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and care not so much that our duty be performed, much less that our eternal interest be advanced in bigger portions. We care not, we strive not, we think not, of getting the greater rewards of heaven; and he whose desires are so indifferent for the greater, will not take pains to secure the smallest portion; and it is observable, that λáxitos Ev tý βασιλείᾳ, the least in the kingdom of heaven," is as much as οὐδεὶς, as good as none;" if a man will be content with his hopes of the lowest place there, and will not labour for something beyond it, he does not value it at all; and it is ten to one, but he will lose that for which he takes so little pains, and is content with so easy a security. He,—that does his alms, and resolves that in no case he will suffer inconvenience for his brother, whose case it may be is intolerable, -should do well to remember, that God, in some cases, requires a greater charity; and it may be, we shall be called to die for the good of our brother: and that although it always supposes a zeal, and a holy fervour, yet sometimes it is also a duty, and we lose our lives if we go to save them; and so we do with our estates, when we are such good husbands in our religion, that we will serve all our own conveniences before the great needs of a hungry and afflicted brother, God oftentimes takes from us that which with so much curiosity we would preserve, and then we lose our money, and our reward too.

3. Hither is to be reduced the accepting and choosing the counsels evangelical: the virgin or widow estate in order to religion selling all, and giving it to the poor: making ourselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven: offering ourselves to death voluntarily, in exchange or redemption of the life of a most useful person, as " Aquila and Priscilla, who ventured their lives for St. Paul:" the zeal of souls: St. Paul's preaching to the Corinthian church without wages: remitting of rights and forgiving of debts, when the obliged person could pay, but not without much trouble: protection of calamitous persons with hazard of our own interest and a certain trouble; concerning which and all other acts of zeal, we are to observe the following measures, by which our zeal will become safe and holy, and by them also we shall per

a Matt. v. 16.

ceive the excesses of zeal, and its inordinations: which is the next thing I am to consider.

1. The first measure, by which our zeal may comply with our duty, and its actions become laudable, is charity to our neighbour. For since God receives all that glorification of himself, whereby we can serve and minister to his glory, reflected upon the foundation of his own goodness, and bounty, and mercy, and all the hallelujahs that are or ever shall be sung in heaven, are praises and thanksgivings; and that God himself does not receive glory from the acts of his justice, but then when his creatures will not rejoice in his goodness and mercy: it follows that we imitate this original excellency, and pursue God's own method; that is, glorify him in via misericordiæ,' in the way of mercy' and bounty, charity and forgiveness, love and fair compliances: there is no greater charity in the world than to save a soul, nothing that pleases God better, nothing that can be in our hands greater or more noble, nothing that can be a more lasting and delightful honour, than that a perishing soul,— snatched from the flames of an intolerable hell, and borne to heaven upon the wings of piety and mercy by the ministry of angels, and the graces of the Holy Spirit,-shall to eternal ages bless God and bless thee; Him, for the author and finisher of salvation, and thee for the minister and charitable instrument: that bright star must needs look pleasantly upon thy face for ever, which was by thy hand placed there, and, had it not been for thy ministry, might have been a sooty coal, in the regions of sorrow. Now, in order to this, God hath given us all some powers and ministries, by which we may by our charity promote this religion, and the great interest of souls: counsels and prayers, preaching and writing, passionate desires and fair examples going before others in the way of godliness, and bearing the torch before them, that they may see the way and walk in it. This is a charity, that is prepared more or less for every one; and, by the way, we should do well to consider, what we have done towards it. For as it will be a strange arrest at the day of judgment to Dives, that he fed high and suffered Lazarus to starve, and every garment,-that lies by thee and perishes,. while thy naked brother does so too for want of it,-shall be a bill of indictment against thy unmerciful soul; so it will

be in every instance: in what thou couldest profit thy brother and didst not, thou art accountable; and then tell over the times, in which thou hast prayed for the conversion of thy sinning brother; and compare the times together, and observe, whether thou hast not tempted him or betrayed him to sin, or encouraged him in it; or didst not hinder him, when thou mightest, more frequently than thou hast, humbly, and passionately, and charitably, and zealously, bowed thy head, and thy heart, and knees, to God to redeem that poor soul from hell, whither thou seest him descending with as much indifferency as a stone into the bottom of the well. In this thing καλὸν ζηλοῦσθαι, “ it is a good thing to be zealous," and put forth all your strength, for you can never go too far. But then be careful, that this zeal of thy neighbour's amendment be only expressed in ways of charity, not of cruelty, or importune justice. "He that strikes the prince for justice," as Solomon's expression is, "is a companion of murderers ;" and he that out of zeal of religion, shall go to convert nations to his opinion by destroying Christians, whose faith is entire and summed up by the apostles: this man breaks the ground with a sword, and sows tares, and waters the ground with blood, and ministers to envy and cruelty, to errors and mistake, and there comes up nothing but poppies to please the eye and fancy, disputes and hypocrisy, new summaries of religion estimated by measures of anger, and accursed principles; and so much of the religion as is necessary to salvation, is laid aside, and that brought forth that serves an interest, not holiness; that fills the schools of a proud man, but not that which will fill heaven. Any zeal is proper for religion, but the zeal of the sword and the zeal of anger; this is Tupía λov," the bitterness of zeal";" and it is a certain temptation to every man against his duty for if the sword turns preacher, and dictates propositions by empire instead of arguments, and engraves them in men's hearts with a poniard, that it shall be death to believe what I innocently and ignorantly am persuaded of, it must needs be unsafe to "try the spirits, to try all things," to make inquiry; and yet without this liberty, no man can justify himself before God and man, nor confidently say that his religion is best; since he cannot without a final danger

