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thereby keep up a correspondence with the church of God.

4thly, He fully professes, that he will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to any other god, but unto the Lord.

Surely, therefore, there cannot be the least. room for accusing him of hypocrisy in his religious conduct.

But it will be asked, perhaps, if his intentions were so sincere and free from dissimulation, why did he leave Judæa to return into his own idolatrous country; and why did not the prophet advise him to relinquish all his employments, rather than expose himself to the danger of relapsing into idolatry, and paying a base submission to the will of his prince?

To this I answer, it never was the design of any part of God's religion to free men from the obligation of their natural duties. The service every man owes to his king and to his country, is a clear and fundamental part of the law of nature, from which nothing can discharge him, so long as that service binds him to nothing sinful. Though Naaman, therefore, was converted from idolatry,

idolatry, yet he was by no means absolved from his allegiance. Had, indeed, his allegiance to his royal master and his duty to God been incompatible, he would have acted wisely, perhaps, in not returning into his own country. But the case seems to have been much otherwise. Benhadad appears to have entertained a sincere and well-founded regard for him, in consideration of his past services, and, therefore, Naaman never expresses the least doubt of being allowed to worship the God of Israel. Why, then, should he desert his native country, to which his services were justly due, and in which he had a grateful sovereign, and, probably, a numerous train of friends, prepared to welcome his return, and congratulate his recovery?

Perhaps, too, Providence might have some great, though unknown, design to bring about by his return to an idolatrous court; which would certainly tend to impress upon the Syrian nation an awful idea of the superior power of the God of Israel, and, at the same time, demonstrate that great truth, that in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

And, lastly, the Syrian captain might probably be as little-likely to relapse into idolatry in his

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own country, where he would meet with nothing to efface the reverential impression he had received of the true God, as if he had remained in Judæa, where the worshippers of that God, though they were blessed with the clearest knowledge of his will, were yet polluted too frequently with all the abominations of the Gentiles.

From what has been said, we may, in the first place, observe the weakness of those, who, under the pretence of Religion, break through the established rules of decency and order;-who, by an affected singularity of dress, or rusticity of manners, separate themselves from the world; as if we must cease to be men before we can be Christians. A conduct very widely different from that of Naaman, who thought the discharge of his civil duties, and even an accommodation to the weakness of a superstitious prince, no way, inconsistent with his duty to God, so long as he preserved his own integrity. And the case is still the same under the Christian, as it was under the Jewish dispensation. We have no restraints laid upon our Christian liberty, so that we do not abuse it. There are in every nation wise and established customs, convenient and 'settled rules of decorum, the fences of good order, and the nccessary laws of intercourse between man and man: to these our Saviour him

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self constantly conformed, and to these we may also innocently conform, where they are not contrary to the laws of truth and virtue. And I believe it may generally be said, that that affectation of superior purity, which shews itself in preciseness of manners, in singularity of dress, and severity of censure, in opposition to the received modes and customs of the world, proceeds rather from a weakness of head or hypocrisy of heart, from the arrogance of pride or the sourness of spleen, than from a truly christian spirit, warmed by zeal and guided by charity.

But 2dly, Though we may safely conform to the innocent customs and forms of the world, yet we must at the same time beware, that we do not suffer our integrity to fall a sacrifice to our complaisance. We are not, indeed, like Naaman, tempted to fall down before idols of wood and stone; yet there are other idols no less dangerous to virtue. The house of Rimmon is not confined to Syria alone: it is to be found in every kingdom and nation. His images meet us in every place, under the specious disguises of pleasure, profit, pride, and'ambition.

If, therefore, we make these the objects of our private adoration, or suffer them to divide our affections with the God of heaven,—we not only

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only bow down in the house of Rimmon, but, what is worse, we bow down to the image of Rimmon:-we are idolaters and not Christians.

If, again, we dissemble our religion before men;-if we abstain from its ordinances to avoid ridicule on ourselves, or tamely submit to hear it ridiculed by others; we are base and servile worshippers of that painted idol, popular opinion; -we fall far short of the integrity of the honest Syrian, who, though he was willing to shew a due respect to the person of his sovereign, yet scorned to sacrifice his heavenly allegiance to his earthly one, and, therefore, nobly avowed his resolution of offering neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to any god but the Lord, though he was the subject of an idolatrous king, and in the land of an idolatrous people. Let us not, however, vainly imagine, that Religion consists in attachment to forms, or sects, or names, of any kind. If the principles we profess are founded on conviction of their truth, it is our duty steadily to adhere to them, without temporizing, or dissimulation: but if, as a wise author* expresses himself, we owe our Religion to the font in which we were baptized, or to the clime in which we were born, we are much mis

* Vide Browne's Religio Medici.

taken,

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