Treachery The settled bent of their Hearts and so the general course of their Lives is right 16. The upright Man is striving after and growing up towards full Perfection The Righteous shall hold on his way And he that hath clean Hands wax stronger and stronger Thus the Way of the Lord is strength to the Upright And his Word does good to the Upright Mic. 2.7 It is an ill sign when one is at a constant stay in Religion When one holds on in a round of Duties without going forward And commonly Hypocrites go out at last in a stinking snuff But the Path of the Just is as the shining Light which shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day Prov. 4.18 Such are pressing towards the Mark Phil. 3.14 15. Of Zeal TIT. 2.14 A peculiar People zealous of good Works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accensum studio bonorum operum as Beza fervently given unto good Works as in our old English translation Zeal is a word of various acceptation In general it signifies heat and fervour From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ferveo In Heb. 10.27 there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we read fiery indignation in our old Translation violent Fire This Word is transferred to the heat and fervour of the Spirit and Affections which is of diverse kinds As 1. There is a natural Zeal As some naturally are of lively active spirits full of mettle as we use to say Luther seemeth to have been naturally of such a temper As Bucer said of him Nihil in eo non vehemens What an happy thing it is when such a temper is guided and acted by Grace Ordinarily such will do more for God 2. There is a carnal Zeal We find emulations among the works of the Flesh reckoned up Gal. 5.19 20 21. In the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Apostle James condemns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter Zeal Jam. 3.14 Envy is a kind of Zeal but not of the right kind It is bitter Zeal It is a sort of wild Grapes There is a Blind Zeal Such as Idolaters Papists Persecuters may be acted by A blind zeal when Men are Zealous in a false way and Zealous against the Truth Taking light for darkness and darkness for light Calling good evil and evil good There is a superstitious extravagant and erratick zeal when Men are Zealous about such things where it would be a vertue to be cool and moderate And there is an Hypocritical Zeal when Men have or seem to have great Zeal for the Truth and against Errour and falshood but it is only for self-respects and carnal ends Thus carnal Zeal moves in a large Sphere takes a great compass 3. There is a Spiritual Zeal A being zealous of good Works indeed and zealous for God even for his sake An holy Zeal This is both commanded Rev. 3.19 Be zealous And commended Num. 25.11 Phinehas the Son of Eleazer hath turned my wrath away while he was zealous for my sake So this Zeal should not go unrewarded Many commend lukewarmness and indifferency in Religion under the terms of Moderation Prudence and Discretion But Christ and the World are not of a mind A lukewarm temper the Lord cannot endure Rev. 3.15 16. Because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth But as Bishop Hall observes Vol. 1. p. 903. The goodness of God winks at the Errors of honest Zeal and so loveth the strength of good Affections that it passeth over their Infirmities Again ib. p. 938. He Pardoneth the Errours of our fervency rather than the indifferencies of lukewarmness Indeed where there is no Zeal for God there is no Love to God Qui non Zelat non amat Where there is Life there will be some heat Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be spiritually alive and to be lively are not more alike in sound than really akin Zeal in one degree or other is as inseparable from spiritual Life as heat is from fire It 's true as every sincere Christian is not a Nathaniel for degree and measure of Sincerity and plain-heartedness So neither is every such Soul a Moses a Phinehas an Elias for Zeal Yet the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Mat 11.12 And it is one property of Christ's redeemed ones his peculiar People to be zealous of good Works This holy Zeal of which I am to speak as was said of Vprightness and Sincerity is not any distinct particular Grace but a modus or respect of other Graces Though some define it as a compound of Love and Anger Zelus est affectus ex amore irâ mixtus cum scil irascimur ei à quo laeditur id quod amamus Yet I cannot so confine it There must be Zeal accompanying our Repentance 2 Cor. 7.11 And Zeal in our Love We must love fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 and 4.8 And it is the symtom of corrupt times when love waxeth cold Mat. 24.12 Zeal is the spritely vigour and activity of all Grace the ardor of all the Affections with the earnestness and intention that is in all spiritual actings Indeed the chief heat of it is in the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.11 This Fire is burning in the gracious Heart in the sanctified Will and Affections yet its heat is further diffused into the Conversation All our Spiritual Sacrifices must be offered up with this Fire Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Prayer