Chapter VIII
The dread/illness of this punishment argued from all and eo k of the particulars
treated of in the former chapters. That it is a falling into the hands of God
immediately. That it is the destruction of the soul. That it is for the glory of God, and the manifestation of his power. That it is satisfaction of God ?
justice and avenging wrath. The dreadfulness of it argued also from those
instances of good and bad men, their having suffered those kinds of terrors in
this life. And lastly, that it is a falling into the hands of the living God.
It is a fearful thing to fall into tlie hands of the living God. HEB. X. 81.
The second thing at first propounded to be handled, was the dreadfulness
of this punishment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Which being an inference from the foregoing words, and not a simple affirmation only, do come in with an amazing kind of implication, wherein the apostle leaveth it to our own thoughts to conceive of, and is as if he had
said, How dreadful must it needs be ! which I leave to your own thoughts to conceive of, I not being able, says he, to utter or express the terror of it. Hence the genuine and natural way of handling this part, is to set it forth
by way of inference or corollary from that former point, which we have
despatched. I shall therefore accordingly draw forth demonstrations of the dreadfulness thereof from those fore-cited scriptures, or grounds already laid in the fore-gone chapter, which doth afford sufficient topics unto this head.
First, Let us take the main doctrine itself, as in the general it is uttered
here, that it is a falling into the hands of God himself, and not of creatures
only ; and a being punished from his presence and the glory of his power immediately, as 2 Thes. i. 9. And then extend and widen your apprehen sions to take in how fearful this must be, which I shall demonstrate by a
comparative gradation, raised thus :
526 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
I. If it were but a giving us up into the hands of mere creatures to afflict, and they assisted by God, but with the common and ordinary concurrence of
his power, which joins with and upholds the agency of all things in their
workings, whether in comforting us or in distressing of us : this the lowest
degree of supposition. And yet consider how dreadful this supposition would render to our thoughts such a punishment to be, if God should be but
as the looker-on, and withal the setter of them on ; or, as in the Scripture
phrase, Mat. xviii. 34, but only deliver us up to these tormentors. As when it is termed a being cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, suppose it were a lake of material corporeal fire only, wherein thy body is cast, and
thy soul, no otherwise to suffer than by what the spirits of that body it is
united to and dwells in, is by that fire made sensible of. And suppose,
withal, the spirits thereof were kept up, in their utmost sensibleness, of what torment that fire could inflict, and thy body continually flaming (as the bush
in Exodus) and yet never burnt up, how terrible is it for flesh and blood to
think but this of it ! Or, to use another comparison, if a man were bound hand and foot, with his mouth set open, and were cast into a pit, wherein, as in the apostle s sheet let down from heaven, were all manner of creeping
things, toads, serpents of all sorts, fiery scorpions, cockatrices, vipers, adders,
snakes, &c., flies, hornets, lice, pismires, and frogs, &c. ; and that these should bite and sting thee with exquisite pain and torment, also creep in at
thy mouth, down into thy inwards, gnaw and swell thee there. How did but one sort of these creatures, when sent by God, afflict Pharaoh and all
! A man in this case should endure not only the pains men
the Egyptians
tioned, but beyond them the torture which antipathy, contrariety, and natural
abhorrency works, which is of all other most exquisite, and turns nature backward (as of Jordan it is said) into a recoil, and wresteth it against itself and throws it off its hinges. I need not instance how, by this way of anti
pathy, a cock makes a lion roar, a mouse the elephant to tremble, a serpent or a toad, a spider, sets the whole of nature in man into an inconsistency ; a man knows not how to bear up, sustain himself, or be himself. But, be
sides, what pains or torments these, or any of these, can inflict ;
II. Let us proceed in our supposition a step further. If God should so
far further assist as to set his wisdom a-work, and that only to find out and
invent, what mixture of torments from creatures would be most exquisite of
all others. As if a king (whose wrath is compared to the roaring of a lion, who yet sets but others to torment) should but order ten men to invent tor ments for one poor man, as the Sicilian tyrants did. Hence, Majus tormentum Siculi non invenire tyranni. And then consider, for the exaggeration of this unto your thoughts,
1. That the nature of man is so framed as it is capable to receive discom
fort as well as comfort from every creature. The least creature hath a sting in it as well as honey, unto something or other in man s nature, if it be ap
plied and turned against it.
2. God knows all the ingredients in the creatures natures ; as also, it is
said, he knows our frame, and so therewith the suitableness of sense in man s
nature thereunto. Think, then, what punishment from their mixture can he
invent and temper, and put all the venoms (the dregs) into one cup, as the
psalmist speaks. And as by some lesser proportion we may estimate this
by what those that know the secrets of nature can effect, above what other
men, as Solomon did.
3. Now, raise up your apprehensions from these two steps of comparison thus first laid. If, as the psalmist says, he that made the eye shall not he see ?
speaking of that infinite omniscience in God himself above what is in the
CHAP. VIII.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 527
creatures, say I then in this case, if the creatures that God hath made may thus be supposed able to work anguish to a man, dolour and misery, what then can God, the great God that made all these himself, immediately inflict ! As the prophet Isaiah slighteth the Egyptians and their assistance, Isa xxxi.
8 ; thus, their horses are flesh, not spirit, and the Egyptians that ride them
are men, and not God ; so we may of all these suppositions, and still say, these are but of what creatures can do, who are creatures, and not God ;
flesh, and not spirit.
III. That we may yet heighten the dreadfulness of this immediate hand of
God, let us make a third supposition beyond the former, that God not only should use his ordinary concurrence with creatures, but (as sometimes he hath done), arm those creatures with his own wrath, over and above the
activity of their ordinary sphere of workings, heating that sword of created
powers he strikes with red-hot in the furnace of his fiery indignation, and
so intending the power of creatures beyond their strength, yet still so as to use them as the sole instruments of that anguish wrought, conveying his
anger with them but as at second-hand ; and so, as the man so afflicted is
sensible, not of the stroke of the creatures only, but of God, and his wrath
accompanying and seconding it through them. This would be yet more dreadful than the former, and yet still fall short of what the doctrine hath held forth, that himself is the avenger, and strikes immediately.
