d. God's Wrath dreadful to Sinners. Wret~hes mufi lye t~mhli_ng to all Etern~ty, burn~ up with che fiercends of a tor.. rnent!ng and devo?nnp Fu·e,fcourged wtth Scorpio?s, ftung with fiery Serpents, howltng and :oa:mg Inceffaml_y, an~ none to puy, much lefs to relieve and help them, gnndtng and gnafhmg rhetr Teeth through the ~xtremity of their ' Anguilh and Torture. If now you can fancy any thing more terrible and dread. fut than this, Hell is rhat,"yea, and much mo~e: Forthefe things are Met 11phorical; . and though I cannot deny but fome of the!e may be properly an d literally true · ye:t the literal Senfe ofthefe Metapbo,s do but faintly and weakly Jhew us wha: the leaf! part of thofe everlafl:ing Torments are. SecoNdly, Another Demonflration of the dreadfulnefs of chis Vengeance is this That it is a Wrath that !hall come up umo, and equal all ou r Fears. You kno~ what an im~emive and ingenious thing Fear is, what horrid Shapes it can fancy to it fetf out of every thing; Pur bur an active Fancy into an Aff right,and pre~ fently the whole World will be filled with firange Monflers a nd hideous Ap- paritions. T .he very fhaking of a Leaf will fometimes rout all the Forces and Re. folutions of Men: And ufuallyit is this wild Paffion that clo th enhance all other Dangers, and make them feem greater and more dreadful th an indeed they are. Buc now here it is impoffible for a wicked Man to fear more than he fhall cer - tainly fuffer. Let his Imaginations be hung round with all th e difmel Shapes that ever frighted Men ouc of their \V its : Let his Fancy dip its Pencil in the deepeft Melancholy rharever any Soul was befmeared with , and then fhive to pourtray and exprefs the moft terrible things that it can judg e robe the Objcffs of F~ar, orrhe Inftruments ofTormmt; yet the Wrath of the great God vaitly ex. ceeds all that Fear it felf can poffibly reprefem. See that ilra nge Expreffion, P{d. 90. Who knwn the Po1ver of thine Angn·? According to thy Ftnr, fo U th; Wrath" That Jr. is, according to the fear Men have of thee, as dreadful and as terrible as they can poffibly apprehend thy Wrath to be, fo it is, and much more. Ler the Heart of Man fi:retch it felf to the utmoft Bounds of Imagination, and call in to ics Aid all the things that ever it hach heard or feen to be dreadful; let ic ( as that Painter, who to make a beautiful Piece, borrowed feveral ofthe beil- Features from fev eral beautiful Perfons) borrow all the dreadful,all the direful Repre fentationsrhatever it mer with, to make up one moft terrible Uea; yet the Wrath of God lhall ftill exceed it: He can exccuce more Wrath upon us than we can fear. Some wicked Men in this Life have had a Spark of this Wtath of God fall u pon their Con- fciences, when they lye roaring out under Defpair and fear ful Expectations of the fiery Indignations of God to confume and devour the m. But alas this is nothing to what they fhall hereafter feel. God now cloth b ut open to them a fmall chink and crevice into HeU, he now doch but fuffer a few fmall drops of his Wrath eo fall upon them. And if this be fo fore and fma rt char their Fears could never think of any thing more dreadful than what t hey now fuffer; 0 what will ic be rhen when he fhall overwhelm them with a whole Delu ge ofhis . , Mat. 1o. Wrath, and caufe all his Waves to go over them? Fear him, fays our Saviour, 28, 'vho is able to tleflr()] both Soul and Body in Hell ; yea I [ay unto you,fear him. And ~ .:>-t xet when we have feared according to the Utmoft extent ofour narrow Hearts,yec fiill his infinite Power and Wrath is infinitely more fearful than we can fearir• . rr ;, 1hirdly, Confider the principal and immediate Subject of this Wrath of God and that is the Soul, and this adds much to the dreadfuinefs of it. The acuteft Torments chat the Body is capable of, are but dull and flat things in.comparifon of ~~ .1. what the Soul can feel. Now when God fhall immediately with his own Hand lalh the Soul, that refined and fpiritual Part of Man, the Princ iple of. all Life · t~;~ and Senfation,and lhall draw Blood from it every Stripe, how intolerable may we conceive thofe Pains and Tortures tO Be? To lhoor poyfon'd Dares into a Man's ·Marrow, to dp up his Bowels with a Swo~d red hot; all this is as nothing to ic. -~' : Think what it is to have a drop of fcalding Oil, or melted Lead, fall upon the · "Apple of your Eyes, that lhould make them boy! and burn ti ll they fall out of your Heads ; fuch Torment, nay, infinitely more rhan fuch , is it to have the burning Wrath of God to fall upon the Soul. W«, find thar Spirits which are infinitely inferiour untoGod, ,can make fhangelmprelftons upon the Souls of Men~, And !hall nor the great God much more, who is che Father of Spirits? ·Yes, ht:, can conu;e them by his effenrial Wrath. And that God, who, as the Prophet Nab. r.6. Nnhum fpeaks, can mtlt Mountajns, and rn11ke Hii/J and Rock1 flow do1vn llf hiS ' ~ "' Prt{tnct:~
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