Part 11

Behold here the depurements that fire operates where it passeth: and chiefly upon metals, which are of a most strong and persisting composition, as any other Elementary substance, therefore wee have therein a little insisted, because that the Prophets have therein founded the greatest part of their Allegories: where wee must note, that they have commonly put the imperfect, lead, tin, iron, and copper, in the bad part, and sometimes gold also: as in _Jer._ 51. 7. Babylon is a golden Cup: and in the 2. of _Dan._ 32. speaking of _Nebuchadnezar_, Thou art the Golden head, more in the 31. of _Eccles._ there are many chances in gold: _Zohar_ calls it Satans dung, following the Text of the 37. of _Job_: Gold comes from the North: for the North is alwayes taken by the _Cabalists_ in the evill part, because Sun never passeth thereby, and it relates to midnight, where the hurtfull powers are in their great reputation and vigour: as on the contrary, Noon in good part; Wee must not then understand, that _Job_ would say that gold came from the Northern parts, for it grows not there by reason of their continuall colds: but in some certain place, where it procreates; this is more ordinarily towards the North: against which the Sun, as against a But, darts its beams, being to the Meridion all part, as likewise all good wines. And to this purpose _Franciscus Oviedus_ in his 16. Book, Chap. 1. of his generall historie of the _Indies_, speaking of the Isle of _Borichen_, puts this, _Borichen_, otherwise called St. _Johns_ Island, is very rich in gold, and men draw it, in great quantity, even on the Northern side, as in the opposite part towards the South, it is very fruitfull of victualls: the same also is found even in _Spain_ it self. Gold then is sometimes taken in the worser part, as in the golden Calf which the _Israelites_ melted in _Moses_ his absence, from whence one of their _Rabbins_ said, there had never befallen them any calamity and misery, but there was an ounce of that Idol mingled therewith: Silver because of its whitenesse, denotes Mercy, is alwayes in the good part, and first in esteem before gold, as it is _Hag._ the 2. _Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold._ The _Onorocrites_ also hold, that to dream of gold presageth some near affliction, because it agreeth in colour with gall, and the pain in the ears, two subsistences extreamly bitter: and bitternesse signifies, trouble, anguish, and grief; as Pearls doe tears for their resemblance: But silver expresseth joy and merriment. And therefore saith the same _Zohar_, Gold is attributed to _Gabriel_, and Silver to _Michael_, which in order is his superior, Brasse to _Uriel_, because it represents him in colour of fire, faith to _Ur_ of the _Caldees_, Gold, saith he, and fire march together, and copper with them, where was built the little Altar without, where the bloud of the Sacrifices was spilt, and that within was of gold, _Exod._ 38. and 39. Silver is the primary light of the day, and _Jacob_. And gold, that of the night, and _Esau_ or _Edom_ red: Silver represents milk; and gold wine, alluding to craft and subtilty, where it is said, in the 2. _Eccles._ _I thought to draw my flesh with Wine, to give myself unto Wisedome._

But to return to our principall purpose, fire amongst other its properties and effects, is very purging, and also in flesh, and other corruptible substances, Salt consumes the greatest part of their corrupting humors: fire also doth the same, and analogically spiritual fire, which is nothing but the charitable ardor of the Holy Spirit, that inflames us with Faith, Charity, Hope. Shakes off the impurities of our souls, as it is _Esa._ 1. 25. _I will purely purge away thy drosse, and take away all thy tin_, for this place here in the 10. of the same Prophet, vers. 17. _And the light of Israel, shall be for a fire, and his holy one for a flame_, sheweth sufficiently that the Holy Spirit is not only light, but fire and flame, which salteth and repurgeth our consciences from corruption, vices, and iniquities.

