were with him in the ark." God spake then terribly indeed unto the wicked world by the flood, which devoured them altogether in the midst of their security and sin; but God hath promised he will never speak thus by water any

more.

3. Fire is another terrible thing whereby God sometimes is pleased to contend with a sinful people. Fire is very dreadful when it hath a commission from God, and meets with much combustible matter, and prevails without resistance. God spake terribly by fire unto Sodom and Gomorrah, when he rained fire and brimstone on those cities, and consumed them. See Gen. xix. from the 24th verse to the 29th. "The Lord rained fire and brimstone out of heaven, and overthrew those cities and the inhabitants together; and when Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the land of the plain, he saw the smoke of the country go up like the smoke of a furnace."

God spake terribly, though not so terribly, to Jerusalem, when he suffered their city to be set on fire by the Babylonians, and their temple to be burnt to the ground. See Jer. lii. 12, 13.

She

But the most fearful instances of God's terrible voice by fire are yet to come: thus God will speak by fire unto spiritual Babylon, which may easily be proved to be Rome, from Rev. xvii. 18. then being the great city, which reigned over the kings of the earth. Babylon's burning with fire you may read, Rev. xviii. 8-10, &c. "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God

who judgeth her: and the kings of the earth who have committed fornication, and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning; standing afar off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, that great city Babylon! that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come," &c.

God spake terribly by fire when London was in flames, of which in the application; but he will speak far more terribly when Babylon shall be in flames; and not only in part, but wholly, and utterly, and irreparably burnt, and turned into ashes: when not only the city shall be consumed, but also the Whore herself "shall be hated and made desolate, and devoured with fire by the kings of the earth," Rev. xvii. 10.

The last instance of God's speaking terribly by fire will be the last day, when the Lord Jesus Christ, the judge of quick and dead, shall come down from heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on all those that know not God, and obey not the Gospel," 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. And the Apostle Peter tells us, that "the heavens and the earth are reserved in store for fire against this day, when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up," 2 Pet. iii. 7-10. Then God will speak terribly by fire, and above all, most terribly to the ungodly world; when he will sentence them unto, and cast them into the fire of hell, where they must dwell with devouring fire, and inhabit everlasting burnings.

4. The sword is a dreadful judgment, whereby

God speaks sometimes very terribly; especially when he draws it forth against his own and his people's enemies. Hear how terribly God speaks in Deut. xxxii. 39-42. "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me; I kill and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand: For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and reward them that hate me: I will make mine arrows drunk with blood (and my sword shall devour flesh) and that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemies."

When God furbisheth his sword, and whets it; when God girdeth his sword upon his thigh, and marcheth against his enemies; when he draweth his sword, and maketh slaughter with it; when his sword devoureth much flesh, and is made drunk with the blood of the slain; when God gives commission to the sword, saying, "Sword, go through such a land;" as Ezek. xiv. 17. And " pours out his fury on the land in blood;" as verse 19. So that the sword is bathed in blood, and garments are rolled in blood, and the land is soaked in blood; when blood is poured forth like water, and dead bodies are cast forth into the open field without burial; and God makes an invitation to all feathered fowl to gather themselves together, and feast themselves upon the carcases of the slain; as Ezek. xxxix. 17-20. When God comes with " died garments

"When he gathereth

from Bozrah," Is. lxiii. 1. the nations, and brings them into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and thither causeth his mighty ones to come down against them." Joel iii. 2. 11. When the day of God's indignation doth come, and he makes such a slaughter amongst his enemies, that the "earth doth stink with their carcases, and the mountains do melt with their blood," Isa, xxxiv. 2, 3. When God" treadeth the wine-press of his wrath without the city, and the blood comes out of the wine-press, even to the horses' bridles," Rev. xiv. 20. In a word, when the Lord shall come forth upon his white "horse" with his armies; and shall destroy the beast, and all the powers of the earth that take part with him; as Rev. xix. from the 11th verse to the end: then God will speak terribly indeed against his enemies by the sword, then he will "roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem," and that in such a manner, as will "make both the heavens and the earth to tremble," Joel iii. 16.

And indeed God speaks with a terrible voice, wherever he sends the sword, and makes the alarm of war to be heard; as sometimes he sends it amongst his own people for their sin, 1 Kings viii. 33.

When God brings into a land a people of another language and religion, of a fierce countenance and cruel disposition; and gives them power to prevail, and bring the land under their feet, so that the mighty men are cut off by them, and the men of valour crushed in the gate; the young men fly and fall before them, and there is none to make any resistance; when they break in

upon cities, plunder houses, ravish women and maids, strip and spoil, and put all to the sword, the young with the grey head, cruelly rip up women with child, and without any pity on little infants, dash them against the stones. God speaks more terribly by such a judgment, than by plague or fire.

5. The famine is a dreadful judgment, whereby. God speaks sometimes unto a people very terri bly; when God "stretcheth upon a place the lines of confusion, and the stones of emptiness," as Isa. xxxiv. 11. When God sendeth cleanness of teeth into cities, as Amos iv. 7. When God. shooteth into a land the evil arrows of famine, and it becomes exceeding sore; this is one of the most dreadful of all judgments in this world, far beyond plague, or fire, or sword. See how pathetically the famine amongst the Jews is described, by Jeremiah in his Lamentations, chap.iv. from the 4th verse to the 12th. 66 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask for bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. They that fed delicately are desolate in the streets. They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. For the punishment of the iniquity. of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. Her Nazarites were purer than snow; whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies; their polishing was of sapphire; their visage.is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is