must be Zealous fervent Prayer Jam. 5.16 Col. 4.12 13. Ministers must Preach zealously as Apollos Act. 18.25 None are allowed to do the work of the Lord negligently remisly There must be Zeal in hearing the Word Here our hearts should burn within us as Luk. 24.32 we should be zealous in reproving as Gal. 2.11 Yea no good work is well done without Zeal We must be zealous of and zealous in good Works It s not enough barely to do good Works but we must be earnest upon it and vigorous in the Work Quest But how shall we know whether our Zeal be right Answ 1. True Zeal is guided by a right Judgment a judgment regulated by the Word To allude to that Isa 4.4 The spirit of judgment must go along with the spirit of burning A blind ignorant rash Zeal is not good nor will it prove ones estate good Such a Zeal Paul had while a desperate Persecuter Act. 26.9 which afterwards he saw to be fury and madness rather than Zeal v. 11. This made him Mad once not his learning as Festus would have had it v. 24. such a Zeal the carnal unbelieving Jews had Rom. 10.2 Let Men be never so zealous in their way if it be not God's way their Zeal runs waste God is not honoured but dishonoured not well pleased but displeased with that Zeal which is not according to his Word To be zealous for what he hath not commanded and much more to be zealous for what he hath forbidden to be zealous against
what he allows and much more to be zealous against what he approves and commandeth is contrary to his Will Interest and Honour This is not in a true account Zeal for God but rather against him That Zeal which is not according to knowledg which is not guided and warranted by the Word hath an errour in the foundation It hath nothing to difference it from the Zeal of the grossest Idolaters in the World A Papist may be heartily zealous in his way zealous to promote his Religion and gain Proselytes to it zealous against the soundest Christians crying out against such as dangerous Hereticks wishing that they might come to their old work again to burn such as Hereticks In this his Zeal he may follow his judgment thinking he should do God good service as Joh. 16.2 even in persecuting the faithful to the death if it was in his power when alas he is miserably mistaken This will not justifie any in their Zeal for Idolatry that they think God best served most honoured that way This will not warrant any in their rage against the Saints and Servants of the most High God that they take them to be Hereticks or Hypocrites But they shall find it was their duty to have informed themselves better and not to condemn the righteous and not to call good evil The Devil that cannot endure but is an utter enemy to right Zeal is ready to promote a false blind Zeal all he can He is never weary of blowing this coal This he knows would do him Knights service He cannot but account such his best servants who are zealous in his service Such do as much as can be to credit his Cause who put the honourable title of Zeal for God upon the service they do his grand enemy Such fight against God while they carry his Colours blind Zeal is a piece of the greatest disservice to the interest of God and Religion Sometimes blind Zeal fights with a shadow strikes at a Sign-post but letteth the enemy quietly pass by And which is worse it sometimes falleth foul on those whom it ought to defend A Man acted with Blind Zeal is like one that shoots at Rovers who is more likely to do mischief than hit the Mark or like one that fighteth blindfold striking Friends as soon as Foes What sad havock what woful work hath blind Zeal oft made in the Church Even like a violent Fire that getting head layeth all waste before it The Devil has no stiffer prop to uphold his Kingdom and no fiercer engine of Persecution or battering Ram to employ against the Kingdom of Christ Therefore let not any please themselves in this that they are Zealous in their way when perhaps they are out of the way And if so the more haste the worse speed Zeal in a false way casts Men more behind No Offering acceptable to God without Fire yet to offer strange-Fire here is very perillous And that is not Fire from Heaven where there is heat without Light Where these go alone either Heat without Light Zeal without Knowledg or Light without Heat Knowledg without Zeal it is sadly ominous but where they go together very comfortable Are you zealous but who and what are you zealous for And what is your Zeal against I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts says Elijah because the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets c. 1 King 19.14 Is thy Zeal against Sin indeed So that thou canst not indure to see God dishonoured his Worship neglected and contemned his Truth opposed his Saints and Servants evil intreated c. Is thy Zeal for that which is good Gal. 4.18 It is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good thing The Apostle Paul was very zealous before his Conversion but of the traditions of his Fathers Gal. 1.14 Many have a Zeal but for their own fancies and private opinions Oh what pitty is it that such spirits should evaporate and be lost Let a Man's Zeal be never so hearty if the Mettal have not a right stamp it is not currant Zeal unless it be rightly guided sayes learned Hooker when it indeavoureth most busily to please God Eccl. polit l. 5. §. 