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
do so perversly apply to their own Case as thereby to increase their trouble but not to get any relief I have known several well-disposed Persons and some of them sincerely Pious that have been in this Condition What now is to be said to this Why it is very certain that all these Thoughts and Fancies are thrust upon them and are not the free natural voluntary Operations of their own Minds but the effects of Vapours or Hypochondriac Melancholy Nor can the Persons themselves any more help their thus Thinking or Fancying than they can help the Disturbances of their Dreams when they have a mind to sleep quietly Indeed we may properly enough call these Fancies of theirs their waking Dreams as their Dreams are their sleeping Fancies Well but now of all Persons whatsoever these People are most desirous to have Rules given them for the Government of their Thoughts And I cannot blame them because their Thoughts are certainly very Troublesome But truely if we should speak pertinently to their Case instead of giving them Advices for the regulating their Thoughts they should rather be advised to look after their Bodies and by the help of good Prescriptions to get rid of those Fumes and Vapours which occasion these Fancies When the Cause is removed the effect will soon cease I do not in the least doubt whatever these People may think of their own Case but that this is as properly a Bodily Disease as a Feaver or Fits of the Falling Sickness In the mean time while they are in this Condition whatever Rules are proper to be given to other Persons for the Government of the Thoughts of all People living those Rules do the least concern them For those Thoughts which they complain of do not at all fall under Regulation or Government because they are suggested to their Minds whether they will or no. And for my part I think it a great deal more advisable if it could be to neglect and despise them than to be perpetually strugling and disputing with them and vexing themselves about them But you will say If Men be such Slaves to their Thoughts and are thus necessarily passive under them where is the Freedom of Thought To this I answer In the fourth place out of these three Cases I before mentioned we have Liberty of Thinking and may chuse our own Thoughts And that Liberty and Freedom we have in Thinking doth to my apprehension mainly consist in this viz. That all of us who are not in the Circumstances I have been hitherto speaking of can if we please apply our Minds more vigorously to one sort of thing than to another and accordingly as we do thus apply our Minds so will the most of our Thoughts be It is in our power among the multitude of Objects which present themselves to our Mind as for Instance God Vertue Holiness Heaven Wealth Power Greatness Preferments Fine Cloaths Splendid Equipage Sensual Pleasures Recreations Divertisements Knowledge Learning Arts and the like I say that among all this multitude of Objects that present themselves to our Minds it is in our power to determine our selves which of them we will dwell upon and make a Business of And accordingly when at any time we have pitched upon any of them as a Business it is in our power to mind that Business either more or less diligently And if it be such a one as that we mean in good earnest to concern our selves about it it will then so fill our Minds as that by attending to that we shall either prevent in a great measure other Thoughts from coming into our Heads or if they do come in they will not long stay there but will very speedily give place to that which is our main Business at that time And the Reason of this is plain Because our Natures are of that Make that two things at once cannot well possess our Minds and therefore if we be intent about one thing we cannot have much room or leisure for Thoughts of another Nature But then Fifthly and lastly Though this that I have said be the true Nature of that power we have over our Thoughts as to the directing them to a particular Object Yet there is another power we have over them that ought here more especially to be considered because in it are laid the very Foundations of Vertue and Vice and upon account of it all our thoughts become either morally good or evil That which I mean is this Though we cannot in many Cases think always of what we would nay though we cannot hinder abundance of Thoughts from coming into our Minds against our will Yet it is always in our power to assent to our Thoughts or to deny our Consent to them And here it is that the Morality of our Thoughts begins According as we Assent or Dissent to the Motions that are made in our Minds so will our Thoughts have the Notion of Vertuous or Sinful Thoughts When any Temptations are presented to us from without we cannot perhaps as I said before avoid the feeling an irregular Passion or Motion or Inclination stirring within us upon occasion thereof But yet at that very time it is in our power whether we will comply with those Passions and Inclinations or not whether we will consent to them or not whether we will pursue them further or not Now if we do not consent to them but endeavour to stop and stifle and resist them as soon as we are aware of them there is yet no harm done Our Thoughts how undecent or irregular soever they were are rather to be accounted the Infirmities of our Corrupt Nature than our Sins properly so called And thus it is likewise as to our Wandring Thoughts in our Prayers If we strive against them and endeavour to keep our Minds in a Devout Composed Temper and attend as well as we can to the Duty we are about I say if we do this I hope those Distractions and Wandrings will never rise up in Judgment against us And as for the frightful Blasphemous Fancies which as I told you some even Pious Persons are tormented with As to them I say they of all other irregular Thoughts have the least danger of Sin in them though they be not so solemnly and formally disputed with and contested against Because indeed they are so terrible in their own Nature that no Man in his Wits and that hath any sense of God or Goodness can be supposed to consent to them They are indeed great Infelicities but by no means any Sin any farther than we approve of them and to approve of them for any tolerable good Man is impossible But then on the other side If we consent to any wicked Motion or Inclination that we feel in our selves let it come in how it will never so suddenly never so unexpectedly if we close with any Thought that prompts us to Evil so as to be pleased with it to delight in it to think of pursuing it till