since it is Zeal for God that we are here speaking of it must be something wherein our Duty is concerned that must be the object of our Zeal So that a right Zeal of God implies that we do so well inform our selves of the Nature of our Religion as not to pretend a Religious Zeal for any thing that is not a part of our Religion If our Zeal for God be as it should be it must certainly express it self in matters that are good about such objects as God hath made to be our Duty It is good saith St. Paul to be always zealously affected in a good matter But if we mistake in our Cause if we take that for good which is evil or that for evil which is good here our Zeal is not according to Knowledge Secondly as the object of our Zeal must be according to Knowledge so also the Principle from whence our Zeal proceeds must be according to Knowledge also That is to say We must have solid and rational grounds to proceed upon in our concernment for any thing such as will not only satisfie our selves but all others that are unbyassed In a word such as we can justifie to all the World If it be every Man's Duty as St. Peter tells us it is to be ready to give an Answer to every one that asketh him a reason of the Hope that is in him Then I am sure it is much more every Man's Duty to be able to give a reason of the Zeal that is in him Because this business of a Man's Zeal doth more affect the Publick and is of greater Concernment to it than what a Man 's private Faith or Hope is But yet how little is this considered by many zealous Men among us Some are zealous for a point to serve an Interest or a Faction But this is not to be owned as the ground and reason of Zeal for indeed if it should it would not be allowed of Others are zealous for no other reason but because they find their Teachers or those they most converse with are so They follow the common Cry and examine no more of the matter Others indeed have a Principle of Zeal beyond all this For they are â—â—ved from within to stand up for this or the other Cause they have Impulses upon their minds which they cannot resist But that in truth is no more a justifiable ground of any Man's Zeal than either of the former For if these Motions and Impulses that they speak of be from God there will certainly be conveyed along with them such Reasons and Arguments for the thing that they are to be zealous about as will if they be declared satisfie and convince all other reasonable Men as well as themselves For it is a ridiculous thing to imagine that God at this day doth move or impel Men in any other way than what is agreeable to the Reason of Mankind and the Rule of his holy Word And if the Man's Zeal can be justified by either of these there is no need of vouching Inspirations for it Thirdly As the Zeal which is according to knowledge hath a good matter for its object and proceeds from a right Principle So it is also regular as to the Measures of it He that hath it is careful that it do not exceed its due Bounds as the Ignorant Zeal often doth but he distinguisheth between the several objects he is zealous for and allows every one of them just so great a Concernment as the thing is worth and no more If the thing be but a small matter he is but in a small measure concerned for it If it be of greater moment he believes he may be allowed to be the more earnest about it But he looks upon it as a rash and foolish thing and an effect of great ignorance or weakness to be hot and eager for all things alike We should account him not many degrees removed from a Child or an Ideot that upon the cut of a Finger should as passionately complain and cry out for help as if he had broken a Limb. Why just the same Folly and Childishness it is to make a mighty bustle about small matters which are of no consequence in which neither Religion nor the Publick Peace are much concerned as if indeed our Lives and Souls were in danger It therefore becomes all prudent and sober Men to take care that their Zeal do not spend it self in little things that they be not too passionate and earnest and vehement for things that are not worth much contending for If we lay a greater weight upon a Cause than it will bear and shew as much warmth and passion for small matters as if the Fundamentals of our Faith were at stake we are zealous indeed but not according to Knowledge Fourthly The Zeal that is according to knowledge is always attended with hearty Charity It is not that bitter Zeal which the Apostle speaks of which is accompanied with Hatred and Envy and perverse Disputings But it is kind and sociable and meek even to Gainsayers It is that Wisdom which is from above that is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated It is a Zeal that loves God and his Truth heartily and would do all that is possible to bring Honour and Advancement to them But at the same time it loveth all Men. And therefore in all things where it expresses it self it purely consults the Merits of the Cause before it but lets the Persons of Men alone It is a certain Argument of an Ignorant and ungoverned Zeal when a Man leaves his Cause and his Concernment for God's Glory and turns his Heat upon those that he has to deal with when he is peevish and angry