1. This latter is more dreadful to suppose than the former, yea, is not a bare supposition ; for if God conveys his wrath with the least affliction, and in his providences fights against a man, and the heart is thereby made
sensible of his wrath therein, this, as it often falls out, so it useth won
derfully to inflame and rage in man s spirit, even as a poisoned arrow useth
to do the flesh, which itself alone would only pierce and wound, but as it
is an arrow ; but if further dipped in poison, or, as the apostle s com
parison is, Eph. vi., made a fiery dart, it works a further anguish and torment. Now there is no creature but if armed with God s wrath, or if it be but a messenger and a representer of God s anger, but it is infinitely more dreadful than of itself otherwise it is. What is less than the shaking of a
leaf, which seems itself to tremble ? But if God send faintness of heart and
terror with it, and by it, into a man s heart, the very sound of the shaking of a leaf chaseth them, Lev. xxvi. 36. Every grass-blade, burnished with God s wrath, strikes terror into the heart, as that flaming cherub did into Adam s. This is experimented in men troubled in mind, unto whom,
Iraiumque, rejert qucelibet lierla Deum. Every creature presents an angry God, and strikes trembling of heart into them.
* They fear where no fear
is. The light, which of all creatures is the most amiable and pleasantest,
yet to a spirit wounded the beams thereof are dreadful ; and when it is day, he wisheth it were night, and that darkness might for ever cover him ; and why should the light arise, says he, to disclose my rebellion against my maker ? Thus Job iv. 20, Wherefore is the light given to him that is in
misery ? even as on the contrary to a soul God s face shines on, every creature strikes up comfort and gladness into it. He hears the thunder
(which made Caligula tremble), It is my Father s voice, says he ; views the
stars, These are mine, saith he. The greatest afflictions to such an one do turn into joy, knowing he hath a treasury of love in the bosom of his Father
that sent them. The perfect contrary is here.
2. This latter supposal of God s arming the creatures with his displeasure, and conveying it by them, falls yet lower, and is less than God s immediate wrath from himself, even as God s love, conveyed by ordinances and means,
is a far lower dispensation than the immediate communication thereof from
523 AN UNREGENERVTE M.VN s GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
himself. God s power, though never so great, yet in working by and through an instrument, is abated, lessened, stinted in working. You may have read and heard (perhaps) the comparison between God s power and the creatures, in respect of torment, thus expressed, that the one is but as if a child should
strike a blow in comparison of a giant. But to the case in hand ; I have used
to raise it thus : A giant that can of himself give a great blow immediately, if he yet should take but a straw to strike withal, the stroke would prove but
small, and yet it would be greater than if a child should strike with it. Why ? Because his power is limited and enervated by the instrument he strikes withal. Now, what are all the creatures, though in God s hand, but as straws in a
giant s ? And yet how terrible is his wrath when conveyed by them ! I conclude this with allusion to that speech of Rehoboam, 1 Kings xii. 10. The weight of God s little finger is heavier than that of the whole creation ; and if they be able, or God by them, to scourge us with whips, then God himself immediately with scorpions.
Having thus considered how the immediateness of God s working doth
comparatively exceed that of the creatures, or of himself by the creatures, in the
Fourth place, let us go on more sadly, in a positive way, to consider what his immediate power is, what the strength of those hands is which men must fall into. And how may this amaze you
! As it is said of God s wis dom,
* There is no end of it, no searching of his understanding, so nor of his
power. And how can I discover or unbare that arm before you ? I begin to do it thus : God had begun to enter into a contest with Job, and touched him but with his little finger, and Job soon felt him, and cries out,
* If I
< he is strong, Job ix. 19. If but his little finger be so strong, as Job found it, what is his
speak of strength, or think that way to grapple with him,
fist, which Ezekiel next sets forth the strokes of his wrath by ? And what God himself there speaks against covetous and bloody men, Ezek. xxii. 13, 14, do you apply to every sin you live and go on in. Says God, I will strike with my fist at thy dishonest gain. And can thy heart endure, or thy hands be made strong, in the day in which I shall have to do with thee ? Let
every one that heareth or readeth this, who yet go on in their sins, consider with themselves, Am I able to stand it out and encounter this God ? And encounter him thou must, if thou goest on in thy sins. Or, Can my heart endure ? sayest thou. The apostle puts the very same consideration upon the Corinthians spirits, when guilty of idolatry. (And it is the same case
of uncleanness, or any other known sin). Do you provoke the Lord to
jealousy ? are you stronger than he ? 1 Cor. x. 22 ; as if he had said, Do
you not consider what a powerful God you have to do withal, and that imme
diately ? Can you grapple with him, think you, or make your part good with him ? Hear yet further by what way it is that the apostle sets forth
to us the strength of God ; and let us make a further estimate thereby as to the matter in hand. The apostle, in the same epistle, though upon another
occasion, chap. i. 25, had said that the weakness of God is stronger than
the strength of men ; in which speech he evidently puts our thoughts upon making of a measure of what is to be accounted more or less stronger or weaker in God, in respect of the putting forth his power by what the Scrip tures do express of him, after the similitude of man, as in Job the comparison
is of his little finger, and in Ezekiel of his fist ; whereof the one is weaker
(in man) and the other stronger. Now, in man, what is weaker than his
breath, which will scarce blow away a straw ? (and his weakness is usually
expressed by this, that his breath is in his nostrils. ) Now, estimate the
strength of God according unto what is said in the Scriptures of God (and
ClJAP. VIII. J IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 529
that as to this point of destroying us) after the manner of men. By the
very breath of his nostrils we are consumed, Job iv. 9. His power is such
that he needs put forth no more (as it were) to destroy us. His very weak
ness is enough. Job had in the same verse first said, By the blast of him we perish, but because a blast imports some forcibleness, the utmost might of what is in a man s breath, and it is a man s putting forth his breath with a more than ordinary violence ; therefore, by way of diminution and correc
tion, he adds, by the breath of his nostrils ; that is (still measuring it as
spoken after the similitude and manner of men), by the most ordinary and weakest putting forth of his power. And yet we see if he puts forth no
more, he blows us to destruction when his intent is to destroy. And why ? For of us the Scriptures use a comparison suitable thereto, in saying that we
are but as the dust of the balance : Isa. xl. 15, Yea, all the nations (put all together) are but as the small dust of the balance ; as that little that
is left in the balance, when what is weighed is taken forth, which is easily blown away with a man s breath. Again, yet lower, in man, his nod is of
less force than his breath ; and yet,
* lo, at the rebuke of his countenance we perish, Ps. Ixxx. 16 ; He can look on one that is proud, and abase
him, and his eye can cast about rage and destruction, Job xl. 11-13. He had said before, verse 9, Hast thou an arm like God ? He riseth from the power of his nod, the weakness of his power, unto the power of his arm ; and so may we, from his looks to his breath, from that to his little finger, from that to his fist, from that to his arm and hands, in which his strength is said to lie, Luke i. 51. Oh think how dreadful, then, it must needs be to
fall into those hands (as here in the text) ; into those hands, I say, that
* measure the waters in the hollow of them, that
* span the heavens, and at the same time comprehend also all the dust of the earth in one grasp, as one of us doth a little pebble ; and verse 15,
* takes up the isles as a very
little thing, as you would do hazel nutshells out of a pail of water. Now for
thee, a poor grasshopper, to be taken into those hands, and to be gripped, and crushed, and squeezed with the might thereof; but the Scripture ex
pressions go further yet : to have this God, like a mill-stone, fall upon thee with his whole weight, which is Christ s comparison, Mat. xxi. 44.
