ZEAL FOR GOD'S HOUSE QVICKNED: OR, A SERMON Preached before the Assembly of Lords, Commons, and Divines, at their solemn Fast july 7. 1643. In the Abbey Church at Westminster.  
EXPRESSING The Eminency of Zeal requisite in Church Reformers: BY OLIVER BOWLS, Pastor of Sutton in Bedfordshire.  It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, Gal. 4.18. 
Published by Order of both Houses of Parliament.  
LONDON, Printed by Richard Bishop for Samuel Gellibrand, at the Brazen Serpent in Paul's Churchyard, 1643.   

Die jovis 27. julij 1643.  
IT is this day Ordered by the Lords in Parliament, That Mr. Bowles hath hereby thanks given him, for the great pains he took in the Sermon he made at the Fast for the Assembly of Divines in the Abbey Church, Westminster, on Friday the seventh of this instant july: And is hereby desired to cause his said Sermon to be forthwith Printed and published.  
Io. Brown Cler. Parliamentor.   

To the Right Honourable the House of LORDS: AND The Honourable House of COMMONS, Assembled in PARLIAMENT: AND To the Learned and Religious DIVINES called by them, and now assembled to consult about matters of RELIGION.  
Right honourable and most worthy,  
Out of your vigilant care for the common good you have found out a way amidst your many distractions to convene an Assembly of grave and learned Divines, with whom you might advise concerning the settling of Doctrine, Worship, and Church Government.  
You saw cause which might move you so to do in respect; first, of those licentious spirits, who took occasion, as to vent their own fancies, so to attempt any thing in matter of Doctrine and Worship; secondly, in that for want of an established Church-government, we were and still are in danger to fall from a Tyranny to an Anarchy; thirdly, In that evil minded men, seeing no effectual means provided to suppress such variety of Sects as did start up, were ready to censure you, as the fautors of such opinions. What you have done, hath been done with much prudence in that you have given way for the admittance of Divines of different judgements to be chosen, to whom a liberty is not denied to plead every one for his own party: And not only so, but you have further embodied divers of your worthy Ones of both Houses, as Members of our Assembly: by which privilege, we have many and singular advantages. When this Assembly, for the greater part, was by your summons gathered together, you were pleased, out of a due consideration of the weighty affairs to be transacted, to appoint a solemn Fast to be kept (chief) by the Members of the Assembly: And when you had so done, your pleasure was to lay your command upon myself, though the unworthiest of many, to be employed in the service of that day. Surely, it was not but that you had your choice of many other most able and worthy Divines, only it was your pleasure, that days and multitudes of years should speak. 
●●b.   
The Grace I chose as most meet to treat of, was that of Zeal, as conversant about God's House; first, for that it doth directly oppose lukewarmness, the most dangerous and yet the Epidemical disease of our time; secondly, for that no one grace doth more promote the work of Reformation, (as will appear in the subsequent discourse;) thirdly, for that among all other ornaments, there is none that doth more beautify a Reformer in the eyes of God and man. 
Prov.  There are many creatures, said the wise man, that are comely in there going; but none so comely as a Zealous Reformer. Accordingly then (you Parliamentary Worthies) go on and prosper, cease not to carry on your Work, which is God's work, with Zeal and Courage. It is Perseverance alone that will both crown you, and perfect your endeavours. What encouragement have you had, in that the Lord, amidst your greatest dangers, hath been mightily seen in the protection of your persons! No weapons of war that have been form against you, have prospered; the tongues of men that have risen up in judgement against you, hath he condemned. Hath not the same God assisted you to do many glorious works, whereby his name hath been honoured, his people unspeakably benefitted? How hath the Lord kept you together until this day! notwithstanding the endeavours of all the Devils in hell, and wicked men on earth, to scatter you, to divide you! What a foundation hath the Lord laid of your continuance together till your work be done! Surely, it is for that he hath yet some great things for you to do. If you (which God forbidden) shall faint, and out of by respects withdraw yourselves from the service, be sure God without you will accomplish his work, but tremble to think what will become of you and yours. How would it be a thing much to be bewailed that you (Noble and brave spirited Patriots; who have hitherto borne the heat of the day, the brunt of the business, so fare denied yourselves, as to run the hazard of all that you are, have, or might expect) should now by failing in your last act, lose your crown, forfeit your reward from God and man!  
And now for you (my Reverend and much Honoured Brethren in the common work of the Ministry,) Who can but bless the Lord, for that degree of his spirit, (no doubt, it is the effect, as of your own prayers in the day of your solemn humiliation, so of many of the prayers of his people) which he hath showered down upon you! Not only do your learned debates, your exact and judicious Scripture-discussions, your Scholastical disputes, the discovery many of you have made of your exact knowledge in Antiquity, show that God is among you, as he that hath fitted you for the work: but further your sweet amicable converse, your following of the truth in love, your differences in judgement carried on without alienation of affection, do not they all say that God is with you? God forbidden, that either the Devil, or wicked men, should break asunder that sweet bond of Amity, wherewith God hath linked you in one. Be encouraged then (dear beloved in the Lord) from one whom God was pleased, though the unworthiest among you, yet to make his mouth to you, to go on as carried along with a Spirit of indefatigable zeal in the pursuance of the work you are called unto. Behold it is soule-work, and that of nearest concernment, that God hath put into your hands to be transacted. Is not your work a Counter-work to that great and long plotted design, whereby Popery should have been re-advanced, Gods saving truth been suppressed, his worship substantially corrupted, and utterly destroyed? Is it not a work of the largest extent, as that which concerns all other Reformed Churches, whose happiness or misery will be involved in ours? Yea, ages to come will either bless or curse you, as you shall follow or neglect the opportunity.  
And now for myself, be pleased to take notice that my strength and voice failing me by reason of my weakness, I have made bold to make a supply of that which at the time of the delivery I could not enlarge: Further, (this being a fixed rule to me, 
Inter concionandam emineat verdun Dei.  That God's Word should in preaching have the preeminence,) wonder not, that I allege Authors, in such cases wherein the allegation of them does not prejudice Scripture: As first, when an Historical truth is to be made good; for though the Scriptures do only determine, Quid verum, quid falsum, What is true and what false; yet for the information of ourselves, Quid novum, quid antiquum, we must have recourse to the writings of men: Secondly, if God himself, when he would shame men for their evils, sends them to learn from the creatures, 
2 jerem. 10.6. Prov. 6. 1 Cor. 1●. 14.  why may not we send men living in the days of light to learn of darker times? Thirdly, when being to reprove the evils of the time, for removing of prejudice, we deliver our reproofs rather in the words of Antiquity than in our own. Facilè patimur reprehensores qui remotiori feculo vixêre. So the Papists did embrace many things in the writings of the fathers as Catholic, which they condemned in Luther as Heretical.  
And now what remains but that we all humbly pray the God of all truth and peace, who alone is able to facilitate all difficulties, to direct and guide you, Honourable Senators, to pour upon you that spirit of wisdom and courage, that you may go with a settled resolution, never to give over, till you have established truth and peace in our borders; and the same God magnify his power in our weakness, and multiply the gifts of his Spirit upon us, whom you have been pleased to call together, to advise with in the great affairs of the Church, that we may so discharge our duties, that God may have glory, and his people the good that they expect and pray for, and your and all our enemies may have their faces covered with shame,  
So prays Your servant in the Lord Oliver Bowles.   

A SERMON Preached before The Assembly of LORDS, COMMONS, AND DIVINES. Upon their Fast, july 7. 1643.  JOHN 2.17. 
And his Disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up.  
THe Prophet Malachi prophesying concerning the Lord Christ, that he should in due time come to visit his Church, sets him out as a Refiner, as a Purifier of silver, tells us that he should purify in special the Sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver, 
Malach. 3.3  that they might offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And as an accomplishment of this prophecy, the same Lord Christ gives a Specimen, in the story immediately preceding my Text, by that heroical fact of his in whipping the buyers and sellers out of the Temple (an evil which the Priests for their gain had fomented.) I call it an heroical fact, for that it was done by a special spirit, in its kind not imitable by us. The which act of the Lord Jesus being carried on with an eminent and remarkable zeal and magnanimity, gave the Disciples an occasion of calling this to mind, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. Of which his zeal we have a remarkable discovery in these particulars.  
1. In the weakness of the means whereby he did both attempt and effect the work; in that the persons but few in comparison, and those despicable in the eyes of the world, Christ and his Disciples, not armed with any weapons that might carry dread and terror with them, at most but with a whip made of a few small cords, which probably were scattered by the Drovers which came thither to sell their cattles; and to some of them with his voice only, 
Verse 16.  he said to the money changers, Take these things hence, and it was done.  
2. In the strength that the opposite power did hold out, which makes the encounter so much the more dangerous: 
〈◊〉. in ●oc●m.  As first, a garrison of Soldiers in Arce Antonia ready at hand to appease (as it is probable) occasional Tumults. Secondly, the temper of the men's spirits with whom the business was, they were men set upon gain, the world's god. Thirdly, the great confluence of the people, it being the most solemn Mart of the Passeover. Behold then the greatness of Christ's zeal, when neither the weakness of the means on the one side to effect it, nor the greatness of the power on the other side to hinder it, did at all dismay him, or cause him to desist from this attempt of reforming that so apparent an abuse of the Temple, the house of God. Learn we hence, that  
Observe. It matters not how weak the means of Church-reformation is, not how strong the opposite power is, if we can but draw Christ into the business, 
Heb. 5.2. Esay 30.21 john 16.13. jer. 15.20. Esa. 26.12.  if we can procure him to fit as Precedent in the Assembly: If he be there, he will heal our ignorances', he will clear up all our doubts, he will guide us by the spirit of truth, he will be as a wall of Brass against all our adversaries, he will work all our works for us.  
