and Anger together with those intermediate Passions of Desire Joy Indignation and the like that partake of both The first and great Ingredient of Zeal is Love for none can be Zealously affected to any thing which he doth not truly love and where that is 't will draw after it a desire of attaining and enjoying it and according to the degrees of love will the desire encrease and improve into longings and impatience Again Zeal is accompanied with Joy and Delight in pleasing and possessing what it makes after and where the Object is infinite as when 't is plac'd on GOD it advances into Extasy and Rapture Furthermore Anger is an Ingredient of Zeal which sets the Soul against whatever opposes the thing Beloved and proportionable to the opposition does the Anger encrease arising sometimes to Wrath and Indignation and upon any frustration 't is attended with Grief and Sorrow Thus is Zeal compounded of various and different Passions upon the well or ill tempering and mixing whereof does the goodness or badness of Zeal depend That Zeal that hath the greatest mixture of the mild loving and charitable Affections is commonly the best that wherein the harsh soure and hot Passions are most predominant is very often inordinate And that where the angry Passions not only exceed but exclude the more calm and benign Ones is generally sinful Moreover Zeal is not only a composition of sundry Passions but a high degree and intention of them and bespeaks not barely the reality but a fervency of Affection 't is such a warmth of Mind as influences the whole Man and renders all the Powers of the Soul more vigorous and lively in its desires and prosecutions and so 't is oppos'd to Coldness and Lukewarmness So that true Zeal is a gracious constitution of the whole Mind and is rather a constellation of Graces than one particular Grace 't is what Health is to Life the spring of all its activity and motion and resembles that Heroick Vertue describ'd by the Moralists which is not so much a distinct Vertue of its self as the highest pitch and eminence of all other Vertues From this brief description of Zeal we may learn what it is to be Zealously affected namely to have the Mind warmly stirring or moving in earnest desires and an eager pursuit of some suitable and desirable Object and consequently two things must concur to this zealous Affection viz. Light in the head and Heat in the heart First To be Zealously affected implies light and knowledge in the Head for Ignoti nulla Cupido None can affect that of which he hath no knowledge Light is the Director of Zeal without which 't will mistake its Object and necessarily go awry 'T is a blind Zeal that is void of Knowledge and therefore what Light is to the Eye that Knowledge is to the Soul it shews its way and guides all its operations Again Secondly To be Zealously affected imports not only light in the Head but heat in the Heart and therefore 't is often compar'd to Fire whose property it is to warm and enliven St. Paul stiles it a fervency of Spirit Rom. 12.11 which signifies such an inward warmth of Mind as cherishes in it a spiritual Life quickens Vertue and makes us grow in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In short Zeal is a vehement Affection or a strong Byass and Propensity of the Soul towards its Object and to be Zealously affected is to be carried out with earnest Desires and Endeavours after it not without some Hatred Trouble and Indignation at whatsoever does hinder or oppose it This is the Nature of Zeal But How must it be qualify'd that it may be good to be thus Zealously affected Why our Text mention two Qualifications to make it so The one respects the Time of its continuance it must be always the other the Object it must be in a good thing First To be Zealously affected aright it must be always not now and then by sits and starts but keeping up an ardent flame of Love still burning in our Breasts The Apostle supposes here that these Galatians were well enough affected whilst he was present with them but it did not continue in his absence it soon wore off and therefore he wills them to be Zealously affected always They who still frequent and keep close to the Worship and Communion of the Church may be well enough suppos'd to be Zealously affected towards it but they who come to it only to serve a turn may be justly thought otherwise yea when they who seldom or never attend the publick Worship of a sudden on a particular occasion flock in great Numbers to it and with that Formality and Appearance too as if with Jehu they would alarm Spectators to come and see their Zeal for the Lord of Hosts This is very suspicious and looks more like the result of Contrivance and Design than the effect of true and sound Religion For true Zeal is permanent and lasting it proceeds from a vital Principle within which will maintain a kindly and constant heat in the Soul 't is not like the fits of an Ague that come and go again but like the Altar Fires that were always kept burning or the Vestal Flames that never went out 't is true indeed it may and does admit of intermissions but 't is never extinguish'd but like the natural heat of the Heart 't will abide as long as Life continues All that seeming Zeal of the Hypocrite that so often wears off and grows cold again is but false Fire 't is only a painted and no real Flame If you observe it you shall find some Men at some Times and in some religious Exercises exceeding warm and zealous their Affections seem all in a flame and themselves under the transports of Divine Love who yet in a little time grow cold again and have no appearance of Life or Heat left in them These are only paroxysms of Zeal and the preternatural heats of the Hypocrite's Devotion whereas true Zeal is ever more uniform and lasting and where the Spirit is truly touch'd with this Coal from the Altar 't will preserve an habitual constant light and heat in the Soul To this end Zeal must be sober and well temper'd not over hot and violent for Nullum violentum est perpetuum No violent thing is lasting Such transports spend the Spirits too fast to continue long Nature struggles under any violence and labours to be eas'd and rid of it and Religion too groans under such violent fits of Zeal and cannot long continue in such extreams and therefore such transient fiery heats are far from the sobriety of Religion and the temper of true Devotion The Prophet resembles some Men's Righteousness to the Morning Cloud and the early Dew that soon passeth away and we may liken others to a flash of Lightning which gives a short blaze but is quickly out The Apostle observes of some of these Galatians
THE True Reformation of Manners OR THE NATURE and QUALIFICATIONS OF True Zeal IN A SERMON Preach'd in the Parish-Church of BRIDGWATER Occasion'd by a more than ordinary Concourse of Dissenters there upon that Pretence By MATTH HOLE B. D. And Vicar of Stokegursy in Somersetshire 2 King 10.16 Come with me and see my Zeal for the Lord. OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield for Henry Clements 1699. TO THE READER THE design of the ensuing Discourse is not to hinder but promote Reformation by directing to the true way and means conducing thereunto Neither is there any thing in it to Reproach but only to Regulate our Zeal which derives all its Goodness from the Object or End to which it is directed and like Fire is either useful or dangerous according as it keeps or leaves its due place and bounds I know 't is hard and perhaps improper too to treat coldly of this Subject which is apt to excite a Warmth in the Speaker and to enkindle also some Heat in the Hearers And therefore 't will require no small Skill to know the true limits and measures of this Vertue and likewise no less Care to observe and keep within them For private Persons to be very solicitous about the amending their own Ways and reforming their particular Errors and Vices is a very commendable Property and Duty of a good Christian But for such to be over-busy and clamorous about the Reforming others is many times to go out of their Station and to meddle with things that appertain not to them True Reformation like Charity begins at home and makes Men more careful to correct their own Faults than to pry into and censure the Manners of others Such Censores morum had need have not only sufficient Authority but an exemplary and unspotted Integrity lest their own Miscarriages should upbraid the forwardness of their Zeal and confute their goodliest Pretences They that can allow themselves in the hainous Sins of Schism Division and Disobedience may indeed talk and pretend much to Reformation but can never be true Reformers Such a preposterous Zeal hath commonly very bad Designs conceal'd under it and 't is well known what direful Evils have been contrived and acted under this mask of Reformation So that we are concern'd to watch our Zeal as we do our Fire lest it grow headstrong and exorbitant and set not only whole Houses but whole Kingdoms in a Combustion that we be not twice deceiv'd by the same Artifice I hope this warm Subject hath not transported me beyond the Bounds of Reason and Meekness in the handling of it and that no wise Reader will see any just cause to complain of it as Satyrical or Sarcastical To rectify a mistaken Zeal and prevent the Danger of it were the sole Ends of Preaching this Sermon and to answer the Requests of some and remove the Prejudices of others were the true Reasons of its Publication FAREWEL A Sermon c. GALAT. IV. Part of the 18th Verse It is good to be Zealously affected always in a good thing THE occasion of these Words was from some false Teachers that had crept into the Churches of Galatia with a design to destroy the Credit of the Apostle and the Doctrine deliver'd by him To which end they preach'd up Circumcision and other Rites and Ceremonies of Moses's Law on purpose to undermine the Truths of the Gospel In this