* Thy wrath lies hard upon me, said Heman. You see in summer little green flies creeping upon green leaves, which, if a man doth but touch, they die. Such a slight creature art thou in comparison to this God. Or further (as Job s comparison is), that this great and mighty God should run upon thee
as a mighty giant with his full force, the utmost of his force, as a man doth upon his enemy ; yet so Job speaks of it, chap. xvi. 14. And in another
place, the same Job, that he should take thee about the neck and throttle
thee. Oh what do we, poor potsherds of the earth, striving with our Maker!
as Isaiah speaks, chap. xlv. 9 ; or, as Christ spake from heaven, will flesh think to kick and spurn against such iron pricks and pikes, which run up into the soul whilst it strikes upon them.
And that we may yet further have a thorough sensibleness of our obnoxiousness and exposedness to this great God, let us withal consider his absolute sovereignty over us, as well as his power. What an inconsiderable
portion doth any one soul (and every one is singly to deal with him for his own particular) bear unto this infinity of being and glory
! To whom not one nation, but all nations ; and not only all nations that are now extant in the world, but that ever have been, or shall be, are counted
* as nothing, yea, less than nothing. What a little thing is this island of ours to the whole body of nations ! And yet all isles are to him but a little thing, as VOL. x. L 1
630 AN UNEEGENEBATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFOEE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
Isaiah speaks. Lord, think thou, what am I to thee, or any man, that thou shouldst regard him ! Yea, and being sinful, why should any man (as he is of himself) think that God should have any stick or demur within him, to withhold himself from destroying him every moment ! For, lo, even the
greatest of men, that have been of greatest wisdom, parts (being sinners), he hath in his distance and greatness laid them aside, and regarded them not
at all : Job xxxvii. 24, He regards not the wise in heart. What is all or
any excellency in thee to him ! There is therefore no way but to turn unto him, and seeing you must fall
into his hands, prevent him by putting yourselves into his hands. This
* Let them take hold of my strength ; fury is not in me. There is an arm also of another one, that is,
great arm of his may be held : Isa. xxvii. 5,
Christ, who can deal with God for thee, and overcome him. Isa. liii. 1, To whom is the arm of the Lord (so he termeth Christ) revealed ? Thus
you have seen and heard something of the greatness of this God, and that but in general, as he is the author of this punishment, and thereby this
punishment aggrandised unto us, and yet how little do we know of him ! as Job speaks.
Secondly, Subjoin hereunto the consideration of what is the eminent sub
ject of this punishment, the soul of man, and that the issue of this punish ment is no less than the destruction of that soul. And these two (which I
join together) will afford further reflections, to help us to conceive of the
fearfulness of this punishment. And the consideration hereof cometh in most pertinently next unto the foregoing, wherein the power of the agent was
spoken to, but now in this the capacity of the subject or patient, and the
receptivity thereof of impressions from this worker.
That the soul is the immediate vessel of this wrath, that I spake to before : Mat. x. 28, Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell. The former part of which words evidently import, 1, that the soul
alone, and immediately in itself, and not only in respect of what it suffers with or from the body s suffering, is the subject of this punishment, though the body also is ; and, 2, Christ concludes, that it is the destruction of both
body and soul.
You know also the rule, that the measure of every agent s working upon another must be taken from the capacity of the subject which the impres sion is made upon, as well as from the power of the agent that works. Fire works more fiercely upon oil and brimstone, than upon stones, or upon dust
or sands. You may discern this in the parts of your own body. Rheum
falling upon the lungs doth not torture so, as falling upon a tooth, a joint, or eye. How also are the inward parts capable of more exquisite torment, as by the stone, &c., bred in them, than the outward are, by any cuttings or wounds ?
Now, the soul of a man is capable of more exquisite impressions from God s hand, in that it is an intelligent spirit, and in the substantial faculties
of it assimilated to him, made in his image, a spirit as God is, that hath an
understanding, and other faculties to receive and take in from him what he
is pleased to pour forth into it by them, and is accordingly more sensible
thereof, than the senses of the body are or can be supposed to be from
creatures. The prophet Nahum seems to have considered this, chap. i.
ver. 5, 6, when, setting out God s wrath to men in the effects of it, he first
considers how it works upon inanimate creatures, that are at such a dis
tance (in respect of the kind of their being) from God s : It kindleth a fire,
says he, which maketh the hills to melt, and the earth is burnt up at his
CHAP. VIIL] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 531
presence ; yea, the world, and all that dwell therein (which he will one day burn up with fire). Now from these the prophet infers and raiseth up our
thoughts. Doth he work thus upon insensible creatures, as the hills, and
the earth, and the whole world ? Do the elements melt with fervent heat? Are the heavens shrivelled up as a scroll of parchment before him, by the
violence of that fire which he sends forth ? Consider, then, oh consider, ye sons of men, how will the fire of his wrath work upon your intellectual souls! And as unto this scope and coherence with the former, I understand what
* Who can stand before his indignation ? who can abide in
follows, ver. 6,
the fierceness of his anger ? He here turneth his speech, and applieth it
to men. For the souls of men being in their beings and kind nearer of kin
to him, spirits, as he is the great Spirit, and the Father of spirits, which were made only for God, and to be filled with God, have accordingly a more
intimate sense of his workings on them. And it is as if he had said, If,
then, he sends forth such a fire as melts and dissolves the earth, mountains of iron or brass, how much more will it be able to melt wax ! And such
are men s souls to God, comparatively to other creatures. Christ speaking of his soul, when he had thus to do with God, in the day of his anger, Ps.
