Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	affect_v	zeal_n	zealous_a	30	3	8.7974	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44148	The true reformation of manners, or, The nature and qualifications of true zeal in a sermon preach'd in the parish church of Bridgewater : occasion'd by a more than ordinary concourse of dissenters there, upon that pretence / by Matth. Hole ...	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.	1699 (1699)	Wing H2414; ESTC R8060	15,367	34

and unaffected Pone in pectore dextram nil calet There is no heat or warmth at all within even when it seems to burn and flame most without Of this kind was the Zeal of the Pharisees who fasted and prayed to be seen of men and did all their good Works meerly for Vanity and Ostentation they had no inward Principle of spiritual Life or Motion but were acted meerly by external Motives and Inducements such are the superficial heats of too many Zealots who seem all on fire without when the Heart like Nabal's is as cold as a Stone Fourthly There is a Temporary Zeal which like a Vapour or Comet appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away such was that of Jehu who drove on furiously for a time and destroy'd the Monuments of Idolatry but being settled in the Kingdom his Zeal for Religion was at end and turn'd only to his own advancement Such likewise was the Mercenary and Selfish Zeal of those that followed our blessed Saviour for the Loaves and kept with him while any thing was to be gotten by him but when that fail'd they forsook and walked no more with him This is a Flame that is blown in and out with the Wind and varies with every blast Again Fifthly There is a partial Zeal which makes Men warm in some Duties of Religion and cold in others of equal necessity and importance and likewise very earnest in suppressing one or more Vices and yet very favourable and indulgent to others equally crying and enormous If you observe it you will find some hot enough for Preaching but cold for Praying and tho' they talk much of reforming of others Manners are yet but too careless and negligent of their own May we not see many great Enemies indeed to Idolatry and Profaneness who yet are well enough reconcil'd to Sacriledge and Schism and make up that with advantage to one Vice which they seem to take from another This is to compound the Matter with GOD and to make the keeping of one Law atone for the breach of another True and thorough Reformation extends to the hatred of all Vice and the practice of all Vertue without which the most zealous pretences to Reformation are but falshood and hypocrisy Sixthly There is a busy pragmatical Zeal that carries private Men beyond the bounds of their own Calling and Business and makes them invade the Callings and Business of others intruding into the Offices of Princes Magistrates Judges and Ministers prying into and censuring the Actions of their Superiors and dictating to those by whom they are to be govern'd These are those busy-bodies mention'd by the Apostle who meddle with things they understand not and belong not to them True Zeal makes Men study to be quiet and do their own business without thrusting themselves unseasonably into other Men's it puts Men upon the study of their own Hearts mortifying their own Sins and reforming their own Lives which is enough to employ the Zeal of the Best Christian whereas 't is too apparent how some Men's Zeal prompts them to wander too much abroad and to converse too little at home hence you shall find them very fierce and forward in declaiming against the Sins of others as if they had none of their own to amend or complain of how frequently do they call to Heaven for Vengeance on National Wickedness as if they had no share in the Guilt and were secur'd from bearing a part in the Punishment of it Yea 't is no new thing for them to condemn that in others which they allow in themselves and to inveigh bitterly against others failings when at the same time they easily overlook their own enormities This is the guise and practice of too many Zealots which may carry something of the shew but hath nothing of the substance and reality of True Religion Lastly The Zeal commended in our Text hath respect to Things not Persons 't is good to be zealously affected always in a good Thing A Zeal either for or against Persons is commonly factious and disorderly The having some Men's Persons in Admiration and others in Contempt hath occasion'd most of the Schisms and Divisions in the Christian Church This was the great fault of the Corinthians who by crying up one Teacher to the decrying of another fell into sundry Parties and Factions which St. Paul sharply rebuked in them tho' their Zeal ran mightily towards himself for finding they had made him the Head of a Party he severely check'd their partiality and the more they sought to magnify him the more he endeavour'd to lessen himself Who saith he is Paul and who is Apollo Who saith an eminent Father on those Words why they were some of the chief Apostles and Ministers of Christ And yet we