with Men that differ from him When he is not contented to oppose Arguments to Arguments and to endeavour to gain his point by calm Reasoning but he flies out into Rage and Fury and when he is once transported herewith he cares not what undecent bitter Reflections he makes upon all those that have the Fortune to be of a different side But in these Cases Men would do well to remember that the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God as the Apostle expresses it All this kind of behaviour favours of the Wisdom of this World which is Earthly and Sensual and Devilish Fifthly and lastly Another inseparable Property of Zeal according to Knowledge is That it must pursue lawful Ends by lawful Means must never do an Ill thing for the carrying the best Cause This St. Paul hath laid down as a Rule to be eternally observed among Christians when in the third of the Romans he declares that their damnation is just who say Let us do evil that good may come Be therefore our Point never so good or never so weighty yet if we use any dishonest unlawful Arts for the gaining of it that is to say If we do any thing which is either in it self Evil and appears
are made it should be at their Peril if they transgressed them supposing Magistrates did their Duty And all this we say is very consistent with that Tenderness and Charity that all Christians and even Magistrates themselves in their private Capacity do owe to mis-perswaded erroneous Consciciences And then Secondly it is to be remembred that that Kindness and Tenderness to mistaken Zealots which we are speaking of from the Text is not to be expressed to all alike but to some more to some less to some perhaps in no degree at all according as the nature and quality of their Errors are and according as the Men that are guilty of them may more or less or not at all be thought to have a real Zeal of God and to act out of Principles of Conscience Thus for instance In the First place Those that set up for Patrons of Atheism or Epicurism that make it their business in their Conversation to expose all Religion and to bring it into contempt that ridicule the Professors of it as a company of easie credulous Men that make no Conscience of blaspheming God and all things Sacred as occasion is given them Why these Men may have Zeal enough for their Opinions and we find that they often have a great deal too much But are such to be treated with that sort of Tenderness and Compassion that we are now speaking of No by no means For they are quite out of the bounds of my Text They have a Zeal indeed but it is not a Zeal for God but for the Devil and the Interests of his Kingdom And if one were to measure the greatness of Crimes by the mischief they do to humane Society I should think that this sort of People were not to expect so much favour and respect from Mankind as some other Malefactors that yet by our Laws are to pay for their offences at no less a rate than their Lives Again Secondly If there be any Men that under a pretence of Religion do teach or encourage or promote any sort of Vice or Immorality or whose Principles do necessarily lead to debauch Mens Manners in the plain matters of Sobriety Chastity Truth or Justice and the like such kind of People are by no means Objects of that Tenderness and Compassion that we are now speaking of For the Laws of Nature as to moral Virtue and Vice are so plainly writ in every Man's heart that he must be supposed to be an Ill Man that can easily entertain any Principle let it come never so much recommended under the Name of Religion that contradicts them And whatever allowance may in charity be made for a Man's mistakes there is no reason that much should be made for his Wickedness Again Thirdly If there be any Men that whilst they express a great Zeal for the Purity of Religion and exclaim against the Corruptions of it as they term them which are introduced into the Publick Establishment and turn every stone to have all things setled in another Method yet all this while God and their own Hearts know that all this Concernment and Zeal of theirs for Religion though it make a great shew is only pretended and that there is another thing that lies at the bottom that is to say Worldly Interest and Dominion and Power which they hope to compass by such a Regulation of Matters as they desire I say if there be any such Men they are likewise no way concerned in that Compassion my Text speaks of For though they may be very Zealous yet it is a Zeal for their own secular advantages that acts them and not a Zeal of God If such Men could be known instead of being kindly and charitably thought of for their Zeal in Religion the Virtuous part of Mankind would look upon them as the worst of Hypocrites But since God only knows the Hearts of Men all such pretenders to Zeal for Religion must till we know them also be treated according to the Merits of the cause they pretend to be Zealous for But then Fourthly and Lastly All that I have now said is with respect to those that are out of the limits of my Text such as have no Zeal of God though some of them may pretend it But then as for those that really act out of Principles of Conscience and have a real Zeal of God though