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ftrains prayer before God; that he dares to take his facred name, in a profane manner, in his unhallowed lips; that he dares to get drunk; commit uncleannefs; lie; profane the Sabbath of the Lord; steal, or otherwise defraud his neighbour. The fear of the Lord would effectually engage him to forfake these and every other vicious course. It would ftrip temptation of its charms, and difarm it of its force.

Hence the fear of the Lord, and departing from evil, are used as phrases of the fame import. Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. And we read, The fear of the Lord is to bate evil. And, by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. This is the sense in which the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. It not only deters us from fin, and guards us against it; but, as has been alreeady fuggefted, it excites and ftimulates us to study a thorough conformity in heart and life, to the approving will of God. Hence the Apostle exhorts us, to cleanse ourselves from all filthinefs of flesh and fpirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.

2. It greatly affifts us in the right performance of duty. I mean here the duties we owe more immediately to the Moft High God. These, my brethren, are numerous and important. They are fecret, private, and public. They are to be performed in the clofet, the family, and the fanctuary; nor is it poffible for us to be the true difciples of Chrift, without a confcientious attendance upon them. And you will further please to obferve, God justly requires they fhould be performed in a humble and devout, a fpiritual and fincere manner. This our Lord teaches us with great care: God is a Spirit; and they that worfhip bim, muft worship him in spirit and in truth. But to all this, the fear of the Lord, as already defcribed, great

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ly contributes. For in proportion as this fear or reverence towards God prevails in us, will the heart be fixed upon him, the glorious object of our worship, in every duty. In proportion hereto, we shall be guarded against thofe vain and wandering thoughts that eat out the very foul of our duties, and degrade them into empty formality. God requires, with great folemnity, My Son, give me thine heart. A precept that particularly binds us in this cafe of duty; for our God looketh at the heart principally in all our approaches to him; and, indeed, he has a special respect to it in all our conduct.

Again: It greatly tends to invigorate the graces of the Spirit in the foul, and to call them forth into lively exercife. The more this fear of God governs the man, the more active and vigorous will his graces be. For the fame views of the perfections, character and Christ of God, that are the fource of the one, will promote the other. Our time does not admit of fhewing you here how this is effected. It must fuffice at present to observe, that fo it is; and you will eafily perceive how a spirit of devotion is hereby promoted. For the proper exercise of faith, hope, love to God, and delight in him in duty, is that in which this fpirit confifts. exercife, the more eafy, delightful and fpiritual will our duties be.

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3. This fear of the Lord excites us to the important duty of watchfulness, and greatly affifts therein. There is no duty of the Christian life more frequently and strongly enjoined in the facred oracles than this. You hear our Lord fay, Matt. xxvi. 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. And again: And what I fay unto you, I fay unto all, Watch. To this purpofe are the words of the Apoftle: Watch ye, ftand faft in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.-Continue in prayer, and

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watch in the fame with thanksgiving. To which accords his exhortation to Timothy: But watch thou in all things. And did our time admit of confidering here the many fnares to which God's own people are expofed in this life; fnares that arise from the temptations of Satan, the allurements of the world, and the depraved tempers and paffions of the human heart, you would eafily perceive the utility, importance and neceffity of this duty. There are none of all the duties of the Chriftian life, that have a more immediate and powerful influence on the peace of our own minds, or our conformity to God. It must, therefore, be a fingular favour to be properly excited to it, and affifted in the exercise of it. But this is the office of that fear of the Lord which our text enjoins, as appears from what has been faid of its nature. For the man who fears the Lord in the manner explained, will not only watch against every kind of fin, but also those circumftances of temptation that lead to it.

4. God recommends this duty to our study and practice, by bis Divine authority. This he does by the high encomiums he bestows upon it, and that with this express view. It is wisdom, it is underftanding. Thus in Job: Bebold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, is understanding. And in Proverbs: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; or, as the Hebrew word will well admit of being rendered, it is the principal, or grand conflituent part of true knowledge. And again: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wif dom; and the knowledge of the holy, is understanding. The fear of the Lord is ftrong confidence; and his children Shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the nares of death. Add to all this, the duty before us is matter of exprefs com.

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mand, as in our text. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

Need I fay more to recommend it to your ftudy and practice? Would you wish to enjoy the comforts that flow from the purity of heart, and innocence of manners, which it promotes?-Would you wish to live a life of holy and delightful intercourfe with heaven, and be useful in your day and generation? Would you wish to grow daily into a greater meetness for the inheritance of the faints in light? In a word, would you wish to die in peace, and go to be ever with the Lord? Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. And for this purpose I beseech you,

1. Study to acquire more and more of the knowledge of God; the knowledge of his perfections, character, and government; especially as they are manifefted in and through his Son Jefus Chrift. What has been already faid, fhews the influence this knowledge has on this fear of the Lord. It is its true fource. Thus it becomes life eternal to know God, as the only true God, and Jefus Chrift, whom he bath fent.

2. Be much and frequent in meditating upon the Divine perfections. Call up their various and numerous displays to your daily recollection, and dwell in familiar contemplation upon them. Thus your fouls will be affimilated to them; acquire correfpondent tempers and difpofitions; the tempers and dispositions to which these difplays of the attributes of God, are defigned and calculated to form the human heart. This is one thing imported in having our converfation in heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jefus Chrift. And the fo general neglect of this great duty of meditation, is one of the fruitful fources of that little improvement in the divine life, of which so many of God's people daily and

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justly complain; why they live and act so much beneath the dignity of their character, as the disciples of a Holy Jefus; and often act so unworthy the juft expectations of both their God and the world refpecting them.

3. Be much in the great duty of prayer, especially be confcientious in observing the returning seasons thereof, private and focial.-This has a natural tendency to impress our spirits with that reverence for the Divine perfections and character, that enters fo deeply into the duty before us. And not only fo, but in this way we are to feek, and in this way we may hope to obtain, those influences of the Spirit of grace, by which this fear of the Lord is most effectually maintained and promoted in the hearts and lives of men. My brethren, if you do not make conscience of this duty, in your clofets and families, fuch of you as have families, you cannot live in the fear of the Lord. Therefore I beseech you, continue in prayer, and watch in the fame with thanksgiving.

Laftly, To the duty of prayer, add that of watchfulnefs. You have just heard the influence this duty has on our perfonal conformity to God; I need not repeat it. Watch therefore your own hearts; attend to what paffes there.

Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the iues of life. Watch your lips, that you speak not unadvifedly therewith; watch your lives, that you do not offend against God's pure and holy law; watch thou in all things, and thus be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

May the Lord graciously enable each of us, thus to cleanfe ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord; through riches of grace in Chrift our Lord. Amen.

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