266 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS, delight in the duties of religious worship, and dili- gence in their observance ; but it is the spiritual reno- vation of the affections that gives delight in God, through Christ, in any duty of religious worship what- ever. - Where the truth of the gospel is known and pub- licly professed; there is great variety in the minds, ways, and practices of men, about the duties of reli- gious worship. Many are profane in their minds and lives, who, practically at least, despise, or wholly neg- lect, the observance of them. These are stout heart- ed, and far from righteousness, Tit. i. 16. Some at- tend to them formally and cursorily, from the princi- ples of their education, and it maybe, out of some convictions theyhave of their necessity. But many there are, who, in the way they choose and are pleas- ed with, are diligent in their observance, and that with great delight, whoyet give no evidence of the spiritu- al renovation of their minds. Yea, the way whereby some express their devotion in them, being supersti- tious and idolatrous, is inconsistent with that or any other saving grace. This therefore we must diligently inquire into, or search into the grounds and reasons of men's delight in divine worship, according to their convictions of the way of it, who yet continue in their minds altogether unrenewed. And, (1.) Men may be greatly affected with the out- ward part of divine worship, and the manner of the performance thereof, who have no delight in what is internal, real, and spiritual, therein. John v. 35. 'He was a burning and a shining light ; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in this light.' So many were delighted in the preaching of Ezekiel, because of his eloquence and the elegance of his parables, chap.
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