The Sun also, which is a visible Image of the invisible Divinity, as for light, so for its vivifying heat, wherewith all sensible things are maintained, as the intelligible by the supercelestial Sun, works the same effect in case of purification, as fire. As we may see by experience, as the places where the Sun-beams come not, are ever musty and mouldy, and to purifie them wee open windowes to admit light into them: and there make great fires, which is very proper in the time of the Plague, for it chaseth away ill air, as light doth darknesse. Also evill spirits, who have more reputation in the dark, from plague walking in darknesse, the _Hebrews_ call this Divell ravaging by night _Deber_, and from his violence and Meridian Divell, that of the day _Keteb_; the Greeks Ἐμπουσα. There is in the fire, saith _Pliny_, a certain faculty and medicinall vertue against the Plague. Who for the absence and hiding of the Sun, comes to form it self: wherein wee find by lightning it here and there may bring great comfort and succour in many kinds. As _Empedocles_ and _Hippocrates_ doe elsewhere sufficiently demonstrate. There was also a Physitian at _Athens_ that got much reputation, by causing them to kindle many fires during the Plague time. So that, the true Plague of the soul being iniquities and offences, which poison it, its _theriac_ or counter-poyson, cannot bee better found then in the fire of contrition that the Holy Spirit kindles therein: _My heart was hot within mee, while I was musing, the fire burned_, _Psal._ 39. 3. There is also a fire of Tribulation which was spoken of before, that consumes our vanities, and unruly concupiscences; and makes us return to God, whereupon one of the ancient Fathers said, it was a happy tribulation that forceth to repentance. And St. _Gregory_, the evils that presse us here, doe compell us the sooner to come to God. And that for our greater good, that God doth thus burn us by the fire of tribulation: that which was said by the _Psalmist_ 26. 3. _Prove me O Lord, and examine mee, try my reins, and my heart_: And in the 13. of _Zach._ _vers._ 9. _I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will try them as Gold is tried_: For fire hath a double property, as hath been said; the one to separate the pure from the impure, and the other to perfect that which remains of the pure. Take away rust from silver, and it will go forth a most pure vessell: But the propriety of these significations is better kept in the Hebrew, then in any other tongue. Where the verb _Szaraph_ is joined and attributed unto silver, which signifies, to melt, and to refine, and to Gold _Bahan_ to prove. The one denotes Gods in Elect an holy purity of conscience by silver, the other by gold a perfection of constancy, which wee cannot know better then by proof: and from thence comes dignity and eternall glory, the one and the other acquired by the fire of Examination and of probation; for, as saith St. _Chrysostome_, that which fire is towards gold and silver, the same is tribulation in our soules from which fire cleanseth the impurities and uncleannesse, and makes them neat shining: following that which is said in the 17. of _Prov._ _As silver is tried by fire, in the furnace, so God proveth the hearts of his Creatures_, and in the 27. of _Eccles._ _ver._ 5. _The furnace tryeth the Potters vessell, and tentation of tribulation, trieth good men._ There are many, saith one of the Fathers, who whilest they are red in the fire of adversity, make themselves flexible, and malleable, but departing therefrom, they harden themselves again as before, making themselves unfit for conversion or amendment; _Origen_ in his 5. _Homilie_ upon the 3. Chap. of _Jesiu Nave_, they that draw near unto me, draw near unto fire: If you bee (saith hee there) Gold or silver, the nearer you come to the fire, the more you will become resplendant: but if you build with wood, straw, or chaffe, upon the foundation of Faith, and come near the fire, you shall be consumed: very happy then are those that drawing near the fire, are therewith lightned and not burnt. According as it is written in the 3. of _Mal._ _The Lord will sanctifie thee in burning fire._ St. _Augustine_, upon a verse of the 45. _Psalm_. _Wee have passed through water, and fire_: Fire burneth (saith hee) and water corrupteth: When adversity comes upon us, it is as it were fire unto us: and worldly prosperities on the contrary are as water. The earthen vessell that is well hardened in the fire, fears neither water nor fire. Let us then study to amend our selves by the fire of tribulation, by