grow by constant exercise. Strive more and more to carry it into every
little detail of daily life. Watch over your own tongue and temper
throughout every hour of the day,--and especially in your dealings with
servants, children, and near relatives. Remember the character of the
excellent woman:--"In her tongue is the law of kindness." (Prov. xxxi.
26.)--Remember the words of St. Paul: "Let ALL your things be done with
charity." (1 Cor. xvi. 14.) Charity should be seen in little things as
well as in great ones.--Remember, not least, the words of St. Peter:
"Have fervent charity among yourselves;" not a charity which just keeps
alight, but a burning shining fire, which all around can see. (1 Pet.
iv. 8.) It may cost pains and trouble to keep these things in mind.
There may be little encouragement from the example of others. But
persevere. Charity like this brings its own reward.
Finally, teach charity to others. Press it continually on servants, if
you have any. Tell them the great duty of kindness, helpfulness, and
considerateness, one for another. Press it, above all, on children, it
you have any. Remind them constantly that kindness, good nature, and
good temper, are among the first evidences which Christ requires in
children. If they cannot know much, or explain doctrines, they can
understand love. A child's religion is worth very little if it only
consists in repeating texts and hymns. Useful as they are, they are
often learned without thought, remembered without feeling, said over
without consideration of their meaning, and forgotten when childhood is
gone. By all means let children be taught texts and hymns; but let not
such teaching be made everything in their religion. Teach them to keep
their tempers, to be kind one to another, to be unselfish, good-natured,
obliging, patient, gentle, forgiving. Tell them never to forget to their
dying day, if they live as long as Methuselah, that without charity, the
Holy Ghost says, "we are nothing." Tell them "_above all things_ to put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." (Colos. iii. 14.)
VIII
ZEAL
"_It is good to be zealously affected always in a good
thing._"--Gal. iv. 18.
Zeal is a subject, like many others in religion, most sadly
misunderstood. Many would be ashamed to be thought "zealous" Christians.
Many are ready to say of zealous people what Festus said of Paul: "They
are beside themselves,--they are mad." (Acts xxvi. 24)
But zeal is a subject which no reader of the Bible has any right to pass
over. If we make the Bible our rule of faith and practice, we cannot
turn away from it. We must look it in the face. What says the Apostle
Paul to Titus? "Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, _zealous_ of
good works." (Titus ii. 14.) What says the Lord Jesus to the Laodicean
Church? "Be _zealous_ and repent." (Rev. iii. 19.)
My object in this paper is to plead the cause of zeal in religion. I
believe we ought not to be afraid of it, but rather to love and admire
it. I believe it to be a mighty blessing to the world, and the origin of
countless benefits to mankind. I want to strike a blow at the lazy,
easy, sleepy Christianity of these latter days, which can see no beauty
in zeal, and only uses the word "zealot" as a word of reproach. I want
to remind Christians that "Zealot" was a name given to one of our Lord
Jesus Christ's Apostles, and to persuade them to be zealous men.
I ask every reader of this paper to give me his attention while I tell
him something about zeal. Listen to me for your own sake,--for the sake
of the world,--for the sake of the Church of Christ. Listen to me, and
by God's help I will show you that to be "zealous" is to be wise.
I. Let me show, in the first place, _what is zeal in religion_.
II. Let me show, in the second place, _when a man can be called
rightly zealous in religion_?
III. Let me show, in the third place, _why it is a good thing for a
man to be zealous in religion_?
I. First of all, I propose to consider this question. "What is _zeal_ in
religion?"
Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and
to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire
which no man feels by nature,--which the Spirit puts in the heart of
every believer when he is converted,--but which some believers feel so
much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called
"zealous" men.
This desire is so strong, when it really reigns in a man, that it impels
him to make any sacrifice,--to go through any trouble,--to deny himself
to any amount,--to suffer, to work, to labour, to toil,--to spend
himself and be spent, and even to die,--if only he can please God and
honour Christ.