a James, iii. 14.

make himself able to give a right sentence, and to follow that which he finds to be the best; this may ruin souls by making hypocrites, or careless and compliant against conscience or without it; but it does not save souls, though peradventure it should force them to a good opinion: this is inordination of zeal; for Christ,-by reproving St. Peter, drawing his sword, even in the cause of Christ, for his sacred, and yet injured person, διδάσκει μὴ χρῆσθαι μαχαίρᾳ, κἂν τὸν Jeòv doket tig ékdikɛv (saith Theophylact),—" teaches us not to use the sword though in the cause of God, or for God himself;" because he will secure his own interest, only let him be served as himself is pleased to command: and it is like Moses's passion, it throws the tables of the law out of our hands, and breaks them in pieces out of indignation to see them broken. This is zeal, that is now in fashion, and hath almost spoiled religion; men, like the zealots of the Jews, cry up their sect, and in it their interest; nλovoi paθητὰς, καὶ μαχαίρας ἀνασύρονται; " they affect disciples and fight against the opponents;" and we shall find in Scripture, that when the apostles began to preach the meekness of the Christian institution, salvations and promises, charity and hun aility, there was a zeal set up against them; the apostles were zealous for the Gospel, the Jews were zealous for the law. and see what different effects these two zeals did produce; the zeal of the law came to this, opúßovv tùv tóλiv, and ἐδίωξαν μέχρι θανάτου, and ἀνασύρονται, and ὀχλοποιήGavrsc," they stirred up the city, they made tumults, they persecuted this way unto the death, they got letters from the high-priest, they kept Damascus with a garrison," they sent parties of soldiers to silence and to imprison the preachers, and thought they did God service, when they put the apostles to death, and they swore "neither to eat nor to drink, till they had killed Paul." It was an old trick of the Jewish zeal,

σαντες,

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Non monstrare vias, eadem nisi sacra colenti:

Quæsitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos. Juv. 14. 104.

They would not shew the way to a Samaritan, nor give a cup of cold water but to a circumcised brother; that was their zeal. But the zeal of the apostles was this, they preached publicly and privately, they prayed for all men, they wept to

God for the hardness of men's hearts, they "became all things to all men, that they might gain some," they travelled through deeps and deserts, they endured the heat of the Sirian star, and the violence of Euroclydon, winds and tempests, seas and prisons, mockings and scourgings, fastings and poverty, labour and watching, they endured every man and wronged no man, they would do any good thing and suffer any evil, if they had but hopes to prevail upon a soul; they persuaded men meekly, they entreated them humbly, they convinced them powerfully, they watched for their good, but meddled not with their interest; and this is the Christian zeal, the zeal of meekness, the zeal of charity, the zeal of patience, ἐν τούτοις καλὸν ζηλοῦσθαι, “ In these it is good to be zealous," for you can never go far enough.

2. The next measure of zeal is prudence. For, as charity is the matter of zeal; so is discretion the manner. It must always be for good to our neighbour, and there need no rules for the conducting of that, provided the end be consonant to the design, that is, that charity be intended, and charity be done. But there is a zeal also of religion or worshipping, and this hath more need of measures and proper cautions. For religion can turn into a snare; it may be abused into superstition, it may become weariness in the spirit, and tempt to tediousness, to hatred, and despair: and many persons, through their indiscreet conduct, and furious marches, and great loads taken upon tender shoulders and inexperienced, have come to be perfect haters of their joy, and despisers of all their hopes; being like dark lanterns, in which a candle burns bright, but the body is encompassed with a crust and a dark cloud of iron; and these men. keep the fires and light of holy propositions within them, but the darkness of hell, the hardness of a vexed heart, hath shaded all the light, and makes it neither apt to warm nor to enlighten others, but it turns to fire within, a fever and a distemper dwell there, and religion is become their torment.

1. Therefore our zeal must never carry us beyond that which is profitable. There are many institutions, customs, and usages, introduced into religion upon very fair motives, and apted to great necessities; but to imitate those things, when they are disrobed of their proper ends is an importune zeal, and signifies nothing but a forward mind, and an easy: