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
in great Variety of Passions it appear'd in his Hatred his Joy and in his Grief In his Hatred Psal. 26.5 I have Hated the Congregation of the Wicked and will not sit among the Ungodly In his Joy Psal. 122.1 I was glad says he when they said unto me we will go into the House of the LORD He was glad to see Piety prevailing among others and that the Motion of going to the House of the LORD shou'd come from any besides himself But the greatness of his Zeal chiefly shew'd it self in his Grief a truly Zealous Man meeting with many more occasions of Sorrow than Joy from others And therefore the Psalmists Language is sometimes very Mournful Psal. 119.136 Rivers of Waters run down mine Eyes because they keep not thy Law And again vers 158. I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word 1 King 18. How Zealous was Elijah against Idolatry He boldly Reprov'd the King of Israel and destroy'd the Priests of Baal tho he was no Stranger to Jezabels Revengeful Spirit Nay he appeal'd to GOD himself that he had been very Zealous for the LORD GOD of Hosts Neh. 13.15.21 Nehemiah is a Noble Example of Zeal and Courage fit for all Christians but chiefly Magistrates to follow He Contended with the Great Men of Judah for Prophaning the Sabbath He did not modestly pass by their Faults out of respect to their Quality nor gently touch as if afraid to hurt them but oppos'd all abuses of the Sabbath with great Zeal and Resolution and at last effectually suppress'd them tho very general and prevailing The Time wou'd fail me to mention all the Prophets Apostles the Primitive Saints Confessors and Martyrs who have been Eminent Examples of a fervent Zeal who valu'd not Ease nor Fame nor Life so they might propagate the True Religion and effectually discourage Impiety and Vice A Zeal which Conquer'd the World and all the Powers of Darkness to which nothing was too difficult to be done nor too grievous to be suffer'd in so Glorious a Cause If we observe but the single instance of St. Paul we cannot without amazement Reflect upon the many Persecutions Calamities and Afflictions the many Perils by Land and Sea from his own Country-Men and Strangers from open Enemies pretended Friends and false Brethren which his Zeal embold'd him to meet and enabl'd him to bear But behold we have a greater Example of Holy Zeal than he and that is the Son of GOD and Saviour of the World It was Zeal for the Reformation and Happiness of the World brought him down from Heaven and expos'd him to Poverty and Misery and Disgrace here below The same Holy Zeal made him boldly Reprove the Greatest among Men whilst he famiâ—iarly Convers'd with the Meanest made him Toil and Labour and go about doing Good even to those who made him the returns of Hatred for his Good-Will Out of Zeal for the True Religion he Unmask'd the Pharisees and laid open their Hypocrisie and brought upon himself the Hatred and Revenge of that Malicious Dissembling Sect. Nay his Zeal made him once lay aside the Lamb and with the Resentment as well as Authority of an Offended Judge Vindicate the Honour of GOD by Scourging the Buyers and Sellers out of the Temple So that with great Justice does the Evangelist apply that Expression of the Psalmist to our LORD the Zeal of thy House Jo. 2.15.17 hath Eaten me up But the most Stupendous Instance of Divine Zeal is the Blessed Jesus Dying to promote the Glory of GOD and happiness of Mankind We Honour the Zeal of those who are willing to undergo Trouble and run a few Hazards for Religion What then shall we say of the Zeal of our Blessed Saviour Zeal which Nail'd him to the Cross and Shed his Blood and made him yield up the Ghost Zeal which made his Soul all Gloominess and Horror depriv'd him of the usual Manifestations of his Fathers Love forc'd him to cry out that his GOD had forsaken him and in the bitterest Agonies of Soul and Body to expire This was wonderful Zeal indeed nay Zeal that wants a Name being beyond our Expressions and even too narrow Thoughts Yet such as shou'd strongly engage us to the exactest Imitation we are capable of and turn our whole Soul into Flames of Zeal and Love for him to whom we owe whatever we enjoy or hope for who even lay'd down his Life for us to Rescue us from Misery and Intitle us to Eternal Glory Such Examples of Zeal does the Word of GOD set before us the best greatest we can have even Patriarchs Kings Prophets and Apostles and above all the Great Captain of our Salvation the Holy Jesus And while we have these in view can any of us be cold and indifferent in that Service which is most acceptable to GOD the Promotion of Religion and Reformation of Manners In otheâ— Cases Examples raise a Generous Emulation they give us Courage to attempt the most difficult Undertakings and Constancy to endure the greatest Tryals And shall this be the single Instance in which we are not asham'd to be out-done by all Let us then blush and hang down our Heads when we compare our own Slothfulness with the unweary'd Labours of others and find