A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently _a man of one thing_. It is
not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising,
thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one
thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed
up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives,
or whether he dies,--whether he has health, or whether he has
sickness,--whether he is rich, or whether he is poor,--whether he
pleases man, or whether he gives offence,--whether he is thought wise,
or whether he is thought foolish,--whether he gets blame, or whether he
gets praise,--whether he gets honour, or whether he gets shame,--for all
this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and
that one thing is to please God, and to advance God's glory. If he is
consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it,--he is content. He
feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning,
he has but done the work for which God appointed him. Such an one will
always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, and work, and
give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray. Yes: if he is only a
pauper, on a perpetual bed of sickness, he will make the wheels of sin
around him drive heavily, by continually interceding against it. If he
cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses,
Aaron, and Hur, on the hill. (Exod. xvii. 9--13.) If he is cut off from
working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up
from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I
speak of "zeal" in religion.
We all know the habit of mind that makes men great in this world,--that
makes such men as Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or Oliver
Cromwell, or Peter the Great, or Charles XII., or Marlborough, or
Napoleon, or Pitt. We know that, with all their faults, they were all
men of one thing. They threw themselves into one grand pursuit. They
cared for nothing else. They put every thing else aside. They counted
every thing else as second-rate, and of subordinate importance, compared
to the one thing that they put before their eyes every day they lived. I
say that the same habit of mind applied to the service of the Lord
Jesus Christ becomes religious _zeal_.
We know the habit of mind that makes men great in the sciences of this
world,--that makes such men as Archimedes, or Sir Isaac Newton, or
Galileo, or Ferguson the astronomer, or James Watt. All these were men
of one thing. They brought the powers of their minds into one single
focus. They cared for nothing else beside. And this was the secret of
their success. I say that this same habit consecrated to the service of
God becomes religious _zeal_.
We know the habit of mind that makes men rich,--that makes men amass
mighty fortunes, and leave millions behind them. What kind of people
were the bankers, and merchants, and tradesmen, who have left a name
behind them, as men who acquired immense wealth and became rich from
being poor? They were all men that threw themselves entirely into their
business, and neglected every thing else for the sake of that business.
They gave their first attention, their first thoughts, the best of their
time, and the best part of their mind, to pushing forward the
transactions in which they were engaged. They were men of one thing.
Their hearts were not divided. They devoted themselves, body, soul, and
mind to their business. They seemed to live for nothing else. I say that
if you turn that habit of mind to the service of God and His Christ it
makes religious _zeal_.
(_a_) Now this habit of mind,--this zeal was _the characteristic of
all the Apostles_. See for example the Apostle Paul. Hear him when
he speaks to the Ephesian elders for the last time: "None of these
things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I
might finish my course with joy, and the ministry that I have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of
God." (Acts xx. 24.) Hear him again, when he writes to the
Philippians: "This one thing I do; I press towards the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. iii.
13, 14.) See him from the day of his conversion, giving up his
brilliant prospects,--forsaking all for Christ's sake,--and going
forth to preach that very Jesus whom he had once despised. See him
going to and fro throughout the world from that time,--through
persecution,--through oppression,--through opposition,--through
prisons,--through bonds,--through afflictions,--through things next
to death itself, up to the very day when he sealed his faith with
his blood, and died at Rome, a martyr for that Gospel which he had
so long proclaimed. This was true religious _zeal_.
(_b_) This again was the _characteristic of the early Christians_. They
were men "every where spoken against." (Acts xxviii. 22.) They were
driven to worship God in dens and caves of the earth. They often lost
every thing in the world for their religion's sake. They generally
gained nothing but the cross, persecution, shame, and reproach. But they
seldom, very seldom, went back. If they could not dispute, at least they
could suffer. If they could not convince their adversaries by argument,
at any rate they could die, and prove that they themselves were in
earnest. Look at Ignatius cheerfully travelling to the place where he
was to be devoured by lions, and saying as he went, "Now do I begin to
be a disciple of my Master, Christ." Hear old Polycarp before the Roman
Governor, saying boldly, when called upon to deny Christ, "Four score
and six years have I served Christ, neither hath He ever offended me in
any thing, and how then can I revile my King?" This was true _zeal_.