I do ingenuously confess, that when we do consider and view the difficulty of the work of Church reformation, and our weakness, who are summoned to be advisers in the work, it may amaze us: but when we look upon the Lord Almighty, the great Jehovah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, to whom nothing is too hard, who hath broken through gates of Iron, and Bars of Brass, which we could never have dreamt that they had been perviable, this again may raise up our spirits, and give us hope, that if we seek the Lord in his way, he will certainly be found of us. 
Zach. 4.6.  It is all one to him, whether by an Army and by power, or by quickening the spirits of his, raising them above themselves: 
Verse 10.  whether by a day of small things, or by doing terrible things that we looked not for, 
Isai 64.3.  he bring about his Church's cause. 
Zach. 4.7.  It is nothing to him to make Mountains plain: Who art thou O great Mountain? The Lord by the Prophet speaks in a holy scorn of all the enemies the Jews had in rebuilding the Temple and City. We accordingly, by a grant from the Right Honourable the two Houses of Parliament, with so many of them as have been pleased to embody themselves with us, are assembled this day to afflict our souls in Fasting and Prayer before the Lord, that we may seek of him a right way in these great and important affairs to be treated on, that he would give us such a frame of spirit, such an assistance from on high, such a clear light, as may raise us above ourselves, fit us for that work whereunto we have no sufficiency as from ourselves. 
●●ya 8.21.  Thus did Ezra and the Jews out of a conscience of their own inability to help themselves in their passage from Babylon to jerusalem: So we being now upon a further progress, not from Babylon (as some have unjustly slandered us) but from the remnants of Babylon to the new jerusalem; our work is (the Lord assisting) to humble our souls before him in a more than ordinary way. Oh that the Lord would put us into such a posture of abasement as might make both our persons and services acceptable before him, so should we not doubt but the Lord Christ would be in the midst among us.  
The words read unto you are for the latter part taken out of the sixty ninth Psalm, uttered by David as a type of Christ, as appears by this application of them. Consider in the verse, first, the Scripture alleged: secondly, the means whereby it came to be alleged. For the latter, it was an act of a sanctified memory in the Disciples calling to mind what was written, whereunto the fact done did serve as a remembrancer. Observe,  
Observe. That conscionable reading of holy Scriptures shall be attended with seasonable remembering: That is conscionable reading, when we take up reading the Scriptures in the several seasons which the Lord commands as an act of obedience unto him, this shall have seasonable remembering; for so is the promise of Christ, 
john 14.26  The Comforter shall bring all things to your remembrance.  
How industrious then should we all be in frequent search of Scriptures? Are not they the Paradise of God, wherein grows the Tree of Life, 
Ambr. Ep. 42.  and the leaves are good to heal the Nations? Are not Scriptures as that Pool whereunto God hath promised a virtual power, wherein we may wash and be clean? Scriptures are that golden Mine wherein we may dig riches that may make us rich to God, that every us to life eternal. 
Luther in Gen. 19  So zealous was Luther to have the Scriptures read, that he professed, that if he thought that the reading of his Books would hinder the reading of the Scriptures, he would burn them all before he died. But thus much of these things briefly; the Scripture itself alleged being that which I intent principally (by God's help) to insist upon. And in this Scripture alleged in the Text, three particulars offer themselves.  
1. The grace, Zeal.  
2. The Object whereabout it was conversant, God's House.  
3. The Degree wherein it seized upon David and Christ, they were eaten up with it.  
Quest. First then for the Grace itself, What is Zeal?  
Answ. It is a holy Ardour kindled by the holy Spirit of God in the affections, improving a man to the utmost for God's glory, and the Churches good; Zelus est intensus gradus purae affectionis: It is not so much any one affection, as the intended degree of all. Affections are the motions of the Will, as carried out to the prosecution of good, or avoiding of evil: They are, as the Philosopher speaks, exitus animae, the out-going of the soul. What the Wheels are to the Cart, the Sinews to the Body, Wings to the Bird, the Wind to the Sails spread, such are the Affections to the Soul, implanted by God to carry it hither and thither as the objects do more or less affect. Man lies like a log, the soul moves not, but as the Affections stir.  
For their order they are so placed in the soul, as that they are subservient one to another; the irascible to the concupiscible. When the desiring faculties flag, grow remiss by intervenient impediments, then comes in the irascible faculties, as removens impedimenta, as taking away the impediments; and is not this that which is properly called Anger? This made Luther to say, Ira suo loco est optimum Dei donum.  
The second thing is the Object, God's House; the house of God under the Law, was all the external pledges of God's presence, the Altars, Temple, Tabernacle, Ark, etc. The house of God under the Gospel, is (as the people of God elsewhere, so) the Ordinances of God here.  
The third thing is the Degree, hath eaten me up; a metaphor taken from men that receive nourishment, and the meat after its several concoctions, is assimilated into the nature of them that receive it. Zeal doth totally surprise us in what concerns God, we so mind the things of God, as if we minded nothing else. What was said of Peter, that he was a man made all of fire: and of Saint Paul in respect of his sufferings, that he was a spark of fire burning in the middle of the sea; 
Flamma inextinguibilis in medio mari.  that may be much more said of Christ when he was upon the work of Church-reformation.  
The Text thus opened, this proposition offers itself.  
Doct. That Church-reformation doth call for utmost zeal. Our love to promote that work must be such, 
Can. 4 12.  as many waters cannot quench: Our desires must be enlarged, 
Ps. 119 20  as those which break through all impediments, admit of no denial, give me my request or I die: 
Verse 171.  our hope must be more longing, our endeavours full of activity, our hatred of the opposites more perfect, our anger in removing the hindrances more violent. These stir of the Spirit expel lukewarmness, induce Zeal. Zeal sets on work the whole tide of our affections; 
Psa. 87.7.  All my springs are in thee: in promoting the good of God's Church, David had a springtide of his affections, they all ran in that channel. To what dangers, hazards, and censures did Christ here in the exercise of his zeal expose himself in the case of Church-reformation! David's zeal for the settling of the Ark, how did it make him deny himself in his most necessary refresh, I will not go into my house, etc. 
Psa. 132.3.  his house was no house, his bed no bed, his rest no rest; so in his worldly credit, I will yet, for my God's sake, 
2 Sam. 6.22  be more vile; So in those innumerable heaps of gold and silver, 
1 Chro. 29.3  which out of his earnest zeal he had prepared and set apart for the building of the Temple. Nehemiah that Emblem of Reformers, what a measure of zeal did he discover in leaving all his Court preferments, putting himself in his own person upon a hazardfull and tedious journey, in the encounters and oppositions both open and secret he met withal, in his expensefulnesse and that to prodigality, as it may seem, for the common cause, in his unwearied persisting in the work till it was accomplished. How iron-like was the spirit of Elias? how did he out of a spirit of zeal against the Idolatry of Baal set his face against Ahab, jezebel, and all the Priests of Baal? how was he driven to fly for his life? (some Geographers compute his journey at many hundreds of miles;) How great were the exigences he was put unto, even near affamishment, to a weariness of his life. john the Baptist of what an invincible spirit he was, his encounter with a generation of vipers, his bold and daring (for it cost him his life) reproof of Herod for his Herodias, his turning of Mountains into Valleys, his making of rough ways plain, do all witness. The want of zeal in the people in jehosophats' time, 
2 Chron. 20 33.  they having not prepared their hearts to seek the God of their fathers, kept up the high places; 
2 Chron. 29.36. & 30.1  but in Hezekiah's time the zeal of the people plucked them down; the work was done suddenly, for the people were ready: of such moment it is, that where Church-reformation is in hand, a spirit of zeal should run in the veins of the Reformers: No such unbesceming evil as, when the cause of God lies at stake, for men to be cold, lukewarm Neuters, warping sometimes one way, sometimes another.  
In the further prosecution of this truth, three particulars do present themselves.  
1. Convincing reasons must be rendered, why zeal must be present in Church-reformation.  
2. What influence zeal ought to have in Church-Reformers.  
3. How Zeal must be qualified, that it may be kept within its bounds; zeal not confined is as wildfire.  
For the first of these, three Reasons do offer themselves as arising from the nature of the work in respect of its  
1. Excellency.  
2. Difficulty.  
3. The destructive nature of Church-evills, if not reform.  
The excellency of the work I argue three ways.  
Reas. 1 1. In that the work of Church-reformation is one of God's special favours, whereby the Lord would endear his Church to him. 
Esay 1.25.  When after the Churches sad sufferings, he would do his people a special favour, he tells them that he will purge away all her dross, 
Esay 54.11, 12, 13.  and take away all her tin. So when the Lord would express himself in the greatest declarations of his love to his Church. 
Ver. 13.  Oh thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, thy foundations with Saphires, etc. God will set up his ordinances in a more glorious way; all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Accordingly in this latter age of the world, what is the great work, for which the Church blesses God with the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb, is it not the victory over the beast, his name, mark, etc. all done by Church-reformation: 
Rev. 15.3, 4.  Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, etc.  
2. The excellency of the work is argued jointly from the relations betwixt God and his Church, and the office which Reformers do. 
Cant. 4.12.  The Church is God's Garden, which being planted with all variety of flowers is apt to be overgrown with weeds, that not only mar the beauty of it, but eat out the good herbs: Reformers, their work is to weed the Lord his garden, throw out all those noisome herbs which would have spoiled all the good ones. 
Verse 13.  The Church is the Lords Orchard, wherein trees of all kinds, both for fruit and and medicine, grow upon the banks thereof: The Master of that Orchard is impatient of any such trees that cumber the ground, and after many years bear no fruit; Reformers, their work is to root out the plants that God never planted. 
