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A45376
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A discourse concerning zeal against immorality and prophaness deliver'd in two sermons in St. Michaels Church Dublin, October 29, and November 26. 1699.
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Hamilton, William, d. 1729.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing H488; ESTC R216947
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47,580
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69
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A DISCOURSE CONCERNING ZEAL AGAINST Immorality and Prophaness Deliver'd in Two SERMONS IN St. Michaels Church DVBLIN October 29 and November 26. 1699. DUBLIN Printed by Joseph Ray in Skinner-Row for Jacob Milner Bookseller in Essex-Street 1700. TO THE SOCIETIES FOR REFORMATION of MANNERS I Consented the more readily to Publish the following Discourse least I might be suspected as wanting that Zeal my self which I Recommended to others and as Afraid of those Censures which I Exhorted you to Despise Since therefore you think the Publication of it may do some Service to Religion and Promote that Excellent Undertaking wherein you have engag'd your selves I do willingly put it into your Hands without making any Apology for those Defects which may render it lyable to Exceptions For True Zeal Studies to do Good rather than to Please To Improve Men in Piety not to Gratifie a Vain Curiosity Plain Dealing is a Part of its Character and it boldly tells Men necessary tho often disobliging Truths being more concern'd that the Food it gives be Wholesome and Nourishing than Drest up with great Nicety and Art That GOD wou'd Strengthen and Improve your Zeal and add to your Numbers many more Zealously Affected in all good things That he wou'd Bless your Endeavours against Vice and Prophaness with Success and make You happy Instruments of Advancing and Establishing a General Reformation of Manners and at last Reward your Piety and Zeal with the Glories and Happiness of Heaven Is with great Sincerity Pray'd for by Your Faithful and Affectionate Servant William Hamilton Gal. IV. xviii It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing THE Two great Extremes in Religion opposite to the genuine Spirit of Christianity and equally destructive of it are a Cold Indifference on the one hand on the other an Intemperate Zeal This Transports a Man beyond all bounds of Sobriety and Prudence and where the other prevails that Life and Fervour must be wanting without which we can neither be good Christians our selves nor successful Instruments in making others so So that it is in the Moral as in the Natural World wherein there are violent Degrees both of Heat and Cold there are Regions continually expos'd to the Suns hottest Rays there are others under the constant power of Ice and Snow in the one you Freeze you are Scorch'd in the other But still betwixt these Extremes lye Temperate Climates where Cold and Heat are regularly divided where there 's enough of each to answer the Necessities of Nature and Ends of Creation Thus it is thus it ought to be in Religion we are to choose a middle way betwixt the Lethargy of the Careless and Violence of the Zealot A Religious warmth shou'd actuate our Spirits but no Wild-Fire shou'd inflame them We shou'd have a hearty concern for the Honour of GOD and the Promotion of Piety and an equal abhorrence of Prophaness and Vice but then Modesty and Humility Sincerity and Prudence shou'd still accompany our Zeal It shou'd be Peaceable and Impartial its End manifestly good its manner of Acting Regular and Legal And then it wou'd be such Zeal as St. Paul recommends to us It is good to be Zealously Affected always in a good thing Zeal in the general acceptation of the World signifies such a fervent emotion of our Spirits such an inflammation of our Passions and Affections as makes us pressing and earnest in the pursuit of any undertaking together with some degree of Trouble and Impatience at our being oppos'd in our Designs and obstructed in the attainment of them Whatever we vigorously contend for and prosecute with a strong endeavour for that thing we may be said to be Zealous Zeal then resides in the Affections and has its sway over them and indeed whenever we are Zealously Affected all our Passions and Affections have new Heat and Vigour infus'd into them and they become more strong and lively than before Our Love fixes on the Object of our Zeal and we grasp it with a powerful bent of desire and Zeal excites our passion of Hatred against whatever is contrary to the thing we Love Zeal enlivens our hopes with the flattering expectations of success but