Londons Resurrection, Discourse 38
DISCOURSE XXXVIII.
That for all men to conſider how much it will be for their honor who ſhall have a great hand in rebuilding the City, would promote the work.
HOnor to our ſelves (as I ſaid before) muſt in no caſe be our ultimate and ſupreme, but our ſubordinate end it may be: Solomon ſaith, A good name is better than precious oyntment, (Eccl. 7.1.) and that a good name is rather to be choſen than great riches, Prov. 22.1. If then a moderate purſuit of riches be not unlawful, neither can that of good name be ſo; nor ſhall we ſin in looking after that precious oyntment, provided we do not anoint our ſelves therewith; as that Text admoniſheth, Let another man praiſe thee, and not thine own mouth; a ſtranger, and not thine own lips, Prov. 27.2. But it is beſt of all when mens own works do praiſe them in the gates; as the phraſe is, Prov. 31.31.
And now I have propoſed a work to men (men of wealth and eſtate) that will certainly praiſe them in the gates, viz. being very inſtrumental in rebuilding of the City: He that ſhall be ſo, is like to have a name, and a renown upon it. Firſt, The name of a rich man, which ſome are not a little ambitious of: He muſt needs be rich, will men ſay, who built ſo many houſes at his own charge, and honeſtly paid for them when he had done: How few do know, or take notice, what Lands or Demeſnes rich men have in the Country? they lye out of ſight; but he that lays out his money upon building in the Metropolis of the Nation, becomes like a Beacon ſet upon a hill, ſo conſpicuous, that his wealthineſs cannot be hid: Now wealth is more an honor to Citizens and Tradeſmen, than to Country Gentlemen, becauſe in the former it is generally preſumed to be all, or moſt of it, of their own getting, the fruit of their own induſtry and ingenuity, which are things worthy of praiſe: To him that was born, it may be, in ſome poor thatched Cottage in the Country, to be the owner and builder of many goodly houſes in the City, what a renown is it?
To be a great builder, and to do it well, gives a man the reputation, as of wealth, ſo of wiſdome, of which the Scripture ſaith, that it maketh the face of a man to ſhine. Poſterity will think him to have been a wiſe man, who hath approved himſelf a wiſe builder, having built to profit, pleaſure, and convenience; nay, at ſuch a time as this, he that ſhall lay out a good part of a fair eſtate upon building the City, is like to purchaſe to himſelf the name of a Benefactor, who is one of thoſe good men the Scripture ſpeaks of, for whom ſome would even dare to die; meaning by a good man in that place, one that is a friend to others, a lover of publick good; one that hath bowels of compaſſion, a man of publick ſpirit (as others call him) a Friend and Father to his Country, &c. A builder of old waſt places, a repairer of the breach, and a reſtorer of paths to dwell in; which are mentioned as Titles of Honor, Iſaiah 58.12. And thou ſhalt be called the Repairer, &c.
One more title of honor will ſeem due to every man that ſhall imploy a great part of his eſtate (being conſiderable) in the rebuilding of London; and that is, he will go for a man of courage, a man of a gallant and an undaunted ſpirit; for men will think if he had not been ſuch, he would not have adventured to have been at ſo much charge in rebuilding part of a City, almoſt the whole whereof (but a little before) was burnt down in four daies time. To be couragious muſt needs be honorable, for fortitude is a cardinal vertue.
Surely he will be thought (at leaſtwiſe by poſterity) to have been a generous man, and one that was not too fond of the world; a man that was far from making the world his God (as too many do, for covetouſneſs is Idolatry:) whoſoever he be that ſhall build a good proportion of the waſt of London, for had he idolized his gold and ſilver, he had never expoſed ſo much of it to the hazard of fire, after ſo late and great a warning, but rather done by it as Jacob did by thoſe Wives and children which he beſt loved, viz. put them in the ſafeſt place, (in the rear of his company) leſt he ſhould chance to loſe them.
Where theſe five ingredients do compound the oyntment of a mans good name, how precious and how fragrant will his memory be? a wealthy man, by his own induſtry, and more than that, a wiſe man, witneſs both his well-built houſes, and the eſtate he got to build them, a compaſſionate man, and one that was for publick good; a man of an undaunted courage, a man that could brook to loſe the eſtate he had gotten, or elſe he had never imployed it ſo as it might eaſily be loſt; which ſhews, that though the world had ſmiled upon him, he did not love it over much, which others are apt to do though it frown.
Who is not ambitious to leave ſuch a name as this behind him? I mean who of all thoſe that are capable of ſo doing, that have wherewithal, Say not that reputation, and honour, are but meer ſhadows, and glittering vanities, not worthy to have any thing done for their ſakes. For may not the ſame thing be ſaid of all the things of this world, of which Solomon pronounceth All is vanity and vexation of ſpirit, that is, partly ſo, commixed with vanity. Now all the uſe we are to make of that conſideration is to take heed we loſe not the things which are not vaine, and which have no vexation in them, whilſt we overeagerly catch at thoſe things which are but vanity, as when men loſe Heaven, and their Souls, to gain the world, but amongſt earthly things ſome are more eligible (and conſequently leſs vain) than others (for of vanities the leaſt is to be choſen) for Solomon ſaith A good name is rather to be choſen than great riches.
Now all we call upon men for is to exchange a greater vanity, for a leſs; or to purchaſe that which is leſs vain, by parting with that which is more ſo; that is to purchaſe a good name, which is the leſs vanity of the two, by parting with money, which is the greater. Men that have no ſenſe of honour, generally do nothing that is worthy of it, yet I would not have men too fond of it neither. Eſt modus in rebus, Some feel no ſpur like that of honour, they may be too proud, and ambitious: but they who are paſt feeling as to any ſuch ſpur, are commonly ſordid, and as much forſaken of a good name, as they do ſeem to ſlight, and contemn it.
Say not that the houſes thou ſhalt build may ſoon be burned again, and there will be an end of thine honour. Not ſo neither (I hope,) ten to one but they will ſtand longer than you ſhall live, and be a praiſe and a renown to you all your daies. If ſuch a thing ſhould happen when you are dead, and gone, it would never trouble you, for as we read, Job. 14.21. His ſons come to honour, and he knows it not, and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them (ſpeaking of one that is dead,) the like may be ſaid of houſes, as of ſons. But for ought you know, thoſe houſes which you now build may ſtand a hundred years together, (as the Royal exchange had done) and it may be a hundred to that, if the building be accordingly: But ſhould they be burned before thy face (as one lately was) that would not lay thy honour in the duſt, or cauſe the houſes which thou haſt built to be forgotten, but rather to be more remembred, and ſpoken of (as was the houſe in Mincing Lane, and its owner) ſo long as there was no general, but only a particular conflagration.
It is uſual to call their houſes after their names, who are the owners of much building; as Fullers Rents, or the like: but at ſuch a time as this, when building hath ſo much need to be incouraged, if ſome greater reſpects were ſhewn to them that are great builders, as if their ſtatue were allowed to be ſet up, or ſome pillar erected in memorial of what they had done, I think it were not amiſs. The Holy Ghoſt hath erected a golden pillar (for ſo I may call it) to the perpetual honour of many perſons, and families, who in their ſeveral proportions, did help to repair Jeruſalem, not omitting the name of the perſon, (and he a ruler too) who took upon him to repair the Dung-gate, Nehem. 3.14. But the dung-gate repaired Malchiah the ſon of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem: he built it and ſet up the doors thereof, and the bars thereof.