our selves backward to meet with Difficulties and Dangers in a Service wherein so many have chearfully Sacrific'd their Lives But to these Primitive Examples give me leave to add one of this present Age of a Person Eminent for the Greatness of her Station much more for Piety and Goodness whose Memory we all Honour and whose Untimely Death we yet bewail I mean our late Excellent QUEEN whose Zeal for Piety and Religion seem'd to our-shine Her other Excellent Qualities She was not Diverted by the Solicitudes of a Crown from neglecting any Religious Duty Her self Her Example Recommended Piety to the World with all its Native Charms And in Her appear'd all the Majesty of a Queen with the Unaffected Humility of the Devoutest Christian. Nothing went nearer Her Heart than that Immorality and Prophaness She perceiv'd every where prevailing and nothing with so much Joy did She Encourage as what had a tendency towards Reformation of Manners Of which I need give but one Instance the Countenance She gave the Societies for Reformation in England For as we learn from a very Pious and Useful Book Intitled Pag. 8.9 An Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners c. having this Affair laid before her in the absence of the King by a Prelate of Great Learning and Fame the late Lord Bishop of Worcester she had just Sentiments of it and therefore thought it became her to give it Countenance She Graciously condescended to Thank those who were concern'd in it and readily promised them her Assistance and afterwards upon Application made to her Majesty she was pleased to send her Letter to the Justices of Middlesex
Laws against Impiety that whoever dares be Wicked may yet be afraid of a Discovery Then may we look up to GOD and expect his Blessing upon our Endeavours Prayers for Union as well as Reformation Let us but qualifie our selves for it and with great boldness we may say LORD speak the Word and thy Servants shall be Healed And shou'd the goodness of GOD so far bless our Zeal as at once to make it the means of Suppressing our Vices and Curing our Divisions what reason wou'd we have with all the Ardours of the Heavenly Host to Praise and Adore the Divine Clemency and Mercy Love and Peace as among them prevailing every where Piety and Religion gaining Proselites every Day and none daring to be openly Vicious or Prophane These are I own too great Blessings to be fully expected in this World yet we shou'd not distrust GOD's Power nor question his Goodness Great things have succeeded very slender and discouraging Beginnings And it is agreeable to the Wisdom of Providence that it shou'd be so least we shou'd vainly ascribe that to our selves which is wholly due to GOD. But it is not we alone who shall receive all the Benefit of this Holy Zeal for it not only Promotes Unity and Peace among our selves but will be a means of Propagating our Reform'd Religion among those who are Ignorant of it and prejudic'd against it For how comes it to pass that the Reformation for above an Age has been almost wholly at a stand or rather declining And if it has any where gain'd Ground it has in other places lost more whereas at the Beginning it carry'd all before it and nothing cou'd oppose its Conquests The best reason of this that I can give is that the Piety and Zeal the Purity and Stedfastness of our first Reformers Charm'd and Subdu'd their very Enemies They were all Eminent for Holiness and Goodness for Charity and Zeal for Constancy and Patience But now there 's a fatal reverse of things we are fallen into many of those Sinful Courses which heretofore were peculiar to the Church we left Our Zeal has sensibly decay'd Piety Flourishes not among us as it did among them nor is the Reformation of our Lives answerable to that of our Faith But yet if the Spirit which acted our Reformers did again revive in us it wou'd still produce as considerable Effects 'T is very true that the Prejudices which those of the Church of Rome have Suck'd in their Education against us are great and strong yet Exemplary Holiness and Prudent Zeal wou'd in due time perfectly overcome them These wou'd Command Respect even from our Bitterest Enemies and effectually convince them of the Excellency of our Religion did they see so good Fruits of it in our Lives This is the shortest and surest Method of dealing with them for after all that can be said by way of Argument yet that will always be thought the best Church which makes the Best and Holiest Christians And unless our Practices be much better than theirs they will never believe that our Religion can be so We may boast of the Purity of our Faith and Worship and upbraid them with the Superstition and Absurdity of theirs but after all the prevailing Arguments must be the Innocence of our Lives a hearty Zeal for the Honour of GOD express'd in a Vigorous Prosecution of all that 's Vicious and Prosphane These are sensible Arguments and carry along with them powerful and lasting Convictions these the most Ignorant can Comprehned yet the most Learn'd cannot resist Sixthly and Lastly