in a wrong way These are true Objects of our Tenderness and Compassion though yet in different degrees For according as their Principles and Practices do more or less injure our common Christianity or are more or less dangerous to our Government and Constitution in the same proportion the greater or less Tenderness and Indulgence is to be expressed towards them But most of what concerns this matter being already setled by Law I will not be so bold as to meddle in it and therefore I proceed to the Third Head of my Discourse III. The Third thing I told you we might observe from this Text was this The Apostle's tacit Reprehension of the Jewish Zeal upon this account that it was not according to Knowledge The Use I make of this is that from hence we may be able to gather to our selves a true Rule for the governing our Zeal in matters of Religion and likewise for the judging in others what Zeal is commendable and what is not For be our Zeal of God never so great yet if it be not a zeal according to knowledge it is not the right Christian Zeal And though we see others never so fervent and vehement in pursuing a Religious Cause and that too out of Conscience yet if this Zeal of theirs be not according to knowledge it is a Zeal that justly deserves to be reproved And though both we and they may for our sincerity in Gods Cause expect some Allowances both from God and Man yet neither they nor we can justifie it either to God or Man that we are thus foolishly and ignorantly Zealous I wish this mark of right Zeal that it ought to be according to knowledge were more considered For it seems not often to be thought on by those that are most zealous in their way of what perswasion soever they be This same business of Knowledge is a thing that is most commonly forgot to be taken in as an ingredient or Companion of Zeal in most sort of Professors For as the World goes those Men are generally found to be the greatest Zealots who are most notoriously Ignorant Whereas true Zeal should not only proceed from true Knowledge but should also be always accompanied with it and governed by it But what is it to have a Zeal according to Knowledge What doth this Character of justifiable right Zeal contain in it I answer it must at least contain in it these five following things First To have a Zeal according to Knowledge doth import that we be not mistaken as to the matter of our Zeal that it be a good Cause that we are zealous about And
up the Reins to his Appetites only serves to dull and stupifie them Nor doth he reap any other Benefit from his continual hankering after Bodily Pleasures but that his Sensations of them are hereby made altogether flat and unaffecting Neither is his Meat half so savoury nor his Recreations so diverting nor his Sleep so sweet nor the Company he keeps so agreeable as Theirs are that by following the Measures of Nature and Reason come to them with truer and more unforc'd Appetites But besides this there is a certain Lightsomness and Chearfulness of mind which is in a manner peculiar to the truly Religious Soul that above all things sets off our Pleasures and makes all the Actions and Perceptions of Humane Life Sweet and Delightful True Piety is the best Cure of Melancholy in the World nothing comparable to it for dispelling that Lumpishness and Inactivity that renders the Soul of a Man uncapable of enjoying either it self or any thing else It fills the Soul with perpetual Light and Vigour infuseth a strange kind of Alacrity and Gaiety of Humour into us And this it doth not only by removing those things that Hinder our Mirth and make us languish in the midst of our Festivities such as are the Pangs of an Evil Conscience and the storms of unmortified Passions of which I shall speak in the following particular but even by a more Physical Efficiency It hath really a mighty Power to Correct and Exalt a Man's Natural Temper Those Ardent Breathings and Workings wherewith the Pious Soul is continually carried out after God and Vertue are to the Body like so much Fresh Air and Wolsom Exercise they Fan the Blood and keep it from Setling they Clanifie the Spirits and purge them from those grosser Feculencies which would otherwise Cloud our Vnderstandings and make us dull and listless And to these effects of Religion doth Solomon seem to allude when he tells us that Wisdom maketh a man's face to shine Eccl. 8.1 Where he seems to intimate that that Purity and Exaltation into which the Blood and Spirits of a Man are wrought by the Exercise of Vertue and Devotion doth diffuse it self even to his Outward Visage making the Countenance clear and serene and filling the Eyes with an unusual kind of Splendor and Vivacity But whether this be a true Comment on his words or no certain it is that Piety disposeth a Man to Mirth and Lightness of Heart above all things in the World and how admirable a Relish this doth give to all our other Pleasures and Enjoyments there is none but can easily discern Thirdly let it be farther considered that Godliness is a most Effectual Antidote against all those Inquietudes and Evil Accidents that do either wholly destroy or very much embitter the Pleasures of this Life For whilst it teacheth us to place all our