3. It is impossible, here to examine all of the multitude of passages in which the figure occurs. It will be sufficient to notice those which are most commonly appealed to in proof of such use as is here denied. On the words of John, Dr. Addison Alexander thus remarks:—“_With fire_,—not the fire of divine wrath, as in verse 10; but the powerful and purifying influences of the Spirit; so described elsewhere. (See Isa. iv, 4; lxiv, 2; Jer. v, 14; Mal. iii, 2; Acts ii, 3.)[80] Other writers add Isa. vi, 6; Zech. xiii, 9; 1 Cor. iii, 13, 15. These are the most pertinent passages referred to, in support of the exegesis given by Dr. Alexander. How entirely perfunctory and really inapposite these references are, appears in the fact that of the places cited by Dr. Alexander two occur in the prophecy of Isaiah, and one in the Acts of the Apostles, on which books the church is enriched with commentaries from the pen of that distinguished divine; and that in those commentaries he, in every instance, ignores and excludes the interpretation implied in his above-cited references. Thus; Isa. iv, 4,—“the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,” he explains as “the judgment and burning of the Holy Spirit, with a twofold allusion to the purifying and destroying energy of fire; or rather, to its purifying by destroying; purging the whole by the destruction of a part, and thereby manifesting the divine _justice_[81] as an active principle.” In Isa. lxiv, 2, the figure of the ebullition of water, represents the agitation of the ungodly nations in the presence of God’s justice, delivering and avenging Israel; and so it is expounded by Alexander. “O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence; as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence.” In Isa. vi, 6, the cherub takes a coal of fire from off the altar, and applies it to the lips of the prophet, saying, “Lo! this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” It would seem evident, that, by the coal from off the altar, is meant the atoning merits of the Lord Jesus, of whose sufferings the fire of the altar was the appointed symbol. Or, if the language be interpreted of the golden altar of incense, the fire of which was kindled from the altar of burnt offering, the meaning is the sweet savor of Christ’s intercession grounded on the merit of his sufferings. By no legitimate exegesis can it be made to mean, the Spirit of God. Jer. v, 14 needs only to be recited. “Behold I will make my words in thy mouth, fire, and this people, wood; and it shall devour them.” The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the captivity of the land, in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, sufficiently expound this language. Remarks already made are sufficient as to the next citation:—Zech. xiii, 9.