The most prevailing Motive of all and which if duly weigh'd wou'd not only excite and inflame our Zeal but preserve it always Vigorous and Strong is the Consideration of its exceeding great Reward And that with respect to both Worlds in this it affords us the truest Satisfactions and Intitles us to extraordinary degrees of Glory in the other As to this World if there be any such thing as Satisfaction in it any thing exempted from that Vanity and Vexation of Spirit wherewith the Wise-Man has charg'd the whole Creation It does it must consist in the pleasing Reflections of our own Minds upon the good we have done to Mankind by Suppressing Prophaness and Vice and Encouraging Piety and Virtue This is a Pleasure Rational and Noble proper for him who is made after the Image of GOD A Pleasure which stands the Test of Fruition and can never Cloy but daily gives the Soul a grateful Relish of some new Delight A Pleasure which abates our Troubles and qualifies our Pains which blunts the Edge of Sorrow and calms the Disorders of the Soul which inspires us with Courage at the Hour of Death takes away its Sting and deprives it of its Terrors And with what a generous bravery may we expect our end if we have been Instrumental in Advancing Religion among Men If we have liv'd to so good purpose that any one Vice has been lessen'd by our Endeavours and Zeal That one Thought will refresh us more when in a Languishing Condition or on a Dying Bed than the Grandure of Princes or Riches of the World What a Satisfaction must it be to a good Magistrate when about to render an Account of his Oâ—â—ice to the Great King of Heaven to consider that he has been Faithful to him that appointed him has Justly and Impartially Executed the Laws against all sorts of Wickedness To a good Minister When ready to appear before the Great Bishop of Souls that he can Reflect upon his Sincerity and Zeal and Courage in the discharge of his Duty That Vice he still oppos'd And consider'd neither Interest nor Reputation nor Safety when his Masters Service call'd for him To a Sincere Penitent when he looks back upon his Life since his happy Conversion That he made all possible Attonement for his former Injuries to Religion by bringing more to Repentance than he had formerly led astray To all those who make Religion their Business and Reformation of Manners their constant Study To remember how Active how Constant was their Zeal what Labours and Troubles they underwent what Slanders and Calumnies they bore to Punish and Restrain Wickedness and Vice to Maintain and promote Piety and Virtue Such Thoughts as these will wonderfully Support Good Men when they have a near view of Eternity will Relieve their Languishing Spirits and Raise their Dejected Heads and Comfort their Departing Souls But neither the Joys nor Sufferings of this present World are worthy to be compar'd with the Glory that shall hereafter be Reveal'd There are Glories reserv'd for good Men beyond any thing we can conceive or know And of these extraordinary degrees belong to those who are Zealously Affected always in good things To those who with great Industry and Application Promote Reformation of Manners For since that is a Service particularly pleasing to GOD the Reward that attends it shall be proportionably great And GOD will Honour above others
a rational Nature and a Soul that is Immortal that yet does neither A Wicked Man he pities most and with great reason esteems him the most Unhappy of Mankind not an unfortunate Wretch broken upon the Wheel is so miserable since the most exquisite Temporal Torments bear no proportion to Everlasting Burnings Christianity is a Generous Institution and inspires us with a Charitable Concern for the Happiness of others as the great end of it is to qualifie us for the Society of Angels hereafter so where it is allow'd to exert its Power it gives us somewhat of their Divine Temper here makes us endeavour after the Conversion of Sinners and raises strong and lasting Joy in our Souls whenever it is effected And can that Man be esteem'd a sincere Christian who has no regard for his Brothers Eternal Happiness Who will not labour to stop the progress of a Contagious Vice and thereby prevent the Ruin of many Souls Let him pretend what he will to prove that he Loves GOD it is all Hypocrisie and Disguise for it is a Truth Written in Heaven as well as Recorded in Scripture That he who Loâ—es not his Brother whom he has seen can never Love GOD whom he has not seen And what a Melancholly Surprize will it be to many when at the Last Day the Great Judge of the World shall bid them depart from him notwithstanding all their Pompous Devotions and Gawdy appearances of Religion And that because they were not Zealously Affected against Vice and did not Industriously promote Reformation of Manners Because they labour'd not to retrieve the decay'd Spirit of Christianity and were Negligent and Indifferent when the Cause of Religion was at Stake And what various Passions of Indignation of Grief and Shame must distract such unhappy Souls