The Burning of London, Part 4 · Discourse 16
DISCOURSE XVI. Of that relief and ſupport which the commonneſs of the Caſe of affliction may afford us.
IT is a ſign that Men walk in a vain ſhew (as the Scripture ſpeaks, Pſal. 39.6.) for that they are apt to be diſquieted at thoſe things which ſhould comfort them (ſo was Peter at the approach of Chriſt, crying out, depart from me O Lord) and on the other hand, to be comforted with thoſe things which one would think would rather diſquier them, as namely with others being under the ſame, or other as great calamities as themſelves. Solamen miſeris ſocios habuiſſe doloris. Though we may not ſay, the more (in ſufferings together) the merrier, yet according to the courſe of men ſo it is, that the more fellow-ſufferers, the leſs ſad are they that ſuffer. Neither may we impute this wholly to the weakneſs and envirouſneſs of men, ſith the Apoſtle from that very conſideration, doth labour to comfort Chriſtians, 1 Cor. 10.13. No temptation hath take you but what is common to men: and in 1 Pet. 5.9. The ſame afflictions are accompliſhed in your brethren, that are in the World. Therefore doubtleſs there is ſome reaſon why men ſhould not be ſo much dejected, when they conſider themſelves not to be alone in miſery, (though upon other accompts again we ſhould be never leſs ſad and ſolitary, than when none are in trouble but our ſelves) then if they were as David ſpeaks of himſelf, Pſal. 102.7. Like a Sparrow alone upon the Houſe top, or like a Pellican in the wilderneſs, or like an Owle in the Deſart. For in that caſe we might be apt to think that God had ſome particular controverſie with us more than with all other men, that he had ſingled us out to make examples of us, that he had ſet us like beacons upon a hill to warn and alarm others, or that our ſufferings were ſuch as could not be borne, becauſe we have no inſtances of thoſe that do or ever did bear the like.
Now the commouneſs of ſufferings, and thoſe of the ſame kind to others with our ſelves, doth much take off from all thoſe ſuſpicions and prejudices, eſpecially if they be ſuch as we doubt not, but have intereſt in the love and favour of God, for thence may we conclude that hatred is not to be known by ſuch diſpenſations as thoſe. Afflictions in one kind or other are common to men, yea to good men, or the generality of them at all times: but ſome have them in one way, ſome in another, ſome in body, ſome in minde, ſome in eſtate, ſome in relations, ſome in all; but all in ſome. For Man is born to ſorrow, as the ſparks ſhe upward, and whomſoever God loves, he rebukes and chaſt…eth, yea every ſon whom he receive h…: but there are times in which the afflictions of many are inviſible, only their own hearts know their own ſorrow, and wherein they are ſo various, that as we ſay, ſo many Men …many mindes, ſo may it almoſt be ſaid, ſo many men, ſo many ſeveral ſorts of miſeries, and uſually every one thinks his own the greateſt, and is ready to ſay, Is there any ſorrow like to mine.
But it is otherwiſe at this day, God having caſt multitudes both of perſons and families at one and the ſame time into one and the ſame furnace, that none might ſay, others were corrected but with rods, but we with ſcorpions. Now this being ſo, there are the more to pitty you, the fewer to inſult over you: though when all this is ſaid, I honour them that ſay from their hearts, They wiſh they had ſuffered more than they did (if more could have been) if it had been the will of God that none might have been ſufferers but they. But ſeeing ſuch was the good will and pleaſure of God, that thouſands ſhould be involved in the ſame calamity with our ſelves, and many of them our betters: who is not aſhamed, yea who is not afraid to contend with God for what hath befallen himſelf? who ſeeth not reaſon to ſtand before God like a ſheep dumb before the ſhearer? Who would not lay his mouth in the duſt if there may yet be hope? What art thou, and what was thy fathers houſe, that the deſtroying Angel ſhall paſſe over thee, and thy doors be as it were ſprinkled, when he entred into the houſes of ſo many, not only Egyptians but Iſraelites? If our betters have been equal ſhaters in this calamity (as who is ſo proud as not to think ſo) how can we but think of thoſe words, Jer. 49.12. Behold they whoſe judgment was not to drink of the cup, have drunken, and art thou he that ſhalt altogether go unpuniſhed? To have eſcaped had been a miracle of mercy: but to have been involved with ſo many that deſerved it leſs, was no wonder at all.
Lord, as for all thoſe whoſe houſes and ſubſtance this Fire hath conſumed, give them much more to admire that their perſons did eſcape the common calamity of the Plague, than that their poſſeſſions were taken away by the common calamity of the Fire: and as for thoſe who have eſcaped both Plague and Fire (they and their dwellings) let them be raviſhed with the remembrance of thy diſtinguiſting goodneſs, and ſo anſwer the law of thy kindneſs, that thou maiſt not reſerve them to a greater judgment than either that of the Plague, or that other of the late diſmall Fire.