Attempt they prevail'd so far as to shake the Faith of many who began to decry the Apostle and to cry up those deceitful Teachers above him This put St. Paul in this Chapter upon reasoning the Case with them ver 16. Am I become your Enemy because I tell you the Truth i. e. Am I become vile and despicable in those eyes which you would not long since have pluck'd out and given to me How comes this change to be made in you that the great Love you lately bore to my Person and Doctrine is thus of a sudden turn'd into a Hatred of both Why he found that an Enemy had done this i. e. Those false Teachers taking the opportunity of his Absence had planted their Tares to hinder the growth of that good Seed he had sow'd among them and therefore with great earnestness cautions these Galatians against them as the great enemies of their Faith and Salvation leting them know that whatever shew they might make of Zeal towards GOD or Affection towards them there was nothing under it but Falshood and Hypocrisy They Zealously affect you saith he ver 17. but not well There is no Sincerity in their goodliest Pretences and in all they say or do their Love is not to you but themselves Yea They would exclude you saith he that you might affect them meaning that they would shut you out from the true Faith that you might affect their Persons and embrace their Errors Wherefore he wills them to beware of them and to shun them as Cheats and Impostors and from their false and counterfeit Zeal takes occasion to recommend True Zeal to them in the Words of the Text But it is good to be Zealously affected always in a good thing In treating of which Words I must enquire First Into the Nature of Zeal and shew what it is to be Zealously affected Secondly I must speak to the two Qualifications of true Zeal mention'd in the Text the one respecting the Time of its continuance which must be always the other the Object about which it is to be employ'd which is a good thing Thirdly I must shew the Goodness or Excellency of true Zeal from those Words It is good to be Zealously affected c. Fourthly I must lay open some of the Mistakes and Miscarriages of Zeal and then conclude with an Inference or two from the whole I begin then with the Enquiry into the Nature of Zeal that we may see what it is to be Zealously affected and here we may note First That Zeal in the general Notion of it is a warmth of Mind that carries it out in an eager pursuit of its Object accompanied with Indignation at any thing that opposes or lies in its way And this is sometimes in Scripture and other Authors taken in a bad fence for Emulations Wrath and bitter Envyings St. James makes mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter Zeal proceeding from an over-heated and exasperated Mind and is translated bitter Envyings Jam. 3.14 St. Paul reckons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is render'd Emulations among the works of the flesh Gal. 5.20 This is an inordinate heat of the Soul whereby 't is carried out too eagerly after some earthly sensual Objects or Designs But passing by this we are now to treat of a Religious Zeal which is a warm and powerful Inclination of the Mind after Heaven and Heavenly things For the better understanding whereof we must note 2ly That Zeal is not any one single Passion or Affection but a mixture or composition of more 't is made up chiefly of Love
that they ran well for a time in their Christian Course but they soon waxed faint and tired and so lost the Prize for not holding out to the end of the Race Christianity is often in Scripture styl'd a Warfare in which you know 't is not the furious Charge but the deliberate Courage and Constancy that wins the Field In like manner 't is Perseverance only that commends our Zeal and crowns our Actions with success and victory And therefore the Apostle wills us to hold on in our Christian Course and to be zealously affected always even to the end which is the first Qualification of true Zeal The second respects the Object about which it is conversant and that must be a good thing It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing where we are taught to measure the goodness of our Zeal not by the height of the Passions of which 't is compos'd but by the goodness of the thing about which 't is employ'd And here two things are to be observ'd for the better clearing of this Matter As First The object of our Zeal may be sometimes a thing that is evil and yet a Zeal about it may be a good and commendable thing as for example All Sin in general and particularly Atheism Profaneness Sacriledge Schism and the like are all very bad things and yet to be zealous against these is to be Zealously affected in a good thing but here the Zeal consists not in the love but hatred of them not in practising but punishing of them yea the worse the thing is the better is the Zeal that is employ'd against it Thus the more bold and daring any Sin or Wickedness is grown the