Zealots for things without divine warrant are the most dangerous of men

[NaphtaliPress]

[T]here may be a zeal that is not according to knowledge, and in a thing that is not good; and here the more zealous and exercised any be, and the faster they run, they go the further wrong and out of the way: the greatest zealots and bigots in unwarrantable, though specious-like things,* are readily the most dangerous. My son (said dying David to his son Solomon) know thou the God of thy fathers; and to Israel, Keep and seek for the commandments of the Lord your God. Remarkable words, keep and seek, plainly insinuating that there can be no keeping of God's commandments without seeking them, without seeking to know and understand them well (1 Chron.28:8–9).​

John Carstares, “The Epistle Dedicatory and Prefatory,” in The Great Gain of Contenting Godliness, commended in four sermons by Master James Durham (1685), 8–9. See Collected Sermons of James Durham, 2 vols. (2017). https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/collected-sermons-of-james-durham-2-volume-set.html



*Things that are superficially plausible but actually without warrant.

 

[Pergamum]

What are some examples of where this might apply today?

 

[NaphtaliPress]

It is hard to say since he is not specific, what exact thing Carstares had in view, though it is hard to imagine some of it doesn't have to do with the enforcement and defense of Anglican practices (at the time written, mid 1680s, non conformists had been driven out of the CoE or forced to conform and Covenanters were in the fields in Scotland). My mind then goes in our day to things like insisting one must observe something like an xmas eve service, or some unbiblical rite, sing or say whatever the elders put in front of you in pubic worship, etc., or face discipline. But Carstares is speaking generally, so anything where there is zeal for uncommanded things or rules for life or in the church. What can think of Fundamentalism, Amish, etc.