Fire to torment an Angel 3. Let us consider other Scriptures which as I said do gather about this to give Testimony to this Interpretation First That of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 33. 14. The Sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites Who among us shall dwell with the devouring Fire Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings I shall afterwards have occasion to take notice of this Scripture by way of Use In the mean time observe that it is God Himself who is meant by this devouring Fire here For in a smart and quick Retortion and it is a most Elegant one the Prophet gives Answer He that walketh Righteously and speaketh Vprightly He shall dwell with Him whom you that are Hypocrites so much dread and have cause enough to do so with him shall an Vpright Man dwell Who is and will be unto you in the State you are in A Devouring Fire And thus they are reproved and taught what it is to be Hypocrites by the opposite condition of the Upright and the differing Event of being such And further that it is God Himself there the Prophet intendeth as with whom the Upright should dwell The Words following do also shew ver 16. He shall dwell on High namely with that High and lofty one that dwells in the High and Holy Place c. Do but punctually compare that Esay 57. 15. with this here likewise ver 17. Thine Eye O thou upright Soul shall see the King in his Beauty that is as Christ says the pure in Heart shall see God The result is that the same God who appears all in Flames and as a devouring Fire unto Hypocrites in Hell is all Light and Beauty to the Upright in Heaven Like as unto a sound and vigorous Eye It is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun as Solomon speaks but to sore Eyes it is a Terror Add to this Psal 21. 8 9. Thine Hand shall find out all thine Enemies thy right Hand shall find out those that hate thee Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine Anger The Lord shall swallow them up in his Wrath and the Fire shall devour them This the Chaldee Paraphrast interprets of the Fire of Hell And so you have all meet to interpret this Fire to be meant of the Wrath of God himself First God a consuming Fire Heb. 12. ult Then 2. God himself to be that devouring Fire Isa 33. 14. And 3. his Wrath interpreted to be that Fire by the Psalmist And loe how these all meet in this one saying The fiery Indignation that devours the Adversaries Which the Apostle himself also interprets of God himself afterwards We know him that hath said Vengeance is mine And it is a fearful thing c. Particularly for that Scripture even now cited Isa 33. 14. If we consult the Context the occasion of bringing in that horrid out-cry who among us c. as Interpreters agree was that the Prophet had set forth in the Verses before that most wonderful and prodigious slaughter of the King of Assyria's Host when an hundred forescore and five thousand as 2 Kings 19. 15. were in one Night destroyed by an Angel And thereupon the Prophet in this Passage is to be understood either to have related what an impression of dread this so unparallel'd a Judgment had made upon and struck the Hearts of the Hypocrites in Sion with As that which had made them to cry out thereupon Oh how then shall we dwell with everlasting burnings That is with God Himself For they may well be supposed to have reasoned thus with themselves if one Angel that is but a ministring Spirit to God is able to blast and consume such a Multitude in one Night how shall we have to do with God Himself who is that infinite immense devouring Fire and all those Angels but as Sparks and his Ministers And so according to this meaning themselves are brought in speaking by the Prophet as the Men of Bethshemesh did upon the like Judgment 1 Sam. 6. 20. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God Or else those Words may be supposed to have been the Prophets own Meditation and use of Instruction deduced from that example which he uttereth as fore-warning the Sinners in Sion to consider That if God be so terrible in the Judgments he executes by others his Angels who are Flames of Fire how will you endure to dwell with God Himself and have immediately to do with him for ever who is a devouring Fire and everlasting Burnings c. And our Saviour's Speech is not remote from this of Isaiah when speaking of Hell it is the Fire prepared for Hypocrites says he Mat. 24. 51. Even as here Isaiah professeth to speak this of and unto the Hypocrites in Sion as the Persons above all other forewarned when Hell is threatned Again as in Isaiah God himself is called the devouring and everlasting Fire so here in the Text his Wrath is termed fiery Indignation devouring And the Word translated Adversaries here falls out also to be a Word decyphering Hypocrites or false Professors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under-hand Enemies Who are also said to look for in their trembling Consciences this fiery Indignation even as of these Hypocrites Isaiah also speaks as being the expectants of Hell And again our Apostle Chap. 12. 31. Our God is a consuming Fire So as upon several accounts it is that God himself and his Wrath is more eminently that Fire in Hell the Scriptures sometimes speak of If it be objected out of my Text Is it not said He cometh in flaming Fire with 2 Thess 1. 8 9. his Mighty Angels Will he not then use corporeal Fire as also the might of his Angels and both as Instruments of his Execution and their Destruction and to that very end mentioneth the might of his Angels I answer 1. This Fire here is not mentioned as that which is the Cause of their everlasting Destruction but as that which is a concomitant of Christ's Appearing and also a fore-runner or Harbinger to that Judgment he comes to pronounce Sentence of whereof the Destruction that follows is the final Execution Judges use for terror and for a Demonstration of their Authority Work and Office they are employed in to have visible Instruments of Death carried afore them as Ensigns of their Power A company of Halberds or the like for their Guard to go before and environ them round which yet are not to be the immediate Instruments of the Execution of Malefactors it self but accompany their Persons at the Examination and Sentence * And in such an equipage the Psalmist and the Prophets set forth Gods coming to judg in particular judgments as Psal 18. and else where And as to this or the like use is this Guard of Angels and of flaming Fire mentioned to be understood to serve Both these referring evidently unto that his Appearing Who shall be revealed from Heaven with