(_c_) This again was _the characteristic of Martin Luther_. He boldly
defied the most powerful hierarchy that the world has ever seen. He
unveiled its corruptions with an unflinching hand. He preached the
long-neglected truth of justification by faith, in spite of anathemas
and excommunications, fast and thickly poured upon him. See him going
to the Diet at Worms, and pleading his cause before the Emperor and the
Legate, and a host of the children of this world. Hear him saying,--when
men were dissuading him from going, and reminding him of the fate of
John Huss, "Though there were a devil under every tile on the roofs of
Worms, in the name of the Lord I shall go forward." This was true
_zeal_.
(_d_) This again was _the characteristic of our own English Reformers_.
You have it in our first Reformer, Wickliffe, when he rose up on his
sick bed, and said to the Friars, who wanted him to retract all he had
said against the Pope, "I shall not die, but live to declare the
villanies of the Friars." You have it in Cranmer, dying at the stake,
rather than deny Christ's Gospel, holding forth that hand to be first
burned which, in a moment of weakness, had signed a recantation, and
saying, as he held it in the flames, "This unworthy hand!" You have it
in old father Latimer, standing boldly on his faggot, at the age of
seventy years, and saying to Ridley, "Courage, brother Ridley! we shall
light such a candle this day as, by God's grace, shall never be put
out." This was _zeal_.
(_e_) This again has been _the characteristic of all the greatest
Missionaries_. You see it in Dr. Judson, in Carey, in Morrison, in
Schwartz, in Williams, in Brainerd, in Elliott. You see it in none more
brightly than in Henry Martyn. Here was a man who had reached the
highest academical honours that Cambridge could bestow. Whatever
profession he chose to follow, he had the most dazzling prospects of
success. He turned his back upon it all. He chose to preach the Gospel
to poor benighted heathen. He went forth to an early grave, in a foreign
land. He said when he got there and saw the condition of the people, "I
could bear to be torn in pieces, if I could but hear the sobs of
penitence,--if I could but see the eyes of faith directed to the
Redeemer!" This was _zeal_.
(_f_) But let us look away from all earthly examples,--and remember
that zeal was pre-eminently the characteristic of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ Himself. Of Him it was written hundreds of years before He
came upon earth, that He was "clad with _zeal_ as with a cloak," and
"the _zeal_ of thine house hath even eaten me." And His own words were
"My meat is to do my Father's will, and to finish His work." (Psalm
lxix. 9; Isaiah lix. 17; John iv. 34.)
Where shall we begin, if we try to give examples of His zeal? Where
should we end, if we once began? Trace all the narratives of His life in
the four Gospels. Read all the history of what He was from the beginning
of His ministry to the end. Surely if there ever was one who was _all
zeal_, it was our great Example,--our Head,--our High Priest,--the great
Shepherd of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If these things are so, we should not only beware of running down zeal,
but we should also beware of allowing zeal to be run down in our
presence. It may be badly directed, and then it becomes a curse;--but it
may be turned to the highest and best ends, and then it is a mighty
blessing. Like fire, it is one of the best of servants;--but, like fire
also, if not well directed, it may be the worst of masters. Listen not
to those people who talk of zeal as weakness and enthusiasm. Listen not
to those who see no beauty in missions, who laugh at all attempts at the
conversion of souls,--who call Societies for sending the Gospel to the
world useless,--and who look upon City Missions, and District Visiting,
and Ragged Schools and Open Air Preaching, as nothing but foolishness
and fanaticism. Beware, lest in joining a cry of that kind you condemn
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Beware lest you speak against Him who has
"left us an example that we should follow His steps." (1 Pet. ii. 21.)
