Seasonable Counsel TO An Afflicted People: IN A LETTER To the Distressed INHABITANTS OF WEM In the County of SALOP, After the dreadful FIRE, which consumed that Market-Town, March 3. 1676/ 7.  
Written by Andrew Parsons, M.A. and sometime Minister there.  
LONDON. Printed for E. Brewster, and Tho. Parkhurst, at the Crane in St. Paul's Churchyard, and at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel, 1677.   

To my dear Friends of Wem, who have suffered by the late dreadful Fire.  
BEloved people, when I first heard of that devouring Fire, how could I be otherwise affected than Nehemiah was, Chap. 1.4, when he heard Jerusalem lay waste and burnt? He was astonished, wept and prayed to the God of Heaven. And oh that my prayers may be as effectual and successful for you, as his were for them; then Wem would be built again, as Jerusalem was; the glory of whose second Temple exceeded that of the first, as did also their own Houses and habitations, Hag. 1.4.  
But is Wem burnt indeed? What, Wem! the place that God hath blessed, and where he hath as signally manifested his power, goodness, forbearance, and mercy, as in any place you or I ever knew? And is this lot and fate at last befallen Wem? What! to come down so wonderfully! and in a little more than an hour, for her beauty to be turned into Ashes! Sure this Fire (who ever kindled it here) like that of Sodom came down from the Lord out of Heaven, it was so fierce and unquenchable.  
Therefore if other great and stupendious providences have passed as unregarded by us, this must not, if we mean to prevent the flaming vengeance of God, next upon ourselves. O Wem, thou wast a Town saved by the Lord from Pestilence, when (you do remember) God shot his Arrow in Shrewsbury on one hand, and Whitchurch on the other; but the impression of this quickly wore off, and yet the long-suffering of God still waited, (the holy and righteous God is slow to wrath) and he was long a coming to Wem, expecting still his Gospel preached there might find better acceptance, and prevail more to the amendment of their lives. In the mean time he visited other places, and uttered his voice in dreadful flames in Drayton, the sound whereof, had it not been for a general and moral deafness, would have been shrill in your ears; crying, Wem, look upon Drayton, and learn to be wise in time; in this thy day, know the things that belong to thy peace and safety. God called, but Wem would not answer; yet still God's bowels wrought strongly towards Wem (as of old toward Ephraim) how shall I give thee unto the flames? Make thee as Admah (Hos. 11.8.)? I'll practise in like manner upon another place also; it may be then they will hear and fear, and do no more wickedly; so a Fire, and that a dreadful one was in Newport: Now God said as in Zeph. 3.7, Surely they will fear me in Wem, and break off their sins which are greater, some circumstances considered; so iniquity should not be their ruin: But behold, no returning yet, such as God looked for; and though divine Justice cried, Wem is incorrigible, let it utterly perish; yet mercy triumphs further over justice: No, saith God, I will not destroy it utterly yet, as I did Sodom: there are righteous in it, who though they be sleepy, yet the firing of one little house, [this happened March 76.] almost out of harms way, may awaken them, if others would not hear; being come home to them to contend likewise by Fire, this might well be received as a strong Alarm at the Gate. But at this time God repent, and therefore Wem repent not: yet after all this, [Five Months after,] God would Fire one Beacon more in the highest place, in the heart of the Town; and if he must be put to quench it himself with the Clouds, because they did it not with their Tears, the next shall be an unquenchable Fire: [which was March 3.— 76.] I would not have made mention of those neighbour Towns upon whom the hand of the Lord was heavy; but that I feared, than I should lose my chief design, which is to advance the infinite riches of God's forbearance, to aggravate your sin, and to make way the better for your deeper humiliation and repentance; but especially, though your houses be in Ashes, that you might put your mouths in the dust, and justify God in all his righteous proceed against you: that you may have nothing to say against God, but to turn your complaints against yourselves, as the People of God in like cases always have done. And if this was the effect, at present, of this dreadful stroke, I hope you will experience another hereafter, which is to do you good in the latter end.  
Of two evils God would choose the least for you; he would burn yours, but not you: he knew that Tophet would be a worse place for burning, than Tabora, Numb. 11. If a people were set upon sin, so that there was no saving them but by Fire, if they were not burnt, they might be damned; if their houses were not desolate, their salvation was endangered; if they would not so carefully look for a House in Heaven, so long as they had where to lay their heads here on earth, he must cure by burning. And my dear Friends, you are not the first that God practised this way upon; his own People the Jews were consumed by Fire and other horrible judgements; at last sent packing away to Babylon (your suffering not the one half of theirs) and yet all was for their good, Jer. 24.5. And therefore my dear Friends, give me leave to tell you, that now under this stupendious providence, is your day. Now is your critical time for making or marring, for Body and Soul: hear, and your Souls shall live; repent, and your Town shall be built, and you, and not others shall inhabit it.  