H●●. 3.6.  The Church is God's house, where he delights to dwell; Reformers are to cast out all the dirt, dross, and garbage that was odious and irksome to the Master of the house; they sweep down all the cobwebs wherein the Spiders did build. The Church is God's Spouse, 
Cant. 4.12.  in whose beauty his soul delights; that she should be deformed with strange attire, ornaments borrowed from notorious strumpets, the Lord cannot endure; Reformers they strip her of all her harlotry attire, take off all her jezabel-like paintings, and render her to Christ in her native simplicity. The Church is the Lords Vineyard, 
Cant 8.12.  which he keeps and waters every moment; Reformers their work is to take the Foxes that destroy the Vines. How welcome should the feet of such be? 
Cant. 2.15.  and how should the precious nature of the work in relation to God, draw out all our strength?  
3. That the excellency of the work may be yet further evidenced: consider it in the objects whereabout it is conversant; that is, either Things, or Persons. Things are Doctrine, Worship, and Government; Doctrine is a ray or beam of supernatural truth issued out from God as a special favour to his people, tending to inform them in right notions and apprehensions concerning God, Christ, our souls, and the whole way of salvation. This is called the word of life, the wholesome word, the word of salvation; how useful is this word, 
2 Pet. 2.1.  since men do as surely perish by damnable heresies, as by moral vices. Doctrine is as the waters of the Sanctuary, how great a sin to puddle or poison these! was it not capital among the Romans to poison the common springs? How noisome was that plague to the Egyptians to have all their waters whereof they should drink, turned into blood? was it not much more (as the soul is more excellent than the body) pestilential to have all the main Articles of our Religion (not that of Justification excepted) to be all, 
This Petit. with R●monstr. exhibit. in Parl. in jan. 1640.  or the most, desperately corrupted, as may be seen in the Minister's Remonstrance exhibited, together with their Petition for Reformation.  
The second particular, whereabout Reformation is conversant, is worship; whereby God and we have communion one with another, we do in a holy manner trade with God and he with us. This is as jacobs' ladder, The Angels of God ascend and descend by it; our prayers ascend, God's blessings descend. The ordinances are those golden pipes by which the golden oil empties itself into the hearts of God's people; They are the Church's breasts from whence her children suck nourishment; They are the Church's barn and her Winepress: They are on Christ's part the kisses of his mouth, the mutual embraces betwixt God and the Christian Soul; Dry up all the breasts in such a City as this, how great will the cry of the Infants be? This mischief by the putting down of Preaching, and strange Innovations brought and urged upon us in our most solemn worship, had in a great part seized upon us, and will yet certainly prevail if the Reformers do not seasonably and strongly oppose.  
The third particular is Church Discipline or Government; all Societies, and so the Church, is upheld by ruling and being ruled. This amongst other benefits it will yield, That it will preserve the honour of God's censures and ordinances, that great censure of Excommunication, which is no less than the delivery up of a man to Satan, and (next the day of judgement) it is judicium maxime tremendum, it shall no longer Lackey up and down for Duties and Fees as it hath done amongst us, and as it did in the darkest times of Popery as Gerson complains, 
Gers. lib de defectib. Ecclesiast●cis. Quid est qued, etc. Ezek. 22.26.  Lib. de Eccles. defect. Quid est, quod Gladius Ecclesiae, scilicet Excommunicatio, extrahitur pro re nihili, ut pro re nummariâ? This once established, will direct us to put a difference betwixt the holy and the profane, the clean and the unclean, for want whereof the Lord challenges the Priests. Hath not this been, and is it not yet in a great part, remaining upon us, as one of our land destroying sins; the promiscuous thrusting in of scandalous and ignorant persons upon the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, to the horrible profaning of the same, and no power that would hitherto be allowed as legal, no not for making stay of such? Misunderstand me not, I mean not, that men should be cut short of that latitude which the Laws of Christ allow; only let that hedge and mound of Discipline be erected, whereby holy things may not be indifferently administered, as well to men egregiously profane, and that after conviction, as to the Lord his holy ones.  
Thus of things now of persons; These be as all Church Officers, whereof a ground in Scripture, so more specially, the Ministers of the Word, the Dispenser's of holy things; These, if good, are the best of men; as, who are one of a thousand, 
joh. 33. 2●. 2 Cor. 5.19.  when others at the utmost but one of four or five hundred; to these God hath committed the Ministry of Reconciliation even of God with men; these the Lord hath betrusted with the power of opening and shutting Heaven, when the like Commission is not given to the Angels themselves, for to which of the Angels did God ever say, Whatsoever ye bind on Earth is bound in Heaven, etc. These worthily styled, Saviour's, 
john 20.23. Obad. 1.21.  and of such as these, Reformers hold out a hope; all their endeavours are and aught to be, that the Churches, those who have sat in darkness and in the shadow of death may be furnished with bright shining lights. Now as these who attend at the Altar, if good the best, so if evil the worst; for as it is among the Mariners who see the wonders of the Lord in the deep, they either are the best or worst of men; the best, if what they see, works for the best; or the worst, if not bettered: so we Ministers, whom God acquaints with the depths of Scripture, come off from that privilege either as most profane, or most holy. If Salt hath lost its favour, what is it good for, but to be cast to the dunghill. What hope of salvation for such, where remedies are turned into loathing & poison, as 
a Qualis spes salutis esse poterit ubi quae suerint remedia convertuntur in nauseam & venenum, Gerson tract. de vita Cler.  Gerson. And hence is that of 
b Chrys hom. 40. in Math. Qui● unquam vidit Clericum cito respiscentem.  chrysostom, Who ever saw a Clergy man easily brought to Repentance. And does not that work, which will thus reserve all honour to God's ordinances, keep them from the profane ones, furnish the Church with faithful watchmen, and rid us of such burdens as are of all other most insufferable, require our utmost zeal?  
Reason 2 The second particular, evincing the necessity of zeal, is the difficulty of the work in respect of the mountianous oppositions, Reformers shall and must encounter with; as first, not only a large-spread, but also an unanimous combination of the Church's enemies, Gebal, Ammon and Amaleck, the Philistims and them that dwell at Tyre, and they have consulted together with one consent, etc. Pope, Spaniard, French, and the whole generation of the English-Jesuites, Papists, and Prelatical Faction, and Libertines, all looking upon the work of Reformation, not only as hindering their design, their good work in hand as they call it; but undermining their Kingdom: How industriously vigilant are they in laying out themselves, their heads, hands and purses? They leave no stone unremoved, that may hinder our work or promote their own; Doth not all this challenge our utmost zeal?  
Secondly, in respect of the prevailing nature, the close adhering of Church-mens (as they are called) sins, with whom Reformers must contest: These are sensuality, ambition, and idlinesse. It was the Monk's bellies, and the Cardinal's Caps, which (as Erasmus observed) did create Luther his greatest trouble. Sensuality is a sin where ever it seizes maximae adherentiae, of the greatest adherence, as the School speaks: 
a Prov. 23. last v  I will though smitten saith the drunkard, seek it yet again; and of sensual sins it is said, 
b Prov 2.19.  They return not again; The Philosopher could say, 
c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  The intemperate man is seldom a penitent man: The guise of such Churchmen an old Writer deciphers as those which did turn their 
d Petr. Blessensis, Ep. 7.  scribere into bibere, and their codices into calices: Such the Prophet describes 
e Isai 55.12.  Come, say they, and we will fill ourselves with wine, and to morrow shall be as to day: 
f Fran. Duarerus de Beneficiis.  Another describes them as patinis magis quam paginis incumbentes: Such belly-gods as these 
g Bernard Serm. 30. in ●ant.  another says of them, no dainties suffice them; as if to be judged rather by their complexion then their profession: Against such evil beasts and slow-bellies, not only the Ancient 
h Concil. Laodic can 24. Council Carthag. tertium. Synod. Turonensis.  Counsels and Synods, but even julian himself shall rise up in judgement: He perceiving that the Christian Faith did grow and increase by the sobriety and abstemiousnesse of their Ministers, gave command to his Arch-Flamine Arsatius, that his Priests should not drink in a 
i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Tavern, if any should do so he should be removed from his Priest's Dignity; and for that horseleech humour of ambition, which hath so eaten up the vitals of our Clergy-Masters: May we not see a picture of them in Balaam, who that he might have been capable of Balack's great perferments, how doth he wind and turn himself every way that he might curse God's people, Num. 22. & 23. How lively doth Bernard decipher them, Curritur in Ecclesiastica, etc. learned and unlearned run ad curas Ecclesiasticas ac si sine cura victuri cum jam ad curam pervenerint, as if men were to live without all care when they came to a charge: The same author tartly derides them when he speaks on this manner 
k Festina mu●t●plicare praeb●ndas, inde evola ad Archidiaconatum, d●in as●ira ad Episco●atum, nec ●bi requ●e●● habiturus, quia sic ●t●r ad astra? Q●o progrederis m●ser Bern. i● Serm. Ec●e reliquimus ●●nia. , Hasten to multiply prebend's, from thence fly to an Archdeaconry, at length climb up to a Bishopric, not satisfied with that, because this is the way to Heaven? Whether dost thou post o miserable man? So a forenamed 
l Petr Blessensis, Ep. 13.  Author who lived in the twelfth century, Hodie per fas & nefas, etc. By right and wrong, unhappy men, who run to the Pastoral Chair and observe not that it is to them a Chair of Pestilence.  
