I 654 Of ferving G~d, roitb can blaft the Soul, and burn it t o a very Cinder: Oh! then tremble to think what VJ'rath his heavy Hlnd can inftiCl: upon thee; that Hand that fprcAti; out the Heavens, ~tnd in the hollow of rrhich ht holds the great ~VatcrJ of the Sea; that Ha.nd of God in which his great Strength lies; oh! what Wrath will it infliCt upon thee. when it falls upon thee in the full Power of his Might? ' Tbi~ con· ( 3·) Thirdly, Con(idtr this confum ing Fire, lljier it bath once fciz.td upon t1Jt Soul ~'.m'~f. is fOr ever unquenchablc. Indeed thou mayit hinder it from kindling upon thY q~::;;,~n- Soul. As when a Houfe is on Fire, they u[ed to fpout Water upon the Walls of ablt:. the neighbouring Houfes, to keep the Flames from catching hold of them : So you may, by fprinkling the Blood of Jefus Chrill, and by moillning you r fc!ves with the Tears of t rnc Repentance, prevent this confuming Fire from preyin upon you; but if once it kindles, it will there burn evcrlaltinely; it 4s not lik~ your fublwmy Ftre;; thcfe fpend the Matter they feed on, and be they of never fo great force they muft at length themfelves fiarvc for want of Fuel; yea the fooner they cop fume, the fooncr arc they themfelves confumed, as in Stra; and other light combuftible Matter; but God is fuch a Fire as confumes without di· minifhing, and hi ~ Power iS fuch a Power as deftroys the Soul, and ycr;pcrpetuates it; he is fuch a wife an~ intelligen t Fire as confumes the Damned aud yet repairs them, and by tormenting ftiH nourifhes them for future Torments. As Mmurius fpcaks; the fame Breath of God that deftroys the Soul, frill keeps it alive, that it may be eternal Fuel for it felf. Hence is itthJt 'Hell-Fire is dcfcribed to be fuch as llldll never be quenched, Mark 9· 44· And why? But becaufe the Breath of the Lord, Like a ~cry Stream, •is Jlill kindlmg of it. \Vhy now into the midfi: of this 'devouring Fire muft lhe Damned dwell, without any Period either to their Being or to their Torment, a ~.d when they have lain there frying Mill ions and Millions of Years, frill is it but a beginning of t hei r Sorrows, and they arc as far from a Rcleafc and Difcharge as they were at the _firft. Think with your felves how long and how tedious a little time feems to you when you are in Pain; yo~ complain then, that Time hath leaden Feet, and wifh ~hat the Days and Hours would roll away fafier: Oh! what·will it be then, when you fhall lie Sweating Sweltring and Frying in Hell, when the intolerablen~_fs l?f Pain fuall nrake everY Hour feem an Age, and every Year feem a long Etermty It fdf,and yet you muft lie an Eternity of thofc Years there? This makes their Torments doubly everlafting. Methinks the dreadful Thoughts of this eten1.1\ly confuming Fire, fuould make the ftoutcft Heart to quale; or at leaft to caufe a cold Fit cf fearJ beiorc this . burnin p, and f\.:orching Torment begins. ;:::;[~~~ (4.)_ Fourthly, God is Juch a confuming Fire as 1ri(i pre{ upon· the Soul, that tender ing Fire as atl~ Jp.rttull.l p~rt.of Man. The more 9r~fs tl~e Su~J.eCt IS, the more dull. are the •iil pre)' Pams that It iuftcrs; but where the ::;ub)eft 1s fpmt ual, there the Angutfll muft uton tk needs be cxtream; the fuJTpcft Torments that the Body. is capable of, is but a Soul. dull Thing in comparifon of what the ~oul can feel; when God himfelf fualllafh the Soul, that more refined part, drawurg Blood at every ftrokr, all comparifons fall fuort of cxpremng the An?,uilh of it: To fuoot poifon'd Darts inftam'd into ~Man's !vlarrow, ~o ~·ip up his Bowels with a. ~word re(~ hot, .is as nothing to thts. Thtnk what 1t IS to have a drop of bmltng, fcald10g Oil, or melting Lead fall into your Eyes, and make it boil and burn tiU at laft it falls out of your Heads; fuch Torments, yea, infinitely more than thi <:, is it to have the Wrath of God fall upon your Souls. The Soul it is the Principle of ail Seats, the Body is a kind .ofFcnce to it, it damps and deadens the Sc1art, as a Blow upon a doathed Man is,not fo painful as upOn one that is ftark Naked; why now if the Soul fome· times feels fuch Smart and Pain through the Body, what fuall it feel when God {hall -pour his Wrath upon it ftark Naked? The ~"~~g~r (5.) Fifthly, Ct'nftder the longer tht'u liveft in thy Sins impenitently, the more dflft -;;~~~~~m thou p~ep~tre thy Soul to be fi~_Fuel for.this confuming Fire to devour: This is but like mo:etoe the 01hng of a Barrel of Pltch, whlch of tt felf was apt enough bcf~re to burn. prepue"ur Thofe whom the Wrath of God fnatches away in the beginning at their Days, Souls to be are made Fuel for that confuming Fire; and if it be done fa to the green Tree, ~~Jfor _ what will be done to the dry and rotten Tree? Thou that haft ftood many Years ~j"' '";fu· rotting in the World, when God _fuall come and cut thee down and c.tft thee into · ng rrc. unquenchable Fire, how foon will thou kindle and how dreadfully wil~ thou burn, having no Sap lef& in thee to allay and mitigate thofe Flames? Ccrtamly would buc
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