No Conscience can be so stupid, but must conclude that as this dreadful stroke, by all circumstances, was from an angry God in Heaven; so from thence it brings this errand, Now or never repent; you did burn lately, you must turn presently. I tell you, this Providence admits no delay; you must sin no more, lest a worse fire come, or you come to a worse fire. God says to you, as well as to his People burned out of old, Consider your ways, Hag. 1.5. O would to God you were (my dear friends) so come to yourselves, as the Prodigal was, to run and cry, Father, we have sinned against Heaven, else the Heavens would not so furiously have blown the flames that did consume us. [The Town consumed in little more than an hour!] O that the People of Wem were like the men of Issachar, who understood the times, and knew what they ought to do. Then I would comfort you who have lost your Houses, you should instantly have a House without hands, made sure to you in Heaven for ever. Would not that be a bonfire indeed that consumed your lusts (that ye might be meet to dwell in that brave House) though it burned your earthly tabernacles together? That wind did blow you good indeed, if the Spirit of God was in it, consuming, the while, your sins, and purifying your Souls; were your Houses built to day, and burned again to morrow, you might afford to bear it, if Christ's Father's House in Heaven, by the Spirit of adoption, be sealed securely unto you; which than it would be.  
Now my Brethren, having this house I have been speaking of, in hope, if you do repent, which this present Providence cries and calls aloud to you to do (if it had been done sooner, your houses might have stood; if it be not done now, your houses may never be rebuilt; if they be, you may not live to dwell in them: and where shall ye dwell then? Oh the houses in Hell are woeful houses): will you without delay obey this voice? Oh that while I am writing, I could be assured you are repenting, that some good man or other would come to me with good tidings: The people of Wem are much changed and refined by the Fire; there are like to be more new creatures among the poorer sort, than new cottages: the Church is burnt, yet the people passionately say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, weeping as they go. I will not despair, I hope God will hear prayers, and give you repentance unto life.  
After God's voice, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, let the voice of his, and sometime your unworthy Minister be heard; repent and amend your lives. I need not go to particulars to press this repentance; the sad Providence of God hath wrought so, I hope, as to save me this labour, and brought your sins fresh to your remembrance. Though I cannot, yet sure God doth hear your own Consciences peaching you, viz. Ah, this is for my going prayerless to bed: if our houses had been Churches, and we spiritual Priests to offer morning and evening Sacrifices unto God, of broken and contrite hearts, this would, this might never have been; but I did rise early, and made more haste than good speed out of my own house, that I might be in the Alehouse; rise early to follow strong drink, (follow it indeed, when I stand at it the whole day); I came thither a man, but I went thence a brute. Shall I mention burning my house? 'tis the infinite mercy of God I myself am not burning in Hell: Yonder, yonder stood the house where I consumed so much precious time; where I spent most of that which cost me so much sweat and labour, where I was drinking and debauching myself while my family at home wept and sighed for want of bread, or something else.  
This fire was for our profanation of the Sabbath, a Judgement particularly threatened for this sin, Jer. 17.27. God threatneth, Zach. 5.4. to burn houses for swearing and forswearing; and was it not a wonder of mercy my house stood so long! O, the Scripture sure is the Word of God; I'll go no farther, than the fulfilling of it, for a proof.  
O my folly, my folly, saith this, and twenty men more, whose hearts ran after their covetousness. I have cared, and laboured, plotted, and contrived with all my might a whole age, for that which thiefs might have stolen, which fire hath utterly consumed in one hour: How shall I answer God, who gave me so long time, since I have nothing left now, to show what I did all this while: I have little knowledge of the things of God to show: I have few good works to show: I was a true lover of the Mammon of unrighteousness, it was in my heart; so that I was an Idolater, and sacralegious person all that while. What, have I employed a soul, a precious and immortal Being, about things, that it could never have content in? And are these now gone in an hours time? Look yonder, all that I laboured for, and loved above my soul, is now some carts full of rubbish, and a few handfuls of ashes. I have spent my time well, that am now levelled with the poor man, that could arrive to no more than to see a little meat in his cupboard! My Heaven hath took Wings, and fled from me; and what a Heaven now shall I have! Lord show me my folly, or I am undone. The House of God is burnt, saith another: And now if God should reckon with me for all the sins I have been guilty of there; What a fire did I deserve to feel? Here stood my seat where I slept so much: while I waked, my ears were stopped, because my mind was devising evil devices, and was prejudiced against the Preacher and his Doctrine both, especially the Application.  
