Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	earnest_a	zeal_n	zealous_a	11	3	8.7239	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44148	The true reformation of manners, or, The nature and qualifications of true zeal in a sermon preach'd in the parish church of Bridgewater : occasion'd by a more than ordinary concourse of dissenters there, upon that pretence / by Matth. Hole ...	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.	1699 (1699)	Wing H2414; ESTC R8060	15,367	34

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

and unaffected Pone in pectore dextram nil calet There is no heat or warmth at all within even when it seems to burn and flame most without Of this kind was the Zeal of the Pharisees who fasted and prayed to be seen of men and did all their good Works meerly for Vanity and Ostentation they had no inward Principle of spiritual Life or Motion but were acted meerly by external Motives and Inducements such are the superficial heats of too many Zealots who seem all on fire without when the Heart like Nabal's is as cold as a Stone Fourthly There is a Temporary Zeal which like a Vapour or Comet appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away such was that of Jehu who drove on furiously for a time and destroy'd the Monuments of Idolatry but being settled in the Kingdom his Zeal for Religion was at end and turn'd only to his own advancement Such likewise was the Mercenary and Selfish Zeal of those that followed our blessed Saviour for the Loaves and kept with him while any thing was to be gotten by him but when that fail'd they forsook and walked no more with him This is a Flame that is blown in and out with the Wind and varies with every blast Again Fifthly There is a partial Zeal which makes Men warm in some Duties of Religion and cold in others of equal necessity and importance and likewise very earnest in suppressing one or more Vices and yet very favourable and indulgent to others equally crying and enormous If you observe it you will find some hot enough for Preaching but cold for Praying and tho' they talk much of reforming of others Manners are yet but too careless and negligent of their own May we not see many great Enemies indeed to Idolatry and Profaneness who yet are well enough reconcil'd to Sacriledge and Schism and make up that with advantage to one Vice which they seem to take from another This is to compound the Matter with GOD and to make the keeping of one Law atone for the breach of another True and thorough Reformation extends to the hatred of all Vice and the practice of all Vertue without which the most zealous pretences to Reformation are but falshood and hypocrisy Sixthly There is a busy pragmatical Zeal that carries private Men beyond the bounds of their own Calling and Business and makes them invade the Callings and Business of others intruding into the Offices of Princes Magistrates Judges and Ministers prying into and censuring the Actions of their Superiors and dictating to those by whom they are to be govern'd These are those busy-bodies mention'd by the Apostle who meddle with things they understand not and belong not to them True Zeal makes Men study to be quiet and do their own business without thrusting themselves unseasonably into other Men's it puts Men upon the study of their own Hearts mortifying their own Sins and reforming their own Lives which is enough to employ the Zeal of the Best Christian whereas 't is too apparent how some Men's Zeal prompts them to wander too much abroad and to converse too little at home hence you shall find them very fierce and forward in declaiming against the Sins of others as if they had none of their own to amend or complain of how frequently do they call to Heaven for Vengeance on National Wickedness as if they had no share in the Guilt and were secur'd from bearing a part in the Punishment of it Yea 't is no new thing for them to condemn that in others which they allow in themselves and to inveigh bitterly against others failings when at the same time they easily overlook their own enormities This is the guise and practice of too many Zealots which may carry something of the shew but hath nothing of the substance and reality of True Religion Lastly The Zeal commended in our Text hath respect to Things not Persons 't is good to be zealously affected always in a good Thing A Zeal either for or against Persons is commonly factious and disorderly The having some Men's Persons in Admiration and others in Contempt hath occasion'd most of the Schisms and Divisions in the Christian Church This was the great fault of the Corinthians who by crying up one Teacher to the decrying of another fell into sundry Parties and Factions which St. Paul sharply rebuked in them tho' their Zeal ran mightily towards himself for finding they had made him the Head of a Party he severely check'd their partiality and the more they sought to magnify him the more he endeavour'd to lessen himself Who saith he is Paul and who is Apollo Who saith an eminent Father on those Words why they were some of the chief Apostles and Ministers of Christ And yet we find St. Paul not only stileing himself the least of the Apostles but the greatest of Sinners to keep men from having too high thoughts and admiration of him And if it were strife and envying to set up for Paul or Apollo or Cephas certainly it can be no true Zeal to set up for far inferior Persons This is a Matter worthy the consideration of all such as have Men's Persons in admiration running after different Teachers to the great disturbance of the Church which is the great misery and malady of our unhappy Age. And now for the application of this Discourse tho' many useful Lessons might be infer'd from it yet I shall confine my self to two which very naturally and easily flow from it For If it be good to be Zealously affected in a good thing then 1st It must be bad to be Zealously affected in an ill thing and 2ly It can be no better to be lukewarm and coldly affected in a good thing Of both which that I may not trespass too much upon your patience I shall speak very briefly And 1st We may learn from hence that 't is bad to be Zealously affected in an ill thing 'T is a double fault first to espouse a bad Cause and then to be warm and zealous in promoting it he that is out of the way the faster he goes the farther he goes out of it and to set him right he must go it back again and mend his pace after To rectify a bad Zeal we must alter and unravel our former Course and labour to undo all that we have done amiss True Zeal is always against and never for an evil thing and therefore to be zealous for a Party and hot in promoting Faction or Division is to employ it in a very bad thing To favour a wrong Cause or discountenance a good one are both equally abominable and he that is warm in either is clearly out of the way and can never judge righteous Judgment to spend our Zeal in encouraging of Schism and promoteing disorder and disturbance in the World is to put one of the best things to one of the worst uses and therefore we find Zeal commonly compar'd to Fire than which as no Element is more useful and reviving whilst it remains on the Hearth and keeps within its due place and bounds so none is more pernicious and destructive when once refusing confinement it breaks forth and invades the House-top For the same reason 't is sometimes compar'd to the natural heat of the Body which in its due temper and moderation is the spring both of Life and Health and the source of all vital Operations but when it grows into excess and breaks out into burning Feavers it inflames the Spirits and sets on fire the whole Course of Nature Just so is it with Zeal which if duly plac'd and regulated is the support and ornament of the Soul fills it with a lively and vigorous Heat and fits it for brave and noble Undertakings but when 't is misplac'd or runs into excess 't is no better than Wild-fire and sets whole Countries into a combustion which shews what great care is to be taken that it be guided with Knowledge and plac'd upon right Objects such as may be not only materially but in all its It being equally evil to be zealous in a bad Cause and lukewarm in a good let us endeavour to avoid both extreams and learn so to regulate and fix our Zeal that it may be still placed on right Objects kept within its due bounds and directed to good ends So shall this Sacred fire improve into a Celestial flame that will be still burning in our Breasts towards God and for ever derive upon us the blessed Influences of Divine Love Which God grant for the sake of Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honor Might Majesty and Dominion both now and for evermore FINIS