Day of the Lord, or the Day of Judgment, the Signification of the other Word Fire will meet with little Doubt: For it must be fuch as must attend upon the Day and Coming of our Lord; that is to fay, it must be a real and material Fire: And they who here pretend, that a metaphorical and figurative Fire ought to be understood, offend against the Rule receiv'd by the Interpreters of the facred Writings, which is, that we should never depart from the Letter without Neceffity. Now this is certain that upon the Coming of the Lord there will be no Want of a real Fire, when the Earth and the Heavens are all in a Blaze; nor can there be the least Reason for fancying this metaphorical Fire, befides the other real one, and for nauseously repeating their own Metaphor thrice in the fame Difcourfe.

HITHERTO we have fhewn the Day and the Coming of the Lord, and that a genuine and real Fire is here meant by the Apostle; but the chief Difficulty is ftill remaining, and that is, concerning the Force and Influence of this Fire, how it can try or make every Man's Work manifeft, that it may be truly πῦρ δοκιμαςικόν και διακριτικόν, a fearching and distinguishing Fire. Works and Actions that are past, can never be recall'd to a Tryal by Fire: That indeed is certain; but then the Habits and Difpofitions of Mind, from whence thofe Actions flow'd, remain; and the Souls in which they are inherent, accord

1

Mat.ix.49.

ing as they are more or less pure, will be more or lefs affected by this Fire. But you will fay, perhaps, that Fire cannot act upon unbodied Minds, or upon Natures purely fpiritual; that they may feel the Force and the Action of Fire, they must be invefted in fome Body. We are not able fully and clearly to folve this Difficulty; but when there is the fame Difficulty concerning the infernal Fire, which yet is univerfally granted, a common Scruple ought not to detain us, or to give us much Trouble. Since the Things themfelves are evident, both of them, as to the Manner, ought to be referr'd to the fecret Difpenfation. In the mean while, that we may bring more * Light to this Opinion, and may come as near to demonftrate the Thing, as poffibly can be done, we refolve to confult fome other Paffages of the facred Scripture, which seems to exprefs the very fame Notion, or, at leaft, to imply it; to which we fhall afterwards add the Explications and Tenets of fome of the Fathers, concerning the fame Opinion.

As for the Scripture, to this Opinion may Mat. xxxi. be referr'd the Saying of Chrift concerning

11.

the

1

*John Erigen de Pradeft. c. 19. fays, that the Bodies of the Saints will be chang'd into an ethereal Substance, which Fire fhall have no Power over: But that those of the Wicked fhall be chang'd into an aerial Substance, that will yield to the Force of Fire, and may be confum'd by

the fiery Sacrifice, and that other of John the Baptift, concerning the two-fold Baptism, that of Water, and that of Fire: The Words of Chrift are there ; * Πας γὰρ πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται· και πάσα θυσία αλὶ ἀλισθήτεται, For every

Man Shall be falted with Fire, as alfo every Sacrifice is falted with Salt: For I am of Opinion with others, that this Paffage is so to be tranflated and understood, as if were a Comparative, as it is in feveral other Places, Mat. vi. 10. Joh. vi. 57. for Christ speaks here of the future Destiny of Men, as appears by the Context, and of a certain Tryal and Purification of them: But when he fays, πᾶς πυρὶ ἀλισθήσεται, he feems to join Fire and Salt, each of which has an absterfive Quality. Salt prevents Putrefaction in soft and humid Bodies; but Fire foftens, melts, and purifies the hardeft, and purges off the Filthiness, and Ruft, and Drofs, and Dregs of Metals, and clearing them of their Imperfections, refines, and gives them a new Luftre and Purity. Thus fome believe that the Souls of Men, which the Apostle in this figurative Sentence compares to Metals, are, as it were, melted down again, and recast in this general Conflagration; or that Man who is accep

every

table to God, fhall be feafon'd with a certain Acrimony

*For every one fhall be feafon'd with Fire, that is, shall be prov'd by it; as St. Paul fays, that all Things fhall be try'd in Fire. Theophil. in Loc.

Acrimony of Grief, as it were with Salt; but that the Wicked are to be purg'd by Fire, or, like a Sacrifice, to be confum'd by it. "Tis probable, indeed, from the foregoing Verfes that this relates to the laft Fire; but thefe Expreffions of Chrift appear too obfcure to have any fingular Doctrine or Conclufion founded upon them:

I Now come to John the Baptift, who makes mention of a two-fold Baptifm, that of Water, and that of Fire; as the Antients affirm'd, that the World was to be purg'd in a two-fold Manner by Water, and by Fire. I, Mat.iii.11. indeed, fays the Baptift, baptife you with Water unto Repentance; but he that cometh after me fhall baptife you with the Holy Ghoff, and with Fire. That this Saying has a Regard not only to the Times of the Gofpel, but likewife to the fecond Coming of Chrift, may be prov'd by that which follows: Whole Fan is in his Hand, and he will throughly purge his Floor, and gather his Wheat into the Garner, but he will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable

Tit. iii. 5.

Fire.

áva

BAPTISM is faid to be λετρον τῆς παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως, the Waling of Regeneration and Renovation; and the Renovation of the World by Fire, is usually call'd by the Grecians mayoia & naivwors, Regeneration and Renovation. Washing is two-fold, warm and cold; the Cold Bath is the washing with Water; the Hot and the Dry is the Fiery Bath: But this

latter

I

is more effectual than the former and more penetrating. They who allow that there is that Virtue and that Efficacy, the holy Spirit co-operating, in the baptismal Water, that by it Infants are regenerated, will hardly be able to deny, that the Fire must have a much greater Power, the fame Spirit co-operating. The Holy Ghost descended in fiery Tongues, A. ii. 3. which alfo is called a Baptifm, as if it were c. i. 5. a Type of the future fiery Baptifm. The Deluge of Water was the Baptifm of the 1 Pet. iii. World: The Deluge of Fire will better de- 21. serve that Title, will purge more strongly and more sharply, and will wash away its Filthinefs more efficacioufly: And as God can reftrain the Power of the Flames to that Degree that they fhall not fo much as touch a human Body, as in the Babylonian Furnace; fo he can fo redouble their Strength and their Intenseness, that they fhall penetrate the very Souls of Men, or rather those new Bodies to which their Souls will then be joined.

THESE Quotations have we made from the * facred Writings, to prove or to illuftrate the forefaid Opinion: To which we have the Consent and Agreement of several

M

* That Saying of Chrift, Mat. xii. 32. that there is no Remiffion for Blafphemy against the Holy Ghoft, either in this World or the other, has been variously explained by Interpreters. They that take it literally, can understand it of no other Remiffion, than that which is obtained by the purging Fire at the End of the World.