I do now wonder, and wonder again at myself, that while I heard there the glad tidings of the Gospel sounding in my ears, I should be no more affected than the pillar I leaned unto. There I was invited to the marriage-supper; yea, I was promised in case I would consent, my Maker would be my husband, and if I would be for him, he would be for me, Matth. 18. But I made light of it, and disdainfully said, I pray have me excused; though that while, I had no other suitors than the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, whose motions I embraced, though my early vow in baptism enjoined me by the Command of God upon greatest penalties, to forsake them all.  
There, we call to remembrance, the Minister cited and applied the words of Moses to the two Tribes and half, Numb. 32.22, Behold you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.  
We were told there, over and over, that we had God to serve, souls to save, death to pay, an account to give, a sentence to receive, and eternity to live in. But these things did not move us, so as to stop our running to all excess, and committing iniquity with greediness; as if we could not soon enough provide fuel, not only for this fire which hath consumed us, but for a worse, which, if God be not infinitely gracious to us through Jesus Christ, will be consuming of us for ever.  
And now methinks, I hear you sigh and cry: Men of God help us, what shall we do? The wrath of the Lord is gone forth, the fire of his indignation hath begun upon our houses: what must be done to quench it, that it might not reach our souls, that we may not suffer the vengeance of eternal fire?  
Christ's Counsel to the impotent man, John 5.14, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee, is proper and seasonable for me and you. My friends, come let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn us, and he will bind us up; he hath burnt you, and he will then build you up: Knowing the terror of the Lord, sure this Exhortation will obtain,  children will dread the fire: O tell thy lusts that have been as dear as thy right hand and eye unto thee, I'll be revenged. This month you have made me lie down in sorrow, and if you live, I am sure you will make me die, and live in sorrow for ever. I have seen and felt, and therefore dread the terrible God, who taketh vengeance on those that will go on in sin, though this voice by Word and Rod cry never so loud: Wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes, I will forsake my sins. This, this is that, my friends, you must do, or else you will be undone worse, a second time; at death you will be utterly undone. It is not enough to go up and down in the Ruins, looking wistly, sighing deeply, and saying, Alas! alas! so the friends of that mystical Sodom and Babylon shall do, Revel. 18.10. But you must say, By the grace of God, and in the strength of Jesus Christ, we will amend our lives for time to come; 'tis time, 'tis high time: we have received the first, but we will take heed of the worst fruits of sin. We will never love that more, which hath done more hurt in one hour, than it did us good all the days of our life. Strong drink will burn: the colour of it in the glass shall tempt me no more: A Christian beast will be a Monster in my account for ever: And therefore I will never put my bottle more to my Neighbour, to make him drunken, no never, after God hath put such a cup of his fury into my hands, and made me drink up the dregs thereof (Oh that God would say as Isa. 51.22, thou shalt no more drink it again); I did swear and blaspheme, and my tongue was set on Fire of Hell: 'Tis true, I was the more emboldened through the weakness of the Law, wanting execution; but God hath now required the penalty, and by his grace I'll forfeit no more, his Law is holy, just, and true; He will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. If God should say, the next Oath thou swearest, I'll burn thy house; I hope notwithstanding my house should stand for my posterity after me to dwell in. I am of another mind now; I shall never more think that they who will wickedly and commonly swear, can serve God with reverence and godly fear: If God will hear my prayers, and grant me his grace, I'll have other employment for my tongue for time to come; I'll pray, and out of my mouth shall proceed blessing; bu● I will curse and swear no more. It i● said one fire will fetch out another poor man! who hast broken the third Commandment, may be more than a hundred times a day, How happy wouldst thou be, if God should make the firing of thy house a remedy to fetch the fire of Hell out of thy tongue▪ O, I will boldly come into thy company for time to come, when I shall be sure not to hear the language of Hell. When I shall comfortably converse with a man, a Christian, and not with a Devil incarnate.  
My friends, my friends, these are heavenly resolves, to drink and swear, and sin no more. I pray God that these things thou bindest thyself to, may be bound in Heaven, for your help herein stands in the name of the Lord; through him alone, who must strengthen you, you can do these and all things.  
Were I among you, since this awakening Providence, I am persuaded I should have much such like work as John the Baptist had (if I was able to do it), every one ran unto him, after he had preached cuttingly, Luk. 3.9, saying, Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire: His Axe was so keen, that it divided between the marrow and the joints, and made them cry out, what shall we do then? Publicans and Soldiers, yea, all sorts came with their sores. John tells them what must be done, but to be sure he refers them farther, to one that came after him, yet was before him, who had the Balm that never failed; and shed wherewith to make a plaster, that would never fall off without effecting the cure: So after this loud preaching of God in flaming fire, many of your Consciences are scorched: Here say you, was a fire indeed, which put us in mind to purpose of the fire of Hell; great were our frights, and fears, by that; but to tell you the truth, we are afraid of our souls, if they should burn also, that would be worse than the burning of the whole world, because our souls are better than the world. It is true, we are convinced, and our sins do trouble us, but the fire is not out, for our pain and anguish still continues; What shall we do?  
