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A41135 A treatise of the affections, or, The souls pulse whereby a Christian may know whether he be living or dying : together with a lively description of their nature, signs, and symptomes : as also directing men to the right use and ordering of them / by that Reverend and faithfull minister of Gods word, M. William Fenner ... finished by himself. Fenner, William, 1600-1640. 1650 (1650) Wing F708; ESTC R9229 161,998 208

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lesse notable to others it is to be feared ye are not zealous for God The second sign of zeal towards God is to be impatient of sinne Zeal as aforesaid is the impatient part of the affections if a man do affect a thing but a little he can be patient without it but if he affect it very deep and with zeal O his affections are set on it and he is impatient if he speed not So that if thou beest zealous against sin thou art impatient of sin thou canst not suffer it Zeal is impatient of whatever is contrary to it That this is the nature of zeal you may see by the poor blinde zeal that was in Paul before his conversion he was zealous to God as he thought and thinking that the Church of Christ were contrary to all men enemies to God and man therefore now in the blindenesse of his zeal he persecutes that way unto death Concerning zeal I persecuted the Church Phil. 3. 6. It was a woful kinde of zeal to persecute the Church but yet there you may gather the nature of zeal it cannot abide that which is contrary and therefore if thou beest zealous against sin thou canst not abide sinne better journey riding studies prayers exhortations any course thou wilt use rather then abide it thou canst never abide any thing that is displeasing to God but resist it to the utmost and this resisting will be First Universal If thou beest zealous there is no sinne thou canst possibly abide Nothing is cold but the fire does resist it so nothing is sin but zeal does resist it to the utmost I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right I hate every false way Psa 119. 128. This is zeal indeed there is never a false way that a man can abide that is zealous To be zealous against one sinne and lukewarm against another this is not zeal Secondly General in all manner of persons First In a friend as well as in an enemy If thou beest zealous thou wilt finde fault with thy friends when they sin as well as observe a fault when thine enemy offendeth Men are apt to observe when their enemy sinneth O how unconscionable is he thus he hath done and so he hath done but if thou beest zealous when thy friend does transgresse thou wilt not abide it Fire will not only labour to consume the water that comes to put it out but also the wood that comes to maintain it So it is with zeal Do not I hate them that hate thee sayes David to God Psal 139 21. He could not abide to count them his friends that were not friends unto God though otherwise they were very friends unto him and may be saved his life and were patrons and benefactors unto him he could not wink at their sins because they were his friends though thy friend be a swearer or a carnal wretch yet if he be thy friend and thou dependest upon him thou canst see it and not see it but if thou beest zealous all his sins thou wilt count discourtesies to thee Secondly In ones childe as well as a servant you shall have many they are angry at every sin a servant commits but if their children do sin they connive it was no such great fault alas he did it unwittingly and what would ye have a childe do say they they can excuse it in their children and lessen it but if thou beest zealous thou canst not abide sinne in thy son any more then a servant thou wilt correct him and curb him and threaten him and counsell him and never endure he should sin if thou canst possibly help it What my son and be wicked what doe I love God and shall I suffer my loins to dishonour him Son know thou the God of thy father otherwise I count thee a bastard and no son This brake old Elies neck because he suffered his sons to be wicked when he by godly severity might have remedied it A zealous man when his son hath committed things worthy of death will not spare him Zech. 13. 3. Thirdly In ones own wife or husband or father or mother as well as in a neighbour zeal cannot abide it husband thou dost not love me as long as thou livest thus wife thy heart is not with me as long as thou dost thus how canst thou love me when thou dost not love God nor thine own soul this is the meaning of our Saviour If any come to me and hate not father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life he cannot be my Disciple Luk. 14. 26. A zealous man cannot abide to yield to sin for the best of them all Fourthly In a rich man as well as in a poor man if thou beest zealous thou canst not abide sin neither in the rich nor in the poor if poor men offend and if beggars be idle and ungodly then thou wilt complain Oh the poor are so wicked they break down our hedges who would releeve them they will not be orderly they lie drinking in Ale-houses and spend it away on the pot therefore who would releeve them But if the rich be keepers of company and vain in their pleasures thou art not so zealous against their sins alas this is no zeal but let a wicked man be as great as King Ahab Micaiah will deal roundly with him Nehemiah will not spare Lords nor Nobles when they sin Neh. 13. 17. For a Magistrate to punish poor Malefactors and not the Gentry when they do transgresse is this zeal no it is cursed partiality Fifthly In ones self rather then in any body else true zeal is more zealous against sinne in ones self then in all the world besides otherwise sayes our Saviour it is hypocrisie and not zeal Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye Mat. 5. 7. Zeal I say is like unto fire it is hot it self first before it heat others may be the fire meets with many other things that it is not able to heat it as the bottom of a kettle of water the fire cannot heat it neverthelesse the fire will be sure to be hot of it self So it is with thee if thou beest zealous against sinne thou wilt be like unto fire rather suffer cold to be in any other then suffer it to be in it self so thou wilt rather suffer sin in any body else then suffer it in thy self thou wilt not suffer sin any where else by thy good will but above all things thou wilt not suffer it in thy self This is the second sign of zeal towards God it is impatient of sin The third sign of zeal towards God is it cannot be quiet till it be assured of Gods favour and of Christ Thou art never earnest for God if thou canst possibly be quiet without assurance of Christ
