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SERM. is enjoined by the divine precepts, which fhew us all that is morally good with respect to ourselves and our fellow-creatures, as well as to God, so true religion is nothing else but the practice of virtue, from a regard to the Deity. The fear of the Lord, if we understand it in the ftricteft fense, of a pious reverence for the fupreme Being, with a difpofition to do his will, is called the beginning of wisdom, as being a very eminent, part of our duty, or rather a principle naturally productive of that righteousness and goodness in which true wifdom confifteth: If we take it in a greater latitude, as including with the principle all its genuine fruits, in an univerfal conformity to the will of God, then it is the whole duty of man, as Solomon fays, Ecclef. xii. 13. and compre→ hendeth all which the facred writers call wisdom. So Job delivereth the doctrine in the place already referr'd to, Unto man he Jaid, The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, is understanding.

Again; the wisdom which Solomon recommendeth is called the knowledge of the Holy, chap. ix. 10. where the principle already mentioned, is repeated in the fame words, The fear of the Lord is the be

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ginning of wisdom; and it is explained thus, SER Mà the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. I. They are religious things about which it is converfant; the deepest penetration in other matters, the highest attainments in human sciences and arts, and the exacteft judgment in the affairs of this world, will not intitle any one to the character of wife, according to the doctrine of this excellent author; but an acquaintance with divine objects, and with the duty we owe to God, is, according to him, the trueft understanding. Neither is it meer fpeculative knowledge even of religion he meaneth; the inftructions of wisdom do all tend to practice; and the conformity of our lives to its rules is that only which will denominate us wife men in Solomon's account, Prov. xxviii, 7. Whoso keepeth the law, is a wife fon.

Befides these general declarations, which are very comprehenfive, taking in every part of our duty, and which plainly fhew the defign of the Proverbs is to represent the wisdom of universal righteousness; the character of wisdom is applied to particular virtues, and it is faid to confift in them, as in the text, ver. 3. To receive the inftructions of wisdom, juftice, and judgment, and equity.

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SERM. Juftice is a very important branch of our I. duty, a virtue which we have frequent occafion for the exercife of in life; it directeth

a great part of our behaviour towards mankind, injoineth us to preferve the rights of men inviolable, and to render to all their due, to do as we would be done by, without being warped by a regard to any selfish or private intereft. Perhaps there is not any thing in religion itfelf more difagreeable to the wisdom of the world; for, generally, men make their own intereft the chief end of their policy, and form their schemes for private advantage, without caring to dif tinguish nicely between right and wrong; and however they may efteem inflexible righteousness, as virtue and religion, yet it is far from being accounted wifdom. But not to enter upon an inquiry into the truth of the cafe, whether juftice be only a kind of religious fimplicity, or real wisdom, founded on the beft maxims, and worthieft of an intelligent nature, and conducive to all the ends it ought to purfue; or if that cunning which deviateth from integrity, ufeth fraud and indirect arts to promote felfish ends, be true difcretion, and becoming the understanding of a man: without inqui

ring into this, I fay, it is fufficient to my present purpose, that justice, judgment, and equity, are the wisdom which Solomon inculcateth.

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Another virtue, which he recommendeth under the fame character, is chastity. This very often infifteth upon, particularly in the 2d, the 5th, and 7th chapters, proving at large the fimplicity and thoughtlesness of the adulterer, who, with the infenfibility of a beaft, is caught in the toil, and stupidly falls into the fnare which is laid for him. The men who abandon themselves to the purfuit of dishonourable and irregular pleafures, fondly imagine there is a great deal of art and contrivance in their management; they are the men, in their own conceit, of deep intrigue, and refined understanding, valuing themselves upon the little artifices, whereby they feduce the unhappy partners of their crimes, and impofe upon those whom they injure. But all this, in the judgment of Solomon, is extreme folly; and the fenfelefs wretch, deprived of all reason, is only hafting to his ruin, as an ox goeth to the flaughter, or, as a fool to the correction of the flocks. The intemperate will not, perhaps, pretend to the character of wife;

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SERM. they, fatisfy themselves with their fenfual gratifications as the best enjoyments, having endeavoured to drown all fenfe of fuperior excellence; they decry wisdom, and treat it with contempt, as too rigid and folemn for that gaiety in which they chufe to spend their days. But if we will take our notions of things from this writer, voluptuousness and exceffes in eating and drinking are directly contrary to wifdom, which guardeth her votaries against them as most pernicious, Prov. xxiii. 19. Hear thou, my fon, and be wife, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not amongst wine-bibbers, amongst riotous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the glutton Shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall cloath a man with rags. Slothfulness, a lazy ftupid inactivity and indolence, is a vice very incident to human Nature; and they who give themselves up to it vainly fancy they take the wifeft course, avoiding many dangers, and a great deal of painful toil and labour; the fluggard is wifer in his own conceit than feven men that can render a reafon: But in this book he is charged with brutish folly, and even fent to the beafts, as wiser than he, to be instructed by them, Prov. vi. 6. Go to the ant, thou flug

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