higher act of Zeal is it to oppose and suppress it Again Secondly A thing may be materially good and yet a Zeal about it may be sometimes a very bad thing as for instance All acts of Religion in general and particularly Praying Hearing Reformation of Manners and the like are all very good things and yet a seeming Zeal about them may be sometimes a very evil and pernicious thing as when they are embas'd by bad Ends and made use of to promote evil Designs you know the Pharisees made long Prayers the better to devour Widows houses you cannot be ignorant how some upon occasion attend the publick Worship only to qualify them for an Office and take the holy Sacrament to enable them to undermine the Communion of the Church Do not some talk much of reforming the Manners of others without any regard at all to their own 'T is no new thing to pretend Reformation to carry on very bad Designs and we all know what vile things have been acted under a cloak and colour of Religion so that a great talk and appearance for Reformation may be rather Collusion than Zeal and a pompous shew of Religion about it may be rather a mocking than serving of GOD. In short A thing may be materially good and carry a fair shew of being so and yet may want many Qualifications that are necessary to make it really and in truth such It may proceed from a bad Principle be carried on by bad Means and tend to a bad End either of these may spoil the goodness of the thing and marr the Zeal that is employ'd about it The Object then of Zeal may be good and evil and a hearty loving of the one and hating the other will justify our Zeal in both for as Goodness hath charms enough to engage the Affections so Sin hath deformity enough to beget dislike and aversation and consequently to be zealous for the one and against the other is in both to be zealously affected in a good thing But to come to particulars What are those good or evil things about which our Zeal may be thus lawfully and laudably employ'd I shall mention some of the chief of them the better to direct you in these great and weighty Matters of Religion As First To be zealous for the Glory of GOD and the Honour of his Laws is to be zealously affected in a good thing The Glory of GOD is the great end of our Creation and as the Almighty ever propounds it to Himself so ought we to make it the principal aim and scope of all our Actions Whether ye eat or drink saith the Apostle or whatever ye do do all to the praise and glory of God 1 Cor. 10. This is to be the chief care and business of our Lives in which if we are sincere we cannot easily exceed for the highest degrees of all pious Affections are to be fix'd on GOD He is to have our most ardent Love our strongest Desire our firmest Hope our purest Joy all which when screw'd up to the highest pitch fall vastly short of the infinite Perfections of his Nature and our great Obligations to his Goodness And therefore our Minds should be eagerly bent on things whereby GOD may be glorified that his Power Wisdom and Goodness may be celebrated in the World and his Praises sound to the ends of the Earth Again We are to set our selves with all our might and main against those things whereby GOD may be dishonoured his Name prophan'd his Worship neglected or contemn'd we are to have a tender love and esteem for GOD's Laws and be deeply affected with the breach and violation of them These are proper Matter for our Zeal and are to be prosecuted with the utmost warmth and vigour of all our Faculties and when we stand thus affected to the Honour of GOD and his Laws then may we be truly said to be zealously affected in a good thing yea in the chiefest good and the best of things Secondly To be zealous for the Honour of CHRIST and the Doctrine deliver'd by Him is to be zealously affected in a good thing This is the Zeal here recommended by St. Paul namely To strive for the Truths of the Gospel against those false Teachers that would subvert or undermine them And herein we of this Age ought to be more than ordinarily zealous when the Being and Divinity of CHRIST are both call'd in question and the Mysteries of the Gospel not only denied but derided Is not a Crucified Saviour once more become a stumbling block to some and to others foolishness And do not too many use their Tongues and Wits in decrying all Divine Revelations And is it not time to appear for Christ and his Religion in such a profane and dissolute Age St. Jude exhorts Christians to Contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints and elsewhere we are charg'd not to let go but to hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering meaning that we should not betray it by Cowardise nor corrupt it with Error nor suffer it to be lost or swallowed up by Infidelity but to come forth in the defense of the Truth against all its Adversaries to use our utmost endeavours in our several Stations to vindicate the
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