N00887:201
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.
But we past on to observe, That the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a Bush on Fire: Lord, preserve me from ever adding Oil unto the Flame! For, first, there is the Fire of Affliction, which the Church of our Lord must Encounter withal all Affliction is compared unto ⟨p. 106⟩Fire; but especially, an Affliction by the Judgments of God rendered Epidemical: which sets people on Fire round about and burneth them: And most of all, Persecution; wherein men are Scorched, and Fall by Flame. Now, the Name of the Church all along hath been, O Thou Afflicted: And there never was a Time, wherein they that would Live Godlily, did not in some respect or other, Suffer Persecution. The Church must not, think strange of a Fiery Trial. If I am never so little a Twig of the Burning Bush, I must have the Sanctifying Fire of Affliction on my Enjoyments; I must at last Fly into Heaven out of such a Fire, if ever I would Enter into Life. There is also the Fire of Contention, wherein the Church of our Lord is too often Embroiled. When a Strife arises any where, there is a Fire in that Strife. There is a certain Heat of Spirit, and an Heart-burn, enkindled among those that Quarrel with one another; and in their Lips, there is as Burning Fire. Alas, for the Flames, that have all along Raged in the Church of God! The scandalous Contention, that hath set the Church on Fire in every period! We cannot all see with the same eyes; and God for Holy Ends, has left His people to buffet one another in the dark. I am sorry to say it, but it is too notorious to be denied, (and the Jews themselves have taken so much Notice of it, as to pretend, that this ⟨p. 107⟩is one thing that prejudices them against Christianity) the Church has generally been under the Reproach of that wretchedness, Through' the Wrath of the Lord of Hosts, the Land is darkened, and the people shall be as the Fuel of the Fire. Old Adams World must have Thorns in it: and that we may remember, we are not arrived unto the Second Adams World, the Church must have its Thorns, in the Treats, which we rashly give to one another. Yea, the Bush of the Lord has been, in its Days of Temptation, too like a Bramble bush, from whence a Fire has gone forth to devour the Cedars of Lebanon. In the Primitive Church of the New-Testament, how early did the Apostles complain, I hear there are Divisions among you!
But we past on to observe, That the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a Bush on Fire: Lord, preserve me from ever adding Oyl unto the Flame! For, first, there is the Fire of Affliction, which the Church of our Lord must Encounter withal all Affliction is compared unto