magnificence provided it do not degenerate into superstition has this advantage in it that neither God his service nor they who minister about it can so soon be lightly esteemed Psal 110.3 This was Gods promise to his Son after that he had drunk of the brook by the way that he should lift up his head and because his head should be lifted up therefore thy people shall be a willing power in the day of thy power that is in that Day when the word of the Gospel shall be accompanied with power and that as it follows in the next words no other then in the Beauty of holiness so that the Administration of the everlasting Gospel is a Day of Power in it a willing People and all because of the Beauties of holiness the outward solemnities of the sanctuary glorious and magnificent well therefore may the Psalmist go on ver 4. The Lord hath sworn and he will not repent the Administration is thus eternally fixed Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech To be a little more close and particular The People magnified them where observe three things First The Respect which was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified Second The Persons by and to whom this praise was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the People to the Apostles this was the honour of these Saints their Persons to be in esteem amongst the Multitudes Third The Occasion of this Reverence and Respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many signes and wonders wrought amongst the people whither of justice in the judgment inflicted of Mercy in the Diseases cured or of extraordinary Providence in the Gospel propagated because of all these the People Magnified them 1. Consider we the Respect it self which was given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified The word is used both of that honour which God is pleased to vindicate to himself as also which he doth vouchsafe sometimes to bestow upon his creature again of that Glory which man is to ascribe unto God and of that respect which one man may give unto or have for another God vindicates his honour to himself in that he doth Magnifie his word above all his Name when he doth declare that he will not give his honour to another but that he will be sanctified in all those that draw nigh unto him in all acts of Worship and Divine Service he will have his Praises to be perfected in that they be all directed unto him alone he is the Lord our God to be Magnified and glorified for ever but One Lord and besides him there is no God But Praise and honour are his gift somtimes to his creature be Man what he is God regards him the son of man is visited by him and he exalteth him on every side as it seemeth best to him when and how he pleaseth he bringeth unto great honour raiseth up the poor out of the dust the needy from the dunghill to set him with the Princes even with the Princes of his people 1 Chron. 29.25 It was the Lord who magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel Yet again this is that Glory which we ascribe unto our Maker when we praise him who is higher then the highest give him that honour which he is pleased to require of us even the honour due unto his Name Psa 50.23 Whoso offereth me praise he Magnifieth me This is our Te Deum every morning wherein we praise our God and acknowledge him to be the Lord we worship him who is the Father everlasting day by day we Magnifie him and so we worship his Name ever world without end therefore as day unto day so night unto night also sheweth forth this praise our Oblations being not only renewed every morning but the lifting up of our hands are an evening Sacrifice when with the Blessed Virgin Mary every night we make her Magnificat our own Our Soul to Magnifie the Lord and our Spirit to rejoyce in God our Saviour And yet after all the former acceptions of the word this is that which God commands that one amongst another honour should be given where honour is due Dignities are not to be evil spoken of nor dominions to be despised we must have some in high esteem for their works sake and an Apostle must be Magnified if for no other because he is an Apostle 2 Cor. 10.15 This was that honour which without ambition or offence St. Paul did justly vindicate to himself Having hope that we shall be inlarged by you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnified amongst you according to our Rule abundantly the more abundantly because of that Rule of Righteousness which from us has been delivered to you So then the respect which was here given was the esteem that was raised because of the present service in which they were engaged what is in the Text Magnifying is in the foregoing Chapter ver 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That great Grace which was upon them all whilst the word of God grew and was multiplyed the Apostles were in favour with God and also with men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is Pelusiot That is Their Conversation and their vertue or rather their powerful ministry was as became Apostles and this was part of their reward in that they should see of their travail and be satisfied whilst they should be had in honour of all such who were resolved to follow them as they followed Christ And this honour was double both in heart and voice out of the abundance of their hearts their lips praised them with their tongues they blessed God who had given such power unto men and therefore with their tongues also they blessed and praised those