When none of these will take, they fal to right downe rayling; these
Puritans, these singular fellowes, &c. unfit for all honest company. I
hope the states Puritan, and the common Puritan bee two creatures. For
with that staffe the multitude beats all that are better then
themselves, & lets fly at all that have any shew of goodnes. But with
that which most call Puritanisme, I desire to worship God. For
singularity, Christs calls for it, and presseth & urgeth it; What
singular thing doe you, or what odde thing doe you? Shall Gods peculiar
people, doe nothing peculiar? The world thinkes it strange, wee runne
not with them into excesses, and doe not as most doe, that wee might
escape derision: Judge you which of these men shall please: I beleeve
none shall ever please Christ, till they appeare odde, strange and
precise men, to the common sort; and yet neede not bee over just neither
Let them that have tender eares stop them against the charmes of the
world, and scornes of _Michol_, unlesse they were wiser: Let him that
hath a right eare, heare what Christ saith to the Churches, _Be
zealous_.
_The fourth part._
[Sidenote: Incentives.]
Yea, but by what meanes shall a Christian attaine this fire, and
maintaine it when he hath gotten it.
Say not in thine heart, What _Prometheus_ shall ascend into heaven and
fetch it thence; thou mayest fetch it thence by thine owne prayer: as
did _Elias_ and the Apostles, men of infirmities as well as thy selfe;
pray continually, and instantly: the Lord that breathed first thy soule
into thee, will also breath on thy soule: I speake not of miraculous
(which was but a type) but of ordinarie inspiration.
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