The Burning of London, Part 4 · Discourse 20
DISCOURSE XX. Of the mixture of mercies with judgments.
NO man hath truly either a heaven or a hell in this world. For as all our wine here is mixt with water, ſo all our water is mixt with wine: God in this life doth ſtill in judgment remember mercy. God hath ſet the one over againſt the other. Prov. 7.14. meaning, mercy over againſt judgment. It is not for nothing that the Apoſtle exhorteth us, in every thing to be thankful, and ſaith, that is the will of God concerning us: But therefore it is, becauſe there is a mixture of mercies with all the afflictions of this life. Some may ſit in ſo much darkneſs, as to ſee no light at all, but ſome light there is in their condition, only they ſee it not. Our late Fire was as great a temporal judgment as moſt have been, yet he ſeeth nothing that diſcerns not a mixture of mercy with it. Was it not great mercy that when God burnt the City, yet he ſpared the Suburbs? that when mens houſes were conſumed, yet their perſons were delivered, yea and much of their goods and ſubſtance was ſnatched as a firebrand out of the fire? your flight was on the Sabbath-day: but it was not in the winter, in which the ſhortneſs of daies, and badneſs of the waies had ſcarce permi… ted you to have conveied away the one half of what you did, not only by day, but by night. It was no ſmall mercy that the Plague was gone before the Fire came For had it been otherwiſe, who that fled into the Countrey to ſave his life, durſt have come into the City to have ſaved his goods? Yea were not many fled ſo far from the face of that deſtroying Angel, that they could not have returned till it had been too late? Would the Countrey-men have brought their Carts and ventured their perſons if the plague had ſtill been raging? Where could you have beſtowed your goods, yea where could you have beſtowed your ſelves if the peſtilence had bin then amongſt you? who would have received them? yea who would have received you, if you had come from thence. The City could not dread the fire more than the Countrey would have done the peſtilence, and ſuch as had come from the place where it was. So far would they have been from putting your goods into their houſes, that they would not have received your perſons into their barns and ſtables; which in the height of the plague they refuſed to do. When the fire burnt your City, there was no more it could do; but had an invading enemy ſet the City on fire, would they not alſo have rifled your goods, raviſhed your wives, deſlowred your daughters, and put your ſelves to the ſword? Was it no mercy that God by ſparing a remnant of the City, kept it from being like to Sodom and to Gomorrah? that there is ſomething left, out of which to make a little of every thing? Some places for affemblies yet to worſhip God in; ſome for Magiſtrates to diſpence juſtice in, ſome for Merchants and traders to meet and hold commerce in, ſome houſes for perſons yet to dwell in, who cannot convenicutly dwell any where elſe, though now men crowd together as in the winter-time three or four might do into one bed, or the moſt in a family into ſome little warm parlour, which in the heat of weather had wont to keep in ſpacious rooms.
Archimedes had wont to ſay, Give him but a place to ſtand, in the mean time, & he would turn the world round. You want not a place to ſtand in, if that may enable you to turn and wind the world. If then our condition be not all miſery, why ſhould our poſture be all mourning? If we receive good things at the hands of God, why ſhould we not alſo receive evil? Children can brook correction from their parents, becauſe they have all things elſe from them. Out of the mouth of the moſt high proceedeth not good, as well as evil? Is it God that taketh away, and is it not God that leaves alſo? Job 2.10. and ſhould we not therefore bleſs the name of the Lord? Doth God create darkneſs, and doth he not form light alſo? Iſa. 45.7. See how God makes the ſcales to play one againſt another; judgment in the one, mercy in the other, that it is hard to ſay which weighs heavieſt. Is it not of the Lords mercies that we are not utterly conſumed, becauſe his compaſſions fail not? Are we ſtung with the fiery ſerpents of miſery, & may we not receive ſome cure by looking up to the brazen ſerpents of mercy? (if I may ſo call them.) How can we chuſe but call to mind thoſe words of God by his Prophet? I will correct thee it meaſure, yet will I not make a full end of thee. Jer. 30.11.
O Lord, if thou hadſt mixed no mercy with our miſery, what could we do more than utterly deſpond and caſt away all our hopes and comfort? Thou haſt mixed thy diſpenſations, let us alſo mixe our affections: hope with our fear, rejoycing with our trembling, thankſgiving with our lamentations. There is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it will ſprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not ceaſe, if the root thereof be yet in the earth, and the ſtock thereof in the ground. Job 14.7. Thorough the ſent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. v. 9. Thou haſt left us a remnant to eſcape, and given us a naile in the place of the great City, that the Lord might lighter our eyes and give us a little reviving in our troubles. Thou haſt ſaid concerning London, as thou ſpakeſt to Daniel in viſion, Dan. 4.14. Hew down the tree, cut off its branches, ſhake off his leaves, and ſcatter his fruit, &c. nevertheleſs leave the ſtump of its root in the carth, and let it be wet with the dew of Heaven, &c. Lord I deſire much more to wonder that any thing of London is left, than that the greateſt part of it is conſumed.