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
mooue the affections as well as inform the iudgement there is a doctrinall as som tearm it a Doctorly kind of preaching which is admired of some that vnderstand it not of others that could be content with the Masse againe because it was gentle and had no teeth in it And such Sermons I haue sometimes heard for matter void of exception but so deliuered as if one were acting a Part or saying a lesson by heart It hath called to minde a song which sometimes I haue met withall excellently composed full of sweete ayre surely and truely sung but with flat and dead voyces without spirit which hath marred the musicke Of such a Sermon and preacher the countrey mans verdit did well that said this man may be a great scholar but hee wants beetle and wedges to heaw our knotted timber withall our greene wood will not burn vnless it be better blowen you shall sometimes see an excellent horse of shape and colour hauing many of those marks Du Bartas describes in Cains supposed horse which yet wanting metall hath beene of little worth and lesse vse If there were no other preachers then these which hold themselues the onely profound and learned preachers I muse what should become of conuersion of soules which they that couet must come with the spirit of Elias to turne the hearts of the fathers to their children I may in trueth and I hope with modestie speake with the Preacher that in obseruing I haue obserued and haue found that diuerse great Clarkes haue had but little fruit of their ministery but hardly any truely zealous man of God though of lesser gifts but haue had much comfort of their labours in their owne and bordering parishes being in this likened by Gregory to the yron on the Smiths anvile sparkling round about And if for this any bordering neighbours whose cold labours work not the like successe shall accuse them of some kind I know not what of policie in bewitching the people they may well reply Behold our zealous affections are our charmes and zeale all our witchcraft as Latimer well answered one that accused the people of partiality for not affecting him that preached one of his printed sermons that he had indeed his Stick but wanted his Rosen meaning his zealous manner of preaching and liuing without which last all the former will doe but little good if a good ensample of life accompany not their doctrine as lightening doth thunder For there are some I speake it with sorrow of heart that seem to haue fire in their preaching but cary water in their life being notoriously proud couetous or debauched stained with odious vices Let vs heare the summe of all Doo we loue Christ more then ordinary would wee giue proofe of our trebble loue to him Let vs then feede his flocke with a trebble zeale expressed in our prayer preaching and liuing Let vs make it appear to the consciences of all that the top of our ambition is Gods glory and that we preferre the winning of soules to the winning of the world This title of Angels why may it not also be extended to Magistrates as well as that higher stile of Gods Sure I am that the scarlet robe of zeale would exceeding well become them Iethro maketh it their prime and essentiall character God and Moses their onely and sole in the charge and commission to Iehoshua so oft repeated Onely be of good courage And if Dauid were now to repen his Psalme I thinke hee might alter the forme of his counsell and say Be zealous yee Rulers and Iudges of the world and not wise and politicke or rather vnder the tearmes of wisdome he cōprehends indeed the zeal we call for the most now adayes being Gallioes wise onely for the matters of the common wealth not hauing a sparke of that spirit which was in Phineas Daniel and Nehemias c. for the Lord of hosts or to his lawes and commandements as if God had made Magistrates keepers onely of the second table gouernours of men and not of Christians guardians onely of ciuill societies and not of his Church and shepheards also of his flocke Are Idolatries blasphemies profaning of Sabaoths no sins Why then either haue not the lawes force and strength enough in them as somtime we are answered when we cōplain or why are they not executed for the suppressing of these raigning sins are not all they punished with death in the Scriptures as well as breaches of the second table Blood I leaue to the malignant Church and admire clemency in rulers as much as any but yet I know the profane dissolutenesse of the times requires a three stringed whip of seuerity to purge our Augean stable of the foule abuses whipt often with pennes and tongues but spared by them that beare the sword a man may say of many gouernours altogether in vaine for matters of religion Are not kings of the earth charged to rēder double to the bloudy strumpet of Rome Why then doth the hurtfull pittie of our times imbolden and increase their numbers Laodicea it selfe I doubt not for matters of mine and thine had as their name imports good ciuill iustice and iusticers but what was God the nearer for it doth hee not threaten for all that to spue them out of his mouth shall hee not curse those that doe his work negligently fearfully partially Our times complaine of two speciall canker-worms of iustice which eate vp zeale in Magistrates The first is couetousnesse which makes men of place to transgresse for a morsell of bread the zeale of their owne houses consumes the zeale of Gods house The building of great houses keeping of great houses matching with great houses raising and leauing of great houses behinde them makes them so rauenous that they deuoure so much as choakes all their zeale which would teach them to shake their laps of bribes and scorn to accept gifts though men would augment them for the peruerting of iudgement The other is cowardise and fearfulnes which how vnfit and base a quality did Nehemiah thinke it for a man of his place no better then shynesse in a fore-horse whose eyes men fense on both sides that they may lead the way and goe without starting vnto which zeale is answerable in Magistrates causing them onely to see him that is inuisible without casting a squint eye at men to sing to God onely of iudgement and mercy without runing their songs to mans eare to walke in the perfect way without turning either to the right or left hand for fear or fauour Oh that there were such an heart in our leaders how easily would our people follow what a spring-tide of zeale should wee haue if the Sunne and Moone would cast out a benigne aspect vpon them Doth it not flourish in all those shires and townes where the word and sword doe iointly cherish it In others which are the greatest number how doth it languish and wane away and hang downe the head where is
