ftill works against fin, till the foul be out of hazard; and that is not till death. Truce with fin, or indulging lufts, fay either there is no fear of God in the heart, or that it is afleep; for in whatsoever measure one fears God, he will stand at a distance from fin, and seek the destruction of his corruptions.

Laftly, It carries the man to his duty, over the belly of the fear of man or any other creature, Matth. x. 28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the foul." If one be in hazard of being frighted from his duty, by the fear either of devils or of men, there is no antidote like the fear of God, Peter, iii. 14. "But and if ye fuffer for righteousness fake, happy are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be ye troubled;" for as the light of the fun removes the light of a glow-worm, that shines only in the dark, fo the fear of God banisheth other fear in the point of duty to the Lord.

I fhall now add a few MOTIVES to influence the ftudy of this filial fear; such as,

1. Infinite greatness and goodness meet together in him, and in him only, and therefore it is his due, Jer. x. 7. "Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? for to thee doth it appertain." His glorious and unfpeakable perfections entitle him to it, and it cannot be denied him without the highest facrilege. Nay, men muft needs be strangers to him, who do not fear him; for no fooner does the creature know him, but it muft fear him; the fight of his greatnefs without his goodness, will produce a terror; but the fight of both, a holy re

verence.

2. The relations requiring reverence of us meet together in him; and the truth is, we owe no reverence to any, but as they do in fome fort, by

the

attainment, I would offer the following DIREC

TIONS.

1. Labour to know God, who and what he is, 1 Kings, viii. 43. "That all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Ifrael." It is a benefit of the second covenant, to know the Lord, Hofea, ii. 20. "I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou fhalt know the Lord." God, to the most of the world, is like a prince in disguise amongst his subjects, they treat him rudely because they do not know him; an unknown God will not be feared. While ignorance of God reigns in the heart, there is no place for holy fear; for that will make men count darts as ftubble, and laugh at the shaking of the spear.

2. Stir up in your hearts a defire to fear him; it is a token for good, when one is willing to entertain the fear of God, Neh. i. 11. "Thy fervants who defire to fear thee." This defire hath the promise, and it will be accompanied with fuitable endeavours after it. Many fight against the fear of God, that they may live at eafe, and may be able to give themselves loofe reins to their finful practices; no wonder their hearts be hardened from it. And hence, if at any time they be taken with the fear of God, they do what they can to be freed of it, as they would pluck out arrows out of their flesh.

3. Take God for your God in Chrift, and devote yourselves to him. The God we chofe for our God, we will fear; Micah, iv. 5 "For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." And fo, when men fet up their idols of jealoufy in the Lord's room, these get the fear that is due to God. So the worldling fears his clay god, his life is in its smiles, and its frowns

are

God,

are his death. But take the Lord for your I fay, in Chrift; for no otherwife he offers himfelf to us in the covenant, 2 Cor. v. 19. This is the way to holy fear: For, (1.) It is a promised benefit of the covenant, Jer. xxxii. 40. "I will put my - fear in their hearts." Whoever comes into God's covenant of grace, the fear of God is, by the holy Spirit, ftamped upon their hearts, whereby it may be known that they belong to God as children; and they devote themfelves, on the other hand, to his fear, Pfal. cxix. 38. They are his fervants, devoted to his fear. They give themselves to it, and make it their great study. (2.) This covenant is a covenant of peace and friendship betwixt God and the guilty creature, through a Mediator, Heb. xii. 22.

24. fo that thy ftate is changed, the moment that thou comeft into the covenant, from enmity to peace with God, Eph. ii. 19 they become fellow-citizens with the faints, and are of the household of God. This happily joins love and dread of God together, producing holy fear and reverence of God; whereas, while God is apprehended certainly as an enemy to us, fear him we may with flavish fear, but not with holy fear, fince we cannot love him.

4. Be much in the exercise of repentance. Sorrowing after a godly fort for fin, as it difhonours God, is offenfive to his majefty, feparates the finner from God, and exposes the foul to his anger, is the ready way to produce holy fear for the time to come, 2 Cor. vii. 11. Yea, what fear, says

Paul, namely, as the effect of forrow after a godly fort; they that are burnt dread the fire; and they that feel the bitternefs of fin, will fear God, and ftand at a distance from it. The looking into our frightful acts of fin, will awe our hearts with a VOL. I.

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dread

dread of the offended Majesty, and make us fall down, faying, "Forgive us our debts.”

5. Pray for it earnestly as a promised benefit of the covenant, and join thereto a faith of particular confidence: Matth. xxi. 22. “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask, believing ye fhall receive them." Beg of God, that he would manifeft himfelf to you, fo as ye may be filled with holy fear of him. Ye may read and hear much of God, and little impreffions be made on your fpirits by it at all; but when the Lord difcovers himself to the finner, his own glorious light will so represent him as the foul cannot chufe but both love and fear him: Job, xlii. 5. 6. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye feeth thee: Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in duft and afhes."

Laftly, Draw together the scattered affections and faculties of the foul, and set them on the Lord: Pfal. lxxxvi. 11. «Unite my heart to fear thy name." As the fcattered rays of the fun will not burn, till they be collected by a burning-glafs; fo the heart, walking at random, will not be filled with holy fear. Withdraw your hearts from purfuing vanities, and gadding after idols, and labour to fee the Lord in thofe glaffes where we may perceive how he is to be feared.

I would urge you to look to him particularly, (1.) In the glass of his word. See how he is there reprefented as one worthy to be feared: Pfal. lxxxix. 7. "God is greatly to be feared in the affembly of the faints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." O with what awful solemnity may we hear him there speaking of himself, his faints fpeaking of him and to him! and the angels alfo, with their vailed faces, crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Had we

eyes

eyes to difcern his voice in his word, every page would fill our hearts with profoundeft reverence. See him, (1.) In the fhining holiness of his commandments, perfectly pure from all earthly drofs; and when thus feen, how can the finful creature not fear him! Exod. xv. II. "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like unto thee, glorious in holinefs, fearful in praifes, doing wonders?" He appears there to be all light, and that in him there is no darkness at all. The holy, fpiritual, and extenfive law, may fill our hearts with the dread of the Lawgiver, of whofe nature it is a tranfcript. See him, (2) In the amazing fovereignty of his threatenings.

This

filled good Jofiah with fear, 2 Kings, xxii. 19. and Habakkuk, ch. iii. 16. Behold thence flames of wrath flashing out on the faces of impenitent finners. All the threats of men own death to be their utmost; and, O! how will a threat of death fright mortals! But the Lord's threatenings go beyond death, and carry the matter to an endless eternity. See him, (3.) In the unfpeakable riches of his gofpel-promifes difplayed in the word. His terrors are no more fevere on the one hand, than his promifed encouragements are great on the other. If hell be in the one scale, heaven is in the other. Who would not therefore fear him? Look to him,

2. In Christ, the brightness of his glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon. See God in Chrift, and there fee an object of fear and love in

one.

If ye would be ftirred up to fear God, look to Mount Calvary, and there behold Chrift groaning, and dying on a cross for the fins of an elect world, and you will fee three awful fights. (1.) The feverity of God's justice against fin, not fparing his own Son, Rom. viii. 32. Many terrible inftances

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