Alas! I fear there are many professing Christians who if they had lived
in the days when our Lord and His Apostles walked upon earth would have
called Him and all His followers enthusiasts and fanatics. There are
many, I fear, who have more in common with Annas and Caiaphas,--with
Pilate and Herod,--with Festus and Agrippa,--with Felix and
Gallio,--than with St. Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. I pass on now to the second thing I proposed to speak of. _When is a
man truly zealous in religion?_
There never was a grace of which Satan has not made a counterfeit. There
never was a good coin issued from the mint but forgers at once have
coined something very like it. It was one of Nero's cruel practices
first to sew up Christians in the skins of wild beasts, and then bait
them with dogs. It is one of Satan's devices to place distorted copies
of the believer's graces before the eyes of men, and so to bring the
true graces into contempt. No grace has suffered so much in this way as
zeal. Of none perhaps are there so many shams and counterfeits abroad.
We must therefore clear the ground of all rubbish on this question. We
must find out when zeal in religion is really good, and true, and of
God.
(1) If zeal be true, it will be a _zeal according to knowledge_. It must
not be a blind, ignorant zeal. It must be a calm, reasonable,
intelligent principle, which can show the warrant of Scripture for every
step it takes. The unconverted Jews had zeal. Paul says, "I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, _but not according to knowledge_."
(Rom. x. 2.) Saul had zeal when he was a persecuting Pharisee. He says
himself, in one of his addresses to the Jews, "I was _zealous_ toward
God as ye all are this day." (Acts xxii. 3.)--Manasseh had zeal in the
days when he was an idolater. The man who made his own children pass
through the fire,--who gave up the fruit of his body to Moloch, to atone
for the sin of his soul,--that man had zeal.--James and John had zeal
when they would have called down fire on a Samaritan village. But our
Lord rebuked them.--Peter had zeal when he drew his sword and cut off
the ear of Malchus. But he was quite wrong.--Bonner and Gardiner had
zeal when they burned Latimer and Cranmer. Were they not in earnest? Let
us do them justice. They were zealous, though it was for an unscriptural
religion.--The members of the Inquisition in Spain had zeal when they
tortured men, and put them to horrible deaths, because they would not
forsake the Gospel. Yes! they marched men and women to the stake in
solemn procession, and called it "An Act of Faith," and believed they
were doing God service.--The Hindoos, who used to lie down before the
car of Juggernaut and allow their bodies to be crushed under its
wheels:--had not they zeal?--The Indian widows, who used to burn
themselves on the funeral pile of their deceased husbands,--the Roman
Catholics, who persecuted to death the Vaudois and Albigenses, and cast
down men and women from rocks and precipices, because they were
heretics;--had not they zeal?--The Saracens--the Crusaders,--the
Jesuits,--the Anabaptists of Munster--the followers of Joanna
Southcote,--had they not all zeal? Yes! Yes! I do not deny it. All these
had zeal beyond question. They were all zealous. They were all in
earnest. But their zeal was not such zeal as God approves,--it was not a
"zeal according to knowledge."
(2) Furthermore, if zeal be true, it will be a zeal _from true motives_.
Such is the subtlety of the heart that men will often do right things
from wrong motives. Amaziah and Joash, kings of Judah, are striking
proofs of this. Just so a man may have zeal about things that are good
and right, but from second-rate motives, and not from a desire to please
God. And such zeal is worth nothing. It is reprobate silver. It is
utterly wanting when placed in the balance of God. Man looks only at the
action: God looks at the motive. Man only thinks of the quantity of work
done: God considers the doer's heart.
There is such a thing as zeal from _party spirit_. It is quite possible
for a man to be unwearied in promoting the interests of his own Church
or denomination, and yet to have no grace in his own heart,--to be ready
to die for the peculiar opinions of his own section of Christians, and
yet to have no real love to Christ. Such was the zeal of the Pharisees.
They "compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he was
made, they made him two-fold more the child of hell than themselves."
(Matt. xxiii. 15.) This zeal is not true.
There is such a thing as zeal from mere _selfishness_. There are times
when it is men's interest to be zealous in religion. Power and patronage
are sometimes given to godly men. The good things of the world are
sometimes to be attained by wearing a cloak of religion. And whenever
this is the case there is no lack of false zeal. Such was the zeal of
Joab, when he served David. Such was the zeal of only too many
Englishmen in the days of the Commonwealth, when the Puritans were in
power.
