Section 7: God's Judgments Are Righteous

In giving an account hereof, I shall make use of the second doctrine observed from the words:

That when God speaks most terribly, he does answer most righteously.

They are God's judgments, and therefore they must needs be righteous judgments; can there be unrighteousness in God? No, in no way: for how then could he be God? How then could he judge the world? Let God be true, and every man a liar (Romans 3:5-6). Let God be righteous, and all the world unrighteous: for light may more easily depart from the Sun, and heat be separated from the fire; and the whole creation may more easily drop into nothing, than God cease to be just and righteous, in the severest judgments which he does inflict upon the children of men.

If any profane mockers do reply against God, and reflect upon his righteousness and goodness towards his own people, because these judgments have fallen so sore upon London, the glory of the land, yes of the world, for the number of godly persons (as in scoff they call them) which dwell in it; if God were so righteous and favorable to the godly, would he bend his bow, and shoot so many arrows among them as he did in the visitation by the Plague, while he suffered so many notoriously wicked persons to escape? Would he send the Fire to consume so many habitations of the godly, while the houses of the most vicious and vile were preserved? I shall labor to stop the mouths of such, who are ready to open them against the King of Heaven, by proposing to consideration these following particulars.

1. That God's way is sometimes in the sea, and his paths in the great waters; and his footsteps are not known (Psalm 77:19). That his judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out (Romans 11:33). And that even then he is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works (Psalm 145:17). And when clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his Throne (Psalm 97:2). And when his judgments are a great deep, his righteousness is like the great mountains (Psalm 36:6). We do not understand all the mysteries of nature, neither are we acquainted with all the mysteries of state; and if there be some mysteries in God's way of governing the world, and distributing temporal mercies and judgments, which we do not apprehend in every thing the meaning of, and cannot so fully trace God's righteousness and goodness therein, let us say it is because our eyes are shut, and that we are covered with darkness: therefore let us shut our mouths too, and seal up our lips with silence, not daring in the least to utter any thing which may derogate from these attributes in God, which are as inviolable and unchangeable as his very being. This might be said if the reason were more abstruse than it is.

2. But secondly, the reason of God's judgments and righteousness therein, with the salve of his goodness towards his own people, may be apprehended, if we consider.

1. That these judgments of Plague and Fire are both of them national judgments.

1. The judgment of the Plague was national; in as much as London was the chief city, in as much as the King's Court was here, and most countries had relations here; and all countries had concerns here: moreover the Plague was not only in London, and Westminster, and places near adjacent, but it was dispersed into the countries at a farther distance, as Cambridge, Norwich, Colchester, and other towns, where it raged either the same or the next year, as much proportionably as it did in London.

2. The judgment of the Fire which burned down only the city, and left Westminster and the suburbs standing, and did not reach into the countries, yet was a national judgment, because London was the metropolis of the land, because the beauty, riches, strength, and glory of the whole kingdom lay in London: and it was not the inhabitants of the city who alone did suffer by this fire, but the whole land more or less, do and will feel the smart hereof.

