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The words, "And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them,"
are not to be understood of the final punishment which shall be
inflicted when it is said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire;" for then they shall be cast into the fire, not
fire come down out of heaven upon them. In this place "fire out of
heaven" is well understood of the firmness of the saints, wherewith
they refuse to yield obedience to those who rage against them. For the
firmament is "heaven," by whose firmness these assailants shall be
pained with blazing zeal, for they shall be impotent to draw away the
saints to the party of Antichrist. This is the fire which shall
devour them, and this is "from God;" for it is by God's grace the
saints become unconquerable, and so torment their enemies. For as in
a good sense it is said, "The zeal of Thine house hath consumed
me," so in a bad sense it is said, "Zeal hath possessed the
uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the enemies." "And
now," that is to say, not the fire of the last judgment. Or if by
this fire coming down out of heaven and consuming them, John meant
that blow wherewith Christ in His coming is to strike those
persecutors of the Church whom He shall then find alive upon earth,
when He shall kill Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, then
even this is not the last judgment of the wicked; but the last judgment
is that which they shall suffer when the bodily resurrection has taken
place.
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