* My heart is melted like wax, it
xxii. 14 (that psalm was all made of him)
is melted in the midst of my bowels. And towards this sense doth Sanctius seem to understand that complaint of Job s, uttered to his friends, concern
ing those terrors of God which he felt within him : Job vi. 4,11 verses com
* Is my strength the strength of stones ? or is my flesh, my nature
pared,
* of brass, that I should be able to encounter with this indig nation of the Almighty ? Stones and brass have no sense in them (or but a dull sense, if their opinion should hold true, de sensit rerum), they have no blood nor spirits to make them sensible of these arrows of God s anger he had spoken of, ver. 4. Ay, but Job meaneth to say, I have a soul made of other metal, suited to God, the great Spirit, whose arrows I feel, which is
or constitution,
exquisitely sensible of all his actings. Take the statue of a man made of
brass, or cut out of stone, and slash and cut him, and he feels it not ; but cut
the same limbs that answer to these in a living man, made of flesh and blood, with the same knife, and what torture is it ! You may see this, and aggra vate it to yourselves, by what inferior spirits to this great Father of spirits, as
angels and devils can work upon man s soul, that is a spirit like themselves, being yet inferior to them. When Saul had but one evil spirit sent from the Lord, how distracted and terrified was he, though in the midst of the
enjoyments of a kingdom
! 1 Sam. xiv. 14. Also that great apostle, that had his spirit fortified, as having been newly feasted with the joys of heaven, and that not as at a distance only, but as a spectator, that stood by, present there, 2 Cor. xii. ; yet one angel, Satan, buffeting him, he was so disturbed and put to it, as he knew not what to do, or how to bear it ; only God told
him, My grace is sufficient for thee. Well, but do men s souls in hell
4 fight with flesh and blood, yea, or with principalities and powers chiefly? No ; that is but whilst they are the rulers of this world, as there it is added. And }*et if these spirits have such power over our spirits to buffet and terrify them, what hath God, the Father of them ?
Again, consider how the soul is capable of more joys and sorrows than the
bodily senses are, and this by how much it doth exceed them in its eminency and capacity. The soul is able to drink up all the pleasures the whole crea
tion can afford the bodily senses, or they bring in ; to drink them up (I say) even at one draught, and yet would in the midst of it still cry, Give, Give. Now, as it is in the body of a man, look whatever part is capable of more plea
sure, it is also capable of more pains. So the soul proportionably ; look how
582 AN UNREGENEBATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOL>,
capable it is of greater joys (as it is from God), it is as much of sorrows also, unto the same extension and intension of them.
Add, II., as to this point, that as the soul is thus vastly capable of more sorrow and anguish, so further, that these souls to be punished are filled with sin, and in that respect termed vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, Horn. ix. 22. Take a barrel of wood, and of itself it will burn as it is wood ; but if withal it be pitched within, and full of tar and combustible matter, it
will burn more ragingly. Of unfruitful branches, apostatising from Christ,
it is said, John xv. 6, that they are cast into the fire, and they are burned ; that is, they burn to purpose, make a mighty fire. That clause, and they are burned, is added by way of diuresis or emphasis; else it needed not. We see when sins were but laid upon Christ by imputation, who in himself was
separate from sinners, and had no conscience of sin, how yet the anger of God against sin dealt with him, as undertaking to be a surety for sin. And
* can you drink, says Christ, the cup that I am to drink of ? that is, so as
to bear it and not be overcome with it. Now, in Luke xxiii. 31, you may see how Christ infers from his sufferings, as being the sufferings of one who had not been himself personally guilty of sin, what therefore, with difference, those in whom sin is inherent must expect.
* Weep for yourselves, says he, for if they do those things to the green tree, what will be done in the
dry ? that is, who are fit combustible matter for the fire, and, as the pro phet says, are as stubble fully dry, Nahum i. 10 : and of the terribleness of God s anger he had before discoursed (as was even now observed) in all
that chapter.
Again, III., in the soul, some faculties are more capable of anguish from
his wrath than other, even as in the body some parts are more of pain. If a man would avoid a scalding drop to be let fall upon any part, of all other he would fence his eye. You see how a mote, a fly troubleth it ; a scalding drop of oil would much more. So it is in the faculties of the soul. You read there is the spirit of the mind, Eph. iv. 23. Now God will wound even that, and aims at it in this punishment. A wounded spirit who can bear ? says Solomon. If a man s flesh be torn and cut, he may yet bear up himself, but if his bones be broken, who can stand ? Now the immediate
strokes of God are so compared by David, as unto the breaking of the bones, in comparison of other dealings of God with, and inflictions from God to wards us.
" The next thing which I mention, but as an appendix to this head, is, that
it is the destruction of the soul. So Christ and the apostle again and again. They are said to be lost ; and though men ma} metaphysically dispute that
it is better to be, though in hell, than not to be, yet Christ hath said, it were better not to have been born. I shall say no more as to this head than what the apostle expresseth this by, in 1 Tim. vi. 9, in saying, that men are drowned in perdition and destruction. One would think for him
to have expressed death and destruction, it might have been enough to have
said that a man were drowned, or sunk down to the bottom of waters, or the like
* drowned in perdi tion itself, or that perdition and destruction are the pit, the lake he is
materials that would suffocate a man ; but to say he is
plunged into, what can be said beyond it ? And yet here he is not content with one single word to express that by either, as to have said, drowned in
perdition, but must double it, and add another word, destruction, also. De
stroyed, therefore, over and over ; drowned over head and ears, as we say, and all that is in them drowned and sunk into perdition ; the whole soul,
yea, the whole man. No part above water : destroyed with a double destruc-
CHAP. VIII.! IN RESPECT OF BIN AND PUNISHMENT. 033
tion ; both for object double, and also for the subject of it, both body and
soul. So Christ says. The third head that affords matter of exaggeration to our thoughts, where
by to infer the fearfulness of this punishment, is taken from the ends or final
causes mentioned in that first section : the ends, I say, which God hath
in, and is provoked by unto this punishment. And as I then singly argued from each of them the immediateness of God s hand therein, so now I shall from each of the same, the dreadfulness hereof. There were three attributes
of God in special, and his glory in common, which God aimeth at the mani
festation of, in this ultimate guerdon or reward for sin. 1. The manifesta
tion of the glory (that is in common) ; then particularly, 1st, of his power ;
2dly, the satisfying of his justice ; Sdly, of his wrath. The scriptures I then had recourse to, do specify all these. I shall speak to these in this sec
tion, and to the other in the following.