wrath the covetous person to scrape himself maintenance it's endlesse to recount what innumerable devices men have to compasse what their heart does affect Phalaris deviseth new torments Nero deviseth new cruelties Sardanapalus propounds a reward by a cryer to him that could devise out new pleasure the wicked Lawyer and troublesome Parishioner deviseth new quillets and put-cases to fetch over his poor neighbour the proud minion deviseth new paintings of the face new washings of the body new curlings of the hair new deckings of their neck new-fangled attires and the like the covetous deceiver deviseth new cousenages new conny-catchings pollings rackings gullings c. The Usurer new usuries new covenants and reaches It were long to rehearse what devices are in men to fulfill their unruly affections These wretches are abhorred of the Lord. Solomon sayes there be six yea seven things which the Lord hates and abhors Pro. 6. 16. And in the next verse save one he sayes that a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations is one of them The Lord numbers these men among the damned crew of the Heathen inventers of evil things Rom. 1. 30. Wo unto them that devise iniquity sayes the Prophet Mic. 2. 1. Now see thy wofull condition whoever thou art whose affections are carnal thy devices are all carnal thou dost not devise how thou mayst best serve Almighty God how thou mayst best overcome sinne how thou mayst best glorifie Christ Which of us does set his head a work every day how he may best pray and best repent and best hear and best do every good duty alas there is little such devising among us because our affections stand not this way If our affections were set upon God we would be studying and contriving how to purge all our families how to propagate the glory of God in the Parish how to exhort and reprove and provoke one another to godlinesse A liberall man deviseth liberall things Isa 32. 8. he devises how he may releeve Gods poor Saints how he may set the poor on work how he may help forward the Gospel with his purse if he can finde how An humble man deviseth humble things a peaceable man deviseth peaceable things a holy man deviseth holy things if our affections were set right we would all lay our heads together how the Parish may best be reformed how our scandalous houses may best be removed how the Word that we hear from Sabbath to Sabbath may best be put in practise among us thus it would be if our affections were set upon God but because our affections are not set so hence it comes to passe our devices are carnal The IX Sermon ●ol 3. 2. Set your affections on things that are above c. THere remains the fourth head which is the extremity of the affections and that is zeal Zeal is due only to God and the things of his worship and therefore hence we may see how infinitely they sin that set their affections on things here on earth because they rob God of his due zeal which is the extremity of the affections is due only to God and the things of his worship Phinehas was zealous for his God Num. 25. 13. he gave the zeal of his affections to no other but God Now what is zeal Zeal is a high strain of all the affections whereby the heart puts forth all its affections with might upon that which it absolutely affects five things therefore there are which concurre to the making up of zeal First A high measure of the affections Every measure of the affections is not zeal a man may affect a thing coldly and lukewarmly that is not zeal As a covetous man may have lukewarm good affections to the word But this is not zeal I say zeal is a high measure of the affections Zeal is a metaphoricall word in the Original it 's taken from the seething of water over the fire Every measure of heat in the water is not seething No seething hot is a high measure of heating The Apostle confesses how the false Apostles affected the Galatians They zealously affect you sayes he Gal. 4. 17. he confesses they did affect the Galatians and he confesses they did highly affect them in a very high measure if it had been as well as it was high they zealously affect you that is they highly affect you Clavasius a Casuist for the Pope having run through all the Alphabet of questions in the end of his Book concludeth with zeal Zeal sayes he is a high measure of heat of affection such an one sayes he as I have shewn unto Christ in writing this Book It 's a most devillish saying for his Book is little else then a hellish rhapsody of blasphemies to Christ and magnifyings of his holy father the Pope But therein he sayes right that zeal is a high measure of the affection Secondly As zeal is a high measure of the affections so it is of all the affections I do not say any one of the affections alone or of sundry together But it is a high measure of all the affections Bonaventura and other of the School make it only of love Ludovicus Vives makes it to be compounded of two affections indignation and pity Others to be mixed of anger and love this is not so for zeal is a high strain of all the affections And therefore the Apostle sets it as a generall height of the affections in generall It 's good sayes he to be zealously affected in a good thing Gal. 4. 18. he does not only say it 's good to be zealous in love or zealously angry but generally it 's good to be zealously affected in a good thing Sorrow for sin is good and therefore it 's good to be zealously affected with it Desire of grace is good and therefore it 's good to be zealously affected with it So that then we may be said to be zealous for God when our love to him is earnest our desire of him is earnest our joy in him is earnest our indignation against whatever may dishonour him or dislike him is earnest when we think nothing too good nothing too dear nothing too much to bestow upon him A man may love God in a lukewarm measure hate sin in a lukewarm measure grieve for his corruptions desire faith and repentance delight in good duties pity the miseries of others fear to transgresse Gods Commandment a man may have all these affections thus in a lukewarm measure as this is displeasing to God so it is not zeal Zeal is a high measure the highest strain of all the affections Thirdly As zeal is the highest measure of all the affections so it is with all the might of the soul For when a man does zealously affect any thing his affection is mighty upon it Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with ●ll thy soul and with all thy might Deut. 6. 5. that is thou shalt love him zealously