sometimes dejects our Spirits with the apprehensions of disappointment Great Joy attends a Prosperous Zeal and 't is hard not to be griev'd when we are Zealous in vain So that Zeal is strictly nothing else but a very strong and active warmth of the two prevailing Passions of Love and Hatred of Love towards what appears Good and Excellent Of Hatred against what we judge Evil and Dangerous all our other Passions and Affections Fears and Hopes Joy and Grief being consequent upon these Thus for Example Do we passionately Love GOD and Burn with some degree of Angels Fire Does he possess the Chief Empire of our Hearts and Minds and do we suffer nothing to out-Rival him in our Affections The consequence of this must be that with great industry and application we propagate his Service and earnestly contend for his Glory That we make it the constant matter of our Study and Prayers to engage others to Love his Name and Obey his Laws That our most sensible Grief shall be the effect of seeing him Dishonour'd our greatest Joy of seeing Religion Prosper And thus we may be said to be Zealously Affected towards GOD. Again do we hate and abhor Sin with the same degree of Passion wherewith we love GOD Do we see something in it contrary to the Divine Nature to Infinite Purity Justice and Goodness as also to our own reason and Happiness Then we must needs labour to destroy it as a common Enemy and cannot but mightily Rejoyce when we do it with any Success And so we are Zealously Affected against Sin I own the Word Zeal is frequently in Scripture taken in a bad sence Emulations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are by St. Paul reckon'd among the works of the Flesh Gal. 5.20 And St. James cautions us against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bitter Envying or Zeal Ja. 3.14 And indeed it is the Object of our Zeal together with its manner of acting that renders it either Vertuous or Unlawful a Duty or a Sin If we envy our Neighbours Happiness are uneasie at his Prosperity and pleas'd with his Misfortunes Then is our Zeal highly Wicked it is the prevailing Quality the very Essence of the Devil But if our Zeal fixes upon a right Object proposes as its end something morally good and prosecutes that end by fair justifiable Methods Then is it a Commendable and Christian Zeal But now to render our Zeal truly such these two Qualifications are necessary That it be constant and lasting and that it be employed in a good thing I. Our Zeal must be constant and lasting It is good to be Zealously Affected always True Zeal is no sudden Heat no violent Transport nor gust of Passion which is vehement for a while but soon blows over but is a constant Religious frame of
do generally improve and nourish Virtue and will it not be base and dishonourable shou'd we hereafter fall short of what is publish'd to the World concerning us Are our Magistrates and Clergy Commended for discharging their Duty with so much Zeal And shou'd not those among us Blush who are conscious to themselves that they are Intitled to none of these Praises Let us then resolve not to lose the Reputation we have already gain'd least it be hereafter as publickly declar'd of us that for a while indeed we seem'd warm and in earnest against Vice but that our First Fervours are gone and we are unhappily reconcil'd to our Old Sins and are lyable to the Character of the Foolish Builders who began a good Work indeed but cou'd not bring it to an end 'T is true we ought no more to do a Good Action to be Prais'd of Men than we shou'd do an Evil one to avoid their Censures And I trust in GOD that your Zeal will never be Infected with the least mixture of Vain Glory Yet just Praises are the Rewards of Virtue and shou'd be so esteem'd And it is our Duty not only to be sincerely Religious but open Advocates for Piety to stir up others by our Zeal and so to let our Light shine before Men that they may see our good Works and Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven I might mention as another Motive to excite and confirm your Zeal against Prophaness and Vice the necessity of it to avert the just Wrath and heavy Judgments of GOD and the reason we have to expect and dread them if Iniquity still prevail And that we can hope to escape them on no other Terms than our Endeavouring with great Industry and Sincerity to suppress all kinds of Wickedness The truth of this might be easily demonstrated from the Word of GOD and from the End and Reason of this Judgments this is most apparent from his Method of dealing with other Nations of this we may be convinc'd from his dealings with our selves But this has been so fully insisted on and largely prov'd by others that I shall do no more than name