1. In general, that he aimeth at his glory in it (which is God s general aim, and is common to these and all other attributes) is evident. His glory
(&s it is to be manifested to us) is but the result or shine of all or any of his
attributes, manifested in that place of Prov. xvi. 4, The Lord hath made all
things for himself, that is, for his glory (for that is himself, My glory 1
will not give to another ) it follows, yea, even the wicked for the day of
evil. The day of evil there is the day of punishment, the wicked them
selves also making and preparing themselves by sin thereto ; but so as
thereupon God manifests his glory upon them, as well as upon all things else, which he hath made in their several seasons and kinds. And Solomon doth mention this of punishment, as one eminent instance of all things else what ever that are for his glory, and which will be ordered then by him thereunto
in a special manner ; and because (it being so great an evil) men might think
otherwise, yea, but, says Solomon, God seeks and will have a glory out of
this punishment, as well as out of all things else, of which ye all acknow
ledge that God made them for himself. And so in that 2 Thes. i. 9, they are said to be punished from the glory of his power ; that is, from his
power, glorifying himself on them, as I before expounded it. And as it is
for the glory of this his power, so by the same reason of all or any of those other attributes, he is pleased to put forth therein.
I shall premise two maxims, from whence forelaid the inference for the
dreadfulness of this will more readily rise, in an infinite height, unto our more
serious and sober apprehensions.
1. The first, that all things which God doth for his own glory, he will per form them like himself, that is, like God, and so make the utmost of every
thing that that subject matter, whatever it be, will afford of glory to him. This rule is ascertained to us, as from the nature of God, so from that say
ing of the apostle, Rom. i. 21, where he condemns the Gentiles, that they
glorified him not as God, that is, in such a manner as was worthy of him ;
they came not up to that height of glory, so great a God must have given unto him from creatures. Now, if it be the sin of creatures that they fall
short in glorifying God as God, then be assured that if God himself under
takes and proiesseth to do a thing for his glory, he will, in the whole of it, and issue thereof, either glorify himself as God, or never begin to essay or meddle with it, but would have let it alone for ever.
2. From hence take this also along with you, to carry it in your view
through each particular that follows : that then, if God seeks to glorify him
self in a way of punishment, that punishment must be answerably great and
* glorify him as God in that way. For it is the punishment or the judgment itself which
proportioned to raise up a glory unto God, such as shall
534 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
he executes (as the psalmist says) out of which this glory must spring. This
punishment, as it is a punishment, is that wherein God will be glorified as God ; that is, it is the soil which this crop of his glory is to grow up out
of, and the crop or harvest of glory can be but what the fertility of that soil,
as such, affords. These things in general forelaid. Now, 3, the greatness or vast comings in of that glory God reckons upon from this may rise up in your view by these particulars.
(1.) Had it not been that, in comparison of other works of his, an infinitely exceeding revenue of glory would have arisen unto him from this, God \vould never have set his heart or hand to this work of all other ; I say it again, he would never have set his hand to this work of all other. For as he is
Creator, he hath a love to all, and hates nothing that he hath made; he loves no such bloody work for itself, nor would have ever imbrued his hands in the destruction of his creature, had it not been for an exceeding weight of
glory ; and as being justly provoked thereto, it becometh a just prize on that hand presented to him, which he will be sure withal to manage and perform with the utmost righteousness. It is certain that this is to him opus alienum, a work strange to his nature, as the prophet speaks. He does not naturally nor willingly (says the Lamentation)
* afflict or grieve the children of men, Lam. iii. 33. Men s quarrellings and cavils hereabout did put him long since to his oath, and he hath cleared himself by oath in Ezekiel :
* As I live, I will not the death of a sinner ; that is, not simply, as if I delighted in it
for itself, as a God that is cruel (which was objected); and therefore I say peremptorily it must be an infinite mass of glory, after much longsuffering and impenitency of men, that moves him to it. And if so, then, accord
ing to the principles even now mentioned, do you that are impenitent sin ners look to it, for ex vestro corio (I allude to Job s speech, skin for skin), out of the blood of your souls, and their destruction, shall this tribute and tax of glory be raised, according unto what your sinfulness shall be found to have been. And oh, then, do you collect how fearful it is like to be ! View
it in a contrary, and indeed though an instance far transcending the propor tion of this, yet in respect of holding some likeness to God s proceeding in
this, ^vill conduce to heighten our thoughts about this. It is a consideration that helps our faith (and it is a great one) that for God to deliver up his own Son to death, and for himself to bruise him (you have it all in a short
saying, Isa. liii. 10, It pleased the Lord to bruise him ), and that this should be the object of his good pleasure, there must have been some in
comprehensible vast design of glory to accrue therefrom, to be attained by doing it, some high end and far transcending design that was to be the issue and product of it ; which, as you know, was the glory of his mercy and love
in the salvation of men : Glory to God on high, good will to men. And
this is as great an evidence and argument to our faith that God is resolved
to save sinners as can be given. For what hath been thus done to Christ is
past recalling, not to be recompensed any other way than by saving many by the knowledge of him, as God there speaks. Now as this instance of the
highest kind serves to evidence this thing to us, so, though in a far lesser pro portion, you may take somewhatalike illustration, at least in the point in hand; that certainly it must be a great surpassing mass of glory that will come in unto him by this punishment for sin, which should any way gain him to be so much as willing to it, against which otherwise he hath so much in his own nature, who had it withal in his absolute power to have given effectual
grace to all as well as to some ; which latter all ackno\vledge he hath done, even as it was in his power to Lave saved the world without Christ s death, Mark xiv. 36. ye sons of men, know and understand your God. and
CHAP. VIII.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 585
be moved thereby to turn unto him; and the more by this, that it must and
will prove an infinite punishment that is coming upon you, because, were it
not an immense sum of glory would accrue to him out of it, and that but
upon your final impenitency ; he that is a God so good in himself would
never else bring it upon you. And according to that first niaxim premised,
it must be the soreness of the punishment from whence that glory must
arise.