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 â—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 coÌ„mon as fire on euery mans hearth no mans heart without zeale if euery man
the fathers the acts and monuments of the Church haue a speciall vertue for this effect The very pictures of the fires and Martyrs cannot but warme thee If thou canst meet with any liuing examples followe them as they followe Christ frequent their company euen Saul amongst the Prophets will Prophecie No bangling hauke but with a high flier will mend her pitch the poorest good companion will doe thee some good when Silas came Paul burnt in the spirit a lesser sticke may fire a billet If thou findest none let the coldnesse of the times heate thee as frostes doe the fire Let euery indignation make thee zealous as the dunstery of the Monks made Erasmus studious one way to be rich in times of dearth is to engrosse a rare commodity such as zeale is now if euery they haue destroyed thy lawe It is now hie time to be zealous Consider and emulate the children of this generation to see how eager euery Demas is for worldy promotion How did that worthy Bishop disdain to see an harlot more curiously to adorne her body vnto sinne and death then he could his soule vnto life euerlasting It angred Demosthenes to see a Smith earelier at his Anuile then hee was at his Deske When thou hast thus heat thy selfe take heede of catching cold againe as many haue done and brought their zeale to deaths doore This fire may go out diuerse wayes first by substraction of fewell if a man forbeare his accustomed meales will not his naturall heat decay The Leuites that kept Gods watch in the Temple were charged expressely morning euening if not oftner to look to the lights and the fire He that shall forget at the least with the Curfeau-bell in the euening to rake vppe his zeale by prayer and with the day-bell in the morning to stirre vp kindle the same if not oftner with Daniel I cannot conceiue how hee can possibly keepe fire in his heart Will God blesse such as bid him not so much as good-morrow and good-euen He that shall despise or neglect prophecie must he not needes quench the spirit haue I not marked glorious professors who for some farme sake or other commodities haue flitted from Ierusalem to Iericho where the situation was good but the waters nought and their zeale hath perished because vision hath failed Such as reade the Bible by fits vpon rainy dayes not eating the booke with Iohn but tasting onely with the tippe of the tongue Such as meditate by inatches neuer chewing the cud and digesting their meat they may happely get a smackering for discourse and table-talke but not enough to keepe soule life together much lesse for strength and vigour Such as forsake the best fellowship and waxe strange to holy assemblies as now the manner of many is how can they but take cold Can one coale alone keep it selfe glowing Though it goe not out for want of matter yet may it be put out by sundry accidents when it is newly kindled it may be put out with scoffes and reproaches if Peter take not heed and fence himselfe well against them but if once throughly growne such breath will but spread and encrease it It is possible fire may be oppressed with too much wood and heat suffocated with too much nourishment ouermuch prayer reading and study may be a wearinesse both to flesh and spirit but it so rarely happeneth that I neede not mention it and yet the soule hath it satiety There be some such perchance ouer-nice men in this sense also who haue not learned that God will haue them mercifull to themselues It is oftner smoothered for want of vent and exercise Let such as vse not and expresse not their zeale bragge of their good hearts surely they haue none such or not like to haue them such If Nichodemus had not buried Christ by day wee might haue feared his zeale had gone out for all his comming by night Yet this is not so ordinary as to extinguish it by the quench-coale of sin grosse sinne euery man knowes will waste the conscience and make shippewracke of zeale but I say the least known euill vnrepented of is as a thiefe in the candle or an obstruction in the liuer I feare Dauid serued God but reasonably till hee published his repentance he that steales his meate though pouerty tempt him yet giueth thankes but coldly zeale and sinne will soone expell the one or the other out of their subiect can you imagine in the same roofe God and Beliall the Arke and Dagon Lastly and most commonly foraine heare will extract the inwarde and aduemicious heate consume the naturall The Sunne will put out the fire and so will the loue of the world the loue of the Father they cannot stand together in intense degrees one cannot serue both these masters with such affection as both would haue Seldome seest thou a man make haste to be rich and thriue in religion Christs message to Iohn holdes true The poor are most forward in receiuing and following the Gospell as thou louest thy zeale beware of resoluing to be rich lest gaine proue thy godlinesse take heede of ambitious aspiring least Courts and great places prooue ill aires for zeal whither it is as easie to go zealous as to returne wise Peter whiles he warmed his hands cooled his heart Not that greatnesse and zeale cannot agree but for that our weakenesse many times seuers them If thou beest willing to dy poore in estate thou maiest the more easily liue rich in grace Smyrna the poorest of the seuen Candlestickes hath the richest price vpon it The diligent practice of these courses will make easie the practice of this counsell Be zealous c. The sixt part Which little round fire-ball comming to hand as Dauids small stone by ordinary lot knowing the insufficiency of my owne I pray that God with his arme would scatter it farre and wide into those wide parts of the world without the pale of Christendome which lie so frozen and benummed in their Paganisme that they feele not the coldnesse of their religions as also in those regions that being within the Tropickes of the Church haue iust so much and so little heate as to thinke they haue enough and need no more Chiefly mine affections burne within me for the good of mine owne nation for which I would I had but so much zeale as truely to wish my selfe Anathema vpon condition it had heate sutable to the light For I must beare it record it hath knowledge I would I could say according to zeale But the spirit knowing that which is spoken to all to bee in effect as spoken to none directs mee what I would speake to Churches to speake to particular Angels Now the principall in our Church vnder that Archangel of the couenant I most willingly acknowledge to bee my Lorde the King as an Angel of light And why not that very Angel who by his writing hath begunne to poure out the fift viall vpon the