God; but their new life, by which they are most entirely brethren, is derived from the same God-man, Jesus Christ; yea, in him, they are all one body, receiving life from him their glorious Head, who is called the firstborn among many brethren. And as his unspeakable love was the source of this new being and fraternity, so doubtless it cannot but produce indissoluble love amongst them that are partakers of it. The spirit of love and concord is that precious ointment that runs down from the head of our great High Priest, to the skirts of his garment. The life of Christ and this law of love are combined, and cannot be severed. Can there be enmity betwixt those hearts that meet in him? Why do you pretend yourselves Christians, and yet remain not only strangers to this love, but most contrary to it, biters and devourers one of another, and will not be convinced of the great guiltiness and uncomeliness of strifes and envyings amongst you? Is this the badge that Christ hath left his brethren, to wrangle and malign one another? Do you not know, on the contrary, that they are to be known by mutual love? How often doth the beloved disciple press this! He drank deep of that well-spring of love that was in the breast on which he leaned, and if they relate aright, he died exhorting this, Love one another. O that there were more of this love of Christ in our hearts, arising from the sense of his love to us! That would teach this mutual love effectually. Why do we still hear these things in vain? Do we believe what the love of Christ did for us, and suffered for us? And will we do nothing for him? not forgive a shadow, a fancy of injury, much less a real one, for his sake; and love him that wrongs us, whoever he be, but especially being one of our brethren in this spiritual sense?

Many are the duties of this peculiar fraternal love; that mutual converse, and admonition, and reproof, and comforting, and other duties which are fallen into neglect, not only amongst formal, but even amongst real Christians. Let us entreat more of his Spirit who is love, and that will remedy this evil.

Fear God. All the rules of equity and charity amongst men, flow from a higher principle and depend upon it;

and there is no right observing of them without due regard to that; therefore this word, which expresses that principle of obedience, is fitly inserted amongst these rules; the first obligation of man being to the sovereign majesty of God who made him, and all the mutual duties of one to another being derived from that. Aud generally all obedience to his commands, both such as regulate our behaviour towards himself immediately and such as relate to man, doth arise from a holy fear of his name. Therefore, this fear of God, upon which follows necessarily the keeping of his commandments, is given us by Solomon as the total sum of man's business and duty, Eccl. xii, 13, and so, the way to solid happiness: he pronounces it the whole of man. After he had made his discoveries of all things under the sun, gone the whole circuit and made an exact valuation, he found all besides this to amount to nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit. The account he gives of all other things was only for this purpose, to illustrate and establish this truth the more, and to make it the more acceptable; to be a repose after so much weariness, and such a tedious journey and so, as he speaks ver. 10, a word of delight as well, as a word of truth; that the mind might sit down and quiet itself in this, from the turmoil and pursuit of vanity that keeps it busy to no purpose in all other things. But whereas there was emptiness and vanity, that is, just nothing, in all other things, there was not only something to be found, but every thing in this one, this fear of God, and that keeping of his commandments which is the proper fruit of that fear. All his repeated declarations of vanity in other things are but so many strokes to drive and fasten this nail, this word of wisdom, which is the sum of all, and contains all the rest. So Job, after a large inquest for wisdom, searching for its vein, as men do for mines of silver and gold, hath the return of an "It is not here," from all the creatures: The sea says, it is not in me, &c. But in the close, he finds it in this, The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding, Job xxviii.

This fear hath in it chiefly these things-a reverential esteem of the majesty of God, which is a main funda

mental thing in religion, and moulds the heart most powerfully to the obedience of his will-a firm belief of the purity of God and of his power and justice, that he loves holiness, and hates all sin, and can and will punish it-a right apprehension of the bitterness of his wrath and the sweetness of his love; that his incensed anger is the most terrible and intolerable thing in the world, absolutely the most fearful of all evils; and, on the other side, his love, of all good things the best, the most blessed and delightful, yea, the only blessedness. Life is the name of the sweetest good we know, and yet, his loving kindness is better than life. It supposes, likewise sovereign_love to God for his own infinite excellency and goodness. From all these spring a most earnest desire to please him in all things, and an unwillingness to offend him in the least; and, because of our danger through the multitude and strength of temptations and our own weakness, a continual self-suspicion, a holy fear lest we should sin, a care and watchfulness that we sin not, and deep sorrow and speedy returning and humbling before Him, when we have sinned.