Truly I should be glad of such company, and such complaints too; sure this work pleased John; and so Ministers of Christ work gladly all days of their lives, and have joy in hope, that this greatest recreation will be at the end of their work also: as it was at the end of John's preaching in the place before mentioned.  
But are you scorched indeed? doth the sore of your sin, since the Fire, run especially in the night? that you weep, when ye used to sleep? Are you truly troubled with the greatness and number of your sins, which the light of this Fire, through the grace of God, hath made discovery of? O then come away, make haste, linger not; the Gospel is an Hospital (the great Rabbi and Master of it calleth thee) where all sort of such maimed ones have lain: The door is open day and night for all such, the worst have been cured without money, and without price: Thy case thou sayest is sad: thy case I say is not desperate: I would not venture my soul rashly for a world; but I would pawn it this once, if thou be truly penitent, and canst look unto Jesus, and hast faith to say as Mary and Thomas did, Rabboni, My Lord, and my God; Though thy sins were as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Christ bids thee look unto him, and be saved: as sure as they that were stung with the fiery Serpents, when they looked upon the brazen Serpent, were healed, Numb. 21.9. So thou that lookest with a mournful, craving, steady, and believing eye, on Christ, the truth of that which was his type, thou shalt as certainly be saved. But then as they that were stung, did beware of the venomous teeth of the fiery Serpents ever after; So when thou art made whole, thou must sin no more, watch and pray continually, that thou enter not into temptation. I say, watch and pray, this counsel was never so seasonable as now. Satan knows God's expectations from you, now after this sweeping Judgement, are high; he knows if such opportunities of breaking the league with sin, and making peace with God, be lost, nothing more kindles the wrath of God, to leave you for ever, that you may die in your sins: this may make him swear in his wrath, I would have purified thee: I harkened, and heard, this Sabbath, and that Sermon, by former and latter calamities; when shall it once be? never, if not after this fire. They shall be smitten no more; they shall be awakened no more; sleep on now; but this know, your damnation sleepeth not. I called far and near; louder, and louder; all to no purpose. I'll hold my peace till the day I say, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire.  
I hope, my dearly beloved Friends, you will take the course before prescribed, to prevent this sentence, and to escape that punishment; but if not, know assure'ly the fire of Wem was purposely to make the fire of Hell hotter than else it would have been. Can you bear with my using this sharpness? will ye indeed bear with me? I use it, because of my hearts desire unto God, that you may be saved. I love you, therefore you will bear with me; and therefore I warn you, saying, Miss the wise improving of this hour of fire, this fiery trial, and it may be as much as your immortal souls are worth.  
Good sirs, good sirs, Do not return to folly again, lest Satan should beguile you of this golden opportunity, to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. O should I hear or see, that Wem, which hath been a boyling-pot over so fierce a fire, yet still doth retain her scum to mix and settle again; I should cry out, beware, there is death in the pot: Should I live again among you, though I should see goodlier houses, yet I would lie in ashes, if those that owned them did not more own Religion, and the good ways of God, than for some years before the fire they have done; if they did not return from their sins to the Lord, after they had so fallen by their iniquity. In the mean time, God forbidden that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, (till God open a door, that I might teach you the good and the right way) 1 Sam. 12.23, that the greatest sense of this dismal Fire may continue upon you, lest you come under the same condemnation with them, Psal. 28.5, They regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, therefore we will destroy them. I need not tell you again, there is a worse Fire yet; the Fire that burns souls, is a thousand times worse than yours; yea, than that which must burn the World.  
Let your fire put you in mind of that: Did you run to and fro in the streets, while the flame did fly as fast on the top of your houses, sighing, sobbing, and at last swooning? What Town so miserable as ours, for behold in one hour we are poor, and miserable, and naked? Was there at once a common screeking-cry? O my house is burnt, the cruel flames are eating quite up my habitation: All is gone, saith another; I am as poor as Job, saith a third; all undone, all undone. What a dreadful time and cry will that be then, when the whole world shall be burnt up? O what weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth will there be then, when the Lord shall come from Heaven in flaming fire, and render vengeance to them that know him not, and obey not the Gospel of his Son; burning the World first, and then the Throne for Judgement shall be set (God knows where), that the wicked and unbelieving inhabitants of all the earth, may be doomed and burnt with everlasting fire? Yours was a sad cry; at the general conflagration it will be sadder; but the saddest, loudest and killing screek of all, will be at the pronouncing upon Reprobates that dreadful sentence, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.  
