• ofonly. h~ving 4 NA·me to liitJe. ntern-al profeffion, bat not fuch a N~tme as this Text fpeak~ of, full ofglory and repute with others, Ifthou art not a Jili:– gent cormr to ChHrch, frequenter 9[ the Orainance.r in puhlique, acarefu/1obferver of Famil]-duties i.n thJ o1Pn ho~tfe, thou Art notyet come to havefo much tU aName. Thus you fee a publick obfervance of religious dulies, both publick,a~:~d private, are necelfary eo make the name of a godly man. But thirdly, It unot every kjnde of religiom 1\'ay, nor All n:umner of 4evotion that mak.!;s thuNa.me, but it muft be in /itch amanner and"'ay, tU Godhath comm~tnded. We readc of fome calleddevBut {ews, who yet w'ere great oppofers of Chrifis way, Ails 13. 5~ Paul beareth wimelfe of the great .zeal, the Jews had for the traditions ofthe Fathers, Rom.IO.z. Yea Pau{ fpeaks much of his own fervency this way, wh~:n he ' thought he was bound to do fo many things agaiofl Chrilt, · but did this make him haveaname of Religion? No, bttt a ' name of the Pcrfccucor of it. This is alwaies to be obferved, that the expreffiOf\S ofour piety and worfhip of God,mufi be according to what he. bath commanded, and therefore arc the Ifrnelitesfo often forbid to 1\'al/zafter the imtllginAtions t~f thine own hMrtJ, or to walk in the way which they fuall chufe of their own head, ln vain do they 1\'or./hip. faith Chrm, when Godh~ttb nr;t required it at their hands, Matth. I 5.9. The Jews that were fo diligent in their worfi.:lipping of Idol~; The Pharifee that went up and down to make profelytes; The ~apift and heretick that is fo inliufirious eo deceive fouls and iofed others with the plague th~y thcmfelves have, can– not be faid to have! name that they liYc. Had this Church of S11rdi&been corrupted all over with idolatry and herefie, it could have been no more a living Church, then a leprous perfen' had been clean by the Levitical decrees: We fee when Ifrael was thus apoftatized from God to Idols, God gave her aBill of divorce, and would t>wn her no more. Piecv then and the worihip ofGod !ieth not in fuch devout ex:preffions as every one Oull be ape to fancy to himfelf, but in the rules and diretlions of Gods \Vord, o c.b e~:wife if we will believe the Church of Rome upon her own tdlimony; her great pil· lars tell us, She onlJ lives; tru-e piety is oply there; all that 0 o have I . 3· And in fuch a way as God bath appointed
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=