3. p. 190. forceth upon him those unseasonable Offices which please him not For which cause if they who this way swerve be compared with such as are sincere sound and discreet as was Abraham the friend of God the service of the one is like unto flattery the other like the faithful sedulity of friendship 2. Right Zeal burns within before it flames out Hypocrites can be hot in their expressions but are not fervent in spirit Hot in the Mouth but cold at Stomach cold at Heart Like Glow-worms fiery in appearance yet really cold in themselves Blind Zeal is strange Fire an hypocritical fained Zeal is false Fire But true Zeal is not all in shew though it will shew it self It lieth chiefly in the fervency and intention of the Spirit and Affections The life of Zeal is in the Heart As when the Apostle Paul was at Athens seeing the City wholly given to Idolatry his spirit was stirred in him and this stirred him up to dispute and Preach against their Idolatry Act. 17.16 c. As Ezekiel's hearers with their mouth shewed much love Ezek. 33.13 it is possible that many in their outward expressions may shew much Zeal declaming freely and often against the Sins of the Age as the horrible increase of Prophaneness growth of Popery c. and may seem to bewail the woful declining state of true Piety amongst us but are our hearts deeply touched and affected with the sense of these things Surely that Zeal which is only from the teeth outward is not true but feigned 3. True Zeal hath respect to God it pointeth towards God As Fire ascends Sparks fly upwards That is not right Zeal which is flashy vain-glorious in pretence for God but really for self To pretend Zeal for the Lord as Jehu did but really to design and aim at self-applause and self-advantage this is to mock God or this is but to flatter him And certainly that God which searcheth the heart will put a difference betwixt such flatterers and his true friends They that have a true Zeal for God will ordinarily prefer God's Honour and Interest before their own concerns True Zeal is accompanied with self-denial Such can be zealous for God when they are like to suffer for their Zeal They could better endure to suffer themselves than that the Truth should suffer They could take it more patiently to be reviled themselves to have their names cast out as evil than that the good wayes of God be evil spoken of 4. True Zeal will burn alone As Elijah was zealous for the Lord God of Hosts even when he seemed to himself to be left alone when he knew not of one that would take his part 1 Kings 19.10 As the Apostle Paul
had rather be from under Christs Yoak set free from his Laws might it be at your choice and after your minds than live in Obedience and Subjection to him if it be thus it is a clear case your Faith is unsound you do not yet consent to the terms of the Gospel or consent but partially You have often heard what a rich and great Match Christ is and how willing he is to bestow Himself with all his Riches unsearchable Riches upon the Children of Men and hereupon 't is likely you wish to have the Estate An Estate of Happiness to be freed from all Misery and a Kingdom of Glory to have and to hold for ever who would not but be glad of such an Estate There is so much Self-Love in the most wicked Man on Earth no doubt that he would be happy when he dies he would not be damned but would chuse Heaven before Hell if he might have Heaven in his own way and time But hold you cannot have the Estate without marrying the Person If you like well of Christ to take him for your Head and Husband and are willing to give up your selves to him to be guided and governed by him then you shall be for ever enriched by him and glorified together with him otherwise not If you say We would have Christ we are willing to take him for our Saviour if that be all you cannot have him on any such terms Here is an Errour of the Person And though it be disputable in other Marriages what Errour of the Person is nulling yet there is no question in the case before us but this Errour of the Person will make it no Marriage It is another kind of Person who is offered to you in the Gospel The Gospel knoweth no such Christ as is a Saviour only and not a Lord as well What! would you have Christ to Crucify him would you have him to dethrone him So you do what in you lyeth if you are not willing to receive him as Lord as well as Saviour Now how can you think that Christ should consent to be yours on such terms But on the other hand if thou canst say Lord I assent to the Promises of the Gospel as true and embrace them as good indeed and worthy of all acceptation Lord I accept of thy terms I consent to take thee for my God to be ruled by thy Laws and led by thy Spirit and to take up with Thee for my Portion I consent that Christ be my Lord as well as Saviour I am willing to come under his Yoak yea to take up his Cross too when called to it I am satisfied that I cannot have him on too hard terms nor be a loser by him I am willing to be saved by him in his own way willing to be at his Command and