men who came to them in the power and demonstration of the Spirit of God And Was this the receptation of the Gospel in its first Plantation did the word of Salvation run only whilst it was glorified and glorified it was indeed in the hearts and mouthes of all that saw and heard it hearing it they believed with joy joy which was not altogether unspeakable though it was full of glory What shall we say then when amongst those that are called Christians the Word of Life is the derision of those that pass along the streets when the Servants of God are despised for their works sake Nay the very Oracles of God have not escaped whilst they have been made the subject of Drollery This is that which may be for a sad Lamentation in the midst of us whilst wit and ingenuity is debauched into rallery and they are the greatest Virtuosoes have the quickest and ripest parts who can most prophanely make their Religion ridiculous who throw about their Libellous Pasquills and their Satyrical Lampoons not only against the civil and sacred orders of man that are established amongst us but even against Heaven it self thus they do not only Swear by but wickedly they blaspheme the Throne that is on high and him that sitteth thereon as if it
Ephesus but the whole world worshippeth Many men have their Religion tied at their Purse-strings and be the thing good or bad for which they contend if it once comes to make for their profit they are soon induced to espouse the quarrel and they shall manage it with too much eagerness But true Zeal for God and for his Glory is not of so low and so sordid a principle it doth not run in the veins of the earth but it is a fire fetched from heaven a beam or a ray from the Sun of Righteousness To conclude As we are to be watchful of others that their ignes fatui their new lights and strange fires do not deceive us and carry us out of our way for they will lead us downward to the Chambers of Death so we are to examine our selves that we be not hurried away with our own impulse that passion do not overmuch sway us and interest blind us Let us but make sure of these two that the thing for which we are earnest be in it self just and good and that our own intensions and designes be holy and pious that we have no sinister and by-respects either to get a name in the world or to make a trade of our Religion more to serve our selves upon it then our God by it secure we but this that the thing in it self and the heart be right and then let our Light shine before men that they may see it yea Let us thus be a spectacle to Angels and to men whilst the one frowning and the other rejoycing do behold our zeal for the Lord of Hosts For It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing which is the second General of the Text the subject of the next Discourse to wit the account given us of that zeal which is good The Second SERMON Verse 18. It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not onely when I am present with you THe Prophet Elijah who was exceeding zealous for the glory of the God of Israel upbraiding the people with their luke-warmness and indifference in religion how they feared the Lord but withall served other Gods not altogether forsakeing the worship of their Fathers and yet admitting the abominations of the Heathen amongst whom they lived which were a snare unto them resolved at last to put the whole business to an issue 1 Kings 18.21 24. He came unto all the people and said how long halt ye between two opinions if the LORD be God follow him but if Baal follow him I even I onely remain a Prophet of the LORD but the Prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty Men And as if he should have said Let us institute a Sacrifice to our unknown God let us see what Deity it is which will have a regard unto his own oblation Call ye upon the name of your God and I will call upon the Name of the LORD and the God that answereth by fire let him be God At which Determination it is to be observed that the Prophet though upon this extraordinary occasion would neither by an overhasty anticipation prevent nor by a tedious delay let slip the Publique solemn opportunity for daily and ordinary Devotion But Verse 36. At the time of the offering of the evening Sacrifice Elijah the Prophet came near and said O Lord God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel Farther it is remarkable that the Fire which at this time came from heaven was not a sudden Flash of Lightning which for the present struck terrour and amazement into the Spectators and instantly disappeared no neither was it a Fire that did Consume the Sacrifice and no more but the effect of it was a whole burnt-offering not the wood onely but the very Stones and the Dust were consumed and it licked up all the water that was in the Trench And the result of all was that when all the People saw it in most humble acts of adoration they fell on ther faces and Worshipped and the Voice of the People at that time was the Voice of God and they said The LORD he is God the LORD he is God Blessed be our God that the Prophet Elijah is not left alone a double portion of his Spirit though it be a Spirit of Burning doth rest upon the Prorhets and the Sons of Prophets even to this day let the Sons of Belial be Four hundred and fifty men twice told and all resolved into a grand Committee about Religion we need not fear with Elisha's Servant let us lift up our eyes to the Hills whence cometh our help and we shall see that those who are with us