ces of Sodom, listen to the Law of your God, ye People of Gomorrah. See likewife Ezekiel 16. 46. & Seqq.

IV. And therefore the Divine Juftice offended at thefe horrid Enormities, refolved utterly to destroy fome Cities fituated in the fartheft part of the Plain of Jordan, which Mofes relates to have been done in the following manner; 'The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and Fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and he overthrew thofe Cities, and all the Plain, and all the Inhabitants of the Cities, ' and that which grew upon the ground, Gen. 19. 24, 25. We have already fhown, that this whole Tract of Land was full of Bitumen, which as it will easily take fire, was soon kindled by the Lightning; and the Flame was not only to be feen upon the Superficies of the Earth, which frequently happens in such places, without the Destruction of the Inhabitants, but so pierced into the Subterranean Veins of Brimftone and Bitumen, that that matter being deftroyed, the whole Earth funk down, and offorded a Receptacle to the Waters flowing thi ther. All which Particulars we will now endeavour to handle more copiously, and to illustrate by other Examples.

First, Though Mofes only mentions two Cities which God deftroy'd by Lightning, namely Sodom and Gomorrah, yet there were two more destroy'd at the fame time, Adma and Zeboim, which lay near the two above-mentioned

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Cities,

Cities, as appears from Chapter 14. 2. Nay, Mofes himself affirms as much, Deut. 29. 23. where taking occafion to defcribe the Punifhments with which God would vifit the wicked Ifraelites, he tells them, that Strangers as they travelled that way fhould gaze upon their Lands, burnt up with Brimftone and Salt, in which there fhould be no fowing, nor should any thing grow, nor any Herb appear, as in the De ftruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his Anger and Wrath. See likewife Hofea 11. 8. Now the reason why these two laft Cities were omitted, feems to be, because perhaps the Kings of thefe places were tributary to thofe of Sodom and Gomorrah. Strabo indeed in his fixteenth Book does not mention that only four Cities were fubverted by this Subterranean Fire, but thirteen; but perhaps he might be deceived in this matter, as well as he was in believing that the Lacus Serbonis was the fame with the Afphal tites. Perhaps to, nine other smaller Towns, which depended upon these four, were deftroyed at the fame time. 'Tis certain, that Ezekiel does not only make mention of Sodom but its Daughters, Chap. 16. that is, the Cities that were fituate in the fame Province; As I live, faith the Lord God to Jerufalem, thy Sifter Sodom, and the Daughters thereof, (that is to fay, the Cities which it had built around it, or elfe fent Colonies into) have not done as thou and thy Daughters have done. It may not improbably be fuppofed,

fuppofed, that Strabo, a Man of great Diligence, and infinite Reading, might have an account of the number of these Cities from fome Writer of the Phænician History.

Secondly, God is faid to have rained down Fire and Brimstone from the Lord, which is a Periphrafis for Lightning, as in Pfalm 9. ver. 6. He will rain Whirlwinds upon the Wicked, Fire and Brimstone; and Ezekiel 38.22. I will punish him with Peftilence and Blood: a mighty Shower, Stones of Hail, FIRE and BRIMSTONE, will I rain down upon him. Now Thunder is therefore called Fire and Brimstone, which is as much as to say, Brimftone fet on fire, and lighted. So in the third of Genefis, v. 16. we find Pain and Conception, that is Pain which follows Conception. He that is defirous to see more Examples of this nature, let him confult H. Grotius upon John 3.5. But the reason why Thunder is thus defcribed, no one certainly can be ignorant of, that has either smelt thofe places that have been struck by Thunder, or has read what Learned Men have writ upon this occafion. I will only give my felf the trouble to set down two or three Testimonies. Thunder and Lightning likewife, fays Pliny, lib. 35.c. 15. have the Smell of Brimstone, and the very Light or Flame of them is fulphureous. And Seneca, in the second Book of his Natural Queftions, ch. 21. tells us, that all things that are ftruck by Lightning, have a fulphureous Smell. And indeed, our Natural Philofophers have plainly demonftraP 4

ted,

ted, that the Thunderbolt is nothing else but a fulphureous Exhalation. For this Perfius, in his fecond Satire, calls it Sulphus Sacrum ;

Ignoviffe putas, quia cum tonet, ocyus ilex,
Sulphure difcutitur facro, quam túq; domúfq;

On the other hand, because the Thunderbolt is of a Sulphureous nature, the Greeks feem to have called Brimftone in their Language, ov; that is, Divine, by a proper name and 78 léolev val, because it comes from God.

Now God is not barely faid to have rained down Brimftone and Fire, but Brimstone and Fire from the Lord; where the Addition of from the Lord, which at firft fight may appear to be fuperfluous, does more particularly describe the Thunder-bolt, which by the Hebrews and other Nations is frequently called the Fire of God, and Fire from God. Thus in the fecond Book of Kings, C. I. V. 12. THE FIRE OF GOD came down from Heaven, and devoured him. See likewise Job I. v. 16. Ifaiah ufes the fame Expreffion, c.66. v.16. He fhall be punished with the FIRE OF THE LORD. After this manner the Latin Poets speaks, herein intimating the Gracians; as Ovid. Met. l. 15.

Jamq; opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec Ignes, Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetuftas.

Statins,

Statius, in the first Book of his Thebais;

Ilicet Igne Jovis, lapfifq; citatior aftris,
Triftibus exiluit ripis.

Because Men have no power over these kinds of Meteors, and 'tis impoffible for them by any contrivance to ascend up to the Clouds, therefore God is fuppofed to dwell there, and to cast his Darts from thence: although he is equally present in all places, and does not fend his Thunderbolts for any peculiar reason.

Thirdly, Though Mofes does not inform us after what manner the Thunderbolts fubverted these unhappy Cities, and the adjoining Territory, yet fince he makes mention of them, we cannot comprehend how it happen'd any otherwife, than that the Thunderbolts falling in great plenty upon fome Pits of Bitumen, the Veins of that combuftible Matter took fire immediately, and as the Fire penetrated into the lowermoft bowels of this bituminous Soil, these wicked Cities were fubverted by a Tremor, and finking down of the ground. We will not here enlarge how eafily Naphtha, which is a fort of Liquid Bitumen, is fet on fire. The Reader may at his leifure confult what Strabo, l. 16. Plutarch in the Life of Alexander, and Pliny, l. 2. c. 105. have faid upon this Subject. Perhaps in fome part of this delicious Plain which was overthrown, there was only the thick Bitumen, but