the Wrath and Indignation of God himself working immediately in and upon Mens Souls and Consciences that is intended in these and other Scriptures This is the Subject of the first Section of this Discourse And let it be noticed now at the entrance that the same Scriptures and Reasons that shall be brought to prove this in this first Section will be found again to serve as new Arguments by way of inference to set out and infer the latter also that is the dreadfulness of it as will appear in the second Section CHAP. II. The first sort of Proofs from Scriptures First those three prefixed as the Texts LEt us first see what the Scriptures speak more directly to this great Point I. Heb. 10. 28 29 30 31. In order to the Proofs from hence observe the occasion of the Apostle's mention of this Punishment here to be his having treated of the highest Sin and kind of Sinners the Sin against the Holy Ghost By the occasion of which he gives us to understand what for the Substance is indeed the recompence of all manner of other actual Sins small and great the Punishment being in solido one and the same to all though with a vast difference of Degrees And therefore it is said unto all that are found wicked at that day whether of greater or lesser Proportions and Sizes of Wickedness Go into Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Devil is the greatest of Sinners yet all go with him into the same Torment that is for Substance the same And upon the like ground what is here spoken by way of eminency concerning the Punishment of these the highest sort of Sinners of the Sons of Men is true of all others there being but one common Fire or Punishment in the Substance of it for all 2. Observe the manner of his setting forth the dreadfulness of that Punishment to us It is only by way of insinuation For seeing he could not express the soreness of it he thought fit to suggest only who is the immediate Author and Inflicter of it And so leaves it to our thoughts to infer how dreadful it is This in General To argue the Point in Hand out of this Text let us take these things along with us 1. You see he here brings in the great God as an enraged Enemy challenging the execution hereof to himself This Vengeance belongeth to me or as Rom. 12. 19. Vengeance is mine I will recompence as if he had said Let me alone with it 2. In that when he would set out the severeness of this Punishment which is his professed aim ver 29. as infinitely exceeding all those kinds of Corporal deaths in Moses Law he inferreth the soreness of this from God himself as the Avenger We know him that hath thus said Vengeance is mine that is what a great and powerful God he is The Saints only know God by Faith in Himself and his Greatness as Heb. 11. and that so as no other Men in this Life do And by what we know of him and the apprehensions we have of Him we cannot but forwarn what that Punishment must needs be when God himself shall thus solemnly profess himself to be the Avenger 'T is argued you see both from what this God is and from that knowledg the Saints have of Him They and they alone know Him in his Love and have tasted and found that his immediate Loving-kindness is better than Life and from the Law of Contraries they know that his Wrath must be more bitter than Death They are able to measure what he is in his Wrath by what he is in his Love And some of the Primitive Saints especially the Apostles who had the first fruits of the Spirit knew and had tasted how good the Lord is in his Love by immediate Impressions of it on their Souls in Communion with Himself The like tenour of speech has that in 2 Cor. 5. 11. We knowing the Terror of the Lord It is termed His Terror as noting out that which is proper to Him and his Greatness in his being able to punish and destroy Sinners Moses who in the Old Testament had seen the Glory of God the most immediately of any Man and was therein a Type of Christ was thereby made sensible of this very thing as touching this Punishment and therefore complains in the very like Language Psal 90. Who knows the Power of thine Anger Lamenting how the generality of Men did not know it because indeed they knew not God But We says the Apostle have known him c. And 3. Thereupon he further calls this Punishment a falling into God's Hands That very Phrase often notes out immediate Execution as in ordinary Speech it doth When a Father or a Master threaten a Child or a young Servant already corrected by other Hands at their appointment yet when either would threaten more severely they 'l say Take heed how you fall into my hands or come under my fingers when they mean to correct them themselves And then 4. That the Apostle thereupon infers from this the dreadfulness thereof even from this It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of God Reason tells us that the soreness of any Torment the fearfulness of any Death ariseth from the Power Force Violence or Efficacy of that which is the immediate Agent or Cause inflicting it As why do we argue burning or dying by Fire a more terrible Death in respect of Torment than drowning in Water But that Fire being the immediate Agent or Instrument applyed to that Execution hath a more fierce and violent working than Water hath which dispatcheth a Man more easily Now therefore the fearfulness and soreness of this Punishment and that with difference from that by Creatures compare for this ver 28 29. being here argued that it is a falling into God's Hands and we knowing this withal that he is in himself able to work by his fierce Wrath more powerfully and exquisitely upon the reasonable Soul of Man Sinful than all created Agents whatever and the Soul it self being also capable of such a working upon by him This doth strongly argue his own immediate Execution by his own Hands to have been intended 5. In ver 27. he termeth the immediate Cause inflicting this Punishment A fiery indignation devouring the Adversaries Indignation or Wrath is of some intelligent Nature provoked And whom should this refer to or whose Indignation can it be supposed but of this God who himself as the Apostle expounds and comments upon it hath said Vengeance is mine saith the Lord And this Indignation is called fiery because it works as Fire is in tormenting like to Fire or as a Flaming Sword red hot when it is made the Instrument of ones Death which wounds and kills and doth torment with a superadded anguish For the further opening of which I shall at present only say two things 1. That God compares himself in this respect unto a devouring or consuming