Happiness in God Almighty and our selves only whilst we have learn'd to bring all our Affections and Passions our Desires and Aversions our Hopes and Fears under the command of our Reason and endeavour not so much to suit Things to our Wills as our Wills to Things being Indifferent to all Events that can happen save only that we always judge those Best which God in his Providence sends us Being I say thus disposed as certainly Religion if it be suffered to have its perfect work upon us will thus dispose us what is it that shall be able to disturb or interrupt our Pleasures or create any trouble or Vexation to us Our Present Enjoyments will not be embittered with the fear of losing them or lessened by our Impatient Longing after Greater Our Brains will not be upon the Rack for Compassing things that are perhaps Impossible nor our Bodies under the Scourge of Rage and Anger for every Disappointment We shall not look pale with Envy that our Neighbours have that which we have not nor pine away with Grief if we should happen to lose that which we have But the Vicious Man is exposed to all these Miseries and a thousand more he carries that within him which will perpetually fret and torment him for he is a Slave to his Passions and the least of them when it is let loose upon him is the Worst of Tyrants He is like the Troubled Sea restless and ever working ruffled and discomposed with every thing He is not capable of being rendred so much as Tolerably Happy by the best condition this World affords For having such a World of Impetuous Desires and Appetites which must be all satisfied or else he is miserable and there being such an infinite number of Circumstances that must concur to the giving them that Satisfaction And all these depending upon Things without him which are perfectly out of his Power it cannot be avoided but he will continually find matter to disquiet him and render his condition troublesome and uneasie a thousand unforeseen Accidents will ever be crossing his Designs Nor will there be wanting some little Thing or other almost hourly to put him out of Humour And if this be the Case of the Vicious Man in the Best Circumstances of this World where the causes of Vexation are in a manner undiscernable in what a miserable Condition must he needs be under those more Real Afflictions unto which Humane Life is obnoxious what is there that shall be able to support his Spirit under the Tediousness of a Lingering Sickness or the Anguish of an Acute Pain What is become of all his Mirth and Jollity if there should happen a Turn in His Fortune if he should fall into Disgrace or his Friends forsake him or the Means of maintaining his Pleasures fail him and the miserable Man become Poor and Despised Not to mention a great many more Evils which will make him uncapable of any Consolation eat into the Heart of his best Enjoyments and become Gall and Wormwood to his Choicest Delicacies And has he not now think you made admirable Provisions for his Pleasures Has he not done himself a wonderful Piece of Service by freeing himself from the Drudgery as he calls it of Vertue and Religion Alas Poor Man this is the only Thing that would now have secured him from all these sad Accidents and Displeasures The Good Man sits above the Reach of Fortune and in spite of all the Vicissitudes and Uncertainties of this Lower World with which other Men are continually Alarm'd enjoys a Constant and Undisturbed Peace Those Evils that may be Avoided and really a great many which afflict mortal Men are such he by his Prudent Conduct and Government of himself wholly prevents And those that are Vnavoidable he takes by such a Handle that they have no power to do him any Harm For he is indeed possessed of that which the Alchymists in vain seek for Such a Sovereign Art he has that he can turn the Basest Metals into Gold make such an use of the worst Accidents that can befal him that they shall not be accounted his Miseries but
long use and many tryals obtained a greater power over their Thoughts than others Again the same Persons that at some times have a greater power over the motions of their Minds may at other times have a less Command over them and this according as their Health or their Business or a hundred Contingencies of outward things do affect them So that all that can be done as to this matter is to lay down some general Propositions which every Body is to apply to himself as there is Occasion And Five of this kind I have to offer and which I think will take in all or the greatest part of what belongs to this Argument The first Proposition I lay down is this That the first Motions of our Minds are very little if at all in our power By the first motions of our Minds I mean those sudden Thoughts or Apprehensions or Passions or Desires which are excited in our Minds by any Object that is at that time presented to our Imagination As to these I say we are not so much Masters of our selves as to be able to stop them nay tho' perhaps they be very irregular And the Reason is because they are produced so quick that there is not time enough given for Reason to interpose There is no necessity indeed that a Man should give Consent to these Motions but as for