find St. Paul not only stileing himself the least of the Apostles but the greatest of Sinners to keep men from having too high thoughts and admiration of him And if it were strife and envying to set up for Paul or Apollo or Cephas certainly it can be no true Zeal to set up for far inferior Persons This is a Matter worthy the consideration of all such as have Men's Persons in admiration running after different Teachers to the great disturbance of the Church which is the great misery and malady of our unhappy Age. And now for the application of this Discourse tho' many useful Lessons might be infer'd from it yet I shall confine my self to two which very naturally and easily flow from it For If it be good to be Zealously affected in a good thing then 1st It must be bad to be Zealously affected in an ill thing and 2ly It can be no better to be lukewarm and coldly affected in a good thing Of both which that I may not trespass too much upon your patience I shall speak very briefly And 1st We may learn from hence that 't is bad to be Zealously affected in an ill thing 'T is a double fault first to espouse a bad Cause and then to be warm and zealous in promoting it he that is out of the way the faster he goes the farther he goes out of it and to set him right he must go it back again and mend his pace after To rectify a bad Zeal we must alter and unravel our former Course and labour to undo all that we have done amiss True Zeal is always against and never for an evil thing and therefore to be zealous for a Party and hot in promoting Faction or Division is to employ it in a very bad thing To favour a wrong Cause or discountenance a good one are both equally abominable and he that is warm in either is clearly out of the way and can never judge righteous Judgment to spend our Zeal in encouraging of Schism and promoteing disorder and disturbance in the World is to put one of the best things to one of the worst uses and therefore we find Zeal commonly compar'd to Fire than which as no Element is more useful and reviving whilst it remains on the Hearth and keeps within its due place and bounds so none is more pernicious and destructive when once refusing confinement it breaks forth and invades the House-top For the same reason 't is sometimes compar'd to the natural heat of the Body which in its due temper and moderation is the spring both of Life and Health and the source of all vital Operations but when it grows into excess and breaks out into burning Feavers it inflames the Spirits and sets on fire the whole Course of Nature Just so is it with Zeal which if duly plac'd and regulated is the support and ornament of the Soul fills it with a lively and vigorous Heat and fits it for brave and noble Undertakings but when 't is misplac'd or runs into excess 't is no better than Wild-fire and sets whole Countries into a combustion which shews what great care is to be taken that it be guided with Knowledge and plac'd upon right Objects such as may be not only materially but in all its It being equally evil to be zealous in a bad Cause and lukewarm in a good let us endeavour to avoid both extreams and learn so to regulate and fix our Zeal that it may be still placed on right Objects kept within its due bounds and directed to good ends So shall this Sacred fire improve into a Celestial flame that will be still burning in our Breasts towards God and for ever derive upon us the blessed Influences of Divine Love Which God grant for the sake of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honor Might Majesty and Dominion both now and for evermore FINIS

Honour of our SAVIOUR if ever we hope to be sav'd by him He that denies me before Men saith Christ himself him will I deny before my Father that is in Heaven Now to disown the Truths of the Gospel or to refuse to appear in the defense of them when call'd in question is indeed no better than to deny him And what can such expect but to be for ever disown'd and deny'd by him at the last day Wherefore 't is both the Duty and Interest of all that are called Christians to be zealous for the Honour of Christ to vindicate his Truths and to adorn his Doctrine with a holy Conversation Thirdly To be zealous for the Church of GOD is to be zealously affected in a good thing And that as the Church is sometimes taken for the House of God and likewise for the orderly Constitution of Divine Worship perform'd in it both which are proper Matter to employ our Zeal That ardent Love we owe to God requires us to love the things of God and to have a due regard to all that belongs to him among which we are commanded to hallow his Sabbath and to reverence his Sanctuary David tells us that the Zeal of God's house had even consumed him Psal 69.9 He was so passionately affected towards the reverence and decency of those Places that he thought he could not better shew his Honour to God than by reverencing the place where his Honour dwells After that we read what time care and cost King Solomon bestow'd in building and beautifying the Temple by which he at once erected an Habitation for