and must we set them on God this may teach us one lesson by the way we that are Gods Ministers must take notice from hence how to qualifie our preaching namely to stir up the affections of mens hearts Every man sayes Rodolphus Agricola that hath any learning at all is able to teach but concutere affectibus audientem to shake mens affections and turn mens hearts he is an extraordinary man that can doe this after this manner was the preaching of our Saviour he did so move the affections of his hearers that the Text sayes they were astonished at his doctrine Mat. 7. 28. Why so the Exangelist makes answer in the next verse for he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes that is non ita frigidus ut Pharisaei he was not such a frigid and cold Teacher as the Pharisees and Scribes were the people sate like immoveable stocks in their seats when the Scribes were a teaching they were not moved a jot but our Saviour was a powerful Teacher he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes his Sermons were moving and forceable Iohn the Baptist wrought strongly on the affections of his Auditors they could not possibly hold but cryed outr●ght as they heard him The people askt him What shall we do the Publicans cryed out Master what shall we do the Souldiers also whose affections are as hard to be moved as any yet they cried out too and what shall we do Luk. 3. 14. This use is plainly grounded on my Text. Gods Ministers ye know are Gods Instruments to bring men to faith and repentance and reconcile them to God and therefore if this be your duty to set your affections on God we must labour to work on your affections to provoke you to doe it The reasons of it are these First Because the Word is full of affections full of affections of love to wooe a man to God full of affections of pity to yern upon men in their misery full of affections of terrour to terrifie the wicked and therefore that Minister that preaches not affectionately preaches but one half of the Word he preaches but the dead corps of the Truth as I may call it he does not preach the life and the soul of the truth The affections of a speech are the soul of a speech both make up the whole of the Word Is not my Word like unto fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in peeces Ier. 23. 29. If the Word be a fire he that delivers it coldly delivers the Word otherwise then it is Would you not say that a man were ridiculous who when his neighbours house is on fire should go and coldly advise the Parish in this manner O my dear neighbours you should do well to look to your houses lest fire fall upon them as now of late I understood it hath done I pray let me perswade you to provide water otherwise all your goods and mine too will be consumed to ashes it is true that this man sayes but would not men deem him a fool the truth is the truth of affection and he leaves out the affection of the truth Nature hath taught us another course in such a case He would run crying into the street fire fire help help for the Lords sake water water in all haste alas alas we are undone quickly speedily run for ladders pull down this rafter here cut down that beam there untile the house what mean you stir hands arms legs hie thee for water run thee for iron crooks crows hooks buckets haste haste we are all undone Here now is the affection of the truth the like must a Minister do who knowing his people wallow in sin in the state of hell and damnation as many as go on in their courses he ought not with filed phrases and mellow-mouthed words nor with cold exhortations admonish his hearers but he must put in the affection of the Word in his Sermons he must cry fire fire the fire of hell is among you the fire is kindled sin is entred into the soul O the water of tears tears repentance repentance help your selves for Gods sake the devil stands ready to devour you death watches unawares to strike you hell-mouth gapeth to swallow you look about you stirre your selves and consider or ye perish in a moment Leave off your ryots down with your pleasures away with your vanities put on Christ quickly work out your salvation with fear and trembling See ye not men die daily before you on a sudden falling to hell haste haste flatter not your souls time is uncertain the danger is too certain the punishment eternal damnation is intolerable Thus must a Minister preach this truth It is a truth full of affection the affection must be delivered as well as the body of the truth All the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart are only evil c. Gen 6. 5. As this is a truth so there is a great deal of affection in this truth the affection of loathing Do we think when the Lord said it he said it coldly and nakedly all the imaginations c. No he said it with a great deal of affection of loathing c. O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. O that thou hadst known c. As this is a truth so there is a great deal of affection in this truth affection of pity There is a great deal of affection in every threatning a great deal of affection in every command a great deal of affection in every promise in every truth Christ does not bid us preach the letters and syllables and propositions of his Word but his Word Now my Word is like fire sayes God fire is the stirringest element of all elements and therefore if there be any feeling at all in you the Word is able to stir you even as if ye had a fire in your bowels Beloved either we that are Gods Ministers are unskilful to handle the Word or else ye are senselesse and stupid if ye do not sit upon hot coals for to hear it it will make the drunkards heart ake to hear what this Word sayes to him it will make the worldlings heart ake and the secure Christians heart ake The Word is fire Did not our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the Scriptures Luk. 24. 32. The Word did so inflame their affections that their hearts burned to hear it Does not the godly heart burn to hear the sweetnesse of Gods promises and burn when the Scriptures are opened to direct thee And so on the other side does not the Usurers heart burn when the Scriptures are opened that rip up his sins Does not the carnal professors heart burn now and then as he sits when the Scriptures are opened to shew him his rottennesse there be such scorching texts in the Word texts of death texts of judgement texts of hell and damnation they may well make a wicked heart