at his dispose surely this is a Practical Faith a sound and Saving-Faith Wouldst thou know whether thou hast true Faith such as uniteth to Christ and may prove ones Interest in him Then ask thy Soul this Question Am I willing to have whole Christ willing to receive him as he is offered Do I accept of him on his own terms If so then know thy Faith is Sound and Christ is thine Then indeed the Match betwixt Christ and thy Soul that happy Match is made up Christ says his part in the Gospel wherein he freely offereth himself to Sinners and when we come to consent and take Christ as he is there offered then we say our part and thus the Match is made up If the Match break as one says it must be either because Christ is unwilling Vid. Method for Peace of Conscience pag. 58. Aphor. pag. 278. or because thou art unwilling not because Christ is unwilling for he makes suit to Sinners He freely offers himself and whosoever will may have him on his terms So that if thou art willing to accept of Christ on his terms it is done Christ and thy Soul are agreed This is the receiving of him which the Scripture maketh equivolent to believing on his Name In all that I have here said I do not deny but we are allowed to look at our own benefit and Salvation in coming to Christ and receiving him by Faith As one describes it to be perfugium peccatoris poenitentis ad Dei in Christo misericordiam Jo. Mestrezar cit prim Le Blanc p. 193. A penitent Sinners fleeing for safety and succour to the mercy of God in Christ According to the common experience of Christians the obtaining of Pardon and Salvation is the ratio motiva the first inducement drawing them to Christ yet this is not the ratio terminativa it is not all that Believers look at in closing with him Though that which first moves a poor Sinner to accept of Christ for his Lord and to forsake his old Masters Sin and the World be this that Christ is a Saviour to those who take him for their Lord too yet not till the Soul is made willing thus to receive him that it can be said to have a Gospel-Faith Saving Faith A partial consent in a Moral and Law-sense is no consent And God and Souls are not agreed while they only consent to one part of the Covenant refusing other terms he hath made necessary to the Agreement Such a lame consent will never bring a Soul to Christ or Heaven 2. A true Believer consents deliberately He can give a good account why he thus closeth with Christ He sees himself lost perishing undone for ever without Christ but that he is made for ever and hath all he can desire in the Promise and therefore shall have it in possession too having Christ He comes not to Christ upon slighty reasons but being fully convinced and assured that this is the best the only course he hath to take Here we may take notice that as the Law of works given to Man at first was very suitable to Man's innocent estate So is the Law of Grace the remedying Law suited to Man's lapsed nature And God in bringing Men to Grace to Faith in Jesus Christ worketh upon Men as Men as reasonable Creatures who have Vnderstanding and Will and have a natural principle of Self-Love and desire of Happiness and a natural principle of self-preservation dreading the thoughts of Destruction and everlasting Misery And God hath so framed his Law suitable to Man's nature that what he promiseth hath the force of an Argument Ball of the Covenant p. 225. Armin Disp priv Thes 43 §. 1. or strong motive to draw Men to what he requires As Mr. Baxter speaks fully There are some of Christs benefits that the very natural Man desires and some that corrupted nature is against Now it is therefore the established way of Christ to promise us those which we can desire on condition that we will also accept of and submit to those that we are against Not but that his Grace doth dispose Men to the performance of
believes any Truth upon the Testimony of God in his Word upon the same ground for the same reason must believe the truth of whatsoever God hath said in his Word So he that obeyeth in this or that particular because God hath commanded it hath a will to obey all that God hath given in Command Thus the upright Man's obedience to one Command is upon a general Ground common to all God's Commands And hereupon he is uniform in his Obedience But the obedience which the Hypocrite performeth is upon lame unsound Reasons and partial Grounds and so his obedience is lame short and partial like the Grounds of it But attend well to this note I am upon To walk Uprightly is to walk in all the Commandments of the Lord as Zacharias and Elizabeth did Luk. 1.6 And so 1. The Upright Man hath a respect to both Tables An Upright Heart is another Arke where the Tables of God's Laws are kept even both Tables Those which God hath joyned one after God's Heart would not separate Such a one would keep a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards Men Act. 24.16 Look what kind of honesty to Man that is which is not accompanied with Religion towards God the same sayes Mr. R. Bolton is that Religion towards God which is not attended with honesty to Men. Both in one predicament as he sayes How can he be Upright before God who does not make Conscience of Duties to