2. These judgments then being national: it is not unreasonable to say, that national sins have been the cause of them: and if so, we may readily find a reason of God's righteousness in these proceedings; when the sins of the land are so obvious and so heinous. He is a great stranger in England, that does not know how wickedness has abounded in these later years; his eyes must be fast shut, who does not see what a deluge of profaneness and impiety has broken in like a mighty torrent, and overflowed the land; that has not taken notice of those bare-faced villanies which have been committed among us, which is a great question whether any ages before us could parallel; we read in Scripture of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the wickedness once of Jerusalem; profane histories and travelers make mention of Rome, Venice, Naples, Paris, and other places very wicked, but who can equal England, which calls itself Christian and Protestant, for such desperate and audacious affronts and indignities which have been offered to the Highest Majesty, by the gallants (as they are called) of our times: How was Hell as it were broke loose, and how were men worse than those which in our Savior's time were possessed with devils, who cut themselves with stones, and tore their own flesh; even such who went about like so many hellhounds and incarnate devils, cursing and banning, swearing and blaspheming, inventing new oaths, and glorying therein, delighting to tear the name of God, and to spit forth their rancor and malice in his very face? And can we then be at a loss for a reason of God's righteousness in his thus punishing England, by beginning thus furiously with London? When there were so many atheists about London, and in the land, who denied the very being of God, when so many gentlemen (who looked upon it as one piece of their breeding, to cast off all sentiments of a Deity) did walk our streets, and no arguments would work them to a persuasion of the truth of God's being, shall we wonder if the Lord appears in a terrible way, that he might be known by the judgments which he executes? When so many denied the divine authority of the Scriptures, the very foundation of our Christian faith, and reckoned themselves by their principles among Turks, Pagans, and other infidels, however they called themselves Christians, and hereby put such an affront upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of the most high God, is it strange that the Lord should speak so terribly to show his indignation? When there was such blowing at, and endeavors to put out that light, which would show men the way to Heaven; such hatred and opposition against the power of godliness; when the name of a saint was matter of derision and scorn; when there was such wallowing in filthy fornication, and adultery, in swinish drunkenness and intemperance; when such oppression, bribery, such malice, cruelty, such unheard of wickedness and hideous impiety grown to such a height in the land; may not we reasonably think that such persons as were thus guilty, being in the ship, were a great cause of the storm of God's anger, which has made such a shipwreck.

The plague indeed when it was come, made little discrimination between the bodies of the righteous, and the bodies of the wicked; no more does grace; the difference is more inward and deep; it is the soul begins to be glorified hereby, and has the seed of eternal life put into it, when it does pass the new birth; but the body is not changed with the soul, the body remains as it was, as frail and weak, and exposed to diseases and death, as before, and as the body of any wicked person; and therefore the infectious disease of the plague, coming into a populous city, the bodies of the righteous; among the rest, receive the contagion, and they fall in the common calamity; there is a difference in the manner of their death, and a difference in their place, and state after death, as has been spoken of before, but the kind of death is the same.

So the fire does make no discrimination between the houses of the godly, and the houses of the ungodly, they are all made of the same combustible matter, and are enkindled, as bodies infected, one by another; indeed the godly have God to be their habitation, and they are citizens of the new Jerusalem, which is above, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God; an abiding city, which the fire cannot reach, and their persons are secured from the flames of eternal fire in Hell, but they have no promise nor security for the preservation of their houses from fire here in this world. The judgments of the plague and fire being sent, work according to their nature, without distinguishing the righteous.

But if we further inquire into the reason, why the plague was sent the last year, and such a plague as has not been known this forty year, which raged so sorely, when there was no such sultriness of weather (as in other years) to increase it; and why the fire was sent this year, and such a fire as neither we, nor our forefathers ever knew, neither do we read of in any history of any so great in any place, in time of peace; what shall we say was the cause of these extraordinary national judgments, but the extraordinary national sins. It was an extraordinary hand of God which brought the plague, of which no natural cause can be assigned, why it should be so great that year, more than in former years, but that sin was grown to greater height; and that a fire should prevail, against all attempts to quench it, to burn down the city, and that judgment just following upon the heels of the other; what reason can be assigned, but that England's sins, and God's displeasure has been extraordinary; God is a God of patience, and it is not a light thing will move him; he is slow to anger, it must needs be then some great provocation which makes him so furious; he is highly offended, before he lifts up his hand; and he is exceedingly incensed, before his anger breaks forth into such a flame; for my part, I verily think, if it had not been for the crying abominations of the times, which are not chiefly to be limited to the city of London, and if the means of God's prescription, according to the rule of his Word, which England once could, had by England been made use of, that both plague and fire had been prevented.

3. Moreover it may be said that some particular persons by some more peculiar, and notorious sins in the city may have provoked the Lord to bring punishment upon the whole place, if the land were not so generally profane and wicked, the heathen could say.