(2.) Consider herewith how that he hath reserved this, as his last work in
that other world, when this world shall come to be folded up as a garment, and a final conclusion be put to all these other dispensations and works of
glory that are now on foot. And as Solomon told us that he hath made
the wicked for himself and for the day of evil, so Job also tells us, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, and shall be brought forth at
(or to) the day of wrath. Reserved by God till after all his other works of wonder are ended and gone, then to be brought forth as a trophy of his glory. Both themselves and all their sins are reserved till then, and laid up amongst God s treasures, to be then made public. The salvation of his elect and
the destruction of the wicked are the last and only works that then remain, and do remain, and are purposely kept unto that time, when he means to shew himself to be God indeed, and to make all men and angels know that he is God. It is an argument of the fearfulness of that punishment the
devils shall undergo, Jude 6, 2 Peter ii. 4, that he hath reserved them in
everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day. It is a certain rule
that God s latter works do still exceed and put down the former, so far as
the former shall not in comparison be remembered, Isa. Ixv. 17, Jer. iii. 16. When God would make his apostles (as to this world) the greatest spectacle of misery that (excepting what he made his own Son, who was the first born among many brethren), he ever put upon saints, prophets, or martyrs, that had preceded and were before them, how doth the apostle express his
design in it, 1 Cor. iv. 9 ? I think, says he, that God hath set forth us
the apostles last as it were, men appointed to death, for we are made a spec tacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men : alluding to those gladia tors brought up last upon the stage as a specfacle to the people. The thing I
cite it for is, that the greatest work in that kind he appointed to be at last, as also was that which immediately preceded it, the coming of his Son in the
last days. And but this of punishing the wicked in his last, and very last, of all that he will do for ever.
(3.) Especially let us withal consider besides how all his actings and works whereby to glory himself for ever shall be reduced and contracted to these
two. He gives over all other of providence and spiritual dispensations by ordinances, and sets down and betakes himself to these two alone. God hath nothing else to do in the other world ; and he hath no other revenue
of manifested glory that remains extant ; he lives and reigns eternally in or
upon these two ; and yet this is, then, when he is resolved to the utmost to be glorious. And yet all is but what comes out of these two works, the
salvation of the elect and destruction of the wicked.
(4.) Again, consider these two are uniform works, and unvarying, and without shadow of turning. In this world he makes a variety and inter
change of providences, which are exercised in such works as he sometimes
takes up and then lays down again at pleasure ; he sets one thing against another, as Solomon speaks. Every day and age produceth a variety and
alteration. And this is because his glory, that appeareth but imperfectly in some one (as in this and that particular), may have an additional perfection in some other, that so all that variety miy, like small pieces in tapestry,
580 AX UNREGENERATE UAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
make that piece of work complete. And yet we see how in this mixture, and often but in some one single work or piece wrought and done but once, how much of God s glory appears to the wonderment of men and angels. Whereas now this last work of punishing wicked men (as likewise that other of salvation), are but as one continued dispensation, of one woof, and uniform
for ever, without change, variety, or interruption. The whole stream of God s
activity contracts itself unto and runs in these two channels, and no more, in omm volubilis cevum. And how strong must you needs suppose these two streams each of them to be, whenas the manifestation of the Deity doth now run so strongly in a thousand rivulets. This in general, from the manifesta tion of his glory.
I named three attributes in particular, which God doth more eminently shew forth in this great and last work of his
First, His power. Secondly, Justice.
Thirdly, Avenging wrath, to the end to gain a glory to himself out of alf
those.
: Rom. ix. 22, What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and make his power known ? His power, you see, is mentioned distinct from his wrath, though indeed it will provoke to be the power of his wrath ; but I shall distinctly speak of it. You have
First, His power. That you have in two places
it also mentioned as that attribute which shall be most glorified hereby in 2 Thes. i. 9, Who shall be punished with destruction from the glory of his
power. I afore spake some things of the greatness of God s power as in
relation to this punishment, in shewing how fearful it is to fall into the hands of God, in the first head or demonstration in this section. I shall only here add,
1. This general rule concerning it, that the drawing forth of power or
activity by God in any work, is still but what is proportionable and answer
able to the work ; that is, the effect shall be answerable in greatness to the
power that is said to be put forth. It is certain God overacts nothing. Now the effect wherein this power of his is put forth, is here said to be destruc
tion ; and therefore that destruction must be conceived proportioned to the
power that is said to be exerted. There was never work which God ever
did, wherein he professed to shew forth a transcendency of power, or of any other attribute, but it was wonderful and glorious in its kind. All his attri butes are himself, and so as great as himself. This visible world, in its
kind, what a glorious building is it, consisting of heaven and earth ! and to what end was it that he professed he made it ? You have it Rom. i. 20, that
by the creation of the world might be understood his eternal power and Godhead. And if he that created and raised up such beings out of nothing shall profess yet further to make his power known, and will use that power, and put it forth in destroying, to shew forth the glory of it, how great will
that destruction be which must bear a proportion to such a manifestation ! That after God hath in so great and so various works preceding this, suffi
ciently, as we might think, shewn himself God, in point of power, or what
a powerful God he is ; that yet after all, as if in all these he had not given so full proof or demonstration of power, and as not satisfied with all the former as not enough, he should be after all willing, as the apostle says here,
at last to begin a new work, which should make the ears of the whole crea
tion tingle, on purpose to make his power known : this is it swallows
up my thoughts into astonishment, knowing both that, according to the
rule before given, his last works ordained to shew forth any attribute, must
infinitely exceed the former, that served to the making known thereof ; and
CHAP. V11I."! IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 537
that again puts a new amazement into my thonghts, to think how, or wherein so much a greater proportion of power should be spent
! If it were
barely to annihilate, and bring the creature to its first nothing, there needs not an extension of power ; it were but withdrawing that word of his power that holds up and bears up all things, Heb. i. 3, and these, as all, would fall
to nothing. But over and above, you read here of such a destruction as draws out his power positively, and makes his power known afresh. Spe
cially, when again I consider as to this particular, that to destroy the well-
being of anything is, in the ordinary experience of us creatures, more easy than to give being. A man that cannot make alive the least of creatures, not the least fly or flea, can yet with an easy touch destroy them. I hinted
before some respects wherein this destruction might exceed, in respect of
power concurring to it, that of the creation. In the creation there was but a single expense of power, namely, of merely raising up out of nothing ; but in this a double. For the wrath of God, exerted in the fierceness of it, hath a tendency to bring, and would, if no other power intervened, bring the sinner unto nothing ; as that speech of Jeremiah doth imply, chap. x. 24,
1 Correct me not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing ; as also that of Nahum, Who can stand in the fierceness of his anger? So as under
this his pressure of the creature unto nothing, for God to uphold that crea
ture in being, is equivalent unto a continual educing it out of nothing again. Oh what destruction must that then be in the execution of it, in which God
will positively put forth more power than in creating, and thereby, after all other works of power shewn, get himself the name among the whole creation of being a powerful God indeed ! But of this destruction, more hereafter. Thus much for that of power.
