Page images
PDF
EPUB

our Hearts: Because there are fome things SERM. that go under this name which are very dif

ferent from what our Text intends.

There is a tormenting Fear of GoD; fuch as the Devils have, who fear and tremble.

There is a fervile Fear of GOD; fuch as a Slave has of an unmerciful Mafter, or a Subject of a cruel Tyrant. Both these kinds of Fear are attended with a hatred of their Object; and a true Love to GOD intirely expels them, as the Apostle John tells us, 1 John iv. 18.

Again, there is a vain and vifionary Fear of GOD; fuch as a fuperftitious man has, arifing from a wrong notion of him as an arbitrary and capricious Being.

And in fine, there is an occafional and tranfient Fear of GOD; which may arife in the Heart at certain times (for instance, under any threatening Providence) but is foon gone, and leaves no durably good effect behind it. And this a Hypocrite may have.

But that Fear of GOD which the text recommends is, in one word, a filial Reverence; a Fear tempered with Love; or fuch a reverent regard to GoD as a dutiful

Child

XI.

SERM. Child hath to a wife and tender Parent. XI. And as we are all of us in the ftrictest sense

the Off-fpring of GOD, it is therefore our most reasonable and most natural Duty, thus to reverence him as our Father.

And the Sources from whence this filial Reverence flows will furnish us with the strongest Motives to it, viz. his Authority over us, his Prefence with us, his Interest in us, and his Concern for us. These are the natural fources of that filial Fear which is due to earthly Parents; and for the fame reafons ought we much more to fear the Father of our Spirits.

1. Because of his Authority over us, which is much greater than that which any earthly Parent has over his own Off-spring. GOD's authority over us is fupreme and unlimited: He hath an abfolute and independent right to us, for we are wholly his Off-fpring, Soul, Spirit, and Body: We are intirely in his Hands, who can make us happy or miserable beyond all that we are able to imagine. Whom then should we fear but him? Therefore faith our Saviour, fear not them that kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul; but rather fear him

who

who is able to kill both Soul and Body in SERM. Hell (b).

2. GOD's Prefence with us is another proper ground and motive of our Fear of him. And his presence with us is perpetual: We are never from under his Eye, who obferves not only our outward Actions, but our inward Thoughts, Purposes, Defires, Views, and Motives of Conduct; the fecret Principles we are acted by, and whatever gives the Heart either pleasure or pain: Of all these things his Omniscience gives him a more intimate and perfect Knowledge, than our own Senfations give us. And fhould we not stand in awe of this all-knowing and omniprefent GOD? With what Reverence and Caution does the parental Eye inspire an ingenuous Child! How then should we reverence the Father of our Spirits, whofe Eye is continually upon us, and who knows us far better than we do ourselves!

3. GOD hath an unalienable Intereft and Propriety in us, and therefore we should fear him. We are more his than we are our own; and as we are intirely his, he lays a juft claim to all the Reverence and Ho

(b) Matth, x. 28.

mage

XI.

SERM. mage of our Hearts: And not to fear him is

XI. virtually to disclaim his right to us.

Laftly, His paternal Concern for us demands our filial Reverence of him.

No Pa

rent on Earth hath fo kind and tender a regard for the Intereft of his Children as GOD hath for ours. He knows every degree and kind of Satisfaction we enjoy, and every inward and outward pain we feel; for it is his Hand which difpenfes both, and his Providence which augments or leffens, continues or removes both, just in such a degree, and at fuch a time, as he knows will be moft for our Benefit. He is fenfible of all our wants, though we are infenfible of his Goodness in supplying them; he knows our weakneffes, though we know not how much we owe to his Grace in ftrengthening us.

In a Word, the true fear of GOD confifts in a deep habitual Impreffion of his Authority over us, his Prefence with us, his Propriety in us, and his fatherly Concern for

us.

This Sentiment of GOD we must not only admit, but endeavour to have it inwrought into the very frame and frame and temper of our Souls,

fo

fo as to live under the conftant Influence SERM. thereof; as a dutiful Child does, who is XI. always under the prudent Father's Eye, and ferves him with all his Heart, because from his Heart he loves and fears him. This, I think, is the most clear and lively Image we can have of that holy Difpofition of Heart, which in the Text, and so many other places of Scripture, is called the Fear of the Lord.

I fhall only further obferve under this Head, that this Fear of GOD is not only the Principle, but the Perfection of all true Religion. For we are commanded by the Apostle to perfect Holiness in the Fear of GOD (c). And hence it is that the Fear of the Lord is fo often put for the Whole of Religion.

So much for the first part of the Precept, fear GOD; which comprehends all the Religion of the Heart.

II. The other part of the Precept is, keep bis Commandments.

This fprings from the former, as the Fruit from the Root; and is comprehensive

(*) 2 Cor. vii. 1.

of

« PreviousContinue »