are more than those that are with them even the Mount of God full of Horses of fire and Chariots of fire round about the Priests of the most High God It is the glory of the God of Israel in the midst of us and about that Glory an everlasting Defence like the Prophet Elijah we put the cause of God and of his service to this issue why should we halt between two opinions it is a broken not a divided heart which God accepts The God that answereth by Fire let him be God yet such a Fire as spends it self upon a proper Sacrifice neither the Fire strange nor the Oblation unusual but a Fire upon such a sacrifice in which all the Tribes of Israel are concerned and that is the daily Ministration which is to be solemnized at the set and appointed times of the Morning and of the Evening Oblation Such a Fire too as is not of a sudden appearance or a short continuance which spends it self in a Blaze and goes out in a smoak but a Fire to consume both the Sacrifice and the Altar too yea though it be of stone I mean those heavenly seraphical Devotions and the Pious heart though once an heart of stone from whence they ascend a Fire to consume the Dust and to lick up the Water the dust of the Earth is in this regard worse than stubble not to be seen buried in its own embers neither can the water any longer find a place all filthy humours and noisome Corruptions are done away and there is nothing but a pure bright flame of love which many waters cannot quench Such as these are the Zealous Ardours for a setled Religion and the kind fervors in the due Celebrations of a solemn Devotion which while the ignorant and unlearned many unstable People have more diligently observed they have been convinced of all judged of all the very secrets of their hearts have been made manifest and falling upon their Faces they have Worshiped God reporting God to be in those solemnities of a Truth surely such a zeal as this which doth thus contend for the way of Godliness is not like the mad frenzey of the Priests of Baal which shews it self only in up-roars and in tumults whilst in the fray
there is one reason more to raise our esteem for such Solemn Conventions as were at this time in Solomon's Porch we are to Magnifie that which is administred and those who do officiate in it because in doing so we may turn away many sinners from the errors of their ways save their souls from death and hide a multitude of sins we may save our selves and those with whom we do converse when they shall behold our meek Conversation as to God and his service coupled with Reverence and Fear This was the truest Respect the choicest Reverence that was here given not barely an Ecstatical Enthusiastical rapid admiration but such a one as had an influence on the course of this life in the hopes of a Better all was in order to salvation Which is the Fourth part of the Text and the subject of the last Discourse The Fourth SERMON The great Benefit which did accrue to the whole Community from the Reverence which was here exhibited or rather from the whole Dispensation at this present BEcause of the judgment from God inflicted which was grievous because of the Signes and Wonders wrought which were terrible because of the publick Convention the place of their meeting their behaviour there all which were holy because of the due distance observed which was solemn because of the awfull Reverence exhibited which was beautiful and glorious because of the Providence of God exerted which was miraculous but yet Constant all these things did work together for good to those who should be saved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Believers were the more added to the Lord Multitudes of men and women So that already you may percieve that this last Discourse is to be confined to these two particulars 1. To consider what was the occasion of this great Benefit implyed in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rather or the more and so referring to all those circumstances but now enumerated all contributing to the increase of their Number who were the general Assembly of the first-born Secondly What this great Benefit it self was more particularly and closely to be examined and that in these following Particulars all within the compass of the words themselves First A Conversion or an Effectual Calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some that were added and that in an External Communion because they were added therefore the increase of their number was visible added to the Lord but so as to be known in and acknowledged by the Church Secondly a due qualification and that internal in the heart but still in order to an outward profession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were Believers in the Lord added to the Churches Communion and there holding the Faith which was once delivered to them Thirdly For their Number the Benefit great because it was diffusive the Redemption was the more precious because intimated that it might be Vniversal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They were Multitudes Fourthly No respect of Persons in relation unto Sex in Christ Jesus it is not Male nor Female but a New Creature the weaker Vessel has here its equal honour and proportionable too in its number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There were Multitudes as of Men so of Women of honourable and vertuous Women and of holy Men not a few Fifthly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this the rather which is