Secondly,1 Another Consideration that may make the most secure Sinner to tremble is this, That God himself will be the immediate Inflicter of their Punishments. They shall be consumed by Fire, and offered up as a burnt Sacrifice to the Wrath and Justice of God; and that Fire that shall for ever burn them is God himself, God is a consuming Fire. I do not deny but that there is another material Fire prepared and blown up in Hell for the punishment of the Damned, but certainly their most subtle and exquisite Torture shall be from God himself, who is this consuming Fire. This Wrath of God, which shall for ever burn and inflame the Souls of the Damned, is called fiery Indignation, 2Heb. 10.17. That Fire that destroyed Nadab and Abihu was but a Type of this, and the Antitype infinitely transcends the Type; the dreadfulness of their temporal Death by Fire was but a faint resemblance of the Death of the Soul; what Fire must that be, of which that extraordinary Fire that fell down from Heaven it self, was but a mere Shadow? As the Fire that came down upon Elijah's Sacrifice did lick up the ⟨p. 292⟩Water that was poured into the Trenches; so this fiery Indignation of God shall, in Hell, melt down the Damned, as it were, and then lick up their very Spirits and Souls.3 It is said, Psal. 104.4. That God makes his Angels a flaming Fire. It is the nearest representation that is given of the Angelical Nature, that abounds both in subtlety and force; He makes his Angels a flaming Fire. Now when Christ saith, Go into those flames of Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels; why the Devils themselves are Flames of Fire, and what Fire can be more piercing than themselves, who have power over Fire? Yet there is a greater Fire than they, God is a consuming Fire, a Fire so infinitely scorching as will burn and torment even Fire it self. It would be unspeakable, terrible Wrath in God, if he should make use of his Creatures for the punishment of the Damned. Who could bear it, if God should only keep a Man living for ever in the midst of a Furnace, though but of a gross, earthly Fire and Flames? Or, if God should bind a Man Hand and Foot, and cast him into a deep Pit full of Toads, Adders and Scorpions, and there let him lie ⟨p. 293⟩for ever? God knows all the several Stings that are in his Creatures, and he can take out of them the most sharp and piercing Ingredients;
Secondly,1 Another Consideration that may make the most secure Sinner to tremble is this, That God himself will be the immediate Inflicter of their Punishments. They shall be consumed by Fire, and offer'd up as a burnt Sacrifice to the Wrath and Justice of God; and that Fire that shall for ever burn them is God himself, God is a consuming Fire. I do not deny but that there is another material Fire prepared and blown up in Hell for the punishment of the Damned, but certainly their most subtle and exquisite Torture shall be from God himself, who is this consuming Fire. This Wrath of God, which shall for ever burn and enflame the Souls of the Damned, is called fiery Indignation, 2Heb. 10.17. That Fire that destroyed Nadab and Abihu was but a Type of this, and the Antitype infinitely transcends the Type; the dreadfulness of their temporal Death by Fire was but a faint resemblance of the Death of the Soul; what Fire must that be, of which that extraordinary Fire that fell down from Heaven it self, was but a meer Shadow? As the Fire that came down upon Elijah's Sacrifice did lick up the ⟨p. 292⟩Water that was poured into the Trenches; so this fiery Indignation of God shall, in Hell, melt down the Damned, as it were, and then lick up their very Spirits and Souls.3 It is said, Psal. 104.4. That God makes his Angels a flaming Fire. It is the nearest representation that is given of the Angelical Nature, that abounds both in subtilty and force; He makes his Angels a flaming Fire. Now when Christ saith, Go into those flames of Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels; why the Devils themselves are Flames of Fire, and what Fire can be more piercing than themselves, who have power over Fire? Yet there is a greater Fire than they, God is a consuming Fire, a Fire so infinitely scorching as will burn and torment even Fire it self. It would be unspeakable, terrible Wrath in God, if he should make use of his Creatures for the punishment of the Damned. Who could bear it, if God should only keep a Man living for ever in the midst of a Furnace, though but of a gross, earthly Fire and Flames? Or, if God should bind a Man Hand and Foot, and cast him into a deep Pit full of Toads, Adders and Scorpions, and there let him lie ⟨p. 293⟩for ever? God knows all the several Stings that are in his Creatures, and he can take out of them the most sharp and piercing Ingredients;
- 12. God himself is this consuming Fire.
- 2Heb. 10.17.
- 3Psal. 104.4.
