Londons Resurrection, Discourse 9 – Discourse 10
DISCOURSE IX.
Of ſuch as have made bold, or ſhall make hold with other men their materials, or with any part thereof.
I Hear that ſome have borrowed without leave, (if that may be called borrowing) that is of ſome who have taken their neighbours Bricks, and other materials, which lay near to their own Ruines, and have built their houſes with them, as confidently as if they had been their own. Do ſuch men think that the Fire hath made all things common; that it did or could (Leveller-like) deſtroy all propriety (and that not only de facto, but de jure;) Is now all your own you can lay hands upon? and doth every thing of right belong primum occupanti, to him that can firſt get it into his poſſeſſion? Nay ſurely, it is rather a kind of ſacriledge to take from men what the Fire had left them, foraſmuch as the reliques of the Fire, may in ſome ſenſe be accounted Sacred, and a kind of Deodates, or things vouchſafed us, or reſerved for us by God immediately. He hath a hard heart who grudgeth any man that ſmall Legacy, or Remainder of any thing which that moſt cruel Fire left him, when it dyed, or went out; That took away your neighbor's Vintage, and will you grudge them the Gleanings of their own ground? Behold! Theft upon Theft, and that is the falſeſt Heraldry that can be. Citizens were Robbed when their houſes were burning, and now that they would build their houſes, they are robb'd again.
You cannot think that your Neighbors Bricks and other materials have ſo far treſpaſſed by lying near to yours, that you may lawfully pound them, in your own houſes from whence they are never like to be releaſed? if he had took your materials as you did his, how would you have taken it at his hands? would you have put it up quietly?
In Jer. 23.30. it is written, Behold I am againſt the Prophets ſaith the Lord that ſteal my Word every one from his Neighbor. Was God againſt thoſe Spiritual builders (for ſo are Prophets) which ſtole his Word from one another as Hananiah did from Jeremiah, uſing the ſame words, though to other purpoſes, Thus ſaith the Lord, &c. (Jer. 28.2. compared with Jer. 49.1. and 37.) taking the very words out of Jeremiahs mouth, &c. How much more will he be againſt thoſe temporal builders, which ſteal away each others Materials, becauſe theſe latter cannot both make uſe of the ſame Materials at the ſame time, but that the former (viz. the Prophets) might have done, two of them might have ſpoken the ſame thing at the ſame time, but two houſes cannot be built with the ſame numerical Bricks, &c.
Think of a few paſſages in Habbakkuk 2. v. 6. We to him that increaſeth that which is not his. How long? and that ladeth himſelf with thick Clay, which words are literally applicable to thoſe that build with bricks which are not their own, ver. 9. Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetouſneſs to his houſe, that he may ſet his neſt on high, v. 10. Thou haſt conſulted ſhame to thy houſe, v. 11. For the ſtones ſhall cry out of the Wall, and the beam out of the Timber ſhall anſwer it, ver. 12. Wo to him that eſtabliſheth a City by iniquity.
Suppoſe the greater part of your materials were honeſtly come by, even nineteen parts in twenty, but a twentieth part, or ſome much leſs proportion, were got by ſtealth, it is greatly to be feared and verily to be expected, that even ſo ſmall a pittance of that which was ſtollen, will go nigh to ruine all the reſt, if ſatisfaction be not timely made for the injury done, and the ſin repented of, (as Gideon his one only baſtard deſtroyed his 70 ſons that were lawfully begotten, Judg 9.5.
Therefore my advice in ſhort is this, If thou haſt made uſe of any part of thy Neighbours Materials unwittingly, and afterwards doſt come to know it, ſatisfy him for the principal, and tender him a fifth part over, and above (if he pleaſe to accept it) for ſo was the Law of Reſtitution in caſe of unwilful injury, Numb. 5.7. but if thou have taken any thing from him knowingly, offer him five for one (if thou art able ſo to do) for ſo was provided under the Law, if any man did injure another wilfully, Exod. 22.1. When thou art in thy Belcony, or at the top of thy high houſe think of Zachaeus in the Sycamore-Tree, and of what he ſaid, (though not there) If I have taken any thing from any man falſly, I will reſtore him fourfold, Luke 14.8.
DISCOURSE X.
Of ſuch as have not wherewithal to build again.
ALas for thoſe poor Londoners that would build their houſes again, and cannot. If men cannot riſe without money in the caſe (as is generally too evident) how ſhould houſes? Haud facile emergunt quarum virtutibus obſtat Res anguſta domus, is as true as if it had been domi; that is, it holds as certain in houſes as in men: It is mony muſt raiſe them. But what ſhall they do that have it not, nor can by any means procure it? I know no way but one, viz. they muſt fell their ground; but there is the miſery, who will give them to the worth of it? They that know they muſt, or are forced to ſell, think to buy it as they liſt, or at ſome ſuch rates as too many have bought Debenters, it may be at a Noble, for the worth and value of each pound. Thus poor men are bought and ſold, as the Prophet expreſſeth it, for a pair of ſhoes, Amos 2.6. A rich commodity in a poor mans hand, is nothing worth; ſo barbarouſly are men upon the catch, taking their utmoſt advantages one againſt another, which is to make a vice (inſtead of a vertue) of neceſſity, I mean a vice to themſelves, out of the neceſſity of others: For doubtleſs he that buyeth out poor men ſo cheaply, ſelleth himſelf to work wickedneſs. Well, what ſaid Ahab to Naboth, 1 Kin. 21.2. Give me thy Vineyard, and I will give thee for it a better Vineyard than that; or if it ſeem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. He offered a valuable conſideration for Naboths ground; will you be worſe than that Ahab? If your Brethren be hungry, will you take occaſion thereby to purchaſe their Birth-right for a meſs of pottage (as Jacob did) who was many wayes croſſed afterwards in one kind, and in another? What bleſſing can be expected, or rather what curſe may not be lookt for upon thoſe houſes, the foundations of which are laid in oppreſſion, and grinding the faces of the poor; who in order to bread, are forced to ſuffer their own faces to be ground? Are no merciful men to be found, who in conſideration of the neceſſity of poor men, will give them for their ground rather more than it is worth, at leaſtwiſe full as much? yea, why ſhould not every man be ſo far forth merciful, ſith the latter of the two is but to be juſt? Art thou in a purchaſing caſe, buy poor mens ground at a full rate, build upon it, and when that is done, if they be able to pay a moderate Rent, and it may be a courteſie to them, become their Landlord? He may prove a ſufficient Tenant, who is not able to build his own houſe, and his Landlord may have a bleſſing for his ſake; for bleſſed is he that conſidereth the poor, Pſa. 40.1.
Be not you diſcouraged, if you cannot build your ſelves, another mans houſe may be as commodious for you, as one of your own erecting; and if there happen to be inconveniencies in it, they will not ſo much upbraid and vex you, as if they had been contracted by your own misbuilding (as they might have been) Nam quae non fecimus ipſi, haud ea noſtra voco; you are not chargeable with the faults of thoſe houſes which you did not make, or build your ſelves.
I have one thing more to ſay to ſuch as muſt ſell their ground, and are dejected at the thoughts of ſo doing: Were you not ſo far undone, that you could not attempt to build, who knows whither you (as many others have been, and it is ſuppoſed will be) might not be undone by building?