it And pass on to a Fifth Motive to excite and confirm our Zeal for Reformation of Manners and against all Prophane and Immoral Practices namely that we have reason to hope that it may prove hereafter an excellent means of Uniting the Establish'd Church and the Dissenters and of Propagating the Reform'd Religion among those who are Strangers to it and prejudic'd against it It will not be here needful to inquire into the Immediate Causes of our unhappy Divisions nor shall I take up your time in Lamenting the Miseries which have been and still are the consequences of them It concerns us much more to learn how our Breaches may be Heal'd and those Wounds Cur'd which have often reduc'd our Religion to a very Languishing Condition And they who have most seriously considered this matter have with great reason observ'd that nothing will more allay our Heats and Animosities nothing lay a better Foundation for a firm and lasting Union among Protestants than our becoming Zealous and Active against Vice and Prophaness For First our jointly endeavouring to beat down Publick Wickedness must needs Unite the Affections of all those who are concern'd in that Excellent Undertaking We cannot but Love and Value all who have an Active Zeal for GOD and Religion tho in some things their Judgments may be different from ours There are Charms in Piety which none can resist and if we Love GOD our selves we must Love those also who serve him in Humility and Sincerity of Heart tho we may judge them mistaken in things of lesser Moment But now Unity of Affection is a necessary Preparative for Unity of Judgment and true Holy Zeal Unites the Minds as well as Hearts of all those in whom it dwells And if we go on to assist one another in Suppressing Lewdness Immorality and Prophaness we will soon be convinc'd that differences of Opinion about the circumstances of Religion when we agree in all the Essentials of it shou'd never make us Hate and Calumniate one another But that whatever our Sentiments as to some particulars may be we are Brethren and Fellow Christians Servants of the same Lord Partakers of the same Blessed Hope and Heirs of the same Eternal Kingdom That tho we differ in a little in the Roads we take yet we both direct our Course towards the same Heaven whither they who are truly Pious Humble and Sincere of both Parties may hope to arrive at last and where without Controversie or Dispute they shall for ever dwell together in the profoundest Peace and most charitable Agreement But as our being truly Zealous against Prophaness and Vice has a natural tendency to Unite our Affections so in the Second place it will convince us of the necessity of Uniting together in Worship and Sacraments and every other way For the more Zealous we are against Vice the more clearly will we see the great Mischiefs which are caus'd by our Divisions the more fully will we be convinc'd that they are the great Hindrances of a General Reformation of Manners that the most prevailing Vices and Impieties are owing to them and that till they be remov'd Reformation may be wish'd for but can never be happily Effected For this is the great Popular Objection against our Religion insisted on so much by the Enemies of Piety that there are so many Parties among us that they know not whom to close with and therefore will treat them all with equal Neglect and Scorn This is what some pretend to justifie their Impiety and is the real cause why others are Prophane and cannot be but a Stumbling Block to many weak Minds Besides Dissentions in Religion destroy Ecclesiastical Discipline and deprive Church Censures of their Force They enfeeble the Civil Power and compell Magistrates to Wink at great Irregularities They distract Private Families and separate the nearest Relations Where they prevail the State is seldom free from Tumultuous Disorders not the Church from numerous Heresies and Schisms without end And in short they naturally lead to the Subversion of all sober Religion all Peace and Order Nay our Divisions not only cause most of our Distempers but hinder our Cure they weaken the Hands and obstruct the Endeavours of those who are Zealous for Suppressing Publick Vices For he must be a Stranger to Humane Nature who does not know that so long as there are separate Parties there will be separate Interests and that many will Prosecute their particular Designs to the prejudice of the common cause of Religion One Party will be sometimes for Acting alone and that will raise Jealousies in the other at least there 's cause to fear that they will not always Act with that Confidence in each other upon which in a great measure their Success depends These things I confess ought not to be so and all that can be said