As for the idleness of men in the ministry, may we not justly take up the complaint of the Prophet, They have eaten the fat, 
Ezekiel 34.3.  clothed themselves with the wool, but they have not fed the Lord his flock: May we not say, as sometime a Canon of Christ-Church, in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth her reign, when men were backward in preaching, spoke by a prosopopeia to the Pulpit; Oh good Pulpit how hast thou offended the Canons of Christ-Church, if thou wert an ambling Palfrey, they would ride on thee, if a Table well furnished, they would feed on thee, if a bed of down, they would sleep on thee, if a goodly garment, they would wear thee, alas good Pulpit, what hast thou done that none of them will preach in thee! Might we not well compare sundry of our Clergymen to Lepidus in the Orator, 
Tull 2. de Orat.  who when he lay tumbling in the green grass, cried out, utinam hoc esset laborare, I would this were to labour; This is the humour of many of them, who when they do swagger, haunt Taverns, play the Epicures, even than they say, utinam hoc esses pascere gregem: I would this were to feed the Lord his flock; had not those need be men made all of zeal, that shall encounter with men on whom not only these vices have deeply seized, but they are armed with wit and parts to plead for themselves.  
The third particular that puts a difficulty upon the work of this present Reformation above former: Heretofore Reformers have had to deal with the gross thick cloud of Popery, the Duncery of the Monks and Friars, with such palpable corruptions, as many of them were discernible by a common light; But now the work lies with men, many of whom retain the same fundamentals with us, are come out of Babylon in respect of the foggy part of it, yet retain many of the dregs of it which may in time prove pernicious and help to carry us back again into Egypt; These, many of them, are learned Gamaliels, men renowned for worth and parts, whom for my own part, I love and honour; but yet in such things wherein God hath hidden from them what he hath revealed to others, I say, as once Augustine said of his friend, Ille hoc non vidit, ut aliquid amplius videret; It is possible that the Lord hath revealed greater things to them, given them a clearer light in many of the greatest mysteries of Religion: Here is the zeal of Reformers, that they refuse to swallow any thing that is unsound, because it is offered as countenanced with Authority of men famous for their learning and esteem in the Churches; zeal knows no respect of persons in doing her work.  
The fourth particular that makes the work difficult, is Demetrius and his whole train that follow him, who cry out, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have gotten our wealth, I mean our Chancellors, Commissaries, Officials, Registers, Proctors, and these, what mighty piles of wealth, what large and rich estates have they heaped together! These have been as those cankerworms and caterpillars, who have eaten up almost all the green things of the Land, they have formerly picked our purses, scratched our faces, vexed our spirits, hurried us from Court to Court, and all this hath been practised under a pretence of Reformation: But what have they indeed done by all their specious visitations, have they been any other to us then like the Juggler's Feast, who on a time invited his friends to a solemn Banquet, whereunto they came in great expectation to have their bellies filled, a Table was richly furnished with all variety of Cates, they all set about it, but when they put forth their hands, they brought back nothing but air, rose and departed as hungry as they came; so hath it been with us in our most solemn visitations: Or may we as 
m Gerson in Serm. habit. in Conc. Rhemens'.  Gerson did sometimes compare the Visitours of this kind to the Cat, which being by the good Housewife, put in the Dairy-House to save the Cheese from the Mice and Rats, doth more harm than they all. Yea, where the greatest pretence of good was held out, what have all our Visitors and Reformers done more than the Pope's Cardinals, whom he sent out in Luther's time to blind the world with a pretence of Reformation? as they, so ours, may well be compared to the Fox's tail which raises the dust, but carries none away.  
The fifth difficulty is a potent Army of Nonresidents, whose glory hath been a Polygamy of Benefices. An evil which we may well wonder at, that Gospel light being so fare advanced as it is, learned and modest men should not be ashamed of it, when as the most learned Divines in the Council of Trent did generally protest against it, as appears by their feveral Tractates 
n Earth. Caranza. Dom. à Soto Card. Cajetan. Fran. Torrensis ●ac. Naclantus vide Biblioth. Colleg. Eman. ubi tractatus bi amnes in unum volumen compinguntur. . I might urge these men with variety of Scriptures, with arguments of divers kinds; but I refer the Reader to Caranza his Tractat. de non residentia, who speaks so fully in this argument, as if his book were translated into English, he would be deemed a Puritan that wrote it. I will only use one argument, which I thus propound; Every command of a duty does necessarily imply all the necessary ways and means whereby the duty is to be effected, else the Lord should contradict himself, if he should command a duty and dispense with that without which it cannot be performed. But residence in or near the place where the duty is to be done, is evident by the light of nature.  
Who ever made question, whether the Porter, to whom the care of opening and shutting the door is committed, should reside at the door: or whether he that governs the ship should sit at the Helm; or whether Watchmen are not to attend upon the Tower over which they are set as Watchmen? This is 
o Bellarm. in Ep. ad Nepot.  Bellarmin his own argument, which upon occasion he makes use of. And whereas men are apt to plead the discharge of their duty ordinarily by another, the unlawfulness thereof I thus evince.  
1. For that the Lord himself quarrels not only with such deputies as were uncircumcised in heart, for that is but an aggravation; but with deputies as deputies. You have set others to take the charge of my Sanctuary, 
Ezek. 44.8.  and have not yourselves kept the charge of my holy things. So do our non-resident lay the Ark, as Vzza and his fellows did, upon the Cart, when they should have carried it on their shoulders.  
2. If deputies would ordinarily serve the turn, why then does the Apostle cry out, 
2 Cor. 2.16.  Who is sufficient for these things?  
3. 
Electa est industria tua, non alterius, Caranza.  Such as are chosen to the work of the Ministry, are chosen for their special gifts, not for that they can choose others.  
4. No man to whom a trust, with respect to his fidelity is committed, may devolve his trust to another, unless it be so expressed in his Grant; a ruled case among the Civilians: But no such liberty granted by Christ.  
5. Why should Christ admit of that in those to whom he commends the care of souls, that no master of a family will admit in any of his servants, that when he hath hired them at such a rate to do his work, they shall ordinarily serve him by those whom they hire at a lower rate.  
But may it not make non-resident blush (if they have so much modesty as my hope is some have) if they look upon it, first, in the original of it: secondly, in the indirect shifts whereby it was upheld in the Council of Trent: thirdly, in the expressions concerning it, as they have been uttered by Friars, Cardinals, and Popes themselves. For the original of it, 
p Qui p●ura cupit de origine non residentiae c●●sulat authorem hist. Conc. Trid. lib. 2. Bucer de vi & usu Sacr. Minist. Franc. Duaren. de benef. l. 5. c 7:  among many other grounds not now to be insisted upon; was it not at first brought in to maintain the Pope his magnificence, who having gotten large territories to himself, when he would advance himself above all the Western Monarches, saw it necessary (that he might not be as an owl among the birds) to make great his Cardinals by a worldly pomp. This that he might effect, he challenges to himself, as the 
q Math. Paris ●en. 3.  privilege of Peter, the collation of all Ecclesiastical Dignities: and to the end he might enrich his Cardinals, and make them Princes fellows, he gave dispensations to several men to hold 
r Nic. Clemang. de corrup. fla. Eccles.  ducenta, trecenta, quadringinta, & quinginta Beneficia etc. This made a great accession to his Greatness, when those of his Conclave were able to maintain such a State.  
Secondly, for the carriage of the cause in the Council of Trent, know we must, that the several Popes who lived in the time of the Council, gave it in special charge to their Legates, That among other things to be reform in the Court of Rome, they should be sure that Nonresidence should suffer no damage; and accordingly when that business came in question, the Legates found out a diversion at least six several times. And in the issue, when the Spanish Divines did press the cause so fare, as it could not be avoided, but a Canon must be made against it; the 
s Gentiletus in Exam, Conc, Tried, l. 4. f. 23.  Pope creates forty titular Bishops, sends them to the Council, and by that means was the cause carried so, that though a Canon was made against it, yet with such Provisoes, as makes it to be of no effect.  
Thirdly, for the expressions of the Popish party, 
t Nihil absurdius neque mag● p●rnit● so in Ecclesa few it (abassumpto C●ri●o) excogitatum & nunc vix enim a●ius a●usus qui magis vexat Eccles. Christi quàm iste de ●luralitate Eccles. Caranz.  one saith, Since Christ's ascension, no greater evil in the Church than plurality of Benefices. 
u Caj●t. in tract. de non Residen.  Another saith, That but that it is supposed they have the Church's absolution at their death, they ought not to have the Benefit of Christian Burial. 
x A●th hist tried. l. 2. p. 218. A. 629  Another calls the distinction of Residence and Nonresidence, a distinction never enough to be detested. 
y Dom. à Soto  Another says, that anciently men were admonished to be resident, but it never came under dispute. 
z Caran●n●suffocaremus rationem nobis inditā nemo enim tam coecus qui de residentia dubitaret etc. c. 11.  One of the former counts the justification of this evil to be a choking of the light of nature, a shutting of our eyes in Luce meridianâ. We read of two Popes 
a Vide Extrav. Clem. 5. Omn●s quascunque de absen●ia pastorum factas dispe●sationes de caetero re●ocamus, c●ssamus, anullamus.  Clement the fifth, and 
b Vide Francis. Torrens. districte manned ●●us omnes epis●●●os v●rt●te sa●c●ae obedientiae omnino re●edere & bona fide ad Eccles●●● prosicisci.  Gregory the eleventh, who being visited by the hand of God, did, out of the sense of their sin, make void all their dispensations for non-resident. What a measure of zeal is required to reform them, whom all this shames not!  
The sixth difficulty that will exercise a Reformers zeal, is the multitude adhering to their old customs, idolising their formalities. We may see the Genius of the people in this regard in those, jerem. 44. What thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not do, but we will do so and so; in 
c Judges 18.24.  Micah, who when the Danites had taken away his idols, he makes after them with hue and cry; they demanding, what ails the man? he makes this reply, Have you taken away my gods, and do you ask me what I ail? You see the prevalency of old customs in the people called Hircani, who when their King went about to alter a Heathenish Custom of casting their dead to Mastiffs in stead of Burial, he had like to have lost both his life and Crown: This impatience of the people to have any thing altered, the Papists will shame us; for who in the times of Paulus tertius, and Pius quintus, though they profess infallibility in their way, yet have they yielded to have their Breviaries twice changed.  
