the least reason for it: the only way to excel in wisdom is, to make Heaven the object of our contemplation; and Religion, the rule of our life; and, in this pious disposition of mind, to have the fear of God, always, in our hearts, and the Law of God, always, before our eyes: indeed pure Religion is the only thing that is worthy to be desired by man.

I shall, in the following discourse, give a true notion what Religion is, and shall shew by what marks and characters the true Religion is to be known: a very important subject, and one would think it very easy too. But how plain soever it may be of itself; yet the perverseness of contentious sinful man has made it a great question now, and not very easy to be deter

mined.

For though God has revealed his will to man, "at ❝ sundry times, and in divers manners;" yet yet different men, according to the diversity of their prejudices, their interests, or their apprehensions, have taken this Revelation in a diverse meaning, and, sometimes, in • so perverse a sense, that nothing is so unlike the will

of God, as the notion which some men have of godliness nothing in the world is so irreligious, as the profession of some men's Religion. "Light and "darkness, good and evil," though they are, equally, distinguishable, and, equally, contrary to each other, as the Prophet tells us, yet they are not more contrary than one man's Religion is to another's.

But what Religion can there be without the fear " of the Lord," or to what purpose should God reveal himself to man but to give us a more distinct, and perfect, notion of His power, and to inculcate His fear into our hearts; that by this rational awe upon us,

he

he might deter us from those practices, to which our corrupted nature and infirmities too much incline us, and over-rule our affections by the sword of Justice, which are too refractory to be reclaimed by a gentle hand.

It is God's prerogative to soften the hearts of men, and still the madness of the people," and set bounds to those extravagances which are proof against all human power. His fear strikes deep into our souls: His anger reaches to the very quick; and there is no fence against His arrows, when even His word searches the reins and heart.

This is that fear of God, which is called Wisdom, in the text, and is the principal ingredient, if not the whole substance, of Religion and since Religion is a thing so generally professed, it is great pity but it were better understood: that we may, therefore, understand it better, we must know, that this "fear of the Lord,” whereof it is composed, consists, as all other commendable habits do, in a certain medium, and due proportion between two extremes: and they are, superstition, and profaneness: whereof the first proceeds from too much, and the second from too little, fear : Religion teaches us to honor God, but superstition abuses Him, and profaneness denies Him: both which are extreme follies, and both are to be cured by that wisdom which is here prescribed us in the text.

The rational fear of the Lord" is the most proper means to secure us from superstition: which is nothing else but an unreasonable excess of fear, a dreadful apprehension that is incident to ignorant, sinful men, making them afraid, of they know not what, and desirous to be acquitted, but they know not how.

For

into superstition, and from an ignorant, unreasonable course of sin, he flies to an ignorant, injudicious state of penance.

Such gross abuses in Religion as these, one may, easily, guess, must needs bring Religion itself into disrepute and so, indeed, it has, effectually, done: for in all countries, and nations, in the world, there are not so many professed atheists to be found, as in one superstitious vitiated Church, where the blind lead the blind, and make the Faith appear abominable through their vice, and ridiculous through their superstition.

Before I dismiss this point, I must not omit hypocrisy, which is one sort, and indeed the worst sort, of profaneness it is a vice so utterly inconsistent with Religion, that it is not fearing, but mocking, God; so destructive of good manners, that it makes a mock not only of sin, but of godliness too: it is a plague that is most pernicious to the Soul of man, because it is the most concealed, and it is the more incurable, because it is, always, playing with the word of God, and abusing all the methods of its cure.

It is a vice that makes the greatest havoc in the Church of God, and, most effectually, overturns Religion. He that is openly profane, like a robber upon the road, sins only to the damage of private men but the secret hypocrite, like a traytor to his country, offends against the whole constitution; undermines the very foundation of Godliness, and brings Religion itself into disgrace.

Hence we may learn how to make a judgment of our own sincerity, and proficiency in Religion;

namely,

mamely, if we have worked an awful veneration into our hearts, and have a true rational fear of God before our eyes. Not a servile, superstitious fear, such as I have described already; not "a fearful looking for "of Judgment," such as is, always, the consequence, and commonly, the sign, of sin; but such a religious awe as encourages our virtue; such a respectful fear of God's anger, as is, also, a demonstration of our love.

Without this, it is in vain for us to value ourselves, upon our virtue, our devotion, or our zeal; and we are only so far religious, as we are advanced in the fear of the Lord: our zeal may be the effect of passion, our devotion may proceed from danger, and our virtue may be the consequence of self-love; but the fear of the Lord, when it is genuine and sincere, can be nothing else but pure Religion, and Religion without it can be nothing else but folly, and deceit.

Let us next consider in what respect the fear of the Lord is wisdom."

It is by an open confession of our Faith that we must be justified; but he that confesses God with his mouth, and denies him in his heart, who is a Christian only in his words, an errant Heathen in his works, may think, perhaps, to impose either upon God, or man, but will find, to his loss, that he only cheats himself.

It was for the restoring of our innocence, that God taught us the fear of His name, and established his Religion among us: it was for the securing of our virtue, that we ourselves were baptized into this Religion, and adopted into his Church: and, therefore, a vicious life, as it is abominable in all men, so in a Christian it is insufferable:

insufferable: it is acting against his own conscience, contradicting his own reason, and running himself into apparent danger, even contrary to his own sense.

If we know not the danger of sin, we are not men of Religion if we know the danger, and yet will run the hazard, we are not men of understanding. One of these, every professed sinner, even in his own judgment, must renounce; but in the judgment of all wise men, he renounces both; for understanding can no more subsist without Religion, than Religion can subsist without understanding.

I do not say, that we must conclude that Religion to be false, where some of its professors are vicious; for then no Religion could ever give evidence of its truth neither do I say, that man's Religion is vain, who, sometimes, is guilty of sin, for then no man could ever give an evidence of his Religion.

But this I say, that he that returns, frequently, to his sin, does much endanger his Religion: and he that lives in a constant habit of sin, does renounce it. That Church which does not use all possible means to encourage virtue, is a corrupted Church; but that which tolerates vice, is as bad as no Church at all.

What shall we think, then, of those men, and their pretensions to Christianity, who pretend to find out new ways to heaven, without troubling either our Faith, or virtue, in the search, and requiring nothing from us but only a strong presumption?

And that there is no calumny, or fiction, in all this, I could instance in more Churches in the world than one, where men are taught to call themselves the elect, faithful, people of God; and then encouraged to presume upon the merits of their party, and think them