The original word, in its primary signification, means heat; such
as the heat of boiling water. When it is figuratively applied to the
mind, it means any warm emotion or affection. Sometimes it is taken for
envy: so we render it, Acts v, 17, where we read, “The high priest, and
all that were with him, were filled with envy,” ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου:
although it might as well be rendered, “were filled with zeal.”
Sometimes it is taken for anger and indignation; sometimes, for vehement
desire. And when any of our passions are strongly moved on a religious
account, whether for any thing good, or against any thing which we
conceive to be evil, this we term religious zeal. But it is not all that
is called religious zeal which is worthy of that name. It is not
properly religious or Christian zeal, if it be not joined with charity.
A fine writer (Bishop Sprat) carries the matter farther still. “It has
been affirmed,” says he, “no zeal is right, which is not charitable, but
is mostly so. Charity, or love, is not only one ingredient, but the
chief ingredient, in its composition.” May we not go farther still? May
we not say, that true zeal is not mostly charitable, but wholly so? that
is, if we take charity, in St. Paul’s sense, for love; the love of God
and our neighbour. For it is a certain truth, although little understood
in the world, that Christian zeal is all love. It is nothing else. The
love of God and man fills up its whole nature. Yet it is not every
degree of that love to which this appellation is given. There may be
some love, a small degree of it, where there is no zeal. But it is,
properly, love in a higher degree. It is fervent love. True Christian
zeal is no other than the flame of love. This is the nature, the inmost
essence of it. Phinehas is commended for having expressed much zeal
against those wicked persons that violated the law of the Lord, Num.
xxv, 11, 13; and in Psalm lxix, 9, the psalmist says, “The zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up;” my earnest desire to have all things duly
ordered about thy worship, and my just displeasure and indignation at
all abuses in it, have wasted my natural moisture and vital spirits.
as the heat of boiling water. When it is figuratively applied to the
mind, it means any warm emotion or affection. Sometimes it is taken for
envy: so we render it, Acts v, 17, where we read, “The high priest, and
all that were with him, were filled with envy,” ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου:
although it might as well be rendered, “were filled with zeal.”
Sometimes it is taken for anger and indignation; sometimes, for vehement
desire. And when any of our passions are strongly moved on a religious
account, whether for any thing good, or against any thing which we
conceive to be evil, this we term religious zeal. But it is not all that
is called religious zeal which is worthy of that name. It is not
properly religious or Christian zeal, if it be not joined with charity.
A fine writer (Bishop Sprat) carries the matter farther still. “It has
been affirmed,” says he, “no zeal is right, which is not charitable, but
is mostly so. Charity, or love, is not only one ingredient, but the
chief ingredient, in its composition.” May we not go farther still? May
we not say, that true zeal is not mostly charitable, but wholly so? that
is, if we take charity, in St. Paul’s sense, for love; the love of God
and our neighbour. For it is a certain truth, although little understood
in the world, that Christian zeal is all love. It is nothing else. The
love of God and man fills up its whole nature. Yet it is not every
degree of that love to which this appellation is given. There may be
some love, a small degree of it, where there is no zeal. But it is,
properly, love in a higher degree. It is fervent love. True Christian
zeal is no other than the flame of love. This is the nature, the inmost
essence of it. Phinehas is commended for having expressed much zeal
against those wicked persons that violated the law of the Lord, Num.
xxv, 11, 13; and in Psalm lxix, 9, the psalmist says, “The zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up;” my earnest desire to have all things duly
ordered about thy worship, and my just displeasure and indignation at
all abuses in it, have wasted my natural moisture and vital spirits.