and serue the Lord in spirit and truth yet for their sakes is the name of zeale blasphemed all the day long Against these as then so now seuere caueats and cleare distinctions must bee laid lest such as haue not their senses exercised to put a difference mistake poisonfull weedes for wholsome hearbes to their owne destruction and for the sake of the one reuile the other to the wrong of God and his Saints It fares not otherwise with the soule thē with the body besides the natiue radicall heat the principall instrument of life there are aguish and distempered heats the causes of sicknes and death To discerne of those requires some skill and iudgement yet a good Empirick a Christiā of experience wil giue a shrewd guesse at them the easier and the better if hee marke these following signes and symptomes common to all the kindes of false zeale here also following First they are deeply sick of the pharisaicall humor they loue to be seene of men and say with Iehu Come and see how zealous I am for the Lord of hosts they proclaime their almes with a trumpet paint their good deedes vpon Church windowes engraue their legacies vpon tombes haue their acts vppon record Thus Comets blaze more then fixed Starres Aguish heates breed flushings are more seen in the face then natural warmeth at the hart Scholers count hiding of Art the best Art the godly man studies by all meanes how to conceal the one hand from the other in doing well hiding of zeale is the best zeale Secondly of Ahabs disease exceeding in externall humiliation affected gestures passionate sighs loudnesse of voyce odde attires such like These know how to rend the garment hang the head with the bulrush to whip and launce their skinnes with Baals Priests and yet strangers to a wounded spirit not but that true and hearty zeale doth lift vp the eyes knock the breast dance before the Arke Therefore this character may deceiue the vnwary Let Ely take heed of iudging Hannaes spirit rashly by the moouing of her lips yet hypocrites so vsually straine nature and without a cause exceed and that in publike and vppon the stage that for the most part their actions and affections are palpable as Iesuites Cappuchines c. yea in many histrionicall Protestants Horse-coursers iades wil bound curuet and shew shew more tricks then a hose well mettled for the rode or cart Thirdly you may knowe them by their diligence and curiosity in lighter matters ioyned with omission and neglect of greater wise in circumstance and carelesse in substance tithing mint straining at gnats c. In all cheape and easie duties prodigall niggardly slothfull in the waighty things of the Lawe these haue at command good wordes countenance yea teares from their eyes sooner then a farthing from their purse hauing this worlds goods and see their brother want these sticke vp feathers for the carcasse beguiling the simple coozening the world but chiefly themselues Fourthly these fires cannot keepe themselues within their owne hearths these spirites cannot keepe themselues within their owne circles True zeale loues to keepe home studieth to be quiet in other mens Diocess false zeale loues to be gadding is eagle eyd abroad and moule eyd at home In stead of burning bright and shining cleare like brinish lights they sparkle spet at others or like ill couched fireworks let fly on all sides onely out of their wisedome they know how to spare Agag and the great ones and bee sure they anger not their great Masters and meddle with their matches whereas it is the property of fire that comes from aboue to spare the yeelding sheath and melt the resisting metall to passe by the lower roofes and strike the towred pinacle as Nathan Dauid Elias Ahab Iohn Herod Ionas Niniuie c. Note also in all their proceeding with others in steede of wholsome seuerity which rightly zealous men neuer come vnto but by compulsion and not without compassion of the offender weeping with Moses and Samuel ouer the people beeing sory with the Emperour that they knowe how to write sentences of condemnation These delight in cruelty the brand of the Malignant Church feede their eyes with Massacres as the Queene mother No diet so pleasing to these rauening wolues as the warme blood of the sheepe They are they that cry fire and fagot away with them not worthy to liue their very mercies are cruelty especially in their owne cause they heat the fornace seuen times hotter then in Gods Lastly these Meteors and vapours haue no constant light or continued heat as the fixed starres euer like themselues but haue onely their aguish fits lunatick moods somtimes in aduersity they are good vnder the rod as Pharaoh again in prosperity like the fat kine of Bashan ingratefull and forgetfull sometimes in prosperity when the sun of peace shineth on them the fauourable influence of great ones they shoot forth their blade with the corne on the house top running with the streame sailing with the wind sometimes their zeale depends vpon the life of Iehoiada sometimes on the company of the Prophets commonly in the beginning they blaze like straw fires but in the end goe out in smoake and smother whereas in their entrance into profession they galloped into shewes and made some girds at hand they tire giue in and end in the flesh whereas all naturall motions are swiftest toward their end The vestall fires were perpetuall and the fire of the Altar neuer went out Spices and wefts of these euills may be found in the sincerest Christians but they suffer not these dead flyes to ly and putrefie in the precious boxes of true zeale of all these the preachers caueat may be construed Be not ouer iust thogh it may also admit other interpretations as after shall appeare These are the speciall notes and symtomes of strange fires the kinds also are many might be distributed into many heads but I will reduce them into three which are known by their names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counterfeit zeale false fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blind zeale smoakie fire or fooles fire ignis fatuus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turbulent zeale wild fire The first wanting truth and sincerity propounds sinister ends The second knowledge and discretion takes wrong waies The third loue and humility exceeds measure The first abounds amongst subtile crafty professors and is to be abhorred and detected The second amongst simple and deuout is to be pitied and directed The third amongst passionate and affectionate and is to be moderated and corrected The first is the meere vizor of zeale looking asquint one way and tending another pretending God and his glory intending some priuate and sinister end first either of honour and promotion as Iehu who marched furiously and his worde was the Lorde of hosts but his proiect was the kingdome Secondly at filthy lucre as Demetrius and his followers
