Book IV. W I C K E D M E N coM,PARED To L I 0 N S. 797 • have done ; though the Beafts be alive, yet, for the moft Part, the Lions are dead : • They are Bealts ttill, as bafe, vile, and bloody in their Natures as ever, but their • powerful Lion-like Strength is abated. That glorious Prophecy is in fame fenfe, • and in fume part fulfilled at this Day, The fl/olf dwells with the Lamb, the Leopard • lies down with the Kid, and the Calf and the ;•oung Lion, and the Fatling togetber, and • a little Child may lead them; they cannot, they dare not, hurt nor deftroy in all our A1oun– ' tain, !fa. xi. 6, 8. I am fure, we may fet our Seal to this Truth of Eliphaz, we have ' feen Lions, and fierce Lions, old Lions, and young Lio!ls, even the fiout Lion's • Whelps, fume foattered abroad, fame deflroyed, fome confumed by the mighty • Power of God. ' Further, It is here faid in the Text, That the old Lion Jhall perijh fer want of Pre)"• ' It is a fl:range Expreffion; Lions have the greatefr Power to get Provdion to fatisfy • their Hunger, yea their Appetites and Humor; ~et thefe !hall want, thefe Lions who • have all their Life-time preyed upon the States ot other Men, even thelc !11all want; • Note hence the Juflice of God, Such as have made others want,.fha/1 atlo.ft come to u'""' • themfolves, thq ./hall perijh for want of Prq; they !hall have nothing to eat, When tbo!l • ceafoft to Jpoil, thouJhalt be fpoiled, faith the Prophet ; And whmthou jhalt make an md • to deal treacheroufly, they foal! deal treacheronfl)" with thee. Wfc mufl: not underftaml ' it, as if wicked Men do ever give over !inning; Sin, and their defire of finning, is ' in a kind Infinite: They never fay, Now we have done, and will fin no more; bur ' the meaning is, when thou canfl: fin no more, nor deal treacheroufly no more; whtl\ ' thou haft done thy utmort, and fpenr thy Strength in fpoiling others, or taken all • their Spoil, fo that thou hafl done fpoiling, brcaule there is no more to fpoil; then • others !hall fpoil thee. And thou Lion, who hafl: preyed upon others a long time, • !halt not have a bit thyfelt~ but !hall perifh for want of Prey. , 'It is the Promife of God unto his own People, Pfal. xxxiv. 10. That the Lionsjhalt .' lack andjiiffer Hunger, but they that fear the Lord, foal! not want any good Thing : He • exprdfes tt by Lions, to note, that certainly they that fear him, !hall not want; for if 'any Creatures in the World can preferve themfelves frvm Hunger, Lions can; if they 'do but roar, the very lleafls will fall down as a Prey before them: But yet, faith God, • thefe, even· thefe !hall rather perifh for Hunger, tlun any one thltt feareth me !hall • want. God provides for his Lambs, for innocent Perfons, for thofe that fear him, ' though they have no Strength to provide for themfelves; but the Wicked who have • greateft Power, and have been mofl: active tO provide for themfelves, t11all pine with ' want; they who have caufed fo many to be bitten with Hunger, !hall at !aft be Hun– ' ger·binen, and for wane of Meat gnaw their Tongues. • Lafl:ly, Where it is faid, that the Lions Whelps are fcattered abroad, obferve, ' God will11ot only deflroy the Perfons of wicked Men, but their Families and Po;lerities, 'they and their Whelps 01allall be fcattered, He will not leave them fo much as a Man 'or a Remembrance, Pfal. xxxvi. 6. I fought his Place, faith the Prophet, and he could 'not be jou11d, there was no print of him, no Man could remember that there was fuch • a Man in the World, unlels to curfe his Memory. ' I fhall only give one caution concerning this, and fo conclude the Point: That which ' is here affirmed in the General by Eliphaz, concerning the Deftruttion of wicked ' t..1en, Lions, and fierce Lions, is not to be takc::n as a Truth in the univerfal Experi– ' ence of it; we are not to undetfl:and it thus, as if all Perfons, all Lion-like Perfons, ' at all Times; perifh, are deftroyed, and fcattered abroad ; but Eliphaz fpeaks of ' what is ufually done; or he fptaks of what God can eafily do at any Time, and of ' what God may jul\ly do at all Times. Lions, fierce Lions, Tyrants, Opprelfors, he ' both may, and can fcatter when he pleafeth, yet we find, that God hath permitted 'fome Lions, to live long, and die quietly; they fpend all their Days in roarin<> and ' rending, in tearing and devouring, and yet themfelves are not devoured: God fuf– ' pends his J u[tice, but it is for weighty Reafons. For in word, 'Firft, If God fhould deflroy all Lion-like Men, the Joints of the World would be ' unclofed, and the Bands of human Society broken afunder. God forbad the Chi!– ' dren of !frad to dettroy all the Canaanites, lefl the Beafts of the Field fhould multi– ' ply, &c. ' Secondly, If God fhould hunt all thefe Lions out of the World, his own People ' would live by Senfe, rather than by Faith, and teem to be terrified by the vifiblr: ' Actings of Wrath, rather than allured by the Promifes o! Mercy, or Tenders of ' free Grace. 9 R ~Thirdly,
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