again to be considered in relation to the Subject capable of this great benefit the rather because of what they saw and what they heard and so it may denote in these Multitudes an Act of free choice and mature deliberation they saw what was done and they heard what was spoke and were convinced of all so that it was an Act of their judgment and of their reason in that they delivered themselves up to the obedience of their Faith Believers were the more added to the Lord multitudes of Men and Women First To begin with that which is in the Text both first and last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rather did this great Benefit accrue or the more was it enhanced occasion being given for this increase because of those various circumstances ennumerated all which wrought together for the good of those who should be saved by all which God was pleased to add unto the number of those who were to be blessed in glory everlasting I shall only touch upon each of the forementioned circumstances conducing to this happy increase and so apply the main scope of the former Discourses to the intent that holiness may be promoted Diffusive love and universal Charity may be increased and that the God of Order may be glorified in the hearts of all men First Because of the judgment from God inflicted upon the sin of Sacrilege which was grievous hence Believers were the more added to the Lord and those Multitudes ver 11. Fear came upon the whole Church Ob recentem adhuc ex prodigioso Ananiae interitu metum id tamen progressui Evangelii non obfuit the surprise was sudden and yet still conuinued timor fecit Deum the Gospel of God was glorified from the fears of those who were affrightned the terrours of the Lord did work kindly in order to a through and a pure perswasion Psal 110.2 This was the rod of strength out of Sion in that Christ and his word should rule in medio inimicorum in the midst round about and over all his enemies in the day of so dreadful a power the People were a willing People Fear is properly the coarctation of the Spirits upon any surprise summoning them from the more distant parts of the body to the relief of the nobler parts of the heart chiefly which is the principle seat of life and so it might seem here in the Vnion of the Body of the Church assembled they sought God in the way of his judgments at the dreadful effects of which they could not but be affrightned as men and yet as Christians they did hence take occasion to pluck up their Spirits the more earnestly to attend upon the service of their God securing in the first place the integrity of their Souls towards him in so much that should God kill them all the day long exhibiting himself in nothing but the sad expressions of his wrath that he is a jealous God and a Consuming fire yet they did all of them humbly resolve as one man to put their trust in him Not unlike to this was that glorious and Beneficial effect of the Divine Displeasure against those Exorcists who Sacrilegiously arrogated to themselves the Apostolical gift presuming to cast out Devills in the Name of Jesus saying We adjure thee by Jesus whom Paul Preacheth the evil Spirit knew both the Master and his Servant Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye and leaping upon them he prevailed against them so that they fled away naked and wounded The result of all which Act. 19.17 was that when this came to be known to the Jews and the Greeks dwelling at Ephesus
a publick spirit as publick as is their sedition in some sort delivered my own soul and they shall not perish without warning and that repeated with as much vehemency as are their Divisions God in mercy give a Blessing And so may they see yet again how I do set before them fire and water and will they chuse the water alas the waters of Separation are waters of bitterness Massah and Meribah be their name and Marah is their tast they are themselves as it were baptized strife and contention and so noisome loathsome and every way unsavory is their rellish But the Fire is from the Lord in the Sanctuary it is a Refiners fire and a coal from the Altar that so all iniquity may be done away Blessing and a Curse and will they chuse the curse it is Anathema Maranatha A curse untill Christ come against all those who love not the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Communion of his Saints But this the Blessing when the Spirit shall say come and the Bride shall say come and the Church shall say come and every one that has set heart to seek the Lord the Lord God of his Fathers shall also come that so God may translate his Church which is here terribly Militant as an Army with banners in good order and in due aray unto Trophies and Triumphs in that glory which shall be everlasting And so look they once more and behold and chuse they whether they will Life and Death and will they chuse Death Death which shall never have an end the reward of those who do wilfully reject the means and the passage unto Life Oh! that at length they would believe schism and separation to be a damning Sin that they would not place the worship of God in the ways and amidst the sons of perdition I 'le leave a Text or two for them to urge upon themselves and can there be plainer words than these Rom. 13.2 They that resist that power which is the Ordinance of God or which is all one that Power which commands Obedience unto Gods Ordinance shall receive unto themselves Damnation 2 Pet. 3.1 3. False Prophets and false Teachers bring upon