N00887:175
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.
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.
On the Miracle of the Son of God appearing in the Fiery Furnace.
Quanta est credentum Gloria Flammis, Ardentis Fidei restincta est flamma camini! Sedul.
When I Sit by a very Strong Fire, and see and feel the Terrible Glowing of it, I call to mind the most memorable Story of the Three Worthies, who, because they would not worship Nebuchadnezzars Golden Image, (perhaps a remembrance of the Image, by which the Four Monarchies has been in his Dream represented unto him) were cast into ⟨p. 92⟩a Fiery Furnace, made seven times more Fiery than ordinary: But, behold! The astonished Emperor, observing the effect of his own cruel Edict, cried out, Lo, I see Four men loose, walking in the midst of the Fire, and they have no Hurt; and the Form of the Fourth, is like the Son of God. If any ask, where was Daniel himself at this time, that he should bear no part in the Miracle? I find this Question asked in the Jewish Talmuds, and one Answer there given, is, That he was then sent into Egypt, upon a public Negotiation. But now, while I behold the Fierceness of the Fire on my Hearth, [or in the Stove] Heated beyond what is use to be, and how Unhabitable, and Intolerable a place, the midst of that Fire is, I will a little Divert my self with a Meditation, on the Miracle thus wrought in that Fiery Furnace, where the Three Martyrs, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 11. 34. Quenched the violence of Fire. And here in the first place, I cannot but Enquire, Whom did the Chaldean Emperor understand by, The Son of God, when he so called the Illustrious person, that he saw in the midst of the Fire? Now, for the satisfaction of this Enquiry, I am informed, That the Learned Gentiles of old, illuminated with such a Tradition from the Jews, had some Apprehensions, not only of One Supreme Deity, but also of a Trinity in this Deity. The Chaldeans particularly had some rude Apprehensions