N00887:389
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.
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 Bl•w upon their Souls. A Fire is then Recovered, that shall never be extinguished!
Once indeed, Sitting by a Fire, where a Pot boiled over, I observed, That the Boiling over of the Pot put out the Fire, and left the Pot without likelihood of Boiling over any more: But therewithal I could not miss Reflecting, That there is a very wonderful Providence of God, often doing a thing of this Importance. God […] permits the Fiery Lusts of men (whether of Anger, or of Ambition, or of Unchastity) to Boil over, in some ⟨p. 192⟩Scandalous Excesses, and Actions. But God improves this Boiling over of their Lusts, to mortify the Lusts themselves, and put out the Fires of Sin and Hell in their Souls. Many a mans Boiling over and Breaking forth into Scandals, proves the occasion of his being a more mortified man, even in those very points all the rest of his Days. Austins Exemplary Chastity was the fruit of his having once Boiled over.
Once indeed, Sitting by a Fire, where a Pot boiled over, I observed, That the Boiling over of the Pot put out the Fire, and left the Pot without likelihood of Boiling over any more: But therewithal I could not miss Reflecting, That there is a very wonderful Providence of God, often doing a thing of this Importance. God permits the Fiery Lusts of men (whether of Anger, or of Ambition, or of Unchastity) to Boil over, in some