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A whole city may be punished for the wickedness of one man; indeed we read of David, though so good a man, yet when he numbered the people (a small sin in comparison with the sins of some others in our days) God was provoked to send such a dreadful plague, not on himself, but upon his people, that there died 70,000 men by it in three days, and David said, I have sinned and done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? (2 Samuel 24:10-18).

4. If it be inquired how God's mercy to his people does appear, when these judgments have fallen so heavy upon many of them?

I answer,

1. Those of his own people, who have fallen by the plague, are received to greater grace and mercy in Heaven, than here they were capable of, and they are moreover delivered from evil to come, which has since, and may further come upon us.

2. Those whose houses have fallen by the fire, the Lord could, and confident I am, the Lord has made them greater gainers another way, they have lost it may be much in temporal things, but they are or may be, if they be not wanting to themselves, gainers in spiritual things, which are of a higher and more excellent nature; I have known and heard of many of God's people whose houses are burnt, and goods spoiled, who have taken the loss with so much cheerfulness, humility, meekness, patience, contentment, and thankfulness that anything was saved, if it were only their lives, that it has been my wonder and joy; to gain such a spirit has more of good, than the loss of all external enjoyments has of evil.

3. Further, if these judgments have fallen upon God's people, we must know that they have their sins, which have deserved them, possibly some have begun now to comply with the wicked in their wicked ways, it may be they were grown more loose in their walking, and formal in the service of God, and their hearts more set on the world, of which sins more largely when I come to speak of the sins of the city; and the sins of God's people have more heinous aggravations, than the sins of the wicked, being committed against clearer light, dearer love, sweeter mercies, stronger obligations, and therefore provoke God the more to wrath; therefore he threatens his own people especially to punish them when they transgress (Amos 3:2): You only have I known of all the families of the earth, and therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.

5. Besides, they may have need of awakening judgments to rouse them, and humble them for sin, to loosen and wean them from the world; and it is in love and faithfulness, that God does inflict such judgments upon them.

6. Lastly, we must remember, that it is God's usual course to begin with his own house (1 Peter 4:17): Judgment begins at the house of God.

5. To conclude, do any of the ungodly question God's righteousness, because in these common calamities, they have until now survived and escaped?

1. It is but an ill requital and ill use, which they make of God's patience and goodness which he has exercised toward them, that hereby he might lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4-5).

2. Let them stay a while, and God will answer them himself, and give them an experimental conviction of his righteous judgments (1 Peter 4:17-18): If judgment begins at the house of God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? We read (Psalm 75:8) of a cup of red wine in the hand of the Lord, he may give his people to drink the top of it, but the most bitter and dreggish part, which is at the bottom, the wicked shall wring forth and drink; if God whips his children with rods, he will scourge his enemies with scorpions.

