4P ~ellS Jt)OttOUt. Hell-fire (~t the firfl: naming) makes my foul to tremble;. ~nd would the boldc~rage but enter mto a fenous meditatiOn, what It were to he evcrlall:ingly in a red-hot fcorching fire, how could he chufe but fiand afl:onilhed at the confiderauon? it is 4 fu. fiow fire: rou:z.e up (beloved) for either this, or nothmg w1ll awake you from the flee of fin wherein you fnort too fecurely. P Some differences there,are about this fire: many think it a Met4phoric41,othcrs a m 41 . rial fire; be it whcth<r it will, it is every way fearful, and far above the reach cith;& of humane or Angelica\ thoughts to conceive. If it be Maaphorital (as 6'>·egoryand Calvine arc of a minde) then is it either more or nothing l'effe terrible: when the Holy Ghofl: lhadows unto us the Joys of heaven by gold, and pMrle<, and precmu ftones, Rev. 21. there IS no one thmks but thofe joycs do far fnrpalfe thefc lhadows: and if the pains of hell arc fer out by fire, and flames and brimllone, and burning,what pains are thofe, to which thefe are nothing but dumb 1hows or types ? Or if hell-fire be material (as Attg~tftine and Bullenger do conjeCTure) yet is it far be– yond any fire on earth: mark but the difference: our fire is made for comfort: hdl-ftre is created for nothing elfe but torment: our fire is blown with fome airy breath ofman, but hell-fire is blown with the angry breath of God:ourfire is fed with the fuel of Wood or Coale , but ht/1-fre is tempered with all the terrilAe tortuirng ingredients of fulphur, a!'ld brimftone; or (to cut the way nearer) I will reduce all the differences to fame of thefe foure, and fo proceed in their order: they differ; firfl:, in heat ; fecond– l y, in light; thirdly, m thetr objeEl ; fourthly, id dnrarne. Firll:, in heat: Thepile thereofis fire and much ~,ood, and the wreath of the Lord li/,s 4 ftream of brimftone doth kjndle it, Efay 30. 33. This fire is not made by the hand of man, nor blown from the bellows of fome forge, nor fed with any fuel of combullible matter : no, it is the armc of God, and the breath of God, and the anger of God that kindles it lharply, and continues it everlafl:ingly; and 1I pray) tf the breath that kJndles it, be ltks "Jlteam of brimftone, what is the fire it felf? you know there is a great difference betwixt the heat of our breath, and the }ire in our chimnies: Now then, if the breath ofGoJ that kindles hell-fire be diffolved into brimfl:one, what a fearful fire is that, which a great torrent of burning Brirnfione doth ever mightily blow? A torrent of Brimll:one faid I ! no, it is not Brimll:one, but like Bnmftone, like to our capacity, although for the nature this liks is not Lks ; nay, could we know exac'tly what this breath were, you would fay (I warrant you) it were far more hotter than ten thoufana Rivers of Brimllone, were they nU put together: Our G"od (faith the Apofl:le) is acon– fuming fire, Heb. I 2. 29. And if God be a fire, what then is hell-fire, kindled by the breath of God? 0 my fot<l, holV canft thou bttt tremble at the thought ofrhu fi>e, at which the very Devils themfelves do quaks and fhiver? Paure a while and confider; wert thou arraigned at fame earthly bar, thy doom pa!t, the execution at h"nd, and thy body ilow ready to be call:, (as many a Martyrs was) into fomc burning fire, or boyling Cal– dron: 0 how wouldcil: thou !hour, and roare, and cry through the extremity of tor' ment? but what js a boyling Caldron to that boyling feu of fire and brimfrone? pitc-h and fulphur boyld altogether, were not this enough? See there the perplexing proper· ties of n.ich heats ; they burn as brimfl:orie, darkly to grieve the fight, fharply to afHill tHe fcnfe;' loathfomely to perplex the fmell: it is a fire that needs no bellows to kindle it, nor admits of the leafl: air to cool it ; the fuel wafl:es not, the fmoake vents not; the chimnies are as Reprobates cradles, where they lye fcorching, burning, hauling their lullabies,and their nurfes furies. The flames of NebMchad>rez.tar.r fire could afccnd foor– ty nine Cubitl: but if hell be a bottomlefs pit, fure thefc flames have an endletfc height; How hot then is that glowing Oven, where the fire burnes livdy, the blajls go flrongly, the JVheels turn roundly, and the darkned jltel are thofe da'IJned fouls that bu;·n ;n a11 hw fnrpajfing oim, unfpe•k...able of"' ! here is one difference. Secondly, as hell-fire differs from ours inheat, fo in light; Cdj'fthattmprofitabh fer– val!t (faith our Saviour) into utter darkneffe, Mat. 2), 30. Vtter,] to perplex the mtndq Matth. 2 5 ' 10 ' Darilneffe,] to confound the eye. Confider but the terrour of this cir"umfiancc; ,r a man alone in darknetfe lhould fudderrly I\ear a noife of ghofl:s and fpifits coming towards him, how would his haire brill: le, his tqngue falter, his blood run to the heart? rea (I dar~ fay) although he felt never a lafh from them on hi> body, y~t th~,?nlr. houlmg of devtl~ would make his very inmofl: fu;art to !hake and. fh1vcr? 0 then, ,what her– four is that, when darknctfc muft furround thee, and devils llollow to thee, and reprob~tes
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