themselves swift Destruction whose judgment of a long time lingreth not and their Damnation slumbereth not Epist of St. Jude v. 13. These are wandring stars not keeping within their proper and appointed Orbs in order to a regular and an equal revolution Vnto whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever But after all this Life and Peace to those that seek and keep peace in the fear and love of God and of those that are set over them To conclude Let us be perswaded as we are men and Christians to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace considering that God is terrible in his judgments against the Rebellious and Sacrilegious he is wonderful in his providence for the defence of those that wait and call upon him his wrath is dreadful unto Death his loving kindness is surpassing and in his favour is Life The Assembling together of his Saints is Venerable and Awful God is honoured in the midst whilst due Reverence is paid to those that are round about him considering all these things what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness we should be no longer faithless but believing may we the more and the rather be added to the Church as Believers in the Lord and may this number increase to Multitudes of every age and of every Sex both Men and Women our Churches Prayer shall with little alteration be the close of all We Pray thee O Lord Help thy Servants whom thou hast redâ—emed with thy most Precious Blood Make them to be numbred with thy Saints here in a holy Communion and hereafter in glory everlasting To which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all to whom be ascribed Honour Praise and Adoration to Father Son and Holy Ghost One God and three Persons and that of all Ages in the Church by Christ Jesus world without end Amen Lord Mercifully receive the Prayers of thy Church that all troubles and errors being quenched it may serve thee in quietness and grant us peace in our days Amen A BAD AND A Good Zeal DESCRIBED and LIMITED Gal. 4.17 18. 17. They zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them or us 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when I am present with you IT was even in our Saviours time the Hypocritical Devotion of the Pharisees and is at this day the Pharisaical Hypocrisie both of the Conclave and the Consistory to compass Sea and Land to make one Proselyte and when he is gained they make him two-fold more the child of Hell then themselves so that the last estate of the poor man is worse than his beginning But as for us Woe unto us unless that our Religion do exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees their industry was both commendable and imitable if we could abstract their Labour of Love as they call it from the malice of their intention we may hear them both while they sit in the Chair of Moses but not when their design is to tumble Moses out of his Chair not when they rebell against Moses the Servant of the Lord and vex Aaron the Saint of God their long Prayers were not amiss no though they were in the Markets and the corners of every street when they made their great solemn and pompous Processions that they might be seen of men and so give an example of Devotion unto the World but we must beware of them when we find that upon this pretence they devour Widdows Houses when they commit a rapine upon the portion of the Widdow and of the Fatherless their long Robes were no such hainous crime nor their Phylacteries upon their Garments in which are supposed to have been written in Capital Letters the Ten Commandements of God to put the People in mind of their Duty but this was their fault when they proposed the Law as a Precept of obedience unto others and most shamefully and wickedly broke it in every Precept themselves in a word it is an Evangelical Precept the command of Christ himself with which Holy Church begins and exhorts to her offertory That we let our Light shine before men even the Light of our Profession in the publick attestations of our Religion we may be both burning and shining Lights but we must be careful that there be the oyl of good works to feed the flame lest men rejoyce in our Light only for a season and because they cannot behold a pious and a holy conversation directed by the fear of God therefore they do not glorifie our Father which is in Heaven we are to be watchful then that we try the hot Spirits of zeal that are abroad inthe world whether they be
care not much to be contained within the limits of their Duty the Boundaries that are set them for a holy life in an exact obedience to government both sacred and civil however that zeal which is not only for but according unto Godliness is no enemy unto Charity it beareth all things and it believeth all things till it find it self to be miserably deceived and then zeal being provoked to shew it self is honest still just and upright in the sight of God and Man it rejoyceth not in iniquity but persisteth in the truth exhibiting it self chiefly in vertuous and holy Actions spending it self upon the ingenuous arts and contrivances of love that so it may be Profitable unto all which is the Third Thing In which Zeal manifests its self as Good it is Bonum Vtile a most profitable good it is profitable for example and imitation like the Holy Scriptures the Rule by which it acts it is profitable for correction and reproof and for instruction in righteousness who will ever take that man for his pattern who is unconstant to himself he is shrewdly