I am persuaded that the notoriously ungodly of this generation will not go out of this world, without some remarkable temporal judgment; and that the Lord will make them feel something even here, what an evil thing, and a bitter it is so audaciously to fly in the face of the great God, by their hideous oaths and blasphemies, by their horrid wickedness and abominations, whereby they do as it were challenge God to do his worst against them; and when God does draw forth his glittering sword, and make ready his sharp arrow upon the string; when God does clothe himself with fury, as with a garment, and his hand does take hold on vengeance; when their iniquities are grown fully ripe, and the day of their visitation and recompense is come, how then will these sinners of England be afraid, and what amazing terror will there then surprise this vile generation? Can their hearts endure, or their hands be strong in the day that the Lord shall deal with them? (Ezekiel 22:14) Then the Lord will roar from his holy habitation, with such a terrible voice, as shall make their ears to tingle, their hearts to quake and tremble; he will roar like a lion, and tear them in pieces, when there shall be none to deliver. If the shaking of his rod has moved them, and the beginning of his judgments, which he has executed upon others, has affrighted them; what will their behavior be when the scourge is laid upon their own backs, and judgment shall fall upon their own heads? Surely the judgments intended purposely for the most ungodly, are not yet come; yet, as they are like to be exceeding great, because more of pure, and unmixed wrath will accompany them: so they are like to be very near; because they are filling up the measure of their wickedness so fast, and they seem to be arrived even to the uttermost of sin; surely their judgment does neither linger, nor slumber, but is upon the wing, hastening towards them; surely the arm of the Lord is awakened, and lifted up on high, and though infinite patience does hold it up a little while, to try whether the judgments already executed upon others, before their eyes will work any good effect upon them, so as to awaken them, and stop them, and turn them from their evil ways; yet, if they proceed in their sinful course, his arm I am persuaded will come down with such force and fury upon them, that their destruction shall be remarkable to all that are round about them: and I have much of that persuasion, that the Lord will as it were hang up many of the villains of our times, who have been guilty of such treachery and rebellion against the great King of heaven, as it were in chains, and make their punishment here as notorious as their sins have been, that the whole world may hear and fear, and take heed of such vile practices. I suppose they may not now expect it, nor fear it, no more than the old world did their drowning, or Sodom and Gomorrah did their burning, because deceitful sin has hardened their hearts; long custom in sin, with impunity has seared their consciences, as with a hot iron: but then they are in the greatest danger, when they sleep with the greatest security; when men grow desperately hardened against often, and all reproofs, by word, and rod too, what follows, but sudden destruction and that without remedy? (Proverbs 29:1) And when men cry peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). And if some of this unruly and wicked generation do drop away without a remarkable temporal destruction; God will make his righteousness evident to them, in the other world, when he claps up their souls close prisoners in the lowest dungeon of Hell, appointing black devils to be their jailers, flames of fire to be their clothing, hideous terrors and woe to be their food, Cain, Judas, and other damned tormented spirits to be their companions, where they must lie bound in chains of darkness, till the judgment of the great day; and when the general assize is come, and the angels have blown the last trumpet, and gathered the elect to the right hand of Christ, then they will be sent with the keys of the bottomless pit, and the prison will be opened for a while, and like so many rogues in chains, they shall together with all their fellow sinners be brought forth, and find out the dirty flesh of their bodies, which like a nasty rag they shall then put on, and with most rueful looks, and trembling joints, and horrible shrieks, and inexpressible confusion and terror, they shall behold the Lord Jesus Christ, whom in lifetime they despised and affronted, come down from Heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance upon them, who will sentence them to the flames of eternal fire, and drive them from his Throne and presence into utter darkness, where they must take up their lodging for evermore. Then, then there will be a clear revelation of the righteous and dreadful judgments of this great God to the world, and upon this accursed generation.

But more fully to clear up the reason of London's judgments, and the righteousness of God herein; God has indeed spoken very terribly, but he has answered us very righteously. London was not so godly, as some speak by way of scoff: no! If London had been more generally godly, and more powerfully godly, these judgments might have been escaped, and the ruins of the city prevented; no! it was the ungodliness of London, which brought the plague and fire upon London. There was a general plague upon the heart, a more dangerous infection, and deadly plague of sin, before there was sent a plague upon the body; there was a fire of various lusts which was kindled, and did burn in the bosom, [reconstructed: sometimes] issuing out flames at the door of the mouth, and at the windows of the eyes of the inhabitants, before the fire was kindled in the city, which swallowed up so many habitations. We have fallen, thousands of persons into the grave by the plague, thousands of houses, as a great monument upon them, by the fire; and from where is it? we are fallen by our iniquities (Hosea 14:1). The crown is fallen from our heads; and what is the reason? because we have sinned against the Lord (Lamentations 5:16). God has spoken terribly, but he has answered righteously; as he gives great and especial mercies in answer to prayer: so he sends great and extraordinary judgments in answer to sin; there is a voice and loud cry, especially in some sins which enters into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath (1 Samuel 5:4). When God speaks by terrible things, he makes but a righteous return to this cry.