the Glory of his Maker and a lasting Monument of his own Honour But lest any should take this only for a piece of Old-Testament Zeal we find our Blessed Saviour so zealous for the honour of the Temple that he never discover'd a higher act of Indignation than against the Prophaners of it for himself whipp'd the Buyers and Sellers out of it who had made the House of Prayer a Den of Thieves overturning the Tables of the Money-changers and the Seats of them that sold Doves and that with an Indignation too so much beside his ordinary temper that the Disciples could not but call to mind and apply to him what was prophesied of him The Zeal of thy house hath eaten me up By this great example we learn that a true Christian Zeal may be well employ'd about the purifying of God's house and securing it from all profanation Moreover we find the Apostles extremely zealous for the Peace and Unity of the Church as also for the comeliness order and reverence of the publick Worship us'd in it So that to be zealous against Sacriledge which is the polluting of God's holy Temple and likewise against Schism which is the dividing the Body of Christ is a pious well-grounded and commendable Zeal Fourthly To be zealous in the Cause and for the Honor of God's Ministers is to be zealously affected in a good thing for these belong to him as his Ambassadors and therefore are to be lov'd and treated accordingly Let men so account of us saith the Apostle as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God and for that reason to be counted worthy of double honor The Kindness or Contempt shew'd to them redounds to him that sends them for He that despises you saith Christ despises me and he that despises me despiseth him that sent me and therefore our Zeal for Christ and his Truth may and ought to be exprest by espousing the Cause of his Ministers especially when the great Contempt of Religion hath occasion'd too great a Contempt of the Dispensers of it Lastly To be zealous for the People of God that is for their Happiness and Salvation is to be zealously affected in a good thing Next to the Glory of God and our own Salvation we are to tender the Welfare and Salvation of others and this is to be done by our good Wishes hearty Prayers and best Endeavours for them we find Moses so far transported with love and desire towards the Israelites that he prefer'd their publick Happiness and Salvation before the private welfare of his own Soul praying thus in their behalf either blot out their Sins or blot out my name out of the book that thou hast written Ex. 32.32 Under the like transport of Affection we find St. Paul declaring that his Hearts desire and Prayer unto God was that Israel might be saved withal wishing himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren and Kinsfolk according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 which great Examples recommend to us if not so high a pitch of Zeal yet a most ardent love and desire of doing good to all men and especially to use our best endeavours to save their Souls which is the greatest good that we can do them herein we shall tread in the steps of our Blessed Saviour who went up and down doing good both to the Souls and Bodies of Men which is such a noble generous and beneficial piece of Charity as very well deserves our utmost Zeal and Vigour In a word To be zealous in the Cause of Religion against Atheism and Profaneness to be zealous for the Word of God against Deism and Infidelity for the House and Worship of God against Schism and Sacriledge for the People of God against Seducers that lay in wait to deceive is to be zealously affected in good things and is highly becoming all such as are called by the Name of Christ and would advance the Honour and Interest of Christianity which things require not only unwearied Diligence but undaunted Courage and Resolution to effect them and therefore to engage and encourage you to set about them I shall proceed to the Third thing to be consider'd in our Text viz. The goodness and excellency of true Zeal from those words It is good to be zealously affected c. 'T is good to our selves for thereby we become like unto GOD and imitate the Divine Goodness 't is good unto others for as one Coal kindles another so one man's Zeal helps to quicken another's and blows up both into a bright and useful Flame 't is good to a whole Church and Country who share in the benefit and reap the fruits of a well-guided Zeal yea 't is good in all the fences of Goodness for 't is Bonum honestum utile jucundum 't is pious profitable and pleasant 't is the top and perfection of all Vertue the beauty strength and ornament of all Religion and adds as I may say a Grace to all other Graces Indeed what Heat is to the Body that is Zeal to the Soul the very life health and vigour of it the source of all its activity and motion and as the Body without Heat is but a heavy lumpish Carcase so the Soul without Zeal is sluggish and unactive and little better than dead in trespasses and sins But the Goodness of Zeal may be best seen in the good Effects