The Burning of London, Part 3 · Meditation 39
MEDITATION XXXIX. Upon the word of God it's being compared to fire, Jer. 23.29.
HOw ſhall we underſtand that queſtion, Jer. 22.29. It not my word like as a fire ſaith the Lord? Wherein conſiſts the reſemblance betwixt the word of God and fire? Surely it's warnting the hearts of men in whom it takes place, is one reaſon of it's being ſo called: For ſo ſaid the Diſciples of Chriſt Did not our hearts even burn within us, whilſt he opened the Scriptures to us? Luk. 24.32. Or elſe it may be ſo called from it's efficacy; in which ſenſe it is alſo called a Hammer which breaketh the rocks in pieces: Fire is able to demoliſh the ſtrongeſt places, of wch we many have ſad inſtances at this day; & ſo the Word is ſaid to be mighty through God to pull down ſtrong holds. We read of Gold tried by fire, 1 Pet. 1.7. and is not the Word of God a trying thing? It is ſaid (I ſhall not here examine in what ſenſe) that God ſent forth his word and tried Joſeph. Pſal. 10.19. Who knows not the purifying nature of fire, whereby metals are refined? and did not Chriſt aſcribe the like virtue to his Word, ſaying, Now are ye clean through the word that I have ſpoken to you? What more piercing then fire, and in that …eſpect alſo, it is much an Embleme of the Word of God, which is ſaid, to be ſharper than a two-edged ſword piercing to the dividing a-ſunder of ſoul and ſpirit, and of the joints and marrow, Heb. 4.12.
Theſe are but ſome of the Parallels that might be made, betwixt the word of God and Fire. He, whoſe word it is, would have it to be as Fire. And if it be Fire, where it hath once broken out, and got head, it will be hard to ſmother or ſuppreſſe it (as that Evangelical Fire, which was kindled by Luther in Germany, could never be extinguiſhed to this day). Saint Paul ſaith, though he ſuffered bonds, yet the word of God was not bound, 2 Tim. 2.4. And in Phil. 1.12. he ſaith, that the troubles which befell him, had happened rather to the furtherano… …f the Goſpel; and many did wax confident by his bonds, to ſpeak the word without fear. If the word of God be Fire (as it is), I wonder not that there are ſuch combuſtions in the world by means of it; as Chriſt, telling us what (through the corruption of men) would inſue upon his Goſpel, ſaith, He came not to ſend peace upon earth, but a ſword, Mat. 10.34. It is not Gods word, but ſomething elſe thoſe men would have, who would have nothing preached to them, that ſhould be as fire to conſume their Luſts, or to make their conſciences ſmart, at the remembrance of them. That which is not apt to ſearch and pierce, is nothing akin to fire, and therefore cannot be the word of God, which is ſaid to be quick and powerful as fire its ſelf. The fires which God kindleth for the good of the world (whereof his word is one of the chief) woe be to any that ſhall go about to quench. Quenching of prophecying is next unto quenching of the Spirit, yea, and is one way of doing it, as Divines obſerve.
I ſee cauſe, to bleſſe the God of heaven, who hath created ſome fires as profitable as others are miſchievous, namely, his word for one, a fire that never doth hurt, otherwiſe than by accident (neither indeed would other fires, kept within their due bounds) but ſo much good, as no tongue can expreſs. O Lord, that through thine inſinite goodneſs, I might experiment in my ſelf and others, all thoſe excellent properties of fire meeting in thy word, of which I have now been ſpeaking; that my heart and theirs might burn within us at the hearing of it, as did the hearts of thy Diſciples, that it may be mighty through thee to pull down all the ſtrong-holds of Sin and Sathan that are within us, that it might trye us as gold is tryed in the fire, and at the ſame time reſined and puriſied; that it might pierce, unto the dividing aſunder of ſoul and ſpirit, and of the joints and marrow; that the ſin, which is, as it were, bred in our bones, may be gotten out of the very fleſh. May the fire of thy word, have ſuch influence as this upon us, we ſhall then be ſure to eſcape the fire of thy wrath, and to arrive to that happineſs, which is called, The inheritance of the Saints in Light, Col. 1.12.