κτίν. 7. "The Lord fhall not fee, neither fhall the God of Jacob regard." But the all-knowing God fearcheth the very thoughts, and knows the heart, and all the actions of our lives; "Not a word in our tongue but he heareth it, and knows our thoughts afar off.

5. A deep fenfe of the holiness and purity of God, which must needs cause in him an averseness unto, and abhorrence of whatsoever is finful or impure.

Lastly, The sense of the justice of God, not only an inherent justice, which is the rectitude of his nature; but tranfient or diftributive juftice, that will most certainly diftribute rewards to obedience, obfervance, and the fear of his name, but punishment to the disobedient, and those that have no fear of him before their eyes. The deep

confideration and fenfe of thefe attributes of the divine perfection, must needs excite both the fear of reverence and the fear of caution, or fear of offending either by commiflion of what may displease God, or of omitting of what is pleafing to him.

3. But altho' this knowlege of almighty God and his attributes, may justly excite a fear both of reverence and caution; yet without the knowlege of fomething else, that fear will be extravagant and disorderly; and fometimes begets fuperftition or ftrange exorbitancy in this fear, or in the expreffions of it, and a want of regularity of duty or obedience: if a man know that almighty God is just, and will reward obedience, and punith difobedience; yet if he knows not what he will have to be done or omitted, he will indeed fear to difpleafe him, but he will not know how to pleafe or obey him. Therefore, befides the former, there must be a knowlege of the will or law of God in things to be done or omitted. This law

of God hath a double infcription; 1. In nature: and that is again twofold; 1. The natural rudiments of morality and piety written in the heart. 2. Such as are deducible by the exercife of natural reason and light; for even from the notion of God, there do refult certain confequences of natural piety and religion; as, that he is to be prayed unto, to be praised; that he is to be imitated as far forth as is poffible by us; therefore, as he is holy, beneficent, good, and merciful, fo inuft we be. 2. But we have a more excellent tranfcript of the divine will; name

VOL. I.

ly, the holy fcriptures, which, therefore, a man that fears God will ftudy, obferve, and practile, as being the best rule how to obey him. And the very fear of God arifing upon the fenfe of his being and attributes, will make that man very folicitous to know the will of God, and how he will be worthipped and ferved, and what he would have to be done, or not to be done: and therefore fince the glorious God hath fo far condefcended, as by his providence to fend us a tranfcript of his mind, will, and law, he will be very thankful for it, very studious of it, much delighted in it, very curious to obferve it, becaule it is the rule and direction how he may obey, and confequently please that great God whom he fears; this word he believes and prizes as his great charter, and in this word he finds much to excite and regulate, and direct his fear of God; he fees examples of the divine juftice against the offenders of his law; of the divine bounty in rewarding the obedience to it; threatnings on one hand, promifes on the other: greater manifeftations of the divine goodness in the redemption of mankind by Christ Jefus, and therefore greater obligations as well to fear as to love fuch a Benefactor.

IÍ. And thus far of the kinds of the fear of God, and of the causes or objects exciting it. Now let us fee how it doth appear that this fearing man is the wife man, and how the fear of God discovers itself to be the true, and best, and only wisdom; which will appear in these particular confiderations following.

1. Many learned men confidering that great fimilitude and image of ratiocination in fome brutes especially, have therefore declined to define a man by his reason, because of that analogical ratiocination which they find in brutes; but denne a man by his religion, Homo eft animal religiofum; because in this they find no communication, or fimilitude of natures and operations between man and brutebeats: for man is the only visible creature that expreffeth any inclination to religion, or the fenfe of a Deity, or any exercile of it. I do not ftand to justify this opinion in all particulars; only these things are moft certain: 1. That only the human nature seems to have any fen fe or impreffion of any regular religion upon it. 2. That the fenfe of a Deity and religion refulting from it, is the

great

great ennobling, and advance, and perfection of the human nature. 3. That take away the fear of God, all fenfe and ufe of religion falls to the ground. So that the fear of God is the great foundation of religion, and confequently the great ennobling and advance of human nature, that seems almost as great a prelation of a man truly religious, above an irreligious man, as to operation and ufe, as there is between an irreligious man and a brute. As religion advanceth, fo irreligion embaseth the human

nature.

2.