And thus you have the second Reason, why Zeal is of great use.  
Reas. 3 A third convincing Reason of the necessity of zeal, is,  
The destructive nature of those evils, which if Reformation remove not, will be the ruin of Kingdoms. As the wickedness of Ministers: when the Lord calls for all the beasts of the field to devour and spoil jerusalem, the sore-runner thereof was the wickedness and idleness of the Priests, 
jer. 23.15.  Doth not wickedness go from them into all the land? Thy watchmen are blind, 
Esay 56.10, 11.  they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark: they are greedy dogs, 
Lam. 2.15.  they all look to their own way, every one is for his gain from his quarter. So when jeremiah mentions the cause of jerusalems' destruction, he inserts this, Thy Prophets have looked out for thee vain and foolish things, They have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity, etc. 
Vide Cent. 10. Magdebu●g.  So in the tenth Century, which was most barren of all good writers, and fruitful in all manner of wickedness, wherein the Pope got up on horseback, What saith a good writer of the Clergy of that time, What do we Ministers who are so much the more inferior to others in holiness of life, as we are more eloquent in words, who stirring up others fall asleep ourselves; 
Ansb. in Apoc. lib. 5. c. 11.  holding out light to others, are so much the more darkened in ourselves. So when did Antichristianisme and Mahometism grow to their full maturity, An. Dom. 1300. 
Hug. in Ps. 104  was it not then when the Prelates became I doll shepherds, when the Pastors became Wolves, and the Angels of the Churches, Devils? Was not the wickedness of the Priests a principal inlet of the Saxons to expel the Britain's out of this land? Britain, 
Vide Gild. a p. 58. ad finem.  saith a good Author, hath priests, but foolish ones, they understand not; Pastors as they are called, but indeed Wolves, ready to slay the souls of the people, not seeking the good of the people, but the fullness of their own bellies etc. So for matter of Doctrine, when the Saxons invaded this land, 
Beda lib. 1. c. 7.  the Pelagian heresy had with a filthy contagion defiled the Britons faith. Should not zeal bestir itself, when such evils as these overspread a State.  
The second Head to be considered, is what influence zeal ought to have into Reformers.  
First, Zeal will and must do her work throughly: It is God's work, men must not halve it, there is danger least corruptions grow again, unless pulled up by the roots: Experience hath taught what sad persecutions, a partial reformation hath made way for: What hope doth such an imperfect proceeding give to the enemies, that we will come on to them again.  
Secondly, Zeal must and will summon all the powers of soul and body, and all that we can prevail withal, to further the work: God delights in men of activity, he cares not for the dull Ass to be offered in Sacrifice, the neck of it was to be broken: It was earnest Baruch that had the praise above the rest: The twelve Tribes did serve God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Neh 3.20. Act. 26.  What should we be earnest for, if not for God and his cause? Wilt thou be earnest for thy friend, thy profit, thy pleasures, and cold for thy God?  
Thirdly, Zeal after she is convinced of the justice of the cause, overlooks all dangers though never so great. So Caleb, when he heard of the difficulties, resolves, Let us go up at once: So Esther, If I perish, I perish: So Saint Paul, What do you, weeping and breaking my heart? It also treads under foot all allurements, all hope of great things; God doth now as good as say, That which I have planted, 
jer. 45.4, 5.  I will pluck up, and seekest thou great things for thyself? 
2 King. p. 26.  Is it now a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and Oliveyards, and Vineyards, and sheep and oxen?  
Fourthly, Zeal helps a Reformer against the tentation of being alone; This prevails much, especially where the devil and our carnal friends carch us at an advantage, and amplify the discouragement: How have the mighty been here overthrown? Zeal takes notice, for the support of herself, of joshua his resolution, Choose ye whom ye will, but I and my house will serve the Lord: So of Elias his complaint, that he was left alone: 
2 Tim. 4. Vnitos est fundamentum numeri.  So of Paul, At my first answering no man assisted me: Zeal takes notice that numbers begin in one, and had there not been one first, there had never been two.  
Fiftly, Zeal commands perseverance, and holding out in the work: Many begin in the spirit, but end in the flesh; how many brave worthies that blossomed fair, come on as promising great things, yet have split them upon the rock of an unfound heart, withered away, if not in the end proved false to God and their Country; worthy Patriots for a time, but their hearts failing them, they prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, such as relinquish their station. In Christianis non initia sed fines laudantur; He only receives the Crown that overcomes. That heat in a Reformer that is from heaven will hold out, not that which is merely adventitious, set on work from outward causes.  
The third Head, how zeal must be qualified.  
1 It must be founded in knowledge, the understanding is the eye of the soul: As mettle is dangerous in a blind horse, so zeal when not directed by a judgement well informed; zeal, as fire, must have light as as well as heat. It is Hell where there is heat and no light but utter darkness.  
The mind, and so zeal, cannot be good without knowledge: The Jews zeal, defective in that, not according to knowledge: This zeal must not be conjectural, 
Rom. 10.1.  probably seeming, such only as we have received from others without examination. Nothing more ordinary than plentiful allegations of Scripture to carry a cause; it matters not how specious and frequent quotations of Scripture there be, as what they prove upon found trial: You whom God hath betrusted with this work take not all for gold that glisters.  
2 It must be ordered with wisdom, zeal must be wary, as well as warm: Fire is good, but in a wise man's hands, that will not put it into the thatch; fire is good in the Chimney, but if it catch the rafters of the house it sets all on fire: Sapientis est videre, non quid debeas solùm, sed quid possis: In the encounter with vice to be Reform, wisdom will not have a Reformer to set upon the Reforming, Quando necesse id, ut sit impar vitio, that will but enrage vice more: Many mischief's men that mean well are subject to even their good endeavours, 
Eccl. 10.  but wisdom is profitable to direct. Beware here of that overwary discretion that destroys real.  
3 It must be tempered with love, zeal is apt to be harsh, but love lines the yoke and makes it easy to be borne: fit zelus, said my Author, but non immoderate saeviens, 
August. in 6. Galat.  etc. Love takes us off from all bitterness to men's persons; Dilige & dic quod voles, love and say what you will: Love allows us to be warm, sharp, home in our reproofs, but not scalding hot: The stomach admits not that which burns the lips, nor the ear that reproof that is contumelious: Love calls upon us as to be zealous for the truth, so to make it our work to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Ephes. 4.3. What should rend and divide us one from another, whom the Lord hath united with so many bonds, as to meet in one God, one Christ, one Spirit, one Faith, one Baptism, one Heaven?  
Fare be it from us, on whom the Apostle hath laid so many charges; if any consolation in Christ, 
Phil. 2.1.  if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies fulfil my joy, that ye be of one accord and one mind. Do not our Adversaries study to make rents among us, shall we gratify them, weaken ourselves? Do not they cry out that if they can but divide us they shall conquer us? It is memorable what is reported of julian, 
Amian. Marcell. de Julian, lib. 22.  that he did nourish dissensions among Christians, ut non timeret postea unanimem plebem.  
Use 1 If zeal be so requisite a grace in him that God calls to be a Reformer, than we must give diligence that our zeal may be of the right stamp: As every grace so zeal may and often hath its counterfeit, as  
First, If it want a true light, There be false lights that misled men over bogs and dangerous places; we are exceeding apt to be misled when prejudiced by men's persons, their learning or holiness, antiquity, or novelty, as if we were necessarily to receive a thing because ancient, or to reject it because new 
a Inter iuvenile judicium & s●nile praejudicium perit veritas , by a hasty engaging of our judgements before we be able to judge, and an unwillingness to retract when we have judged by an 
b Non tam an licet, quam ut liceat.  undue enquiry, when we rather seek that things may be lawful, then whether they be lawful or not, when transported by self conceitedness of our own opinion; it is only the eyesalve of the spirit by the Word must guide us, To the Law and to the Testimony. 
Esay 8.20.   
Secondly, If it suffer not itself to be ordered by wisdom; This takes in right means as conducing to a right end; there is a precipitaney in zeal whereby he that hasteth in his matters, sinneth. There is a spirit of deliberation and counsel; consider, consult, then give sentence, 
Eccl. 10.25.  than practice. A good cause often miscarries by indiscreet bandling, The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the City; Ignorance of the right means, tires out men in their endeavours to no purpose.  
Thirdly, If it easily fall into wrangling and quarrels: Love, that is and aught to be the orderer of zeal; suffereth long, 
2 Cor. 13.  beareth all things, endureth all things: love knows that a little breach will quickly be a great one, It prevents them or speedily makes them up, It gives the water no passage, no not a little; zeal for God, is tenderly respectful of men's persons; It is wildfire and not zeal, 
Dan 5.15. Acts 26.24.  that casts firebrands and arrows, and deadly words, and says, I mean no harm, Prov. 26.18, 19  
Fourthly, If zeal be right, she will not bate aught of what lies under the command of God, no not a hoof; its false zeal that cries, neither mine nor thine, but let it he divided, that makes nothing of small matters: True zeal drives on the work of Reformation so as it leaves not the least remnants of Baal, removes all high places, as considering that great persecutions, have been raised upon small matters, and that conscience is a tender thing, as the eye, the least moat troubles it.  
Fifthly, If our zeal be only flashy, (like those unnatural heats that come and go by flushings) it is not right, we have many that begin well, are hot and eager while in such a company, while they have such props, while carried on by such hopes, while not assaulted with such-tentations, while they thought the cause would go thus they were hot and eager in the work of Reformation, but as things altar from without, they altar from within, even to the total remitting of their zeal.  
