First, Consider that all other Vengeance is as nothing in comparison of that which God takes on a damned Soul. You ⟨p. 83⟩may possibly have heard of strange and horrid Revenges that some cruel Men have carved out unto themselves, putting those that have offended them to such Tortures as were altogether unfit for Men either to inflict or suffer. All Histories abound with such Barbarities. I am loth to offend your Ears so much as to recount them, let us only take an estimate by the dreadful Revenge that David took on the Ammonites: 12 Samuel 12. last. where it is said, He put them under Saws, and Harrows of Iron, and made them pass through the Brick-Kilns. And all this Severity, (if not to say Cruelty) was to revenge the insolent Affront done to his Ambassadors. It is doubtless no small Torture to be burnt alive, for Fire is a searching Thing, and ⟨p. 84⟩eats deep into the Senses; but yet this kind of Death was a quick and merciful dispatch in comparison of the others: Think what it is to be stretched along, and to have the sharp spikes of an Harrow tare up your Flesh, and draw out your Bowels and Bones after them: Or what it is to be sawn asunder in the midst, and to have those small Teeth eat their way slowly through you, while they jar against your Bones, and pull out your Nerves and Sinews thread by thread. How many Deaths think you were these poor miserable Creatures compelled to suffer before they were permitted to die. Yet alas! these, and all the witty Tortures that ever were invented by the greatest Masters of Cruelty, are nothing in comparison of the ⟨p. 85⟩Vengeance that God will take upon Sinners in Hell: And therefore he says, Vengeance is mine, I will recompense. As if he should say, alas, all that you can do one to another signifies nothing, it is not to be called, nor accounted Vengeance, that is too great a Name for such poor Effects. It is a Prerogative that God challengeth to himself to be the Avenger: And whatever Creatures meddle with, if they have not a Commission from him, it is their Sin; and therefore private Persons, whom he hath not invested with any such Authority, ought not to take upon them to avenge their own cause. Or if they have a Commission, yet all their execution of Vengeance is but feeble and weak.
First, Consider that all other Vengeance is as nothing in comparison of that which God takes on a damned Soul. You ⟨p. 83⟩may possibly have heard of strange and horrid Revenges that some cruel Men have carved out unto themselves, putting those that have offended them to such Tortures as were altogether unfit for Men either to inflict or suffer. All Histories abound with such Barbarities. I am loth to offend your Ears so much as to recount them, let us only take an estimate by the dreadful Revenge that David took on the Ammonites: 12 Samuel 12. last. where it is said, He put them under Saws, and Harrows of Iron, and made them pass thorow the Brick-Kilns. And all this Severity, (if not to say Cruelty) was to revenge the insolent Affront done to his Embassadours. It is doubtless no small Torture to be burnt alive, for Fire is a searching Thing, and ⟨p. 84⟩eats deep into the Senses; but yet this kind of Death was a quick and merciful dispatch in comparison of the others: Think what it is to be stretcht along, and to have the sharp spikes of an Harrow tare up your Flesh, and draw out your Bowels and Bones after them: Or what it is to be sawn asunder in the midst, and to have those small Teeth eat their way slowly thorow you, while they jarr against your Bones, and pull out your Nerves and Sinews thread by thread. How many Deaths think you were these poor miserable Creatures compelled to suffer before they were permitted to die. Yet alas! these, and all the witty Tortures that ever were invented by the greatest Masters of Cruelty, are nothing in comparison of the ⟨p. 85⟩Vengeance that God will take upon Sinners in Hell: And therefore he says, Vengeance is mine, I will recompence. As if he should say, alas, all that you can do one to another signifies nothing, it is not to be called, nor accounted Vengeance, that is too great a Name for such poor Effects. It is a Prerogative that God challengeth to himself to be the Avenger: And whatever Creatures meddle with, if they have not a Commission from him, it is their Sin; and therefore private Persons, whom he hath not invested with any such Authority, ought not to take upon them to avenge their own cause. Or if they have a Commission, yet all their execution of Vengeance is but feeble and weak.
- 12 Sam. 12. last.