2. Juftice is of two kinds; diftributive, which is the juftice of a magiftrate or judge, diftributing rewards and punishments, favour and difpleafure, and due retribution to every man, according to the merits of his caufe. Commutative, which is in all civil contracts and dealings between perfons; as dealing honestly, keeping promifes, and ufing plainnefs, fincerity, and truth, in all a man faith or doth: and both these kinds of justice are effects of excellent wifdom; without thefe, ftates and focieties, and perfons, fall into disorder, confufion, and diflolution; and therefore thofe very men that have not this justice and righteousness, yet honour and value thofe that have it, and use it. And the fear of almighty God is that which begetteth and improveth both thefe kinds of justice. Hence it was, that Mofes in his choice of judges, directs that they should be "men fearing God, and hat

ing covetoufnefs." Jehofhaphat, in his charge to his judges, thought this the best expedient to contain them within the bounds of julice, to put them in remembrance before whom, and for whom, they are to judge. And the very heathens themselves were fome of them used to fet an empty chair in the place of judicature, as an emblem of the prefence of God, the invifible, and yet all feeing God, as prefent in the courts of juftice, ob ferving all the judges do; and this they esteemed an excellent means to keep judges to their duty, by reprefenting to them the glorious God beholding them. And as thus in diftributive juftice, the fear of God is a great means to keep and improve it; fo in commuta tive juftice, the fear of God gives a fecret and powerful law to a man to keep and obferve it. And hence it is, that Jofeph could give no greater affurance to his bre

K 2

thren

thren of his juft dealing with them than this, Gen. xlii. 18 "This do, for I fear God;" and on the other fide, Abraham could have no greater caufe of fufpicion of ill and unjuft dealing from the people with whom he converfed, than this, that they wanted the fear of God, Gen. xx. II. "Because I thought the fear of God was not in this place, &c." The fenfe of the greatnefs, and majefty, and power, and justice, and all-feeing presence and command of almighty God, lays a greater obligation and engagement upon a man to fear a heart-fearching God, to deal juftly. and honeftly, than all the terrors of death itself can do. And if any one fay, bow came it to pass that the heathens that knew not, and therefore feared not the true God, were yet great afferters, maintainers, and practisers of all civil juftice and righteousness between man and man? I fay, though they knew not the true God, they knew that there was a God, whom (tho' ignorantly) they feared: and this imperfect and broken fear of God was the true caufe of that juftice and righteousness that was fincerely, and not for oftentation, practifed among them; and though they miftook the true God, yet in this they were not mistaken, that there was a God; and this truth bad that great prevalence upon them, to do juftly: and if that imperfect fear of God in them did fo much prevail as to make them fo juft, how much more must the true knowlege and the fear of the true God prevail to advance righteoufnefs and juftice in them, that have that fear of God in their hearts?

3. It is a great part of wifdom that concerns a perfon in the exercife of the duties of his relations; and indeed it is a great part of justice and righteousness. Now the fear

of almighty God hath thefe two great advantages therein; 1. The will of God instructs exactly all relations in their duties of those reciprocal relations; and this will of God is revealed in his word, which contains excellent precepts of all kinds, fuitable to every leveral relation. 2. The fear of God fets thefe directions clole upon the heart, and is a fevere and conftant obligation to observe them. And fo this fear of God doth effectually fit, habituate, guide,. and oblige a man to the duties of his feveral relations: it makes a good magiftrate, a good fubject, a good hufband, a good wife, a good father, a good child, a good mas

ter

ter, a good servant; in all those several kinds of goodness that are peculiar and proper to the feveral relations wherein a man ftands. 1

4. Sincerity, uprightnefs, integrity, and honefty, are certainly true and real wifdom. Let any man obferve it where he will, an hypocrite, or diffembler, or double-hearted man, tho' he may fhuffle it out for a while, yet at the long run he is discover'd and disappointed, and betrays very much folly at the latter end; when a plain, fincere, honest man holds it out to the very laft; fo that the proverb is moft true, that honesty is the best policy. Now the great privilege of the fear of God is, that it makes the heart fincere and upright, and that will certainly make the words and actions fo: for he is under the fenfe of the inspection and animadverfion of that God that fearches the heart, and therefore he dares not lie, nor diffemble, nor flatter, nor prevaricate; because he knows thes pure, all feeing righteous God, that loves truth and integrity, and hates lying and diffimulation, beholds;-andfees, and obferves him, and knows his thoughts, words, and actions. It is true, that vain glory, and oftentation, and reputation, and defigns, and ends, may many times render the outward actions fpecious and fair, when the heart runs quite another way, and accordingly would frame the actions, if thofe ends and defigns, and vain-glory and oftentation were not in the way; but the fear of God begins with the heart, and purifies and rectifies it; and from the heart thus rectified, grows a conformity in the life, the words, and actions.

5. The great occafions and reafons of the folly of man-kind, are 1. The unruliness and want of government of the fenfual appetite or lufts: hence grows intemperance,' and excefs in eating and drinking, unlawful and exorbi tant lufts: and thefe exhauft the estate, wafte and con-fume the health, embafe and impoverish the mind, deftroy the reputation, and render men unfit for industry and bufinefs. 2. The exorbitancy, and unrulsnefs, and irre-gularity of the paffions; as, exceffive love of things that are either not lovely; or not deferving fo much love; ex-cefs of anger, which oftentimes degenerates into malices and revenge; excefs of joy, in light, trivial, inconfiderable matters; excess of fear, where either no caufe of fear, or