have wandered from the right way; and to favour all them who mean well, and wish to be better, though their meaning and their wishes have not yet fully reformed their lives.
There is likewise danger lest, in the pursuit of the power of godliness, too little regard be paid to the form, and lest the censure of hypocrisy be too hastily passed, and a life apparently regular and serious be considered as an artifice to conceal bad purposes and secret views.
That this opinion, which some are very willing to indulge, may not prevail so as to discountenance the profession of piety, we are to consider,
Thirdly: How far it is necessary to the Christian life, that the form and power of godliness should subsist together.
It may be with great reason affirmed, that though there may be the appearance of godliness without the reality, there can hardly be the reality without the appearance. Part of the duties of a Christian are necessarily publick. We are to worship God in the congregation; we are to make open profession of our hope and faith. One of the great duties of man, as a social being, is, to let his light shine before men, to instruct by the prevalence of his example, and, as far as his influence extends, to propagate goodness and enforce truth. No man is to boast of his own excellence, for this reason among others; the arrogance will make excellence less amiable, and less attractive of imitation. No man is to conceal the reverence of religion, or his zeal for truth and right; because, by shrinking from the notice of mankind, he betrays diffidence of the cause which he wishes to maintain. He, whose piety begins and ends in zeal for opinions, and in clamour against those who differ from him, is certainly yet without the vital energy of religion; but, if his opinions regulate his conduct, he may with great justice show his fervour, having already shown his sincerity. He that worships God in publick, and offends him by secret vices, if