God Job was Perfect and Vpright and one that feared God as we read Job 1.1 And further Uprightness teacheth to make Conscience of Duties towards Men. For which see Job's serious profession of his Upright carriage chap. 31. So the Apostle sayes Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly So the Upright Man is a good Man Mic. 7.2 The good Man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among Men. Psal 125.4 Those that be good and them that are Vpright in their heart go together The Upright set themselves to follow the rule of the Word which teacheth them to be good in their Relations As Psal 101.2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my Soul with a perfect heart The Upright Man will be a good Master Or such a one will make a good Servant if he be in that Relation Obeying not with eye-service but in singleness of heart Col. 3.22 not purloyning but shewing all good fidelity Tit. 2.10 The Upright Man is a just Man Job 12.4 The Just Vpright Man He is just in his dealings Uprightness and Injustice are at great odds as can be these will never agree while the World stands Sincerity will not mingle with fraud and deceit Sincerum quasi sine cerâ The honest heart is for honest dealing Such as are Sincere before God will deal truly sincerely fairly candidly with Men. As there is an expression Judg. 9.19 If ye have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his House Such as make a trade of cozening defrauding wronging their Neighbours let their pretences be never so fair their course of practice will prove them false unsound How incongruous is it to have Jacob's Voice and Esau's rough hands Verily a cheating Professour is much worse than a known professed Cheater And see Deut. 25.13 14 15 16. Deceitful Weights and deceitful Measures are the inventions of deceitful Hearts How many that are enriching themselves with the wages of Vnrighteousness Such cannot say as the Psalmist Psal 18.23 24. I was upright before him Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness according to the cleanness of my hands in his Eye-sight Nor are such ever likely to have any evidence of their Uprightness till they come to follow such Counsel as that Dan. 4.27 Break off thy Sins by Righteousness and thine Iniquities by shewing Mercy to the Poor As God smites his hand at Mens dishonest gain Ezek. 22.13 So will the Upright despise the gain of oppressions or deceits and shake his hands from holding of bribes Isa 33.15 Yea the Upright Man is not only just but Merciful Psal 112.4 Unto the Vpright there ariseth light in darkness he is gracious and full of compassion as well as righteous So the Merciful and Vpright are put together and opposed to the froward Psal 18.25 26. 2. The upright Man would not despise the least of Gods Commands He is for keeping them as the apple of his Eye as there is an expression Prov. 7.2 with all care and tenderness His care is to walk circumspectly exactly That preciseness which prophane spirits deride and scoff at he sees to be necessary That supposing a Man to keep the whole Law excepting one Point which he allows himself to offend in by contemning God's Authority therein his Obedience would thus be proved unsound and he be proved guilty in respect of the whole Law James 2.10 He thus despising that same Authority upon which the whole Law depends For one to allow himself in the breach of the least of Christ's Commands accounting it of little weight that it was no matter if he regard it not this is enough to shut one out of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5.19 3. The upright Man though he does not despise and contemn the least of God's Commands yet he looks first and most to the greatest Commands He has a special regard to these As the contrary detected the Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees that as strict as they were in lesser matters yet they were grosly negligent of the greater and more weighty Mat. 23.23 24. To be very observant of and zealous about Circumstantials but careless of more necessary Duties and substantials of Religion is one ill-favoured mark of an Hypocrite whereby he may be known 4. The upright Man has a respect to the hardest Commands even to such Commands as are most cross to his Carnal interest and Natural inclination So this evidenced Abraham's integrity that when God called for his Isaac he withheld not his Son his only Son from him Thus on the other hand the unsoundness of the young Man that was ready to boast of his obedience was discovered Mat. 19.21 If thou wilt be perfect Mark 10.21 one thing thou lackest Go and sell that thou hast and give to the Poor and come and follow me Christ knew his mind how his heart was let upon the World and to shew that his heart was not right nor he so perfect as he took himself to be he tried him with a Command that was cross to his Carnal Interest and to his special Inclination which soon laid him open As willing and forward as he seemed to know and learn his Duty yet when he hears of selling all and taking up the Cross Mark 10.21 he leaveth this hard work for others 12. The upright Man carries uprightly in reference to holy Duties Here 1. He has a care to engage his heart to