their coming into his Mind he can no more help it than he can help his present Temper or the present Circumstances he is ingaged in Thus for Instance Do you think it possible for a Man that is of a Fiery Passionate Temper to avoid the feeling a sudden Resentment of Anger arising in his Mind if he meets with any unexpected Affront or other great Provocation Or for a Man that desires to be well thought of not to entertain some Vanity of Imagination when he hears himself commended or flatter'd Or for a Man that is addicted to Pleasures not to feel some irregular Inclinations in himself towards the gratifying his Appetites in those things when he hath all the Temptations before him And thus in all other Cases I grant indeed that a Man by long Consideration and a serious exercising himself in the ways of Vertue and Piety may bring himself to that Temper that he shall not have so many irregular undecent Motions in his own Mind upon any occasion whatsoever as he was wont to have and that those that were formerly Temptations to him will at last be none But still I say the first Motions and Workings of his Mind however they be occasioned are in a great measure out of his power he cannot stop them and therefore the Art of governing his Thoughts doth not lye there The second Proposition I lay down is this When a Man's Mind is vigorously affected and possessed either with the outward Objects of sense or with inward Passions of any kind in that Case he hath little or no Command of his Thoughts His Mind at that time will be in a manner wholly taken up with that it is then full of Nor will he be able till those Impressions be worn off to think freely of what he pleaseth Thus for Instance When a Man is under a sharp tormenting Pain as he cannot avoid the feeling of that Pain so neither can he avoid the thinking of it When one is full of Grief for the loss of a dear Relation or transported with Passion for some unworthy usage he hath met with It is in vain to say Pray think not of these Matters for these things must and will in a great measure imploy his Thoughts till his Passions do cool and the Impressions that caused them be vanished Thus for a Man to come from some Business in which he is more than ordinarily concerned or from the hearing some very good or very bad News I say to come fresh from this to the saying his Prayers I do not I cannot wonder that in this case his Mind will be much upon his Business or his News notwithstanding all his endeavours to the contrary For the Nature of Man is such that he cannot so of a sudden turn his mind from one Business to another but that if he did closely and vigorously apply himself to the first Business his Thoughts will for some time run upon it even after he hath applied his Mind to the other I do not deny but that a Man may often so order his Affairs as to be able to keep his Mind clear and free from such Prepossessions as I am now speaking of so as that when he comes to apply himself to any Business he hath a mind to he may intend it with his whole Might But this I say If our Minds be once engaged with warm Thoughts about any thing it is very hard if not impossible to get them disengaged on a sudden So that the Art of Governing our Thoughts doth not much lie in that neither Thirdly There are some Cases likewise where a Man's Thoughts are in a manner forced upon him from the present Temper and Indisposition of his Body So that though he be in no Passion though there be no unusual Objects of Sense that excite those Thoughts in him nay though he never so much resolve not to think upon those things yet so long as that Habit of Body lasts he cannot avoid those kind of thoughts So that in this Case also there is little room left for the Government of Thoughts That which I now say happens frequently not only in all sorts of Distempers where the Brain is visibly disturbed as in Feavers and the like which often cause a thousand delirous Fancies and sometimes down-right Madness and Distraction But also in other Cases where there seems to be no Feaver or other visible Distemper nor doth the Brain as to other matters seem to be at all disorder'd but the persons in all appearance are sound both in Body and Mind And this is the Case of some deeply Hypochondriac Persons many of which will be haunted with a Sett of Thoughts and Fancies that they can by no means get rid of though they desire it never so earnestly Sometimes they cannot get it out of their Heads but that they are Atheists and Infidels they neither believe in God nor in Jesus Christ nor have any sense at all of Religion Sometimes they are tormented with Blasphemous Thoughts and they cannot set themselves to the Performance of any Office of Devotion but a thousand impious Fancies will come in and spoil all Sometimes they fancy they are guilty of several grievous Crimes which it is to be hoped it was hardly possible they should be guilty of nay you cannot convince them but that they do every day commit some of these Crimes because they imagine they give consent to them And whilst these sorts of Thoughts fill their Imaginations there is not a Passage in the Bible that they read nor a Sermon that they hear but they find something in it which they