N00887:143
Christianus per ignem. Or, A disciple warming of himself and owning of his Lord:…
Christianus per ignem. Or, A disciple warming of himself and owning of his Lord: with devout and useful meditations, fetched out of the fire, by a Christian in a cold season, sitting before it. A work though never out of season, yet more particularly, designed for the seasonable and profitable entertainment, of them that would well employ their leisure [sic] by the fire-side. : [Three lines in Latin from Alsted]Christianus per ignem. Or, A disciple warming of himself and owning of his Lord: with devout and useful meditations, fetch'd out of the fire, by a Christian in a cold season, sitting before it. A work though never out of season, yet more particularly, designed for the seasonable and profitable entertainment, of them that would well employ their liesure [sic] by the fire-side. : [Three lines in Latin from Alsted]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1702
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Christianus per Ignem. Or, A Disciple WARMING himself And OWNING hi… › Meditation 7: Meditation VII.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Meditation VII.
On the And-Irons.
P. Henry.
There was once a Prince in the English Nation, concerning whom it was thought by some, that some words which he spoke, hastened upon him the Fate that made him Speechless. Among the memorable words of that Prince, I have read, that being invited unto a Merchants House, where he saw a great pair of Brass And Irons, he had this Reflection thereupon. These gaudy Appearances of shining Brass, are not the Pillars that h•ld up the Fire; (as your Bishops and your Doctors are not:) but they are the little Creepers of Iron which bear up the Fire. So, it is not your Prelates which uphold the Church, but it is your inferior Ministers, which take pains in their places, that uphold it; and not General Councils, nor the Dignified Clergy. If any be offended at this Reflection of Prince ⟨p. 81⟩Henry about the Fire, their Offence will signify little to his Ashes.