The second attribute is justice, which he will to the utmost shew forth in
this punishment. So in the text, The Lord shall judge his people ; and 2 Thes. i. 9, (3/xjv r/<rov<r/n)
* They shall lay down, or pay a punishment ; and ver. 6,
* It is a righteous thing in God to recompense tribulation, &c. And indeed, God s power herein is not put forth simply out of sovereignty, or for itself, but is drawn out by justice and wrath, to execute what they are provoked unto. I before gave this as one reason why God himself must execute this punishment, because else the punishment will not come
up to satisfy his justice ; but now I make use of the same to infer the dread-
fulness thereof: that it is the falling into the hands, as of a potent God, so
of a just God recompensing for sin, and extending his mighty power to
inflict a punishment, which should in justice hold proportion with the de merit of sin, that so the exactness of his justice might appear.
Now, to heighten our apprehensions of the dreadfulness of this punish ment from this particular, consider,
1. The infinite demerit of sin. Which is not enough known or considered
by the miserable subjects thereof, because indeed God himself, in his holi
ness, and in his greatness, is not known by them. Now, because men will not otherwise know, nor be sensible of sin, in the spiritual evil of it against God, therefore it is that God is put upon it thus to make men know it, and what God himself is ; for men to sin against him by such dreadful effects, as
in justice shall hold proportion with their sin and the desert thereof. And God professeth he will herein be exact, Heb. ii. 2, so as
* every transgres sion shall receive a just recompence of reward; not such or such sins, some few more eminent sins only, but every transgression shall have a reward pro
portionate. He that is the Judge of all the world, shall not he be exact?
as Abraham in another case, Gen. xvii. Yes ; in this ultimate punishment he will be sure to be, as Isaiah speaks, chap, xxviii. ver. 17,
* To lay judg-
638 AN UNEEGBNEBATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII
ment io the line, and righteousness to the plummet, as carpenters do when
they would fit things one to another, and make things uniform and corres
pondent, and square them adequately to an hair s breadth, as we say. And thus God will do in judging; he will bring his line and his plummet, take measure of the heinousness of every sin, and mete a punishment adequate thereto. And if so, then this punishment, how dreadful wall it be ! If thou wilt be severe to mark what is done amiss, who will be able to stand ?
says the psalmist, Ps. cxxx. 3. The heinousness of sin is measured by the greatness of that glory whereof it is the debasement ; and that debase ment done to him, further measured by this, that it is by so mean things as wte creatures are to God ; and so is estimated by the worth of that person against whom it is committed, which therefore could by no other means be
expiated, but by the debasement and emptying of as great a glory, due to the person of the Son of God, appearing in our nature as one person there with. Sin, the apostle tells us, Rom. vii. 13, is above measure sinful. And hence, accordingly, this punishment is estimated to be above measure
fearful. Thus Jer. xxx. 11, and Isa. xxvii. 7, 8, God putting this very difference between his punishing godly men, his own children, and his punish ing wicked men, Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? No ; for he puts this difference in the 8th verse, he smites his own in measure. You may thus take the compass, the magnitude, and the depth of it by this, that therefore oppositely his punishing the other exceeds all measure. Sin is the creature s proper work, and punishment is God s work. Vengeance belongeth unto me, says the text; he challengeth it as his. Now it is certain God will shew himself as perfect and as exact in his work as man and Satan have been in theirs ; he will not be exceeded or outgone by them. The Lord is known, says the psalmist, by the judgment that he executeth, Ps. ix. 16. If the creature be so wicked as to bring forth so heinous an evil (in yen ere moris) as sin is, which is malum catholicum, a catholic evil, and accordingly hath the name of all evil given it, as virtually and transcendently containing all that God or man calls evil, then be assured that God who is so just will be as sure to bring forth, by way of return upon the creature, a punishment that shall be, in genere pcencc, in its kind, malum
catholicum, an universal evil also. And such Ezekiel terms it, speaking of the evil of punishment; it is an evil, and an only evil, Ezek. vii. 5 ; that
is, such an evil as shall be nothing but evil, and that shall contain the spirit, the quintessence of all evil in it. Therefore, Ps. Ixxv. 8, In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and it is full of mixture ; as if an artist that knows the nature of all simples should temper a cup that is full of all sorts of
poisons, and which is a compound of the bitterest, loathsomest ingredients this earth puts forth. Even thus hath God strained the quintessence of all
evils into one cup ; and it follows there, the wicked of the earth must drink the dregs of it ; which phrase also argues such a mixure as this we speak of ; the bitterest of all is at the bottom, and it is eternity to the bottom, and they must not nor shall not leave a drop, but suck out the dregs, as the
prophet s phrase is, Ezek. xxiii. 34. Thou hast a cup of abomination, and when thou hast filled up thy measure, then will God take a measure of
thy cup, and fill the same proportion of dregs and mixture to thee in a cup of his tempering.
2. Consider that in the manifestation of this attribute of justice there
must, of all other (next unto that of mercy), be a more special glory intended and designed by God himself, unto which this punishment must bear an eminent proportion, as being the matter wherein it appears. I said before, that if God professed to manifest any attribute of his whatever, it still hath
CHAP. VIII.] IN BESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 589
been done in such effects of wonder as all the creation is set admiring of. Now of all other attributes, these two of justice and mercy are the prime, which he sets the greatest value upon the manifestation of. And therefore
still look how they are more eminent, or by how much the more .eminently he intends to manifest them above other attributes, by so much must the
effects in and by which he manifesteth them exceed and excel all other works.
