Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	fire_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	22	3	8.9988	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A14736	A coal from the altar, to kindle the holy fire of zeale In a sermon preached at a generall visitation at Ipswich. By Samuell Ward, Bach. of Diuinity.	Ward, Samuel, 1577-1640.; Wood, Ambrose.	1615 (1615)	STC 25039; ESTC S103052	29,222	94

tongue with a coale from his Altar that I might regaine the decaied credit of it with the sons of men It is good to bee zealous in a good thing and is it not best in the best or is there any better then God or the kingdome of heauen Is it comly what euer we do to do it with all our might onely vncomely when wee serue God Is meane and mediocrity in all excellent Arts excluded and onely to be admitted in religion Were it not better to forbeare Poetry or Painting then to rime or daube and were it not better to be of no religion then to be cold or lukewarme in any Is it good to be earnest for a friend cold for the Lord of hosts For whom dost thou reserue the top of thy affections for thy gold for thy Herodias c. O ye adulterers and adulteresses can ye offer God a baser indignity What ayleth the world Is it afraid thinke we that God can haue too much loue who in regard of his owne infinite beauty and the beames hee vouchsafeth to cast vpon vs deserues the best yea all and a thousand times more then all Ought not all the springs and brookes of our affection to run into this maine may not he iustly disdain that the least Riueret shold be drained another way that anything in the world should be respected before him equalled with him or loued out of him of whom for whome and through whom are all things who or what can bee sufficient for him our Maker and Sauiour In other obiects feare exceeds here no extasie is high enough Consider and reason thus with thy selfe O man canst thou brook a sluggard in thy worke if thou bee of any spirit thy selfe is not a slouthfull messenger as vinegar to thy teeth and as smoake to thine eyes Hast thou any sharpnesse of wit is not dulnesse tedious vnto thee And shall hee that is all spirit for whom the Angels are slow and cold enough take pleasure in thy drowzie and heauy seruice Doe men choose the forwardest Deere in the heard and the liueliest Colt in the droue And is the backwardest man fittest for God Is not all his delight in the quickest and cheerfullest giuers and seruitors Euen to Iudas he saith That thou doest doe quickely so odious is dulnesse vnto him what else mooued him to ordaine that the necke of the consecrated Asse should bee broken rather then offered vppe in sacrifice doth God hate the Asse or is it not for the sake of the quality of the creature which hath euer among the heathens beene an Hierogliphick of heauinesse and tarditie Thirdly this zeale is so gratious a fauorite with God that it graces with him all the rest of his graces Prayer if it be feruent preuaileth much the zealous witnesses had power to shut and open heauen by this Israel wrastled with God ouercame and was called a Prince with God this strengthened the hart of Moses as Aaron and Hur supported his hands till the Lord saide Let me alone this made Cornelius his prayer to come into heauen whither our cold sutes can no more ascend then vapours from the Still vnlesse there be fire vnder it Repentance a needfull and Primary grace which the Baptist so vrged but then we must bee zealous and repent as my text ioynes them or else no repentance pleaseth God nor are there fruites worthy repentance Almes and good deedes are sacrifices pleasing to God but without zeale the widowes mites are no better then the rest It is the cheerefull loose that doubleth the gift Generally as some mans marke and name furthereth the sale of his commodity so zeale inhanceth all the graces of God It pitties me for Laodicea that lost so much cost had as many virtues did as many duties as other Churches but for want of this Christ could not sup with them Furnish a Table with the principallest fare and daintiest dishes that may be had let them be rosted boiled to the halues or stand on the Table till they be lukewarme what wil the guests say All that we can doe is but the deed done vnlesse zeale conferre grace Fourthly zeale is the richest euidence of faith and the clearest demonstration of the Spirit The Baptisme of water is but a cold proofe of a mans Christendome being common to all commers but if any be baptised with fire the same is sealed vp to the day of Redemption If any shall say friend what dost thou professe a religion without it how can hee choose but bee strooke dumbe Can we suppose wormewood without bitternesse a man without reason then may wee imagine a religion and a Christian without spirit and zeale The Iesuit saith I am zealous the Separatist I am zealous their plea is more probable then the lukewarme worldlings that serue God without life If the colour be pale and wan and the motion insensible the party is dead or in a swoune if good and swift wee make no question The zealous Christian is neuer to seeke for a proofe of his saluation what makes one Christian differ from another in grace as starres doe in glory but zeale All beleeuers haue a like precious faith All true Christians haue all graces in their seedes but the degrees of them are no way better discerned then by zeale Men of place distinguish themselues by glistering pearles A Christian of degrees shines aboue other in zeale Comparisons I knowe are odious to the world that faine would haue all alike but the righteous is better then his neighbour All Christians are the excellent of the earth the Zelot surmounteth them all as Saul the people by the head and shoulders hee is euer striuing to excell and exceede others and himselfe One of these is worth a thousand others one doth the worke of many which made him speake of Elisha in the plurall number The horsemen and Chariots of Israel besides his owne worke he winnes and procures others makes Proselytes It is the nature of fire to multiply one coale kindles another his worke so shines that others come in and glorifie God maruelling and enquiring what such forwardnesse should meane concluding with Nebuchadnezzar Surely the seruants of the most high God These are good Factors and Agents doing God as good seruice as Boutefewes doe the Diuell and Iesuites the Pope sparing no cost nor labour and what they cannot doe themselues they doe by their friends Who is on my side who c. As for lets and impediments they ouer-looke and ouer-leape them as fire passeth from one house to another neither is there any standing for any Gods enemies before thē they make hauock of their owne and others corruptions If you will rightly conceiue of Peters zeale in conuerting and confounding you must imagine saith Chrysostome a man made all of fire walking in stubble All difficulties are but whetstones of their fortitude The sluggard saith There is a Lyon in the way tell Samson Dauid so

