a grea… Deliverance? Surely Paul and others of whom he ſpeakes, were greatly delivered, even under chaſtiſement, ſorrow, poverty, and a kind of Death, yea Deaths often, or elſe he could ever ſay as he doth, 2 Cor. 6.9.10. As dying and behold we live, as ſorrowfull, yet alwaies rejoycing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet poſſeſſing all things; as if he had but the ſhadowes of evill, but the reallity and ſubſtance of good things. He is delivered from death, as to whom the ſting of death is taken away, and he from the noiſome peſtilence who is ſecured, that the evill of it ſhall not come nigh him (which is all that ſeems intended by that promiſe Pſal 91.3. verſe, compared with the tenth) David ſomewhere prayes that God would bring his Soul out of trouble, and his Soul out of priſon. The Soul of a man is the man, if that be brought out of trouble, in whole, or in part, though his body, his name, eſtate, relations are yet introuble, the man himſelf is delivered. A man may be ſick and well at the ſame time (as Baul was poor, and yet rich at the ſame time) according to that of the Prophet, the inhabitants ſhall not ſay they are ſick, for their ſins ſhall be forgiven them; a man can be but well in Proſperity, and it may be as well with us, yea and better with us in adverſity, all things conſidered (as David ſaith, it was good for him that he was afflicted) and in that caſe is not a man truly delivered even under affliction? It may be God will be more with us in the water and in the fire, than …ver he was out of it. As proſpective-glaſſes do repreſent the object near at band, though it be ſome miles diſtant, ſo may this notion repreſent Deliverance at the very door, or as that which may come the next mornine, when ſorrow came but the evening before (viz. Deliverance in and under trouble, which may be ſufficient for us) though Deliverance out of trouble, may ſeem as far from us as the Eaſt is from the Weſt, thus may we hope in one kind whilſt we deſpair in another, and with Abraham in hope, believe even againſt hope. If outward calamity and miſery might not confiſt with more real happineſs and comfort, than plenty and proſperity had wont to afford, how could that promiſe of Chriſt be ſulfilled, that they who forſake all for him; ſhal have a hundred-fold in this life, and yet with perſecution, or in deſpight thereof? Lord if my heart ceceive me not, I had rather partake of thoſe Deliverances which many of thy ſervants have had, with and under great and ſore trouble, than of thoſe Deliverances out of trouble into greateſ… earthly proſperity, which thou haſt ſometimes vouchſafed to wicked men. Thou who gaveſt to Paul and Silas, impriſoned and in th… ſtocks, ſongs in the night, but didſt make Belteſhazzer tremble, and his knees ſmite together in the midſt of his ful cups and jovial company, thou cauſt imbitter the beſt of earthly conditions, and ſweeten the worſt. Lord give me rather a bitter cup of thy ſweetning, than a ſweet cup of thy imbittering. As for all the troubles which at this day are upon my ſelf, or any of thy people; if thou wilt never deliver us out of them, thy will be done; but oh faile not in ſuch manner as hath been ſpoken (and how elſe thou pleaſeſt) to ſave and deliver us under them, that experience henceforth, may tender it no paradox to me and others, that there is real Deliverance under trouble, as well as our of it, that the ſnare of evil may not be viſibly broken and yet thy people may be delivered.