Sixthly, If true zeal, as that which hath the cause of God in the eye, than tract of time, multitude of discouragements, falseness of men deserting the cause, strength of oppositions will not tyre out a man's spirit: zeal makes men resolute, difficulties are but whetstones to their fortitude, it steels men's spirits with an undaunted magnanimity.  
Use 2 If zeal be so necessary in a Reformer, than we are all first to bless God for that fire of zeal the Lord hath kindled in many of your hearts, (right Honourable and beloved) whereby you have been willing to spend and to be spent for the common cause: We may read your zeal in your unwearied pains, in your denial of yourselves in matter of profit and pleasure, in the many hazards you have run, even of all you are, have, or may expect in the rail and speakings against of men: Have not we cause to be thankful for that zeal of yours whereby you have taken off unsufferable burdens from our backs, for the many snares from which you have for the discovery of and delivery of us from most dangerous ruining plots, for the many precious Ordinances of Parliament that have issued out for the common good? Have not many unworthy scandalous and soule-starving Ministers been displaced, and good ones placed in their room? Hath not the Lords day been restored to its pristine sanctification, and (by burning the book of Sports, with other Commands for the better sanctifying of the day) been vindicated from all those former unsufferable profanations? How have superstitious monuments been defaced, secret Idolatries suppressed, Seducers of the people been banished the Land; For all these, and many more, everlasting honour shall be upon the head of you our Reformers, Go on and prosper (You Noble Parliament Worthies) do worthily in our Ephrata, and be famous in our Bethlehem, so shall the Lord make your names as a savotry ointment, crown you with his best blessings, make your Families flourish when you are dead and gone, remember you according to all the good you have done for God's cause: But above all, that you have found out a way in these distracted times (wherein Religion itself, groans under the wantonness of our people, loathing the Manna, and hunting after Novelties, under the uncouth and irreligious opinions crept in among us, under the bitter divisions that overspread City and Country) to call an Assembly of able and Worthy Divines, with whom you might advise for the settling of Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline. (Oh that this work had been sooner in hand) Not only have you found such a way, but you have embodied many worthies from among yourselves with us: Have not we a double benefit hereby; first, you by this your association, put honour upon us who should without you in the eyes of many carnal men have been very despicable; secondly, by this happy conjunction, you both help to order us who are ignorant of the nature of such meetings, and withal by a seasonable interposal may stay divisions among us. Only we have a double suit to you.  
1 That you would not suffer the work to be either spun out beyond what is meet, or yet hastily slubbered over. Not the first, for that the enemy is sowing tares, and much harm may be done while we are consulting; Errors may enter so deeply, that they may prove incurable. Nor yet let it be done negligently: first, for that it is the Lords work, to the negligent doing whereof belongs a curse: secondly, 
jer. 48.10.  in that it is to us of near concernment, all our wealth goes in this bottom: thirdly, for that many eyes are upon us from abroad, both of friends who will praise God for what we do well, and of foes who watch for our balting.  
2 Our second suit to you is, that when the Laws of Christ, for the due administration of his ordinances, shall be discovered, you would be pleased to account it your greatest honour to submit to them. Christ's government is the only liberty, thraldom to your lusts is the only true bondage; If you honour God, he will honour you. It is his Gospel that hath clothed you with scarlet, put ornaments of gold upon you, put every precious stone in your garments. Be not jealous, as if Christ's Government would eclipse your greatness. Christ's rule and your honours are not incompatible, the Lord Jesus tells us his Kingdom is not of this world, he commands that Caesar have his right. It is the style of the spirit of God that calls you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dignities (with respect to which the School allows that outward Pomp which Magistracy is honoured with;) 
Reges & Principes quos in reverentia à subditis haberi oportet pretiosioribus vestibus ornentur, & ampliores habitationes possidear●t Aqu. 1. 2● qu. 102.  and the same spirit mentions the pomp of Agrippa, when he came to sit in Judgement, without dislike, Acts 25.23.  
Secondly, as it sets out the unspeakable good of a zealous Reformer, and what a blessing such a one is, so it points out to us what that is, which of all other doth most unbeseeme a Reformer, viz. the want of Zeal, which will render such whom God hath called to this office, most odious to him, most abominable to men; ages present will count themselves unfortunate in such, ages to come will curse such, the opportunities which God afforded them, and which they for want of zeal have squandered away, will rise up in judgement against them. What might such have done, if a spirit of zeal had eaten up their spirits, they might have saved the Churches at home and abroad, given Antichrist that blow that should have thrown him as a millstone into the middle of the sea, delivered liberties, laws, and inheritances to posterity, saved City, Country, the lives of millions of men, they might have finished the work they began, all succeeding ages might have blessed God for them, their own works have praised them in the gate. Now if zeal be wanting, they will undo all the Churches of Christ, as much as in them lies; they will uphold tottering Babylon, destroy flourishing England, deliver up their posterity to absolute slavery, make themselves the monuments of shame and ignominy to all that know or shall hear of them. Oh tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, etc. Must it not needs be so when so necessary a correquisite as zeal is wanting? for what is a Reformer without zeal, but as a body without a soul, a Bee without a sting, a soldier without his weapon, a Bird without wings, salt without savour. Oh than you Noble Senators, who are under God the Chariots and Horsemen of our Israel, what ever you part withal, part not with your zeal, let this be your honour and crown, and as a diadem upon your head, that yet you be zealous for your Religion, your Country, your Laws, and Liberties: shall you but remit your former zeal, a spirit of lukewarmness (which God forbidden) seize upon you, sell truth for peace; you will live and die without honour, and render yourselves and us the most miserable Nation under heaven.  
Use 3 Let me address myself to you, Right Reverend and beloved in the Lord. Behold the Lord hath, by a providence of his, singled us out among our Brethren, for this great work in hand. Both you and we all are desirous this day to lay ourselves low before the Lord, importunately to entreat his assistance, that he would be pleased to magnify his power in our weakness. He might have made choice of many of our Brethren every way as able, if not more able than ourselves, but so is his pleasure, and we dare not but be at his dispose. The Lord can work as well by the Oaten Pipe, as by the Silver Trumpet. Be then exhorted by him who reckons himself the meanest of you all, and who in respect of his many infirmities might well have been dispensed withal, be I say exhorted to  yourselves, out of respect to the work in hand, with zeal as with a cloak, to fall upon the business you are designed to, toto animi impetu, you are called out to contend for the truth that was once given to the Saints, which hath been sealed with the blood of Martyrs, hath been justified by the learned pens and disputes of all the Worthies of this Kingdom, without interruption, for above this 80. years, but of late, by a cunning, ambitious, and corrupt party, we had almost been cheated of it, even of that truth which ought to be dearer than our lives.  
Blessed be our God who hath given a turn, and made a stop of their proceed, whose work was, as to put out the eyes of the people of the land by Ignorance, so to have leavened them with Heterodox Opinions: and were we not indeed gone almost as fare as Rome gates in a declining way? Our work is a noble work, it is servare depositum, to be Feoffees in trust for that saving truth, that pattern of wholesome words, which hath been derived to us, as from the pure sountaine of Scripture, so also by the Channel of purer Antiquity comes with Letters of commendation from the sufferings of God's choicest servants; such they were whom the world was not worthy of. I beseech you in the bowels of Jesus Christ, we may quit ourselves like men, do our utmost, that we may vindicate the truth of God from all the aspersions of evill-minded men, clear it from those ambiguities wherewith ungodly men have perplexed it, and do such further work, in worship and discipline, as shall by God and Man be required of us. What would our Ancestors, those glorious lights of former times, have given to have had such a price put into their hands, as we unworthy ones at this time have? May we not justly think, that what opportunity we have, is but the effect of the fervent prayers, the many tears, and sad sufferings of our sage and Reverend Predecessors, that are now with the Lord? Are there not already upon us in this work for which we are assembled, the eyes of our Brethren of the Reformed Churches, as expecting the issue of this business? Nay, is not the whole Nation in expectance of what this meeting will produce? What manner of persons ought we to be, in humbling of our souls before the Lord, crying mightily to him who alone keeps the key of the Cabinet, unlocks the secrets of his will, opens the eyes of our understandings! 
Luk. 24.  Can we look backward, to the many brave excellent-spirited and well-parted men, who have turned some to Justinian, some to Galen, some to Litleton, others betaken themselves to a retired Privacy, which long ago might have sat in Moses Chair, had there not stood the fiery blade of corruptions in worship and government to keep them out? How many silver Trumpets, that might have made sweet melody in God's house, have been hanged upon the willow trees, and all because this work was not done? How many hundreds of worthy, learned, soule-saving Ministers, men excellently fitted for the work, have been driven out of our Land? (the Lord lay it not to our charge.) No small affliction to be put upon the disserting of one's native Country, and all those Charitates which under God are the life of our life, and further to be cast upon foreign Countries, those sometimes unwholesome for our English bodies, placed among inhuman people, put upon wildernesses, wild beasts, savage people, and unknown necessities, because by reason of our sins this work hath not been yet effected, they saw no hope of it. Oh the swarms of godly men, that like Noah's Dove, could find no rest for the soles of their feet, being hunted up and down, hurried hither and thither, and wasted with vexatious suits, to their utter undoing, who have been in the end forced, they and their whole families, with heavy hearts, and some with poor estates, to bid farewell to dear England, as never to see it again? these would have been content to have lived in a smoky house, and a mean condition with freedom of conscience. Yea, they have been put upon it to commit themselves rather to the merciless rage of the tempestuous Seas, to a long, tedious and irksome Sea-journey, wherewith they were utterly unacquainted, rather than to endure those sad impositions which were charged upon their consciences: and now the Lord puts it into the hands of you the right Honourable that sit at the stern in point of reformation utterly to remove. What shall I say to those millions of souls, who have perished through the negligence, insufficiency, scandalous and corrupt proceedings of that order of men, 
Bucer inopus. In tractatu de vi & usu minisleris, p. 191.  which it is to be hoped, if our iniquities do not hinder, will be rectified by that clericalis disciplina, which learned Bucer did so often call for, in King Edward the 6. days.  