I hope also by this Fire, you will be convinced as the people were, 1 Kings 18.38, 39 When the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the sacrifice, with the wood, the stones, and the dust; took all, as yours did: They fell upon their faces, and said. The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. So say you, verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth, that is long-suffering, but not ever suffering; who, if he be not sanctified by a people, will sanctify himself upon that people. God will come and right himself: although he may be slow, yet he will be sure; you have often heard by the hearing of the ear, that there is a great and terrible God; now your eye have seen, Oh fall down and kneel before everlasting burn, and a consuming fire; the Lord of hosts, who hath all creatures of his Army to fight against them, that fight against him, will overcome when he judgeth. Fire and Water, Flies and Frogs, Men or Angels, good or bad, what Regiments he pleaseth to Muster and Commission, must and shall accomplish that whereto he send them. If God said to those Malcontents, Numb. 12.8, Were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? one i● Commission under him: Well than must you be afraid to sin proudly and presumptuously any more for ever against the Mighty God, and Lord of Hosts himself: Do not begin again to provoke him. I hope God hath put the sword up into the scabbard; and there it wil● rest and be still, if you do not draw it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be sorry, and tremble to hear ●fter this fire, of any Flagrans peccatum, ●. e. debauched practices to bear date af●er the 3d of March, 1676, [than that ●ire was].  
Upon your repentance you are purged from your old sins: God reputes; and ●s he repent, and said he would drown ●he World no more; so if Wem thus sin ●o more, than he will burn it no more. And therefore I beseech you prepare no fuel for a second burning; if you do, who knows the Power of God's anger? he may second it with the second death. You must sin wickedly no more against a God that hath you at Command, to do with you in two Worlds what he will.  
By the light of this Fire also you may see to write vanity and folly upon all things in this life, and upon the ●nordinate loving, caring, and seeking after them: that which did full your heads, and your hearts, employ your hands, and six days in a week were too little for Body and Soul, to be extended to the utmost for them; but God's day, and all must be taken in; the snatching flames have caught hold on, and they are yours no more. May not some Neighbours take one another by the hand, and bring them to their respective Ruins; and say, Neighbour, if that was a man's God he loved most, then here in this heap of rubbish and ashes lies my God, to whom I did sacrifice, rising early, and lying down late: I see by this Fire my God was a dunghill God, and to the dunghill it must go. O the folly, the fol●● of a mortal man, thus to busy an immortal soul, which is to stay in the body but a little while, and that a purpose to get grace, to make it meet for glory, to spend time and strength about that which is a heap of vanity; and which is worse, to purchase it with the hazard of everlasting happiness! Such a one is to purpose an Object of pity, whose riches are gone, but the sinful getting of them remains to be a witness against him, before that Judge of quick and dead. For a man to get riches, and lose them, and after lose his soul for getting them, is desperate folly and madness, and the ●orriblest cheat that the Devil can put ●pon man; and therefore for time to ●ome, I hope you will forsake him, and ●ake the Scripture for your guide, for ●eeking the things of this world, Matth. ●. 33. John 6.27. To seek them for God's sake, not for their own; because ●e commands, and in the order he appoints, giving them such estimations and affection's, as he allows; and if you would do so my friends, and return in your duty and prime love to God, you would (had you little or much) live far happier lives than if you should have for the future, much more than ever ye did possess.  
I beseech you in dear compassion to your souls, take heed of choosing that way which makes the getting to Heaven so difficult, which is blocked up by the love and cares of this World.  
I beseech you my dear Friends, join your earnest prayers with mine to God, to give you new hearts, that through his assisting grace, henceforward ye may seek the things that are above the fiery Region, things that ye cannot lose. You have lately experienced the sad disappointment of laying up treasure 〈◊〉 earth; the Scripture, when you have do●● all, will prove your best counsellor, 〈◊〉 lay up your treasure in Heaven.  