There is indeed a base kind of fear, which, in the usual distinction, they call servile fear; but to account all fear of the judgments and wrath of God a servile fear, or to account such a fear improper to the children of God, I conceive is a wide mistake. Indeed to fear the punishments of sin, without regard to God and his justice as the inflicter of them, or to forbear to sin only because of those punishments, so that if a man could be secured from them, he would have no other respect to God that would make him fear to offend-this is the character of a slavish and base mind. For a man also so to apprehend wrath in relation to himself, as to be still under the horror of it, and not to apprehend redemption and deliverance by Jesus Christ, is to be under that spirit of bondage, which the apostle speaks of, Rom. viii, 15. And though a child of God may for a time be under such fear, yet the lively actings of faith and persuasion of God's love, and the feeling of love to him in the soul, do cast it out, according to that word of the apostle, True or perfect love casteth out fear. But to apprehend the punishments

which the Lord threatens against sin, as certain and true, and to consider the greatness and fearfulness of them, especially the terror of the Lord's anger and hot displeasure above all punishments, as very great and weighty; to be afraid to offend that God who hath threatened such things as the just reward of sin-this is not incongruous with the estate of the sons of God, yea, it is their duty and their property even thus to fear.

1

This is the very end for which God hath published these intimations of his justice, and hath threatened to punish men if they transgress, to the end they may fear and not transgress; so that not to look upon them thus, and not to be affected with them answerably to their design, were a very grievous sin; a slight and disregard put upon the words of the great God.

Above all others, the children of God have the right est and clearest knowledge of God, and the deepest belief of his word, and therefore they cannot choose but be afraid, and more afraid than all others, to fall under the stroke of his hand. They know more of the greatness, and truth, and justice of God than others, and therefore they fear when he threatens. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, says David, and I am afraid of thy judgments, Psal. cxix, 120. Yea, they tremble when they hear the sentence against others, or see it executed upon them; it moves them when they see public executions; Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, says St. Paul, 2 Cor. v, 11; and they cry out with Moses, Psal. xc, 11., Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, thy wrath! It is not an imagination or invention, that makes men fear more than they need. His wrath is as terrible as any that fear it most can apprehend, and beyond that. So that this doth not only consist with the estate of the saints, but is their very character, to tremble at the word of their Lord. The rest neglect what he says till death and judgment seize on them; but the godly know and believe, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But indeed, together with this, yea, more than by this, they are persuaded to fear the Lord, by the sense of his great love to them, and by the

so is

power of that love that works in them towards him and is wrought in them by his. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days, Hos. iii, 5. In those days, his goodness shall manifest itself more than before. The beams of his love shall break forth more abundantly in the days of the gospel, and shall beat more direct and hotter on the hearts of men; and then they shall fear him more, because they shall love him more. The looking upon God in the face of Jesus Christ, takes off that terror of his countenance that drives men from him; and in the smiles of his love that appear through Christ, there is such a power as unites their hearts to him, but unites them so, as to fear his name, Psal. lxxxvi, 11. He puts such a fear in their hearts as will not cause them to depart from, yea, causes that they shall not depart from him, Jer. xxxii, 40. And this is the purest and highest kind of godly fear, that springs from love; and though it excludes not the consideration of wrath, as terrible in itself, and even some fear of it, yet it may surmount it; and doubtless where much of this love possesses the heart, it will sometimes drown the other consideration, so that it will scarcely be perceptible at all, and will constantly set it aside, and will persuade a man purely for the goodness and loveliness of God to fear to offend him, though there were no interest at all in it of a man's own personal misery or happiness.

But do we thus fear the Lord our God? What mean then our oaths, and excesses, and uncleanness, our cove tousness, and our unholy and unchristian conversation? This fear would make men tremble, so as to shake them out of their profane customs, and to shake their beloved sins out of their bosoms. The knowledge of the holy one causes fear of him. But, alas! we know him not, and therefore we fear him not. Knew we but a little of the great majesty of God, how holy he is and how powerful a punisher of unholiness, we should not dare provoke him thus. A little lively spiritual knowledge would go far and work much, which a great deal, such as ours is, doth not. Some such word as that of Joseph, would do much, being engraven on the heart, How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? It would make a man be no more at liberty to sin in secret than in