N00800:39
The peril of the times displayed. Or The danger of mens taking up with…
The peril of the times displayed. Or The danger of mens taking up with a form of godliness, but denying the power of it. Being the substance of several sermons preached: / by Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [One line from Augustine in Latin]
Boston: printed by B. Green, 1700
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. What it is to have a Form of Godliness?
A. The word Godliness, here used, signifieth Right Worship, and is in the strict sense, restrained to the Duties of the First Table, which refer to the Worship of God, both Natural, and Instituted; both the manner, and special times of it. But it is frequently used Synecdochically, for all Religion, and compriseth under it all the Duties required in the Gospel, both towards God, and towards man, considered as done in Obedience to the Command or revealed Will of God: and we may here take it in the most comprehensive sense. And we before observed, that the word Form intends not that which is Essential, but Accidental; and indeed, where there is the Essential Form, it includes the power in it: for, the essential form of it, is the Sanctification of the Spirit, whereby the Law of God is written in our hearts, and this will appear in our lives, for the operations of things are according to their essential forms But there are two other senses of the word, as it is used in the Greek Language, which may both come under our present consideration, as being separable from the Power.
A. The word Godliness, here used, signifieth Right Worship, and is in the strict sense, restrained to the Duties of the First Table, which refer to the Worship of God, both Natural, and Instituted; both the manner, and special times of it. But it is frequently used Synechdochrically, for all Religion, and comprizeth under it all the Duties required in the Gospel, both towards God, and towards man, considered as done in Obedience to the Command or revealed Will of God: and we may here take it in the most comprehensive sense. And we before observed, that the word Form intends not that which is Essential, but Accidental; and indeed, where there is the Essential Form, it includes the power in it: for, the essential form of it, is the Sanctification of the Spirit, whereby the Law of God is written in our hearts, and this will appear in our lives, for the operations of things are according to their essential forms But there are two other senses of the word, as it is used in the Greek Language, which may both come under our present consideration, as being separable from the Power.