And though these judgments of plague and fire are national judgments, and may be the product of national sins, and I verily am persuaded, that God was more highly provoked by some that dwelt out of the City, than with those which dwelt in it, I mean the profane and ungodly generation, who chiefly did inhabit more remotely; and that God, being so provoked, was the more ready to strike, and let his hand fall so heavy upon London; yet since many of the ungodly crew were got into the City itself, and most in the City, that were not of them, and did not dare to commit their impieties, yet made themselves guilty, by not mourning for them, and laboring in their place what they could after a redress; and since London itself has been guilty of so many crying sins (as I shall endeavor to show.) God's righteousness in the terrible things of London will be evident, especially if we consider

1. That God has punished London no more than their iniquities have deserved.

2. That God has punished London less than their iniquities have deserved.

1. God has punished London no more than their iniquities deserved; great sins deserve great plagues; and have not the sins of London been great? Let us make an inquiry after London's sins.

Here I shall offer some sins to consideration, and let London judge whether she be not guilty, and whether the Lord has not been plaguing her, and burning her, and possibly, indeed probably will bring utter ruin and desolation upon her, except she see and mourn and turn the sooner: it is out of dear and tender love to London (with whom I could willingly live and die) that I write these things to put them in mind of their sins, that they might take some speedy course for a redress and turning away the fierce anger of the Lord which is kindled against them for sin, lest he next proceed to bring utter ruin upon them: surely they have not more reason to think that God's anger is turned away since the fire, than they had to think it was turned away after the plague; but rather they may conclude, that though the fire of the City be quenched yet the fire of God's anger does burn still more dreadfully, than the other fire; and that his hand is stretched out still to destroy. Therefore, O all you inhabitants about London open your eyes, and ears, and hearts, and suffer a word of reproof for your sins; and deal not with this catalogue of your sins as Jehoiakim did with Jeremiah's roll, who burnt it in the fire, not being able to bear his words; but do with it as John did with his little book, eat it and digest it, though it be bitter in the mouth, as well as in the belly; it is bitter physic, but necessary for the preservation of a sick languishing City, which is even ready to give up the ghost.

And here I shall begin with more gospel-sins, which, though natural conscience is not so ready to accuse of, yet in the account of God are the most heinous sins: and I would have a regard not only to latter, but also to former sins, which, possibly, may now be more out of view, and forgotten, and which some may be hardened in, because the guilty have not been so particularly and sensibly punished (though God's sparing of them has been in order to their repentance) or their punishments in some kind has been accounted by them no punishments, or their punishments have been mistaken, and their hearts have swelled against instruments made use of by God therein, instead of accepting of the punishment of their iniquity, and humbling themselves deeply before the Lord. I say I would call to remembrance former sins, as well as latter, which are more visible now and apparent: for as God, being so slow to anger, has not been quickly moved to such indignation; but, as we have reason to think, that his wrath has been a long time boiling in his breast, before it was raised to this height as to boil over, and pour down plague and fire upon the City of London: so we may reasonably infer, that sins committed by London long ago, were the fuel put under, that caused this boiling of his anger, which, because other judgments have not worked the kindly effect of repentance, the Lord has been provoked to express this way, which has been more feeling and dreadful. Moreover when I reckon up London's sins, I would not reflect alone upon any one party, in as much as all parties have sinned, and I believe the Lord has been offended with all, as in his judgments he has made no difference, that all might be awakened to see their faults with sorrow and shame. And if it were fit, I would begin here with myself, being persuaded that my sins, more than thousands of others, have helped to fill up the vial of God's anger; but as I go along, I shall endeavor by the grace of God to apply to myself the sins which conscience will accuse of, that I may bewail and amend: and I would beseech every one of you, that cast your eyes upon these lines, to do the like, and to compare them with those lines, which are written in the book of your consciences, and where you find a transcript, read and read again, consider and lay to heart, get to your knees, confess and labor to drop, at least some tears into the bottle, which if this little book might help gather from your eyes, and you could be persuaded to pour forth such waters before the Lord, they might help to quench the violence of the fire of God's anger, which we have reason to fear is still burning against us.