N00887:388
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.
THE Wood on my Fire, was in a mighty Blaze, that seemed as if it would have been a lasting one, at its first Blowing up: Nevertheless, the Bellows giving over to Blow, the Fire gave over to Burn immediately. Methoughts, I now saw an Emblem of that Apostasy, which often attends Good Beginnings in Religion, where the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (that Heavenly Fire) never took yet an Effectual Hold upon the Soul. Many Beginners, in Religion, and Professors of it, seem very forward for the Services of Christianity, and make a mighty Blaze of Profession; but it is not a Lasting one: It goeth away. May the God of all Grace, make all our Young People, exceedingly apprehensive of, The Apostates Doom, and afraid of Turning aside unto crooked ways, through' the Influences of Evil Company, or any other Temptation, after they have made Good Beginnings in Religion, lest they have that awful word fulfilled upon them, If any man draw back, my Soul shall have no pleasure in him.
THE Wood on my Fire, was in a mighty Blaze, that seemed as if it would have been a lasting one, at its first Blowing up: Nevertheless, the Bellows giving over to Blow, the Fire gave over to Burn immediately. Methoughts, I now saw an Emblem of that Apostasy, which often attends Good Beginnings in Religion, where the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (that Heavenly Fire) never took yet an Effectual Hold upon the Soul. Many Beginners, in Religion, and Professors of it, seem very forward for the Services of Christianity, and make a mighty Blaze of Profession; but it is not a Lasting one: It goeth away. May the God of all Grace, make all our Young People, exceedingly apprehensive of, The Apostates Doom, and afraid of Turning aside unto crooked wayes, thro' the Influences of Evil Company, or any other Temptation, after they have made Good Beginnings in Religion, lest they have that awful word fulfill'd upon them, If any man draw back, my Soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Hereupon Resuming the Bellows for a Second ⟨p. 191⟩Blast, I Reserve and Revived the Fire, until it so arrested the Wood, as to carry all before it. And this put me in mind of an Astonishing Favour, which I had my self Received from Heaven, and which many more of the Elect have likewise Received. It is very commonly so, That the Elect of God, which enjoy a Religious Education, have by the Spirit of God excited in them, very Fervent Inclinations to piety, while they are in their Childhood: But when they advance into more of Youth, Temptation so prevails upon them, that for a while, all seems to be Gone out, and their former Inclinations are hardly to be discerned: Nevertheless the Spirit of God will not let their Youth proceed very far, before He, who had been Grieved and Quenched by their Vanities, [Lord, can I write this, and not mingle my Tears with my Ink!] does again Blw upon their Souls. A Fire is then Recovered, that shall never be extinguished!