the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate, for this shall the land mourn, and the heavens above be black. The whole city shall flee, for the noise of the horsemen, and the bowmen; they shall go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks; every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein; and when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thyself with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting: in vain shalt thou make. thyself fair; thy lovers shall despise thee, they will seek thy life; for I have heard a voice, as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child: the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth forth her hands, saying, Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because of murderers." This might have been the judgment, and these the complaints of London and England, which would have been worse than plague or fire. The plague reached many, but the sword might have reached all; the fire devoured houses, but the sword might have devoured the inhabitants. The Lord might have brought a foreign sword, and open invasion; or he might have given up London to a more private, sudden butchery and massacre by the hands of cruel Papists, as was feared; which would have been more dreadful than the massacre of the Protestants by the Papists in Paris; because our numbers do so far exceed those which were in that city.

If bloody Papists had come into our houses in

the dead of the night, with such kinds of knives in their hands as were found after the fire in barrels; and having set watch at every street's end, had suffered none to escape, but cruelly slaughtered the husband with the wife, the parents and the children together, ripping up women with child, and not sparing either silver hairs, or the sucking babe; if there had been a cry at midnight, They are come!" but no possibility of flying from them, or making resistance against them; if, instead of heaps of stones and bricks in the top of every street, there had been heaps of dead bodies, and the kennels had been made to run down with gore-blood; sure this judgment would have been more dreadful than the plague or fire, which have been among

us.

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(2.) God might have punished London with famine, which is a greater judgment than the plague or sword; if the Lord had broken the whole staff of bread, and cut off all provisions of food from the many thousand souls that lived in and about the city; how dreadful would this have been! If a famine had been so sore in London, that people should have been forced to eat one another, and their own flesh, as it was in Samaria and Jerusalem; if, instead of houses in London, God should have made the people as fuel of the fire in this judgment, as is threatened, Isa. ix. 19, 20. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened; and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother; and he shall snatch on = his right hand, and be hungry; and he shall

eat on the left hand, and not be satisfied; they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arms.” If London had been forced through hunger to eat the flesh of their own arms, and the fruit of their own bodies, oh what dismal faces would there have been in the city? and how would death have been chosen rather than life; in the (by us) unconceivable pain of gnawing hunger! Those which die by the plague, or are slain by the sword, would be counted happy in comparison with them that live under such a judg

ment.

Lastly, the righteousness of God in the judg◄ ments he hath inflicted on London, appears, in that he might, instead of plague and fire on earth, have punished them with the plagues and fires of hell; which such sins as we have reckoned up have abundantly deserved. Tyre and Sidon now in hell: Sodom and Gomorrah under the vengeance of eternal fire, were not guilty of such sins as London was guilty of.

And what are body-plagues here in comparison of soul-plagues hereafter? What is a fire that burns down a city, in comparison with the fire of hell, which shall burn the damned, and never be quenched!

God hath punished London no more than her iniquities have deserved; God hath punished London less than her iniquities have deserved: therefore, in speaking most terribly, he hath answered most righteously.

SECT. X.

Concerning the design of these judgments. What doth God mean by this terrible Voice? by speaking such terrible things in the city of London?

THE Lord hath not only spoken, but cried and shouted; he hath lifted up his voice like a trumpet, and his voice hath not been inarticulate and insignificant, but hath had a meaning; and they that have an ear to hear, may understand; for as the voice of the Lord hath cried in the city, so the voice of the Lord hath cried to the city, Mic. vi. 9. "The Lord's voice crieth unto the city. The man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." Some take notice of the judgments themselves, and the effects of them upon themselves and families; they discourse of the plague and how many died thereby, that they have lost such a relation, such a friend or neighbour was visited, and died quickly: they discourse of the fire, where it began, how it increased and prevailed, what day such a street fell, and where their houses were consumed; what they lost, and how much they saved; and it may be, some speak of the hands of men, that were suspected to enkindle and carry it on; but few discourse of the hand of God, which i sent both plague and fire, and what he means by such strange and dreadful judgments. But "the man of wisdom," such as are wise, do consider that these judgments spring not out of the dust, but were sent down from heaven; they see God's

name, and God's hand, that hath been stretched forth upon London. They know that both plague and fire have had their commission from the God of heaven, otherwise they could not have wrought with such force and power.

They see God's“ name,” that is, the glorious attributes of his name displayed. God proclaimed his name, before Moses, when he caused his goodness to pass before him, and discovered himself to be "the Lord, the Lord God; gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, goodness, and truth," Exod. xxxiv. 6. And God hath proclaimed his name before London, in causing his judgments to come upon the city, and hath declared himself to be "the Lord, the Lord God, holy and jealous, a God that can be angry when much provoked, and yet righteous in the severest judgments which he doth inflict." A man of wisdom may see God's name in London's judgments; and as he may see power and righteousness in God's name, so he may see grace and goodness in the name of God, which hath passed before the city; he may see and know that God hath a gracious meaning and design of good to London in these judgments; he may see God's name, and hear God's voice, and what it is that he speaketh by the rod...

Oh that London were thus wise! that they would open their eyes and see God's name! God's hand so just and righteous; as also open their ears, and hear God's voice, and understand God's design, so gracious and so much for their good! O that God would open the ears of London, and bend them to the discipline of his judgments!