when the Son of GOD shall thus Expostulate with them Can ye hope to dwell with me for whom you never had any true Honour whose Cause you did not Plead whose Interest you did not Espouse Can you say you sincerely Lov'd me when you declin'd my most Necessary Service the Punishment of Vice and Advancement of Piety What tho you did not Prophane my Name your selves yet others you cou'd hear do it with a Smile And did rather Encourage than Suppress that Sin And since through your want of Zeal many escape that Punishment which their Lewdness deserv'd is it not reasonable that you shou'd share in their Torments as you contributed towards their Guilt Therefore you must have no Honour from me whom you did never Honour And seeing you in effect Deny'd me upon Earth by neglecting my Service Justice requires that you shou'd be disown'd by me for ever And what Reply shall such unhappy Sinners be able to make to Infinite Justice when thus Arraign'd before Angels and Men Must they not be struck with silent Horrours at the Charge and Agonies of Soul too big to be utter'd But if they presume to speak at all their Language must be made up of Guilty Acknowledgements They must own the Justice even when they begin to feel the severity of their Sentence Secondly Another Motive to excite and confirm our Zeal in the good things about which it ought to be engag'd suppressing Publick Vice and promoting Reformation of Manners is the consideration of its being the most Honourable Service wherein we can be employ'd A Service of the greatest Dignity and Glory In other Cases the Worth and Greatness of the Person to whom the Service is pay'd renders it Honourable Thus to be intrusted with the most Weighty Affairs of our Prince and Country to Execute the Laws and Encounter the Enemies of both is what Ambitious Men are still aspiring after and wherein they place their Glory and their Happiness But now in this respect no Service so Honourable as Opposing and Suppressing Immorality and Prophaness It is the immediate Service of GOD himself of the Supreme King and Governour of the World before whom all Earthly Princes are as nothing Whose Transcendent Nature nothing can comprehend and who dazles all the Angels with the Brightness of his Glory Again does the Excellency of those who are employ'd in any Service render it Honourable Then none so Honourable as this It is at once the work and delight of Angels and the Heavenly Host esteem it their Priviledge and Glory For wherein consists the employment of the Ministring Spirits of Heaven But in their being the Instruments of GOD's Justice in Punishing his Enemies the Instruments of his Mercy in Rewarding his Servants In their restraining us from Sin by their powerful Influence and awakening us to Repentance by unseen ways Those happy Beings that are above whither Angels or the Spirits of Just Men made perfect are all Zealous of our Reformation They Pray for our Repentance they Rejoice at our Conversion and long for our Society And every Pious Soul that arrives safely among them encreases their Raptures and adds new strength and fervour to their Praises And is not that a Glorious Service whereby we Cooperate with the Holy Angels And must not our being thus employ'd in the Work of Angels be an excellent Preparative for their Conversation Lastly The more useful any Service is the more Honourable it shou'd be esteem'd Thus they who have been Authors of any great Good to the World have been highly Honour'd while Alive and when dead have been Ador'd But what Service so useful as this What way can we do so much good to Mankind as by bringing Obstinate Offenders to Punishment and removing Infectious Examples As by extirpating Vice and promoting Piety and Virtue As by averting the Wrath of GOD and smoothing the way to Heaven Let us not then be asham'd of our Great Masters Service but Praise him for the Honour it confers upon us and while others Glory in their Wisdom their Riches or their Might which are all Imperfect Transient and Vain if we Glory at all let it be in this that we are allow'd the priviledge and inspir'd with Grace to be employ'd in our Heavenly Fathers Business Thirdly Another Motive to excite and confirm our Zeal against Prophaness and Vice is the consideration of those many and Excellent Examples which recommend it And indeed we find none in the Holy Scriptures Eminent for their Piety and Virtue who were not equally remarkable for their Zealous Endeavours against Impiety and all sorts of Wickedness Noah was not only a Worker but Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 verse 7.8 and of Lot it is said that his Righteous Soul was vexed with the Sodomites filthy Conversation How was Moses Transported at the Israelites Idolatry Exod. 32.19 His usual Meekness seem'd to have forsaken him his Anger waxed hot and he cast the Tables out of his Hands and brake them beneath the Mount Numb 25.11 12 13. Phineas's Zeal is Recorded to his Honour it stop'd the Raging Pestilence and Calm'd the Anger of an Incensed GOD. Psal. 106.30 Holy David expressed his Zeal