There is such a thing as zeal from the _love of praise_. Such was the
zeal of Jehu, when he was putting down the worship of Baal. Remember how
he met Jonadab the son of Rechab, and said, "Come with me, and see my
zeal for the Lord." (2 Kings x. 16.) Such is the zeal that Bunyan refers
to in "Pilgrim's Progress," when he speaks of some who went "for praise"
to mount Zion. Some people feed on the praise of their fellow-creatures.
They would rather have it from Christians than have none at all.
It is a sad and humbling proof of man's corruption that there is no
degree of self-denial and self-sacrifice to which men may not go from
false motives. It does not follow that a man's religion is true because
he "gives his body to be burned," or because he "gives his goods to feed
the poor." The Apostle Paul tells us that a man may do this, and yet not
have true charity. (1 Cor. xiii. 1, etc.) It does not follow because men
go into a wilderness, and become hermits, that therefore they know what
true self-denial is. It does not follow because people immure themselves
in monasteries and nunneries, or become "sisters of charity," and
"sisters of mercy," that therefore they know what true crucifixion of
the flesh and self-sacrifice is in the sight of God. All these things
people may do on wrong principles. They may do them from wrong
motives,--to satisfy a secret pride and love of notoriety,--but not from
the true motive of zeal for the glory of God. All such zeal, let us
understand, is false. It is of earth, and not of heaven.
(3) Furthermore, if zeal be true, it will be a zeal _about things
according to God's mind, and sanctioned by plain examples in God's
Word_. Take, for one instance, that highest and best kind of zeal,--I
mean zeal for our own growth in personal holiness. Such zeal will make a
man feel incessantly that sin is the mightiest of all evils, and
conformity to Christ the greatest of all blessings. It will make him
feel that there is nothing which ought not to be done, in order to keep
up a close walk with God. It will make him willing to cut off the right
hand, or pluck out the right eye, or make any sacrifice, if only he can
attain a closer communion with Jesus. Is not this just what you see in
the Apostle Paul? He says, "I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway."--"I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the
mark." (1 Cor. ix. 27; Phil. iii. 13, 14.)
Take, for another instance, zeal for the salvation of souls. Such zeal
will make a man burn with desire to enlighten the darkness which covers
the souls of multitudes, and to bring every man, woman, and child he
sees to the knowledge of the Gospel. Is not this what you see in the
Lord Jesus? It is said that He neither gave Himself nor His disciples
leisure so much as to eat. (Mark vi. 31.) Is not this what you see in
the Apostle Paul? He says, "I am made all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some." (1 Cor. ix. 22.)
Take, for another instance, zeal against evil practices. Such zeal will
make a man hate everything which God hates, such as drunkenness,
slavery, or infanticide, and long to sweep it from the face of the
earth. It will make him jealous of God's honour and glory, and look on
everything which robs him of it as an offence. Is not this what you see
in Phinehas, the son of Eleazar?--or in Hezekiah and Josiah, when they
put down idolatry?
Take, for another instance, zeal for maintaining the doctrines of the
Gospel. Such zeal will make a man hate unscriptural teaching, just as he
hates sin. It will make him regard religious error as a pestilence which
must be checked, whatever may be the cost. It will make him scrupulously
careful about every jot and tittle of the counsel of God, lest by some
omission the whole Gospel should be spoiled. Is not this what you see in
Paul at Antioch, when he withstood Peter to the face, and said he was to
be blamed? (Gal. ii. 11.) These are the kind of things about which true
zeal is employed. Such zeal, let us understand, is honourable before
God.
(4) Furthermore, if zeal be true, it will be a zeal _tempered with
charity and love_. It will not be a bitter zeal. It will not be a fierce
enmity against persons. It will not be a zeal ready to take the sword,
and to smite with carnal weapons. The weapons of true zeal are not
carnal, but spiritual. True zeal will hate sin, and yet love the sinner.
True zeal will hate heresy, and yet love the heretic. True zeal will
long to break the idol, but deeply pity the idolater. True zeal will
abhor every kind of wickedness, but labour to do good even to the vilest
of transgressors.