een an
argument taken, to prove the fire of Purgatory, I will also here offer
you my conjecture concerning the meaning of this triall of Doctrines,
and saving of men as by Fire. The Apostle here seemeth to allude to
the words of the Prophet Zachary, Ch. 13. 8,9. who speaking of the
Restauration of the Kingdome of God, saith thus, "Two parts therein
shall be cut off, and die, but the third shall be left therein; and
I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will refine them as
Silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tryed; they shall call
on the name of the Lord, and I will hear them." The day of Judgment, is
the day of the Restauration of the Kingdome of God; and at that day
it is, that St. Peter tells us (2 Pet. 3. v.7, 10, 12.) shall be the
Conflagration of the world, wherein the wicked shall perish; but the
remnant which God will save, shall passe through that Fire, unhurt,
and be therein (as Silver and Gold are refined by the fire from their
drosse) tryed, and refined from their Idolatry, and be made to call upon
the name of the true God. Alluding whereto St. Paul here saith, that The
Day (that is, the Day of Judgment, the Great Day of our Saviours comming
to restore the Kingdome of God in Israel) shall try every mans doctrine,
by Judging, which are Gold, Silver, Pretious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble;
And then they that have built false Consequences on the true Foundation,
shall see their Doctrines condemned; neverthelesse they themselves
shall be saved, and passe unhurt through this universall Fire, and live
eternally, to call upon the name of the true and onely God. In which
sense there is nothing that accordeth not with the rest of Holy
Scripture, or any glimpse of the fire of Purgatory.

In What Sense Other Articles May Be Called Necessary

But a man may here aske, whether it bee not as necessary to Salvation,
to beleeve, that God is Omnipotent; Creator of the world; that Jesus
Christ is risen; and that all men else shall rise again from the dead
at the last day; as to beleeve, that Jesus Is The Christ. To which I
answer, they are; and so are many more Articles: but they are such, as
are contained in this one, and may be deduced from it, with more, or
lesse difficulty. For who is there that does not see, that they
who beleeve Jesus to be the Son of the God of Israel, and that the
Israelites had for God the Omnipotent Creator of all things, doe therein
also beleeve, that God is the Omnipotent