You have served a bad Master all th● while, Mammon hath put you all thi● while to drudge and labour in the Fire and now behold the fire hath devoure● your labour. I pray you now steadfastly resolve one by one, to change your Master, choose God for your Master. Dot● not his word tell you, Him only mus● thou serve? This is your best Master return to him from whom thou hast ru● away ever since the Covenant thou mades● with him in baptism; pray him again to receive thee into his service, and thou shalt be sure of better work; yea, better and surer wages also. Is not this hi● Covenant with all his servants, not only as Isa. 33.16. Thy meat shall be given thee, and thy drink shall be sure? But also to give thee grace and glory, and to withhold no good thing from thee: Do you not remember what hath been told you, and where, that God will be your Father, Christ your Saviour, the Holy Ghost your Comforter, Angels your Guardians, Saints your Companions, that Manna shall be your food, and like the King's daughters, Psal. 45.13. Your clothing shall be of wrought gold, the world shall be your servant, the Devil your slave, death shall be your friend, and heaven shall be your home? serve the King of Kings, and this shall be your ●●ire. Good sirs, will you with full purpose of heart resolve to serve a good God? It shall never repent you of his service, when you come to die. O it ●●s brave resolving upon that which a man needs never repent of. I know it ●●rks you much, that you have risen early, ●ayen down late to get something together, which with bleeding hearts ye saw burning together. O foolish, and foolish again, have we all been, that our lusts should guide our lives, and order our labours! Now we see what's come on't, we were deaf to the word all this while, that cried, O ye fools, when will ye be wise? We hope through the blessing of God, this Fire was good to make us wise; and the Lord being with us, w● will make proof of it for time to come Now most amiable, true, and lovely Religion, the everlasting doors of our soul● are open to give thee entertainment We will set thee up, and thou wilt se● up our houses, or settle us in a house which we shall never go out of, after we are once in it. Now say one by one, let your souls say, I'll be servant to no creature on earth; I tell you I will serve the God of Heaven. My Maker shall be my Master, and then I am sure I am made for ever.  
Well, my dearly beloved Friends, whose eternal happiness my soul indeed yearns after: you have resolved, now put your hands to the plough, and what your hearts find to do, do it with all your might; you must put your All to it, All is too little, yet the good God will graciously accept this little All. But let me tell you beforehand, there be some in the world that will give you discountenance and discouragement, that will think it strange that ye run not with them, as of old, to the same excess of ●iot; that will persecute you by mocking (as Ishmael did the Son by promise): What, you mean to grow pure after the Fire, do you? Thou that wast as honest a fellow as lived before, I know not what to make of thee now; I am afraid you will turn Changeling, and grow mad. I doubt you will not find me a false Prophet; you will, if you be real, be put to this test: you are permoniti, but are you permuniti? Do you know your posture and guard, if the sword of the tongue should make this pass upon you? Will you say, or to the same purpose thus: I did use to do so myself, time was; and that while, sure I was doing service under the Devil, whose great business in the World is to hurry some to Hell, and hinder others all he can from going to Heaven. But these things do not move me now, I thank God that ego non sum ego, here am I, but not the same. I am resolved to serve God if I die for't; I shall die the worst of deaths if I do not; I am sure there is none so wicked as to except against him, who said, Away from me, for I will keep the Commandments of my God; and why then against me, for saying with the same heart, the same words? jeer me for this, and jeer the Scripture, and none but Devils in the shape of men dare do so. Let men continue to be godly, till I reproach them for their godliness, for time to come.  
Well then, having this encouragement, I call you all together; and desire you to make profession what you will do to glorify God and save your Souls. Shall one speak for all, and the rest say, Amen? He that speaketh for you, methinks says in the sincerity of his heart, as Paul, I was a blasphemer, I was a Persecutor, I was injurious, I was this and that, and what not? to demonstrate the heart of man to be deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: but God in mercy did bring this late Fire to enlighten me: what he did upon mine, was but a means; his end was me: He would have me see one Fire, that I might never feel another. I thank God for ever, it was a good Fire for me; I find, (as Sampson's Riddle hath it) Judg. 14.14, out of the eater comes meat. The Fire, like Pharoah's lean kine, did eat all the fat of my substance; but it made ready the Passover for me, and I have eaten the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World. And now I will tell you what I will do for this God, who while I thought he was undoing me, hath done so much for me. I will receive him into my heart, and walk worthy of him in my life; and if ever God send me a new house (if ever I have one, it must be of Gods sending; as Ahasuerus did command the Governors, Neh. 2.8, to supply Nehemiah, that he might build; so God must command his Almoners concerning Wem, that it be built also) I will dedicate it to the honour of God, in my calling and relation: What was Joshuah's resolution, shall be mine; As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord: My serving of God in his House, will be but a mock-service, if I do not serve him in my own. There will I pray and not be ashamed; I will rejoice with singing, and this shall be the burden of my Song, For his mercy endureth for ever. God might have said, Ashes to Ashes, House and Household burn together. [The Fire began at eight at Night] If it had kindled in the dead of the Night, we might have been presently in the chambers of Death. It is a night therefore much to be observed to the Lord, a Night from which we may date our new life; there was nothing but this caused joy in the Morning, after heaviness enduring all Night, but that we had our lives for a prey, when we saw no houses left; yet what cause of adoring with thankfulness, that we were all alive before the Lord then ourselves!  