Now that these are the brightest jewels in that crown of his glory, and which he intends most to embellish, may be seen in this : 1. That he hath chosen the choicest and most excellent of his creatures as the stuff or mate
rials in which to set these forth ; namely, angels and men, and Christ him
self the head of all. That look as curious engravers, when they would shew
their best art and chiefest workmanship, they cull out the choicest materials, as either precious stones, cedar, or marble, to work upon ; and so embroid
erers, the finest stuff or cloth for the groundwork they would embroider
gold or pearls upon ; thus hath God singled forth angels and men, the
chief of, and more noble creatures (in the stun they consist of) than the rest
of his whole creation. Power and wisdom is seen in other creatures, but
vindictive justice, as also grace and saving mercy, only on men and angels. And, 2, although he hath shewn forth more of wisdom and power in the frame and fabric of men and angels than in the whole of heaven and earth,
yet still, comparatively, more of justice and mercy in these two, than that
all or any of the other attributes shewn forth in and upon them comes unto ; whereof this is sufficient evidence, that they have the name of
* vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath, Rom. ix. You read nowhere that they are termed vessels of power or vessels of wisdom, which is a token that they are filled with these, in that they carry away the denomination (which is
usually a jjrincipaliuri), as if no attributes else in comparison seemed to
appear. And yet how much of power and wisdom is seen in the fabric of man, David tells us, I am wonderfully or fearfully made. So then, those
that shall prove to be the miserable vessels of this his wrath and justice, shall be so filled \vith the punishment whereby this justice is made known, as shall deservedly bear the name of wrath and judgment engraven upon
it of all other attributes. The day in which he will judge the world, Acts
xvii. 31, is elsewhere called the day of destruction, the day of wrath, the
day of judgment, &c. It bearelh its denomination from this very work we
speak of.
And further, consider how he hath given out beforehand, almost six thousand years before, concerning this work above all works else, and hath
posted it upon Enoch s pillars (you know the tradition I allude to) as you use to do citations, Jude 14, 15, or as you do indicere diem, set a day for the most solemn works. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied
hereof, saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to
execute judgment upon all, &c. And further and besides, God speaks of
preparations to have been all along made by him during the time of this world against that day. The persons are a-fitting, Rom. ix ; the punish ment a-preparing, prepared for the devil and his angels, even from their
very first fall. Now certainly God would never raise up in us, by such words given out by h
mself, so great expectations, if the reality, the execu
tion, the thing itself, should not answer to all these. Yea, after all his other works of wonder finished and perfected, he professeth to come on purpose to be glorified. And in what ? as well in rendering vengeance in the destruc
tion of wicked men as in the glorifying his saints, 2 Thes. i. 6-10, Seeing
it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that
trouble you; and to you that are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
? S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK XIII.
540 AN UNREGENERATE MAN
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power
: when he
shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that
believe, in that day. He carries on the glorifying himself and of his power in the one as well as in the other.
Yea, and to render the solemnity of this work and day yet greater, he
calls a general assembly of all men and angels that are or have been, or of men that yet shall be, in either worlds, to be present and see the execution.
* the great day, as that reserved to the judgment of the great day, Jude 6, and other speeches. And why the
To conclude. It is therefore called
great day, but from this work of that day that shall be done upon it, which
this day shall then bring forth and produce ; as days have their style and denomination from the work of the day, opus diei in die suo. So this (as was said) is called the day of destruction, wrath, &c. And if so, then that
style of greatness must be from the greatness of the work that shall be done
thereon. And so the judgment of the great day, because great will the
judgment be that is to be executed on that day.
Lastly. God hath in the mean time suffered his glory to be debased, himself to be the least regarded in the world, sin and the devil to carry all
before them, and sinners to have the glory ; relieving himself in the mean time that he hath a treasure of glory to be broken up at that day, Rom.
ii. 3, when he will come on purpose to be glorious. He hath suffered an
eclipse of six thousand years, that in the end he may break forth with a redoubled glory. And all that glory must come in this way, even from this
punishment he shall execute. And it must be a recovery of greater glory than he should have had by man s holiness in that first state by creation, or God would never have let sin have come into the world ; he meant not to be a loser.
I come next to argue this from the third attribute, his wrath ; or if you
will, his power and justice, as intended and heightened to extremities by wrath ; and though he will be just in what he doth, yet it is justice put on
by wrath. He recompenseth sin, not only as rector universi. judge of all the
world, and so upon the account of public rules given forth, to vindicate the
equity and righteousness of which, he punisheth the transgressions of them ; but over and above he doth it as resenting an injury, a personal affront given to himself, his person ; and this draws forth his wrath and vengeance on his own behalf.
As it is termed vengeance, so zeal, in Heb. x. 27, and 1 Cor. x. 22, Do
you provoke the Lord to jealousy ? In Nahum i. 2, see what a conglome ration there is of attributes and effects.
God is jealous ; that is the first. He compares that in God unto that in
man, which, Solomon tells us, is the rage of man, Prov. vi. 34.
Again, 2, The Lord revengeth, the Lord rcvenyeth. That is the effect , and he says it twice, as speaking of one who is inflamed with anger. Then, 3, to shew how fiercely in revenging he executes it, even with fury, he adds, The Lord revengeth and is furious; who yet professeth elsewhere of
of himself, Fury is not in me ; that is, of myself it is not, Isa. xxvii. 4. But as he is provoked by sin and impenitency, so fury is in him. The Lord is furious.
Then, 4, follows the subject thereof, and what they are to him whom his
* The Lord will take
fury waxeth so hot against, enemies and adversaries :
vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
CilAP. VIII.] IN BESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 541
Which accords with this text, Vengeance is mine, I will recompense the
adversaries, ver. 27, And, 5, if any urge, Yea, but is not God merciful, and slow to anger ?
Yes, says he, ver. 3, the Lord is sloic to anaer. But he brings it into shew
that in this case it is that very patience of his, which in the issue works up unto that fury, Ld sa patientia fit furor.
And then, 6, he further warns them to consider, that in the execution of
this fury to the utmost, his power comes to be engaged, The Lord ix great in
power.
And lastly, He will not at all acquit the tricked that lives and dies in his
sins ; which is a clause or proviso he still puts in, even when he speaks the
greatest things of his mercy. See Exod. xxxiv. G, 7. And although the very reading this description of God as an avenger shews forth alone its own dreadfulness, yet further, to clear and enlarge upon it, consider,