to be suspected for a double-minded man who is unstable in his ways But he that sets himself against all opposition to persevere in the way of truth who hath made his face like a flint in the Prophets phrase neither will he be ashamed one that will not give himself the least ease or relaxation from the performance of that which he has learnt to be his Duty one that has no Latitude as to those things in which both Law and Conscience do oblige him such a one is a successful example of courage and constancy unto others that they do not fall away from their own stedfastness whilst Daniel prayes in Babylon with his window open to Jerusalem notwithstanding the danger he was in for so doing though the Children of the Captivity were in a strange Land yet having so good a president they could not but think of the songs of Sion Some are like the Fish Polipus of the colour of the Rock unto which they cleave and because so they are in the common Proverb neither good fish nor flesh they tell us that we must comply with present circumstances it is disputable whether God does and it 's certain Man does not know future contingencies and whatsoever they be by a fatal necessity we must yield to them the God of Nature does not command that we should make our lives a snare to our selves a prudential un-vexatious obedience is all that he requires and this is to be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect This indeed were good Divinity were a Politician the Dr. of the Chair but how it will consist with the plain and simple Dictates of Christianity we want a Machiavel or his soul by an unheard of Metempsychosis actuating a Leviathan one who resolves all anorality either into positive Laws or into present local though contingent circumstances to determine the controversie But a resolved generous Soul is not of so temporary a Spirit his zeal is profitable unto others because good in it self every way and at all times good good because it is pleasant even the peace of God unto the pious soul and good because it is honest it thinks no evil but rejoyceth in the truth and good because it is a steddy example of holiness of purity and constancy unto others without being puffed up in prosperity terrified in adversity It remains therefore that this Apostolical Approbation have both an honorable mention and an hearty entertainment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is good to be zealous And so I proceed to the Second part of the Text Ratio Approbandi The Reason of this Approbation and that First Taken from the Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must be in a good thing In qualifying and distinguishing the Passions by their Objects some are good when their Objects are bad such is anger and hatred which are only then good when they are vented against Sin Be ye angry and sin not some are Bad when their Objects are but semingly good such is Love and Desire for it is possible and we find it often by sad experience that we do affect that which is in it self really evil only because it presents it self to us sub specie Boni jucundi under the specious pretence of a pleasurable Good But after all this zeal is a kind of more mixed Passion in reference to its Object take it for envy when it is bad when the Object is Good it is like the unhappy Locusts that cannot endure to see a green Leaf on the Trees take it for imitation or emulation only when the Object is Good is that Good also bonum est ut invideamini in bonis rebus semper Vars. Syr. It is Good either that you should be envied at by others or that you should have some kind strivings amongst your selves concerning things that are Good there is a pious kind of envy a holy zeal and emulation when we do strive and provoke one another in love unto Good Works To be a little more close and particular Zeal is good in relation unto a good Object upon these three accounts 1. Because it is there directed by a good rule the Word of God 2ly Managed upon a good Matter which bears a due proportion to that Rule 3ly Guided by a good intention not being over-byassed or over-ballanced by any sinister and by-respects A word or two of each of these First Zeal is good in relation to the Object if it be directed by a good Rule the Word of God The truly pious Zealiot in all his heats and ardors for the cause of God is to be very careful lest he should in any wise transgress that Rule of Righteousness which is prescribed to him as the revealed Will of that Master to whom he serves though Jehu drove furiously yet he was not to be blamed when he had this fixed resolution That there should fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord had spoken There is a thing which is called a sure Word of Prophecy to which we shall do well that we take heed in meekness and in fear that we do not in the least prevent the impulse of the Holy Ghost within us moving us to do that which is contrary to the dictates of the Spirit either speaking in his Word ruling in the sanctions and determinations of the Church They then who talk big words of an illumination or a Light within them and yet regard not the Law of God which should be a Light unto their feet and a Lanthern unto their paths whilst they offer up strange fire to the Lord they and their Sacrifices are abhorred and God seems thus to speak to them in the Language of his Prophet Isaiah 50.11 All you that kindle a fire that compass your selves about with sparks walk you in the light of your fire and in the sparks which you