And doth not this lay an eternal obligation to serve him, who was the preserver of us, our wives and little ones? After such deliverance as this given to us, shall we again provoke him? Can we expect to escape another time, if we should slight so great salvation? Make vows and pay them, serve God at home, and serve him in the Congregation, keep his Sabbath, be afraid because of the power, when the Magistrate shall contend with you, as Nehem. 14.17, and say, what evil is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath? I am afraid Sabbath-sins have been a chief cause of consuming the Timber, with the Stones of thousands of goodly Houses in England within these few years. How many in Shropshire? where many Fires have been kindled and burning upon the Lord's day; so in the great City, and other great places in the Nation. Keep within (on the Lord's day) your own, and God's house, to keep out the flying Roll, and the burning Curse. O that all places round about might have a pattern of Universal Reformation, in Wem, as well as an instance of doleful Desolation! And therefore how much doth it stand our Ministers upon, to walk circumspectly, to preach powerfully, to preach, as if they would save themselves, and them that hear them? As they know they are directed by their Superiors to pray; so they must know it will be expected one day from the great shepherd, that by Life and Doctrine they set forth God's true and lively word. Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Are such like to prevail with others to bear heavy burdens, when they that bind them, will not touch them themselves? The Prophet Isaiah thought otherwise, and therefore would not give the people Precepts without joining his own examples, Isa. 2.5, O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Good Ministers say their people shall not go to Heaven alone, they will go with them, and be their leaders: that Church had but a name to live, whose Angel was dead. If the Minister be dead, how should the people be lively?  
My beloved Friends, God sent this Fire to awaken us all; 
Three Fires in Wem, in three quarters of a year.  Ministers and People, watch therefore against all sin, to all duty; you will say they are incorrigible offenders, who will commit iniquity to be punished by the Judges, after they are once burnt in the hand; What mercy can you expect from your Judge, who have been burnt thrice? God expects superlative sufferers, should be ever after incomparable reformers, and to have no more to do with the unfruitful works of darkness. We read in the Gospel, the last shall be first. Who knows but by the power and grace of God, scoffers of godliness, having now known the terror of the Lord, may be the first to encourage and promote it! He that made so good a Paul, of so vile and wicked a Saul, can do this: when men have been melted in such a Fire, they may be moulded and fashioned by him who made all things, vessels of Honour fit for their Master's use. Can I see this, that one hours burning hath done more for conviction and Reformation, than twenty years preaching, I would say, God spoke to such out of the Fire indeed. By this Fire God hath laid a deep Foundation, and if you be not wanting to yourselves, you may build high, and make Wem a place of Renown. If you would take my counsel, it should be this; presently get the start of all places about you, and set up the Staple-trade of practical godliness; there is such a mystery in this Trade, that it would make you all presently rich: you would have the blessings of the upper and nether springs, and your latter end like Job's, would be far better than your beginning. Wem hath ever wanted a good Trade; I am sure this course will bring one. Scripture rules and examples will direct you in this Practice of Piety; be much therefore in reading the sacred Book; other books may be of great use, but this is of infallible verity; let the word of Christ therefore dwell richly in you, in all Wisdom, Teaching and Admonishing one another: Love as brethren and companions in Tribulation; let all bitterness, envy, and malice, be put away. Seek not your own things, but every one another's good: grudge not brethren one against another: live in peace, and the God of peace be with you, Take heed in the last place of grudging and murmuring against God: God will not be called in question for any of his works. All souls are his, and so are all houses to; let him do his pleasure to one or tother, who shall say unto him, what dost thou? You must needs say he hath punished you less than ye do deserve, and then there is no wrong done; stand still and see the Provision God will make for you: if you will vow to God, that when he shall again build your houses, you will write Holiness to the Lord, over your doors, God will delight over you to do you good. Wem shall flourish; and men did not so much marvel at its desolation, but they shall as much admire your restauration: But if you fulfil the Proverb, 2 Pet. 2.22, The dog is returned to his vomit, and the sow to the wallowing in the mire, I tremble to think what will befall you in the latter end; but I hope better things of you, things that accompany salvation.  
I shall forbear (because my Letter hath gteatened beyond my first intention) to write to them whose Houses and Goods were preserved from being consumed by this dreadful Fire; because there is a book Printed in 67, called Counsel to the Afflicted, will give them better advice than I can, which gins at pag. 293, which book some of their Neighbours can, and will willingly accommodate them with the reading of, and any others may have it, I suppose, at Mr. Parkhursts at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside, London.  
And now my Friends, I commend you all to the grace of God, whom I beseech to comfort you under your present grievous Afflictions; which I doubt not of, if you will but hear his voice, which cries aloud unto you, Micah 6.9, Hear the rod, and who hath appointed it. And put in practise this Counsel given in much love to your souls, from the unworthiest of Christ's Servants, sometime yours,  
And. Parsons.   

ERRATA.  
Pag. 4. Line 4. for March read May.   