To this end I once again do humbly beseech you, Men, Brethren, and Fathers, that you would take up the practice of such holy duties, as may conduce to this so pious, so necessary a work.  
And first let us all stir up in ourselves the gift of Prayer; 
2 Tim. 1.6.  let it be frequent, fervent, and full of faith: you know the efficacy of prayer, 
Esay 45.11.  it sets God on work, and that with a holy kind of command, it hath an omnipotency with it, it never went of any arrant and returned empty. Be confident if God do but stir up our hearts in prayer he will come in and help us in the work. What if we be weak? 
Psal. 10.17.  yet he is strong. What if we want, in our own apprehension, those abilities fit for the work? he can lift us up above ourselves, & supply us with help. What if we want that quickness of understanding, activity of parts we see in others? yet if we can but assist and encourage others, God will accept. Only resolve of this, never any man a successful reformer without a spirit of prayer. Elias and Luther tell us so much. To encourage us, God's promises stands sure, 
ler. 33.3.  Ask of me and I will show thee great and hidden things, 
Prov. 25.  which thou knowest not. If thou seekest for wisdom as for silver, etc. if thou criest after knowledge, etc. then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, the knowledge of God. We attain not truth only by disputing, 
Lact. lib. 7 c. 2.  but by learning from him who only knows, said one of the Ancients. 
Luther.  And you know who said, that prayer, reading, meditation, tentation, do complete a Divine.  
Secondly, that God may impart to us that way of sincerity in his worship, that form of government, which may be most according to his will, (a favour worth the knowing, and which God refuses not to acquaint them with that fear him; 
Psal. 25.  his secret is revealed to such) let our study be to be doers of his wil If the Glass be clean and soil not the clean water that is poured into it, we pour in more; if otherwise, we hold our hands: so the Lord doth with us that be ministers, he will not pour the sweet water of truth, but into the sanctified heart. If any man, 
john 7.27.  saith the Evangelist, will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or no. Many perplexed disputes, much difference there is among Brethren, whether this be the form Christ hath left, the distractions are sadly to be lamented: Would we be able to wind ourselves out of these Labyrinths of disputes, see the good and right way God would have us to walk in, take notice of that promise in Ezekiel, 
Ezek. 43.11.  If the house of Israel shall be ashamed of their iniquities, and of all that they have done, I will show them the form of the house, etc. only here we must beware, we dare not to offer to God's people such a form, as hath not its ground out of plain places of Scripture, but such only as are Typical and Allegorical. Allegorica Theologia, (unless the Lord himself make the application) non est argumentativa: It is our error that oft times we do afferre sensum ad Scripturam non refer: we are oft times in fancying forms of government, like that Sect of Philosophers, who having drunk in this principle, that all the world was made of numbers, where ever they went, they thought they saw numbers. If the Lord shall but behold us loathing ourselves for our ways that have not been good, disallowing our sins, personal and national, 
Luke 24.  setting our hearts in a right frame, then will he open our understandings that we may know the Scripture.  
Thirdly, that God may so fare delight in us, as to make us Instruments of such a glorious work as this is, let us take all occasions to dispense the holy truths of God to his people: the more we pour out, the more God will pour in; the oil in the Cruse increased by pouring out; the bread wherewith Christ fed his followers multiplied in the breaking. 'Tis true that this duty hath been looked upon of late as that which had neither form nor beauty. 
Sess. 5.  Was it not our shame that even Bellarmine, yea the Council of Trent itself, should style Preaching Praecipuum Episcopi officium, the chiefe duty of a Bishop, when we suppressed it, put gaggs in the mouths of the Preachers, cast all scorn upon it? The Lord be blessed, who hath in a degree restored it to its pristine dignity, opened the mouths that were stopped, encouraged the faithful Preachers. Oh that our sins may not make the shadow of the Dial to go back! A main danger here may be from those that will thrust in upon this work that are not fit for it, that will be Canales before they be Conchae, 
Bernard is Cant. Serm. 18.  Channels to let out before they be vessels to retain. There is in many an effusion before infusion. 
Cum ●daedificium arbasta succidim●s etc. Greg. Ep. 95.  Excellently spoke that Father who said: We cut not green wood to build withal, but we first season it, lest it shrink and deceive us.  
Why observe we not, that such are not to be admitted to the Ministry that are Novices 
* 1 Tim. 3.6. . It was the complaint of Greg. Naz Orat, in Laudem, Basil. That though no man could obtain the name, no not so much as of a Painter, but he must first have mingled many colours, yet men are easily found fit for the Ministry. As the Poets feigned the Giants, we make them Saints one day, and we bid them be wise and learned men another day, which have learned nothing, nor brought any thing to the Ministry, but only their Velle. And now my dear brethren, whom I love and honour, give me leave to remember you of the Prophet ezekiel's sad threatening, and Saint Paul's deep charge. If the Watchman see the sword come, and blow not the Trumpet, and the people be not warned, their blood will I require at the Watchman's hands. Who, saith one of the Ancients, 
Quis tam saxeus tam ferreus quemsententia haecnon percellat Prosp. lib. ●. de vitâ contemplatiuâ, c. 20. Fulminasunt, non verb. Eras. Eccles.  so stony so iron hearted a man as whom this Scripture would not amaze. And Erasmus says of these words, they are rather thunderbolts than words, such thunderbolts which the judge of all the world will dart against negligent Pastors. Blond-guilt is a sad sin, but guilt of soule-bloud is more dreadful and inexpiable. We may have many sins, but beware we add not this to all the residue. No such remarkable plague fell ever upon any Family, as upon that of Eli for the wickedness of Hophni and Phinehas, who made people to abhor the offerings of the lord 
1 Sam 3.  The wickedness of Eli his house shall not be purged with sacrifice or offering for ever. As for Saint Paul's deep charge upon Timothy, weigh it throughly. 
2 Tim. 4.1, 2.  I charge thee before God and the Lord jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, in that his appearing and in his Kingdom, preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season. At other times it suffices to urge God's Name, here the sweet Name of the Lord Jesus, that is honey in the mouth, Music in the ear, a joyful shout in the heart, is pressed; At other times the Name of Jesus Christ suffices, here he sets it on by an argument taken from the glorious and last appearing of Christ, and that to judge the quick and the dead, which will be a day of terror, and such a day where in Christ will cast it in the teeth of every idle Minister, Perditam non quaesivisti, thou hast not sought the sheep that was lost, red rationem villicationis, give an account of thy stewardship. 
Ibisid est, in die judic it) Petrus cum judea, by Paulus conversum mundum post se ducens apparebit, etc. Ibi omnes dominicae gregu arietescum animarumlucris apparebunt, nos miseri, etc. qui pastores hic vocati sumus & ibi gregem non ducmus, Gregor. hom. 7. livan.  How heavy an account will that be to those to whom the Lord hath said, Occupy your talents till I come, when the Lord shall call them to a reckoning, and every one come in and say, Lord here be the souls thou hast given me; and thou an idle or scandalous Minister, who hast built with one hand and destroyed with another, hast nothing to offer but a poor lean ignorant starved Flock, when others bring in large harvests. How sad will thy account be! If terror will not affright us, then let the glorious crown that abides every faithful Minister work upon us, for such there is laid up a Crown of Righteousness, 2 Tim. 4.8. a Crown that withers not, 1 Pet. 5 4. an Euge enter into thy Master's joy, thou hast been faithful in a little, I will make thee ruler over many. Shall not they that win many souls unto God shine as stars for ever? Dan. 11.3. Do not all the contents that are apt to Bias us from our work, fall short of that eternal weight of glory? Why consider we not, other men have other ways to go to heaven, Magistrates if they rule well, rich men if they distribute liberally and give to the poor, private men by diligence in their Calling, but a Minister can go no way to heaven but by faithfully attending the Lord's flock. Yea, if it could be so that there should be no reward that abides a zealous faithful Teacher (which notwithstanding is surely laid up in heaven) yet the very comfort that arises from the diligent doing of our duties, would abundantly recompense all our pains. Ecquod gaudium, 
Erasmus Ecclesiast.  ecquod tripudium, etc. Is there any joy, any dance can more cheer up a man's spirit, than the comfort of a soul won to Christ? Let other men enjoy their fat and rich preferments, hunt after dignities, be called of men Rabbi; as for us, if we can say, here be the children the Lord hath given us, it suffices. Let others say, who will give us such a Bishopric, such a Deanery, such a rich Parsonage; a good Minister will say, as the King of Sodom said to Abraham, Give me the persons (so many Converts) take thou the goods to thyself. Was ever Caesar more glorious in his Diadem, when he put down whom he would, and set up whom he pleased, when he road in triumph before whole Armies of Captives, 
Rom. 15.17.  than Saint Paul when he glories how he had spread the Gospel from jerusalem, and all the circumjacent Countries to Illyricum? I have whereof, I may glory through Jesus, etc.  
And on the contrary, is there any such wounding cross, is there any such torturing fury that can so torment and eat up the heart, as when an unfaithful Minister shall seriously and in cold blood weigh what heaps of souls he hath been a means to plunge for ever into the infernal Lake? Can his bravery, his luxury, his good companions, his jollity? can the excellency of his parts and learning, his applause in the world privilege him, when the hand writing shall appear upon the wall? Surely when a Minister shall lie upon his deathbed, nothing can uphold his drooping spirit, but the testimony of his conscience, that he hath fought a good fight, kept the faith; This alone must be our Paradise.  
