N00887:65
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.
Know it, Sirs, That when Duty to the Lord, is omitted, by reason of the Cold, then the Lord is Denied for the Cold. The Neglect of Christian Duties, is called, A Denial of the only Lord God, even of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read of some, who, In works Deny Him. When the Cold puts us by the Doing of such Good Works, as might be done by us notwithstanding ⟨p. 37⟩the Cold, we practically, Deny the Lord, because it is Cold. We Deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour, we Deny that He is our Sovereign, we Deny, that He is our Example, when we Deny to keep the Precepts which He has commanded us to keep with Diligence. Impiety is called, 1 Tim.5.8. A Denying of the Faith. If we are Impious, we are Deniers of the Lord.
Know it, Syrs, That when Duty to the Lord, is omitted, by reason of the Cold, then the Lord is Denyed for the Cold. The Neglect of Christian Duties, is called, A Denial of the only Lord God, even of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read of some, who, In works Deny Him. When the Cold puts us by the Doing of such Good Works, as might be done by us notwithstanding ⟨p. 37⟩the Cold, we practically, Deny the Lord, because it is Cold. We Deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour, we Deny that He is our Sovereign, we Deny, that He is our Example, when we Deny to keep the Precepts which He has commanded us to keep with Diligence. Impiety is called, 1 Tim.5.8. A Denying of the Faith. If we are Impious, we are Denyers of the Lord.
Now the Cold is often made an unjust, and an undue pretence for mens omitting of their Duty. Many a man is that Sluggard, who, (Prov.20.4) will not plough (nor do many another Duty) by reason of the Cold. Sometimes, by reason of the cold, we omit the Duties of Piety. Our Supplications are Frozen, when the Frost has taken every thing else: Our Meditations are sapless, when the Sap is gone from all the Fields about us; we needlessly absent our selves from the House of God, when we can be warmer in our own Houses; and object the Snow, or the Wet, as a Lion, in the way: We lay aside Working about our own Salvation, when our Hands are Sealed up from doing our other work: We lay aside the Wars of the Lord, or our combat with our interior Adversaries, when Retired into our Winter Quarters. Piety cools, with every thing else.