A COAL FROM THE ALTAR TO KINDLE THE holy fire of Zeale In a Sermon preached at a generall Visitation at Ipswich By SAMVELL WARD Bach. of Diuinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AT LONDON Printed by H. L. for Samuell Macham and are to be sould at his Shop in Pauls-church-yard at the signe of the Bulhead 1615. To my Reuerend friend Mr. Samuel Ward Sir your Sermon which I copied partly from your mouth and partly from your notes I haue aduentured into the light encouraged by the approbation and earnest intreaty of such whose iudgements you reuerence and whose loue you embrace who also haue made bold heere and there to varie somethings not of anie great consequence if I can iudge I was loth to smoother such fire in my breast but to vent it to enflame others If you shall blame me I knowe others will thanke mee What I haue done is out of zeale to God and his Church Your affectionate friend Ambrose Wood. A necessarie Aduertisement from the Printer CVrteous Reader I thought meet to giue thee notice that one of the written sheets of this Sermon coming to our hands both misplac't and without any directory either word or Folio to the next ensuing the Compositor could not but set it in the same order or rather manner wherein hee receiued it whereas we vnderstand since it was meant that all the matter between the sixteenth line of the 51. page and the second line of the 61. page should haue followed in the beginning of the 43. page immediately after these words will not so moue as the meanest Orator Which I wish thee to note with thy penne To amend the Faults of the Press read thus In the Title page 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 9. l. 12. dung p. 41. l. 11 12. derision p. 68. l. 16. veine Reuel 3. 19. Be zealous THis watch-word of Christ if it be not now a word in season I knowe not when euer it was or will bee Would he now vouchsafe to bestowe a Letter vpon his Church here on earth should hee need to alter the tenour of this which being the last to the last of the seuen Churches why may it not saith an Ancient vpon this text typifie the estate of the last Age of his Churches the coldnesse whereof himselfe hath expresly foretold And if God should now send through the earth such surueying angels as Zacharie mentions chapter 1 Could they returne any other obseruation of their trauailes then theirs The whole world lies in lukewarmnesse which makes me often in my thoughts proportion these ends of time to the like period of Dauids age when no clothes were enow to keepe heate in him Faith I grant is a more radicall vitall and necessary grace but yet not so wholly out of Grace with the times as poore Zeale which yet if by any meanes it might once againe be reduced into fauour and practice before Time sets and bee no more I doubt not but Christ would also yet once againe in this euening of the world come and Sup with vs A fauour including all other in it My desire especially is that this our Iland might take it to it selfe as well as if it had by name bene directed to it what would it hurt vs to make an especiall benefit and vse of it Some of our owne haue so applied it whether out of their iudgements or affections I say not Learned Fulke maruells if it were not by a Propheticall spirit penned for vs others in their ●eare more resolutely haue made it a singular type of purpose for vs. Their warrant I know not especially if it bee true which all trauellers tell you That they finde more zeale at home then abroad Wee are I grant in sundry respects equall to Laodicea Euen the very names thereof as well the first and oldest in regard of the blessings of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Darling as the latter in regard of good Lawes and Ciuility Laodicea How well do they become vs As rich as they and that in the very same commodity of woolles Abounding as they with many learned Zenoes and bountifull Hieroes Parallel in all regards I would I could say lukewarmenesse excepted But I must bee a faithfull and true witnesse and yet this is all I haue to say It was as I conceiue Laodiceas complexion and not her constitution her practice not her orders personall lukewarmenesse not legall which Christ strikes at That fault I find in my text the same I finde in our common Christians whose spirituall condition and state is too like the externall situation of our Country between the Torrid and the Frigid Zones neither hot nor cold and so like Laodicea that if wee take not warning or warming we may I feare in time come to be spued out of Gods mouth For this present assembly of Ministers could all the choyce time in the world haue better fitted me then mine ordinarie Lot If fire bee set vpon the Beacons will not the whole Countrey soone be warned and enlightened For my selfe also me thinkes it will better beseeme my yeares to heale then to teach my Ancients to enkindle their affections then to enforme their iudgements And whereas Paul bids Titus preach zeale with all authority though in mine owne name I craue your patience and audience yet in his name that is the first of the creatures and Amen I counsell him that hath an eare to heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be zealous A Coale from the Altar Reuel 3. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be zealous ZEale hath been little practised lesse studied this heauenly fire hath euer beene a stranger vppon earth Fewe in all ages that haue felt the heat of it fewer that haue known the nature of it A description will rake it out of the embers of obscurity it may be that many when they shall knowe it better will better affect it 2 Zeale hath many counterfeits and allies There are many strange fires which hauing sought to carry away the credit of it haue brought an ill name vpon it from these it would be distinguished 3 Zeale is euery where spoken against it hath many enemies and few friends the worlde can no more abide it then beasts can the elementary fire the rebukes of many haue fallen vpon it the diuell weaues cunning lyes to bring downe the honour of it Oh that wee could raise and maintaine it by setting forth the deserued praises of it and challenge it from the false imputations of such as hate it without a cause 4 Zeale hath in this our earthly molde litle fuell much quench-cole is hardly fired soon cooled A good Christian therefore would be glad to knowe the Incentiues and preseruatiues of it which might enkindle it enflame it feede it and reuiue it when it is going out 5 Zeale in the worlds opinion is as cōmon as fire on euery mans hearth no mans heart without zeale if euery man