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
who cried great is Diana of Ephesus but meant her little siluer shrines It cannot bee denied but many such there were who helped to pull downe the Abbies not out of any hatred to those vncleane cages but to reare their owne houses out of the ruines and spoyled copes to make cushions Iudas complained of superfluity but grieued it fell besides his bagge many temporalities tithes and glebes vnlawful because they are loth to forgo them If Iezabel proclaime a Fast let Naboth looke to his vineyard If the Vsurer and tradesman frequent sermons let the buyer and borrower looke to themselues It is too common a thing to make zeale a lure and state to drawe customers a bait of fraud a net to entrap with malicious Doegs to make it a stalking horse for reuenge against the Priest thereby to discharge their gall at Ministers and other Christians for the omission and cōmission of such things as them selues care not for with the Strumpet in the Prouerbs to wipe their mouthes and frequent the Sacrifices that they may be free frō suspicion All these euills haue I seene vnder the sunne-shine of the Gospell but by how much zeale is more glorious then common profession by so much is dissembled feruency more detestable then vsuall hypocrisie yea no better then diuelish villany double iniquity such painted wals and whited sepulchers the Lord will breake downe Let all Timothies and Nathanaels learne to discry them and discard them The cure of this was deeply forelaid by Christ I counsell thee to buy gold tryed in the fire all is not gold that glistereth an image of faith breeds but a shew of zeale many seemed to trust in Christ but Christ would not trust them but such faith as will abide the fire brings forth zeale that will abide the touchstone The second is erronious or blinde zeale not according to knowledge Rom. 10. I beare many deuout Papists witnesse though I feare the learnedst of them be selfe condemned that they haue this zeale perswading themselues they doe God best seruice when they please the diuell most in their will-worship The same witnesse I beare many Separatists though I feare most of them be sicke of selfe conceit ednesse new fanglenesse and desire of mastership who would not suspect such zeale which condemnes all reformed Churches and refuseth communion with such as they themselues confesse to bee Christians and consequently such as haue communion with Christ. It would grieue a man indeede to see zeale misplaced like metall in a blind horse to see men take such paines and yet fall into the pit This made Paul to wish himselfe Anathema for the sake of such and yet the multitude and common people often thus Is it possible but these men haue the right But alas how should it be otherwise when a blinde company will follow a blinde sect-master This being one property of blinde zeale a fond admiration and apish imitation of some person for some excellency they see in him which so dazles their eyes that they cannot discerne their errours and infirmīties which they oftner inherit then their virtues as appeares in the Lutherans the Iewes that would sacrifice their children to Molech in imitation of Abraham In these the diuell becomes an Angel of light and plaieth that Dragon Reuel 12. pouring out floudes of persecution against the Church causing deuour men and women to raise tragedies breath out thretnings and persecute without measure then these the diuell hath no better souldiers but when their scales fall from their eyes and they come into Gods tents God hath none like vnto them The cure of this diuinely is forelaid by Christ also to buy eye-saule of him Angels haue eyes as well as wings to guide their flight when the shippe is vnder saile and hath the freshest way it hath most neede to looke to the sterage keepe the watch haue an eye to the Compasse and land marks The third kinde is turbulent zeale called by Iames bitter zeale a kinde of wild-fire transporting men beyond all bounds and compasse of moderation proceeding sometimes of a weakenesse of nature in men that haue no stay of their passion like to Clockes whose springs are broken and Cities whose walls are down Zeale is a good seruant but an ill master metall is dangerous in a head-strong horse And so the Poets which were the Heathens Prophets shadowed out the cure of this in Mineruas golden bridle where with she menaged her winged Pegasus There is too much of this bitter zeale of this Hierapicra in all our books of controuersies but especially there hath been too much in our domesticall warres some sons of Bichri haue blowen the trumpet of contention trumpets of anger the Churches of God should haue no such custome Oh that our Churches vnderstood that saying In quarrels of this nature Paul spends his zeale not in partaking but in parting the tray beating downe the weapons on both sides Who art thou that iudgest who art thou that condemnest thy brother as if he should say The matters are not Tanti wee haue made the diuell too much sport already who threw in these bones to set vs together by the eares whilst he lets-in the common Enemie vpon vs. Charity Charity is the builder of Churches Strife about trifles hath wasted many famous ones and placed the temples of Mahomet where the golden candlesticke was wont to stand We pittie the former ages contending about leauened and vnleauened bread keeping of Easter fasting on Sundayes c. The future ages will do the like for vs. Oh that the Lord would put into the hearts both of the gouernours and parties to these quarells once to make an end of these Midianitish warres that wee might ioyntly poure out the vials of our zeale vpon the throne of the beast Thus haue you heard the errors and counterfeits of zeale through whose sides and vpon the backe of which diuerse of the malicious world vse to beat those whom it hates because their workes are better then their owne iniuriously concluding that all Zealots are alike Thus I haue heard our Marchants complain that the set vp blewes haue made strangers loath the rich oaded blewes onely in request this is an old sophisme Trew iudgement would teach vs to conclude that the best drugs haue their adulterates the most current coynes their slippes and that virtue which so many hypocrites put on to grace themselues withall is surely some rare and excellent iewell The third part The true Zealote whose feruency is in the spirit not in shew in substance not in circumstance for God not himselfe guided by the word not with humors tempered with charity not with bitternesse such a mans praise is of God though not of men such a mans worth cannot bee set forth with the tongues of men and Angels Oh that I had so much zeale as to steep it in it owne liquor to set it forth in it owne colours that the Lord would touch my