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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 supposed to arrive.

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Am arrived at the last stage of perfection, which I chuse to call a ftate of zeal; not only because the fcripture seems to direct me to this expreffion, but alfo because it feems to me more full and proper than others, that may be, or are made ufe of for the fame end. A ftate of union is an expreffion that better fuits another life than this. For the lesson the perfect man is ever and anon to revolve in his mind, is, that the present life is a life of labour, and travel, and sufferings; the future one, of rewards, and crowns, and enjoyments. Then as to that other expreffion, the state of love, it suits my purpose well enough; but does not come up to 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 inkindle kindle upon my approaching it; and my first views or contemplations of it inspire me with defires of the fame nature with it self. I am concerned to see my self confined and limited by the laws of method; and find my self inclined to wish, that I were now to write, rather a just volume, than a few pages. Here the heroic acts, or, what is more, the heroic lives of faints, martyrs, and confeffors, present 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 Ghost, the triumphs of faith, and the extasies of love, would be defcribed; here the different excellencies of different virtues, and the different value of good works, should be stated and fettled, and the various paths, in which men purfue the heights of virtue and the nobleft designs be examined, and solid piety and true wisdom be refined from the alloys and mixtures of enthusiasm, fuperftition, fancy, or whatever else 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 measure of the Spirit, peradventure, below that with which the apostles were inspired, is fufficient to treat this argument as it requires. Befides, according

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cording to my capacity, I have been all along making this point. When, in the first section, I stated the notion of perfection, fhewed by what steps we advanced to it, what means we are to make use of, and what would be the fruit of it, I did in effect describe 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 design, namely, the implanting and propagating in the world the state of zeal? However, something there seems to me yet wanting to compleat my undertaking; and that I am to endeavour now. To which end I will here difcourse 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 holiness, as it exerts it self in good works. Of these, the two former shall 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 some degrees of zeal, from every period of the Christian's life; fincerity cannot fubfift wholly without it. The hunger and thirst after righteousness, which is the subject of one of our Saviour's Beatitudes, must be more or less in every child of God. But it may signify one thing in the infant, another in the adult Chriftian; in the one, the conqueft of fin, or rather of the reliques and remains of former sinful habits, and the attainment of habitual goodness, is the object of this hunger and thirst: in the other, it imports a vehement defire of whatever is yet wanting to a farther accomplishment and confummation of righteousness 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 cost him to do so. By a state of zeal then, I here mean virtue or holiness, not in the bud, or in the bloffom, but in its full ftrength and stature, grown up, and ripe, and loaded with bleffed fruits: I mean that holiness that is the result of illumination, or clearness of judgment, of the strength and force of holy resolution, and the vigour and energy of holy paffions. In a word, I mean that folid, spiritual, and operative religion,

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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 assurance; difcerned by the world in our lives and actions, in the modefty of our garb, in the plainness and humility of all things else that pertain to the port of life; in the temperance of our meals, the purity and heavenlinefs of conversation, the moderation of our designs and enjoyments, the instruction of our families, with a tender and indefatigable watchfulness over them; the constancy 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 state 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 Jesus 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 so. Now this is advanced two ways: first, by our personal and inhe

rent holiness: and, fecondly, by the fruit of

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