A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written

But lastly, if it be corporal fire, then it torments only the body: for how can […] corporal fire work upon a spiritual substance? Bernard thus; there is a double punishment, the Worm, and Fire. Altero roditur conscientia, altero concremantur corpora. The one gnaws the conscience, the other burns the carcass. The one exte••us comburens, the other interius corrodens. And Meditat. cap. 4. In carne crucia••ntur per ignem, in spiritu per conscientiae vermem. So Isidor. de sum. Bon. lib. 1. cap. 31. The pain of the damned is double: Mentem urit tristitia, corpus flamma. So Bed. […] Marc. 9. lib. 3. Ignis erit paena extrinsecus saeviens, vermis dolour interius accusans. These seem to restrain that fire from working on the soul. But it is plain, Mat. 2.5.•1. The fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. But the devil hath no body, yet ••e burns in fire. Luk. 16.24. The rich man cried out, and shall cry for ever, I am ••rmented in this flame. Yet was his body in the grave, and his soul only in hell; •either is that altogether a Parable: for then Tacuisset nomen, & solum posuisset ex••plum. Christ would only have propounded the example, and concealed the ••me. He that denieth spirits to be tormented in fire, let him take heed lest his •wne spirit feel it. But how this corporeal fire shall torment devils and damned spirits, who knows? I do not doubt but that rich man was in the burning of pains, ••d the poor man in the refreshing of joys: but how to apprehend that flame of •ell, that bosom of Abraham, that tongue of the rich, and finger of the poor; ••la sitis tormenti, illa stilla refrigerij; that thirst of torment, that drop of comfort, ••all hardly be found of them that seek humbly, never of them that seek curiously. Melius est dubitare de ocultis, quàm litigare de incertis. It is more safe to doubt of at is secret, than to dispute of that is uncertain. It is miserable by seeking what OD hath secreted, to lose what GOD hath granted. Seeing then this is substantial and corporeal fire; wherein differs it from our elementary fire? In five spects.