POssibly this Letter may come into more hands besides theirs, to whom 〈◊〉 have particularly written, who have also suffered in like manner with them. Where ere it comes, I shall follow it with my Prayers, that it may contribute something to revive the sense in all places (which are not a few in England these ●ate years) people had, when the heavy hand of God by Fire was upon them. Great judgements are to be kept in remembrance, and to be improved for promo●ing repentance, and the fear of God all our days; yea, the memory of them should be conveyed to posterity after us; as Joel 1.3, Tell your children, and let your children tell their children. Men think unworthily of God's Judgements, if they suppose they are only to be regarded a few days.  
Men and Brethren, who have suffered by so great and unusual Fires as have been in our Land: What were your thoughts when your eyes were sadly beholding those terrible flames? Were they not such as these? We have angered the great an● terrible God, whose fury hath broke● out in these terrible flames. woe unto u● we must repent, or else our souls and bodies, as well as our houses and goods, wil● be also as dry stubble to this Consuming Fire. Lord what wilt thou hav● us to do? We will sin no more, but offe● our bodies and souls a living and acceptable sacrifice to God for ever.  
It cannot be hurtful, it may be profitable, if I (the unfittest of those that mak● mention of the Lord), be your remembrancer of these promises made to God i● the day of your distress; the word is gon● out of your mouth, and recorded in Heaven, and ye cannot go back.  
It is therefore your wisdom, and mus● be your chiefest care, that these bonds b● taken up; and that payment be made o● these vows, lest execution be taken out o● the Court of Heaven, and a worse thing come unto you, than the dreadful Fir● could procure; there can be no security against greatest fears and dangers, till God's anger be turned away so long as his hand is stretched ou● still, past misery may be but the beginning of future sorrows.  
As a Minister of the Catholic Church, I have Authority from Christ to speak, if I could, to the whole Nation, or wherever he hath a Church in the World, being called thereto; but if I had opportunity, and power answerable to desire, I would chief, if not only, confine myself to put those places and people where the merciless Fire hath been so raging for a few years past, in remembrance, whether they have answered the call of God, when he cried then so loud. O Drayton, Newport, Marlborough, London, Northhampton, Southwark, with many other places of note in England, which have suffered the vengeance of fearful Fire; you were once in ashes, have you repent in dust and ashes?  
I make no question, but your respective Ministers cried aloud, calling you to repentance (the main Errand which my Letter goes on) as seasonably, but much more powerfully than I have done to the place and people I once belonged to.  
But Men and Brethren, what answer and return? Methinks God hath picked out these and other  places (the light of whose flames was seen all the Country over) to be the purest and visiblest patterns of Piety towards God, and sobriety towards men, of all places in this Kingdom; and if they should not prove such, should I speak too hardly, if I did adventure to say, it shall be more tolerable in the day of Judgement for any other place in the Kingdom, than for these?  
What can be said for these places, when Christ speaketh, saying, What could I have done more?  
You would not be reasoned, which my faithful Ministers did wisely and earnestly attempt; no, nor be burnt out of your sins, which the power of my anger, and my outstretched arm attempted also.  
Beloved Christians, you have been pulled out of the Fire, but were you purified in the Fire? Have you testified the truth of your repentance, for those sins that were the chief fuel for the fire which the wrath of the Lord did kindle? Have you testified indeed the sincerity of this repentance, as the believing Corinthians did, 2 Cor. 7.11, as all the Saints recorded in Scripture, did by reformation of life?  
This Nation is sick, and ready to die for want of repentance and reformation. God hearkens, and hears; men look and inquire from one end of the Kingdom to another; who shall begin, be the first, and best example of this real, universal, and effectual reformation; that England, though it droops, may not die.  
Sure these great places, who all had this loud call from Heaven, God calling out of the Fire unto them, are to be first. I am sure God expects and designs such so to be. Joel 2.3, 12. The Fire devoured before, and the voice of the Lord comes after, saying, Turn unto me with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  
So when the Cities of Judah were burnt with Fire, the design of God was, that the filth of the daughter of Zion should be cast away, Isa. 1.7. God hath the same expectations from you, O people, whom the Fire of the Lord hath destroyed, and laid waste. Hath God ever since waited for this? when shall it once be? O give not God occasion to speak of you, as he did of Judah, Amos 4.10, Ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning, yet have ye not returned unto me.  
Though Judah thus offended by being incorrigible, O let not cause be given for God to set this brand upon you! He had you in the Fire to melt you under his hand, to work you up to his good pleasure; but you failed his expectation as much as they did, Zeph. 3.6, 7.  
But I hope better things from these places who have passed through the Fire. I hope than they prayed effectually, like David, O God create in us new hearts, that we might lead new lives, and walk in a perfect way in our new houses, that we might sin no more, that so we might be burnt no more. Which shall be the earnest prayer also of their souls wellwisher,  
A. P. April the 5th, 1677.  
FINIS.