Book I!. GOD 'ro THE WICKED rs A CoNsUMING FIRE. METAPHOR. will !pare the Palac.e of a Prince, no more than the Cottage of a Peafant ; Gold and Silver is melt– ed by it, as well as Brafs and Lead : The flron<>elt Caflle, and beft For– tification ~ufl: down before it; it turns all into Duft and Rubbilh; Cedars and mighty Oaks are con– fumed before it. PARALLEL. Vengeance be brought down and confumed, as well as the Beggar on the Dunghill ; the gallant Citizen, as well as the inferior Countryman. The greateft Courage then will fail, and the firongeft llelhly Confidence then will Ggnify no– thing. '.the Day of the Lord of Hojfs jhall be upon every one that is lofty, and upon every one that is proud, and lifted up, and he jhall be brought down ; upon all the Cedars of Lebanon, that are lifted up, and upon all the Oaks of Balhan ; upon all high Mountains, and upon all the Hills that are lifted up ; and upon every high '.tower, and upon every fenced Wall, thtl/ is lifted up with the Ilaughtineft of Man, jhall the fierce In– dignation of the Lord be kindled, evm to the beari1lg it down, and laying it down, and laying it low, even to the Dujf; and the Lord jhall be exalted in that Day. '.the i\,fotm– tains quake at him, and the Htlls are melted, and the Earth burnt up, (or, is burned up.) But the whole Earth jhall be devoured by the Fire of his Jealoujj ; neither their Gold nor Silver jhall be able to de/zver them in the Day of the Lord's Wrath, !fa. ii. IZ. -- '7· Zeph. i. 18. VI. Wood, Hay, and5tubble, are fit Fuel for a conjuming Fire to feize llpon ; and fuch Things as are combuflible make it burn the more vehemently. And if high and ftrong Towers cannot ftand before a confuming and devouring Fire, how it is poflible for Briars and Thorns? VII. A dreadful Fire, when it breaks our, turns all Joy into Sor– row; it makes a Day of Mirth a Day of Mourning, and makes rich Men poor: Nothing impoverilheth a Perfon or People more than a confuming Fire. VIII. Fire, of all Elements, doth mofl: cruelly and dreaMully tor– ment. If a Man or Woman be caft into a Fire, what intolerable Pain and Anguilh doth it put him to! H ence the bloody Perfecutors have found our, by their diabolical Art, thole Cruelties, to burn in dread– ful Fires the Bodies of God's Chil– dren, thinking they could not put them to more exquifite Pain and Torment: Yea, and the Punifi>– ment of rhe Damned is fer forth by Fire, becaufe nothing is more ter– VI. Wicked, profane, and ungodly Men are fit Matter and Fuel for the Wrath of God to take hold of; and when they are piled together, with the horrid Guilt that is upon their Confciences, what a dreadful Fire will there be I Whiljl chey are thus folden together as '.thorns, and whiljl they are drunken as Drunkards, they jhall be devoured as Stubble fully dry, Nahum i. 10. VII. The eonfuming Wrath of God, or thole Plagues of his Fury, when he riles up to contend with the Wicked in a Way of Vengeance and In– dignation, with a Perfon or People, turns all their Joy into Mourning, and a bitter Day. I will (faith Gcd by his Prophet) undo all thofe that have ajjlicted thee, Zeph. iii. '9· The Fire of God's Wrath will utterly impoveri!h all the Wicked of the Earth, &c. VIII. It is a fearful Thing to fall into tbe Hands of the living God, viz. God bemg a confuming Fire ; in RefpeCl: to this the Apoltle fpake thefe Words, For our God is a cOJifuming Fire. If it be terrible to have a Finger, Foot, or Hand to burn off, or to hear that our Bodies mufi be ca{t into a Furnace of boiling Oil, or into a fierce de– vouring Fire; how then can Sinners bear the Thoughts offalling into the Hands of the dreadful and terribleGod, whole incenfed Wrath is Ten Thoufand Times worfe, and more intolerable, than any Fire that ever Mortals faw, or that ever any were cafl: into? rible to think upon, than to be caft into a Furnace of Fire ; thouo-h natural Fire be fo dreadful, yet Hell-Fire is much more dreadful and tormenting. 0 IX. A confuming Fire lays lX. God, when he goeth forth in Vengeance, wafie, _and .makes defolate in a will deflroy mightily, and in a J11ort fpace, when latle Ttme; m a few Hours, what he riles up to fet on fire the Briars and Thorns of famous Towns have been coniumthe Earth. '.through the Wratb of the Lord of ed to Alhes ? In the fatal Year of Hojfs is the Land darkened, and the People jha/1 be 1666, what difmall{uin .and Deas the Fuel of the Fire, !fa. ix. 19. Now will I folation was made in London, by (faith God) arife, and de·vourat once. Dejfrutlion is
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