Finally my Brethren, why consider we not that God hath engraven our duties upon our names? we are watchmen, shepherds, workmen, bvilders, the Lords husbandmen, his soldiers, if we slack or forget our duties, we shall forget our names. Nay, our names will be our accusers; the ground of the Lords quarrel against us. That which of old was given in charge to a Roman Consul, 
Pium nomen est reatus impii, Salu. de provide lib. 4.  Consul es praesta nomen, the same should every one of us enforce upon ourselves, Minister verbies, hoc age, pastor es, praesta nomen tuum. I conclude with that of Hierome, 
In Ep. ad Nepot.  Read what your name is, and be what you are called.  
And now, beloved, having endeavoured to quicken you and myself to the duty of preaching, give me leave to suggest something concerning the manner that it may be done to the best purpose; the Lord requires not only that we preach the Word, but so to preach it as that our hearers may be brought on to the Faith: 
Acts 14.1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Paul and Barnabas are said [so] to have taught that multitudes believed. If it be an advantage to a hearer in his work how he hears, is it not so to a preacher how he preaches? That our Ministry may be successful;  
First, We must preach zealously; that was the honour of john the Baptist, that he was a burning light; 
john 5.35. Act. 7.16.  of Saint Paul, that with respect to the Idolatry at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him; so of Apollos it is witnessed, that he was fervent in spirit. 
Act. 1●. 21.  This Zeal must show itself by a holy indignation against sin; 
Sozemen. lib. 8. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  It is reported of Saint Chysostome, that he reproved sin against God, as if he himself had received an injury. It appears also by enlarged desires, that the souls of the hearers may be brought to God; so in S. Paul, Rom. 9.3. I could wish myself accursed from Christ, etc. This Zeal in a Preacher will put life and quickness into their expressions; Men of cold and dead spirits, their words die in their mouths, and usually beget a coldness in their hearers; Zeal is as Rosin to the strings of the musical Instrument, without which it makes no sound. Only, as the good Huswises fire on the hearth is enlarged or lessened according as the family occasions, so according to the nature of the Offences, as great or small, should the Preachers Zeal be proportioned.  
Secondly, We must preach compassionately; what else is insinuated in those phrases, wherein God is brought in, speaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as putting on the bowels of a man, 
Deut. 5.25. ●zek. 33.11. Os. 11.  and teaching us so to do. It is said of Christ, that he had compassion on the people, for that they were as sheep without a Shepherd; 
Mat. 9.36.  and in another place speaking to Hierusalme, how compassionately doth he express himself, O jerusalem, jerusalem. 
Mat. 23.37.  how would I have gathered thee together, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens; no compassion greater than that of the Hen to her Chickens: How did he in the foresight of her miseries approaching, 
Luke 19  weep over her, and cry, O that thou hadst known, 
Heb. 5.2.  etc. The high Priest was therefore to be taken from among men, that he might have compassion on them that were ignorant and out of the way. Is there any object in the world that deserves more pity than a lost Soul, in the snare of the Devil, blessing itself as if it were well, when it is poor, blind, beggarly, and naked, and every hour liable to an insufferable, an eternal destruction.  
Thirdly, We must preach convincingly; First, there must be evidence of reason convincing the understanding of that we would persuade men to. Man is a reasonable creature, not drawn hither and thither by a thunder and lightning of blustering terms, which at the utmost only starrle the affections for a time, but afterwards for want of a convicted judgement they return to their old temper; 
Col. 2.2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  This is that which is called, The full assurance of understanding.  
2. There is also required a conviction of the consciance, whereby we evidence to men, that they be guilty, convincing them that they are the men: That was it that vexed the Priests, that the Apostle taxed them in particular, 
Act. 5.28.33.  as guilty of the blood of Christ, He intends to bring this man's blood upon us: The Jews that stoned Steven, 
Act. 1.35.  were cut to the heart, when he charged them in particular as stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart. Men will endure much so be it you let their since alone, or them in the practice of their sins, but if they be apprehensive that your reprooses come home to them, they then are stined and filled with wrath. 
Luke 4.28. 1 Cor. 14.25.  When the Preacher is manifest in the conscience of the hearers, than they confess that God is in him, they cry out, 
1 King 22.8. Omnis actio fit per contractum.  You prophesy evil to us. As the Philosophers say, that all action is by touching, so all doctrine works by particular application; he that delivers himself altogether in generals, seldom works upon the people: 
Ab usu doctrina ad ejus applicationem descensus est quidam quasi a specie ad individuum transitus. Zeppar. de habend. Concio.  It is the spreading of the Net (which is done by particular application) which takes the Fish; Always provided that we must not decipher men by personal circumstances or distinguishing Characters; this will take off the efficacy of our reproof, in that the reproved will question the good affection of the reprover, as not tendering his good name, while he does that openly, which should have been done secretly; only, if any man's sin, or a known circumstance of his sin do discover him, 'tis not the reprover. but the offender does discover himself. Sin's must not be passed over in silence which declare themselves, because men complain that we particularise.  
Fourthly, We must preach feelingly according to the nature of the Doctrine; we do so when we preach as sensible in our own hearts of what we would have take impression upon another: The best way to speak to the heart, is to speak from the heart; 
2 Cor. 2.4.  Saint Paul when he would beget in the Corinthians a godly sorrow of heart, he writes unto them out of much affliction and anxiety of spirit, with many tears. He that will make men sensible of wrath and damnation, or make men apprehensive of the greatness of God's love in Christ, must manifest the like affections in himself: There 
* Sunt multi clamosi reprehenso●●s, qui in vitia declamitando, vel potius fu●minando mirum zeli ardorem prae se serunt. etc. Calv: in loc.  are many (saith my Author) clamorous Preachers, who declaiming, or rather thundering against other men's faults, carry a great show of zeal, and in the mean while are very secure themselves, as if they did only, per lusum exercere guttur & latera, sportingly exercise their Throats and Sides: But a godly Pastor must weep himself, that he may stir up compassion in others, and retain more sorrow in himself than he seeks to create in others.  
Fiftly, When we preach frequently taking all occasions to dispense the Word; the Apostle calls it, In season, and out of season. The people's uncapableness, their slowness to believe, their aptness to be carried away with the torrent of the times, the many ways whereby the Word may miscarry; all these, besides the important nature of the work, as tending to bring men from the power of Satan unto God, from hell to heaven, call for our redoubled pains. How constant and assiduous are Merchants, Mariners, Husbandmen, in their attendance on their earthly affairs, which notwithstanding they ordinarily find as they left them? should not we be much more industrious in Soul-work, which we seldom or never return to it but we find it worse than we left it? Of the Lords Watchmen it is said, That they shall not hold their peace all the day nor all the night, Es. 62.6. of Christ it is said, He was daily in the Temple teaching, Lu. 21.37. of the Apostles, That they were daily in the Temple, and from house to house preaching the Gospel, Act. 5.42. The diligence of the Ancients, as 
a Chrys. Hom. 3 in Gen. Hom. 10. in Gen. Hom 9 add Pop. Antioch.  Chrysost. 
b Basil. Hexem Hom 2. ad finem. Hom. 7. jam advesperascit, etc. (It seems they preached in the afternoon.)  Basil, 
c Aug. in ●oon. Tract. 9 Hesternoenim die distulimus in hodiernum. Whence it appears he preached daily. Vid. etiam Tractat. 16.21.22. alibi.  Augustin, the custom of the Church whereof 
d Eusch de Praepar. Evang. l. 8. c. 2. Vnus de senioribus legem recitat per totum diem septimum, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as. usque ad vespertinum crepusculum.  Eusebius reports, aught to be as incitements unto us. If 
e Hooper B. of Gloc. in acconfession of ●aith, exhibited to K. Edw. 6.  fifteen. Masses in a day was not enough for the Popish Priests, shall one Sermon suffice us, said learned Hooper. Therefore in the morning sow thy seed, 
Eccles. 11.6.  and in the evening let not thy hand cease, thou knowest not whether this or that shall prosper.  
Sixthly, We must preach gravely, so as to preserve the honour of that God whose mouth we are in preaching, of that Christ whose person we represent, 
2 Cor. 5.  of the high nature of the things we treat about. We are to deal with men, and that in the presence of God and his holy Angels, about the recovery of them out of their damnable condition by nature, in setting our of the infinite love of God in Christ, with all the advantages that belong thereto, the soul's salvation or destruction to all eternity: How ill doth any thing that is ludicrous tending to move laughter beseem discourses of so high a nature. All our care should be to preserve the spirits of men in a serious temper, wherein they are fittest to be wrought upon: 
Omnis risus in Ecclesiâ est à diabolo.  All laughter in the Church is from the Devil saith chrysostom: Jocular Stories are from this ground to be banished from the Pulpit. A Minister must be an example to the people in all gravity, 
Tit. 2.8.  this gravity must appear as in our whole conversation, so specially when we stand betwixt God and the people as his Ambassadors.  
And now having represented to you, my Reverend Brethren, the important and pressing nature of your work, laid before you those general duties, by which you may be fitted and made successful in the work, set on those duties by quickening motives; what remains but that I commend you to God, and the Word of his Grace who alone must enable you for it, and without whom all is done will come to nothing. And for you, our Parliamentary Worthies, you are (as things stand) under God the breath of our nostrils, the light of our eyes, as a nail fastened (as yet) in a sure place; if you go on to do the Lord's work with wisdom and courage, God will certainly go along with you; if you refuse or withdraw yourselves (however our eyes shall be to the Lord, but) in the eye of man we are but an undone Nation. The God of heaven who hath his way in the Seas, who alone fashions the hearts of the children of men, raise and keep up your spirits, cloth you with Zeal, fit you for all encounters, make way for you through all difficulties: So shall our Religion, our Laws, and Liberties, be preserved to ourselves, and transmitted to posterity; and we have cause to praise God for you so long as the Sun and the Moon endureth.  
FINIS.