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Bible Dictionaries
Godliness
Charles Buck Theological Dictionary
or Strictly taken, is right worship or devotion; but in general it imports the whole of practical religion, 1 Timothy 4:8 . 2 Peter 1:6 . It is difficult, as Saurin observes, to include an adequate idea of it in what is called a definition. "It supposes knowledge, veneration, affection, dependence, submission, gratitude, and obedience; or it may be reduced to these four ideas; knowledge in the mind, by which it is distinguished from the visions of the superstitious; rectitude in the conscience, that distinguishes it from hypocrisy; sacrifice in the life, or renunciation of the world, by which it is distinguished from the unmeaning obedience of him who goes as a happy constitution leads him; and, lastly, zeal in the heart, which differs from the languishing emotions of the lukewarm." The advantages of this disposition, are honour, peace, safety, usefulness, support in death, and prospect of glory; or, as the apostle sums up all in a few words, "It is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, " 1 Timothy 4:8 . Saurin's Serm. vol. 5: ser. 3. Eng. trans.; Barrow's Works, vol. 1: p. 9.; Scott's Christian Life: Scougall's Life of God in the Soul of Man.
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Buck, Charles. Entry for 'Godliness'. Charles Buck Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/cbd/g/godliness.html. 1802.
