BookiV.. WICKED MEN COMPARED To MOUNTAINS. 783 SI M I LE. PARALLEL. Pricks, dangerous to meddle, or ' Gnfl!ah, not afcending, becaufe their Males prof– have to do with. ' pered not.'. Thefe Thorn>, wicked Men, are hard-hearted, knotty conciitioned, full of pricking and flinging Words and Works, 2 Sam. xxiii: 6. _What can he cxpeCl: that meddles with a Thorn or Briar, but to be fcratched, pncked, and wounded m Ius fo dotng? So rh.tt Man that has to do with fame wicked Men, JlJall be fcratched or pricked in his good Name and Eflate, one V-!oy or other. lJ l. Thorns are Trees of little Ill. So wicked Men are of little Worth and Worth, low and bafeThin~s, hurtValue in God's Sight; they are of a bafe Spirit ful to Fields, Gardens, a~d Vineand Principle, Lovers of PleaJllre more than yards, &c. Lovers of God, preferring Earth above Heaven: 'fhe Heart of the Wicked is little vJortb, Pro';;. x. 20. And as they are unprofitable, and little worth in themfelves; .fo they are ofti:r.live and prejuJicial to God's Garden; they hinder the Growth of the Saims as much as in them lit'S, wounding the Lily that groweth amongft them. Sec L1·1y amoilg 7bonzs. IV. Thorns nevenhekfsdoferve IV. So fame of tbele wicked Ones God now fometimes to make a Hedge to keep and then makes ufe of to be a !-ledge to his Pea– out wild Beafts from breaking into ple, to keep out a more bloody and cruel ,\dver– a Fidd or Vineyard. fary: 'fhe Earth helped the Woman, Rw. xii. that is, wicked Men, Men of theE.,nh, lroorl up for, and Gded in with the Church and People of God, and fo proved as a Wall of Defence or Hedge to them. BeGdes, God makes ufe of them fometimes as a Hedge to 1\op his People in their evil Courfcs, by Cuffering thefe Sons of Belie! w affi:et them: I will hedge up her Way with 'l"horrts, Hof ii. 6. V. Thorns and Briars, when V. So the Wicked and Ungodly, when theyarc they are grown to any Height, are grown eo a great Htight of VVickeontf5, provoking oft-times by the Owner cut down, God againfl themli:lves, art cut down and cafl into and caft into the !: ire. Hell, '!hat which bearct.b Briars and i horns is near unto Curjing, whofe End is to be. burnt, Heb. vi. 8. VI. Thorns and Briars are not VI. So the Wrcked are not able to !land before able to franc! before a devouring the dreadful and angry God, For while they be andconfumin,s Fire. folden togetber as 'I' horns, and whiljf they are drunken as Drunkards, they jba/1 be dejlroyed as Stubble fully dry, Nab. i. 1 o. Who would, faith God, Jet the Briars and Thorns againfl. me in Battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together, lfa. xxvii. 4· N F E R E N .C E S. I. 1 S it not .a ftrange and marvellous Thing, that.God's People are no more .fcratciled and pricked with thefe troublefome Thorns, conGdering what a Multitude of them are amongfl: us? I!. It may t'alltion all true_ Chriftians, how they meddle with thefepricking Thori\S. lll. It fhews the Folly of the vVicked, who ftrive with the Almirrhty, and fet themfelves in Battle againft him who is a confuming Fire, and they buf Thorns and Briars, or like Stubble fully dry. WICKED MEN COMPARED TO MOUNTAINS. 'fhou Jhallthrejh the Mountains, and beat them [mall, &c. lfa. xli. 15. Upon all high Moumains that are lifted up, &c. lfa. ii. 14. 1-f/ho art thou, 0 great Mountain? &c. Zecb. iv. 7· P A R A L L E L S. ·I. MOUNTAINS are high ancllifted up, and feem to have the Pre-eminence: So the wicked Princes and Potentates of the Earth are high in Power, and feem to be lifted up in Pride and Arrogancy, and to have Pre-eminence over the Ri,.hteous. II. Mountains are hard to be removed out of their Places: So the Wicked, 0 having taken fuch.Root in Sin, &c. it is very hard and difficult to .remove then1, and make 3 them
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