to avoid the Terror of thy Looks Now all this I can do says God with a meer Look whenever I please And I can as easily save also as I can thus destroy which thou canst not do thine own Soul as the next Verse insinuates Then will I confess thine own hand can save thee You see he resolves saving and destroying into the same Power of his and maketh the same estimate of either which the Apostle also doth chap. 4. 12. There is one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy My Exhortation therefore in fine is Let us not fear Creatures but fear Him and make him your dread and learn to know what a God ye walk before every day and have for ever to do withal Christ that came out of his Bosom knowing him doth Luke 12. 4. 5. compared with Mat. 10. 26. 28. upon knowledg of this God make this same Exhortation I say to you says he and I will forewarn you he says it twice and it is as if he had said Take it from me that know him Fear him that is able to destroy Body and Soul The Apostle succenturiates We know him that hath said Vengeance is mine so here Heb. 10. And again We knowing the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 11. which they know by an estimate taken from his Goodness that his Wrath must be answerable And Moses also that had seen his Back-parts and his Glory He cries out Who knows the power of thine Anger Hypocrites and carnal Professors as those were whom God professedly takes to task Psal 50. think to play with the great God and deal with him any how as we say as with a Man that is their Fellow They know him not Psal 50. 21. These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self And what things they had done and were guilty of see if thou hast not been guilty of the same or like the 18 19 20 verses shew When thou sawest a Thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with Adulterers Thou givest thy Mouth to Evil and thy Tongue frameth Deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy Brother thou slanderest thine own Mothers Son And God was silent or long-suffering The like you have Isa 57. 11 12. Of whom hast thou been afraid that thou hast lied and hast not remembred me nor laid it to thy Heart Have not I held my peace even of old and thou fearest me not c. But mark what is the issue of all this in Psal 50. 21. it follows But I will reprove thee and set them in order afore thee They had never felt the smart of his Anger in all their Lives and little thought that the Lion was in him but it follows Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in peices and there be none to deliver Oh take heed and turn to him or on the sudden he will start up like a mighty Lion and tear your Souls in pieces as a Giant might do Cobwebs and prey upon the Blood of your very Souls and break the Bones thereof as a Lion could of the most silly Creature Add to this MEDITATION Consider What it is to die and what the State and Condition of the other World is It is to have to do with God immediately either in Wrath or Love and from his own hands as well as from the immediate Sentence of his Mouth to receive thy Weal or Woe That we come naked into this World and go as naked out of it was Job's Meditation first after that David's Psal 49. 15. We shall carry nothing away that is of what belongs to this World then after him Solomon the Son Eccles 5. 15. As he came forth of his Mothers Womb speaking of Man naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his Labour which he may carry away in his Hand The Effect of which divine Meditation comes to this To put secure and careless Man upon the consideration of his immortal Souls Condition which first cometh into this World naked as well as his Body And poor thing the meaning of its first cry if the Soul it self could then speak out its mind is I am an empty thing and have brought nothing with me who will shew me any good But after its being grown up it begins to find a World richly furnished with all things to enjoy as the Apostle's Phrase is 1 Tim. 6. 17. But yet again when he goes out of this World he is then turned out of House and Home as perfectly naked as he came into it and as Rev. 18. 14. The Fruits that thy Soul lusted after and all things which are dainty and goodly are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all Death is therefore compared unto the breaking or failing of a Merchant or Tradesman proving Bankrupt Luke 16. 9. That when ye fail c. says Christ of which I have elsewhere spoken Now if this be thy case as to this and that other World think with thy self what thine eternal Soul must then betake it self unto and also unto whom in that other World My Doctrinal part hath informed you that it is God himself God immediately Eccl. 12. 7. The Spirit returns unto him that gave it To explain which There was that evident difference put in the making man's Soul at first from that of his Body That God made the Body out of the Earth but the Soul was breathed in by God and therefore not out of any preexistent matter as the Souls and Forms of all other living things are And upon this dissolution or separation of each from other it is that Solomon says Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Soul to God that gave it that is to say the same common Law befalls either in their kind that to other things in their kind they are reduced unto their first Principles And so look as the Body is materially resolved into the Earth which was the first matter of it so according to some kind of Analogy thereunto and so far as the Soul is capable of a like return unto God the Soul returns to God that gave it as having been the immediate Original of it not materially as a Spark is out of the Fire but as the immediate Efficient It came from God by way of Gift God gave it that is freely and voluntarily produced it by a sole single free Act of his Will and Power whereby he created it out of nothing and so in the whole of it it was an entire and meer Gift of his And therefore in the beginning of his Exhortation verse 1 of this Chap. he had aforehand laid this as a Foundation for it Remember thy Creator or Creators and is so stiled because he is in a more special manner thy Creator than of our Bodies or of other Creatures and that because himself