A Coal From The Altar, To Kindle The Holy Fire of Zeale | Page 8

It
pittieth me for Laodicea that lost so much cost; had as many vertues,
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 & boyled to the
halves, or stand on the table till they bee lukewarme; what will the
guests say? All that we can doe is but the deede done, unlesse zeale
conferre grace.
[Sidenote: 4. Baptismus Flaminis & Fluminis.]
Fourthly, zeale is the richest evidence of faith, and the cleerest
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 bee
baptized with fire, the same is sealed up to the day of Redemption. If
any shall say, friend, what doest thou professe a religion without it;
how can hee choose but bee strucke dumb? Can wee suppose
worme-wood without bitternesse, a man without reason? then may wee
imagine a religion, and a Christian, without spirit and zeale.
The Jesuite saith, I am zealous; the Separatist, I am zealous; their plea
is more probable, then the lukewarme worldlings, that serve God
without life. If the colour bee 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 never to seeke for a proofe of his
salvation: what makes one Christian differ from another in grace, as
starrs doe in glory; but zeale? All beleevers have a like precious faith:
All true Christians have all graces in their seedes; but the degrees of
them are no way better discerned then by zeale: Men of place
distinguish themselves, by glistering pearles: A Christian of degrees
shines above other in zeale. Comparisons I know are odious to the
world, that faine would have 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 ever striving to excell and exceeds 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 Charriots of Israel_; besides his owne worke, hee winns
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; marvelling and enquiring what such
forwardnesse should meane, concluding with _Nebuchadnezzar, Surely
the servants of the most high God._
These are good Factors and Agents, doing God as good service, as
Boutesewes doe the Divell, and Jesuites the Pope, sparing no cost, nor
labour; and what they cannot doe themselves, they doe by their friends,
_Who is on my side, who? &c._
As for lets and impediments, they over-looke and over-leape them, as
fire passeth from one house to another; neither is there any standing for
any Gods enemies before them: they make havock of their owne and
others corruptions. If you will rightly conceive of Peters zeale in
converting & 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 & David so, they will the rather goe out to meet
them. Tell Nehemiah of Samballat, hee answereth, _Shall such a man
as I feare?_ Tell Caleb there are Anakims, and hee will say, _Let us goe
upp at once, &c_. Let Agabus put off his girdle and binde Paul, let him
be told in every City, that bonds await him, hee is not onely ready for
bonds, but for death; tell Jubentius, hee must lay downe his life, he is
as willing as to lay off his clothes: tell Luther of enemies in Wormes,
hee will goe if all the tiles of the houses were Divells. The horse neighs
at the trumpet; the Leviathan laughs at the speare. They that meane to
take the Kingdome of God by violence, provide themselves to goe
through fire and water, carry their lives in their hands, embrace faggots;
they say to father and mother, _I know you not_: to carnall Counsellers
and friendly enemies, _Get you behinde mee Sathan._ Zeale is as
strong as death, hot as the coales of Juniper; flouds of many waters
cannot quench it. Agar, Pro. 30. speakes of foure things, stately in their
kinde; I will make bold to add a fift, comprehending and excelling
them all namely the zealous Christian, strong and bold as the Lyon; not
turning his head for any; as