CHAP. IX.

Of Zeal. What in general is meant by Zeal; and what is that perfection of holiness in which it confifts. Whether the perfect man must be adorned with a confluence of all virtues; and to what degree of holiness be ́may be fuppofed to arrive.

I

on,

Am arrived at the last stage of perfectiwhich I chufe to call a ftate of zeal; not only because the feripture seems to direct me to this expreffion, but also because it feems to me more full and proper than others, that may be, or are made ufe of for the fame end. Aftate of union is an expreffion that better fuits another life than this. For the leffon the perfect man is ever and anon to revolve in his mind, is, that the prefent life is a life of labour, and travel, and fufferings; the future one, of rewards, and crowns, and enjoyments. Then as to that other expreffion, the ftate of love, it fuits my purpose well enough; but does not come up fo juftly and exactly to it, as the state of zeal; for I take zeal to be love, in the utmost elevation and vivacity that it is capable of.

And now, what a noble, what a fruitful argument am I entring upon? Methinks I feel my foul grow warm, and in

kindle

kindle upon my approaching it; and my firft views or contemplations of it infpire me with defires of the fame nature with it self. I am concerned to fee my felf confined and limited by the laws of method; and find my felf inclined to wifh, that I were now to write, rather a juft volume, than a few pages. Here the heroic acts, or, what is more, the heroic lives of faints, martyrs, and confeffors, prefent themselves to my thoughts; here human nature, enriched, adorned, and elevated to the utmoft degree, by a participation of the divine one; here the power of God's Word, the energy of the Holy Ghoft, the triumphs of faith, and the extafies of love, would be defcribed; here the different excellencies of different virtues, and the different value of good works, fhould be ftated and fettled, and the various paths, in which men purfue the heights of virtue and the nobleft defigns be examined, and folid piety and true wisdom be refined from the alloys and mixtures of enthusiasm, fuperftition, fancy, or whatever elfe they are disfigured and debased by. But this cannot now be done, and it may be it could not at all be done by me: no meafure of the Spirit, peradventure, below that with which the apoftles were infpired, is fufficient to treat this argument as it requires. Befides, according

cording to my capacity, I have been all along making this point. When, in the first fection, I ftated the notion of perfection, fhewed by what fteps we advanced to it, what means we are to make ufe of, and what would be the fruit of it, I did in effect defcribe to my reader, the state of zeal, and marked out the path that leads to it. When, in the fecond, I labour to establish the true liberty of man, upon the overthrow and extirpation not only of mortal fin, and of idleness and lukewarmness, but also, as far as it might be, even of fin of infirmity, and original corruption; what else was I doing, but profecuting this one defign, namely, the implanting and propagating in the world the ftate of zeal? However, fomething there feems to me yet wanting to compleat my undertaking; and that I am to endeavour now. To which end I will here difcourfe of three things,

1. What it is in general I mean by zeal. 2. What is that Perfection of holiness or righteousness, wherein it confifts And,

3. Of the efficacy or force of this bolinefs, as it exerts it felf in good works. Of thefe, the two former fhall be the argument of this; the third of the following .chapter.

§. 1. Of

§. 1. Of zeal in general, what it is. I do not exclude fome degrees of zeal, from every period of the Chriftian's life; fincerity cannot fubfift wholly without it. The. hunger and thirst after righteousness, which is the fubject of one of our Saviour's Beatitudes, must be more or lefs in every child of God. But it may fignify one thing in the infant, another in the adult Christian; in the one, the conquest of sin, or rather of the reliques and remains of former finful habits, and the attainment of habitual goodness, is the object of this bunger and thirst: in the other, it imports a vehement defire of whatever is yet wanting to a farther accomplishment and confummation of righteoufnefs already fixed and established; the entire and ultimate perfection of it in heaven; and in the mean time, the promoting the divine glory upon earth, whatever it coft him to do fo. By a ftate of zeal then, I here mean virtue or holiness, not in the bud, or in the bloffom, but in its full ftrength and ftature, grown up, and ripe, and loaded with bleffed fruits: I mean that holiness that is the refult of illumination, or clearnefs of judgment, of the ftrength and force of holy refolution, and the vigour and energy of holy paffions. In a word, I mean that folid, fpiritual, and operative religion,

D d

religion, which may be felt and enjoyed by us our felves, in the ferenity and tranquillity of confcience, the longings and breathings of pious defires, the joys and pleasures of a rational affurance; difcerned by the world in our lives and actions, in the modefty of our garb, in the plainness and humility of all things elfe that pertain to the port of life; in the temperance of our meals, the purity and heavenlinefs of converfation, the moderation of our defigns and enjoyments, the inftruction of our families, with a tender and indefatigable watchfulness over them; the conftancy of our attendance upon, and the devoutness of our deportment in, the publick worship of God; and finally, in the activity and generofity of our charity: or, to speak my thoughts in the language of St. Paul, a ftate of zeal, is that perfection or maturity of holiness, which abounds in the works of faith, the labour of love, and the patience of hope, in our Lord Jefus Chrift, in the fight of God, and our Father, 1 Theff. i. 3. Now the end of all this is, the advancing the glory of God and therefore zeal is well enough defcribed or defined, by an ardent or vehement defire of doing fo. Now this is advanced two ways: first, by our perfonal and inherent holiness and, fecondly, by the fruit of

it,

1.1