bearing it patiently; for if the pottery be not firmly strengthened by fire, the water of temporall vanity will soften it and mingle it as durt. And therefore wee must passe through the fire, to come to the water of Mercy, and Grace, whereof St. _John_ speaketh in the 3. of S. _Mat._ _I Baptize you with water unto repentance, but hee that comes after mee is stronger then I, and he will Baptize you with the holy Spirit, and with fire._ Of which fire we may see in the 16. of _Wisdome_, 17. for it is wonderfull, that in the water that quencheth all things, fire should be most powerfull. That which made St. _Augustine_ himself say, that in the Sacrament of Baptism, which they exercise and Catechise, they first came to fire, and after to the Baptism of water: where the same comes to the temptations of this age, where in the anguish which oppresseth us, the fire first presents it self, but when the fear therein is out, it is to bee feared that a wind of vain glory proceeding from temporall felicity, dissolve it not into rain, which will come to quench the fire of heat and Charity, which affliction hath taken within our Souls. To this purpose, from fire to baptismall water, designed by the aforesaid passage, wee have passed through water and fire, this beats upon the 31. of _Numb._ of clensing by fire, and by water, according as the thinge may suffer: for visible baptism, is made by visible water, and wherein the water consists in parts which is nothing else but congealed water, by the acuity of fire thrust thereinto: with which salt every Sacrifice must bee salted, that is to say, the externall man, and the invisible baptism of the internall spirituall man is wrought by the Grace of the holy Spirit represented by fire which of it self is invisible, and unperceivable, except it bee attached to some matter, as the soul is in the body: This fire there burneth in us mortall sins, and the water washeth away Veniall and Originall.

But some wil demand, What is that fire, from whence comes it, that so purifies our souls, and warms them in the Love of God, and illightens them with his knowledge? for wee love nothing but what wee know: and wee cannot know God, nor see his light, but by his light (_In thy light wee shall see light_:) that is to say, by his word and parol who hath vouchsafed to revest us with our flesh. Thy word is a fiery word, and thy servant loveth it. It _this fire_ then which our Saviour saith, _hee was come to send into the earth: and what will I, if it bee already kindled_? For as _Prometheus_ brought fire here below, which hee had lighted, in one of the wheels of the Suns Chariot: The word hath rendred, lightened in the _Mercavah_ Chariot or throne of God, which is all of fire; as also in the 17. of _Dan._ vers. 9. _Origen_ in his 13. _Homil._ upon the 25. of _Exodus_. Jacinth, Purple, double Scarlet, and Silk: sets down, that these four represented the four Elements, Silk or Linnen, the Earth from whence it came; Purple, Water, because extracted from bloud with the shell or cockle of the sea; Jacinth in Hebrew _Techeleh_, the Air, for it is without heavenly blew; and Scarlet, fire, by reason of its red enflamed colour. But wherefore is it there said, that _Moses_ redoubled the fire; and not one of the rest? Because that fire hath a double propriety, the one to shine, and to bee bright, and the other to burn: wee must understand corruptible things, for upon the incorruptible, wee must look upon for this regard, to refine them and amend more and more. _Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while hee opened to us the Scriptures?_ _Luke_ 24. 32. said the Pilgrims of _Emaus_. And this is it wherefore it is commanded in the Law to offer double Scarlet, to adorn the Tabernacle. But how can this bee? Aske _Origen_, a Doctor instructing people in the Church of God, designed by the Tabernacle, if hee did but cry after the vices, blasphem, and reprove them; without bringing instruction and consolation to the people, explaining to them the Scriptures, and the obscure sense therein concealed, wherein consisteth the internall Doctrin, and the mysticall understanding: hee well offers Scarlet, but simple and not double, because that this fire doth not but burn and not lighten. But on the other side, if they doe but clear and interpret Scripture without reprehension of vice and sin, and to shew requisite severity to a declarer of the Word of God, wee offer as it were simple Scarlet: for this fire there, doth not but illuminate & doth not enflame persons to repentance of their misdoings, correction and amendment of life: whereunto cooperates the Grace of the Holy Spirit, which is domestique fire, with which wee must salt our souls to preserve them from corruption: for there is nothing that doth more symbolize to the nature of the soul then fire: because it is that of al things sensible, which approacheth more to spirituality, as well for its continuall and light motion which soars alwayes upwards, as for its light, which _Plotin_ saith must properly be attributed to the intelligible world, heat to the Celestiall, and burning, to the Elementary. And for as much as it participates more of light then any of the other Elements: that likewise acquires unto it a precellency above the rest: for the Earth being a body wholly without motion, dark and duskish; is by consequent lesse in dignity, as the settlement and lees of all others. Water because it is clearer, is more worthy, and the Air yet more: But fire is that which surpasseth all, therefore it is lodged in a higher place, and nearer to the Region of the air: It is that, which _Vincent_ no despicable Author, was pleased to say in his Philosophicall Mirror, 2. Book, 33. chap. Every thing for as much as it participates more of light, so much the more it approacheth nearer to the Divine Essence, which is perfect light, by which God began the Creation of the Universe, or the first thing that hee ordained to bee made, was light: and to shew us, that wee must alwayes walk in light and not in darknesse. And on the contrary, how much more the Elements are distant from light, by so much they approach to their dissemblance and deformity, which is a token of corruption. For as much as the parties of the composed Elements are homogeneall and homomaternall, or like one to another, so much lesse are they corruptible and separable, as wee may see in gold, the most proportionate substance of all, and which approacheth nearest to fire: that which moved _Pindarus_ from the beginning of his first Olympian, to join these three, water, fire and gold together, water is best, gold, and shining fire, &c.

Doe wee not see that at every end of a field almost that the Earth doth change nature and quality, and that there are infinite sorts of them? Not so many of Water, Air is most like unto it self: but if there bee any changes or alteration therein it is by accident, as if some maladies should fall thereupon: which doe more readily adhere thereunto, because of its rarity of substance then to any others. Fire is altogether exempt therefrom, being alwayes one, and in its al like to his parts, which are like to themselves, except the matter to which it doth adhere makes it vary. And this it is in which it comes nearest to the Celestiall nature which is all Uniform in it self, and so well regulated, that it hath nothing unlike: which maketh that the fire is repurgative above the rest of his fellow Elements, to clear them and put in evidence. In the 12. of St. _Luke_ our Saviour warneth his Disciples to have their _Lampes burning in their hands, that their light might come to shine amongst men, that their good workes may bee seen, to glorifie their Father which is in heaven, for hee that doth ill hates the light_, which _Job_ saith is worse to Malefactors, then _the shadow of death_. It is the same also that _Moses_ would secretly infer in the 3. of _Gen._ where hee makes God to walk _at noon_, which is the clearest light of the day. And the Apostle in the 1. of _Tim._ 6. 16. saith that _he dwells in light in accessible_, without which all would be confusedly folded up in hideous darknesse. Let us then take heed, that the light which hee hath pleased to put into our soul, be not obfuscate and converted into black obscurity: and that on this solid foundation which hee hath granted us of his knowledge, wee build not hay, wood, and chaffe, all things of themselves obscure and dark: in lieu of gold, silver, pretious stones, so clear, shining and bright. Let us hear again that which _Zohar_ divinely discourseth of, about fire and light, upon the Text of the 4. of _Levit._ _Thy Lord God is a consuming fire._ That there is one fire which devoures another being the stronger, as wee may see in some burning firebrand, or torch, that which proceeds therefrom is of two sorts: the one blew, attached to a black match, which retaineth it self there nourishing it self from corruption. The other flame proceeding from the red inflamed Match is white, and the blew is white in the highest, as to return to the first originall: this _Homer_ was not ignorant of, when in the 6. of his _Odysses_ hee attributed to the _Olympus_ a pure and bright splendor.