bringing before them the various attributes and perfections of God, that so by a diligent consideration of these, they may be stirred up to the practice of all those acts of piety which such consideration is eminently fitted to produce.

And here I may observe that it would be to transcribe a very large portion of the beautiful ritual of the Church, should I cite all the evidence which might be produced in confirmation of this truth.

Suffice it to say that men are continually reminded of the attribute of God's Almighty power by those numerous prayers which begin with the words Almighty God,' and that His infinite wisdom is referred to in various places, as when He is said to be "the fountain of all wisdom," as when His never-failing Providence is said to order all things in Heaven and in Earth, and as when from Him "all good counsels" are said to "proceed."

The attribute of Divine goodness, moreover, when it is understood to comprehend holiness, justice, mercy, love, and the like, is continually brought before men's thoughts, and they are continually reminded of its exercise towards themselves, and therefore, continually urged to the practice of that godliness which should be thereby produced. God is spoken of as the fountain of all goodness;' we are taught to pray" that by thy great goodness we may be governed and preserved evermore both in body and soul," to address God as an "Almighty and most merciful Father," as one who of His tender love towards mankind, has sent this Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, and suffer death on the cross, as the author and giver of all good things, as one who declareth His Almighty power most chiefly by shewing mercy and pity, and who is ready." to pour down upon us the abundance of His mercies." The unchangeableness of God, moreover, and the consequent certainty of His promises and threatenings is continually enforced, as when it is said, which promise " He for His part will most surely keep and perform," as when it is said 'Thou art the same,' and as when He is described as never failing those whom He brings up in His stedfast fear and love.

How continually the eternal duration of God is brought before us by the Church of England will appear when we remember that we are taught to address Him in the words Almighty and immortal God,'' ever-living God,' 'everlasting God,' and in another place as the eternal God.

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Triumphant and unanswerable then is the appeal here made, and examples might be multiplied to the fidelity with which the Church of England continually brings before our notice the various attributes and perfections of God as they are made known to us in His works, and in His most Holy Word; and surely when we consider how much the practical conduct of men is influenced for good or evil by carefully considering or neglecting to consider these attributes; we cannot but think that the fidelity of the Church of England in this respect has been a most powerful means of urging her true sons from so constant a consideration of the Divine perfections" to become followers of God as dear children," "to be holy even as their Father which is in Heaven is holy," and to labour with unwearied diligence to become by God's grace partakers of the Divine Nature.

ESSAY THE FIFTH.

"And unto man he said behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding."-Job ch. 28, ver. 28.

IT is a truth which cannot be too often impressed upon our minds, that though we are obliged to treat of the Christian virtues separately in discourse, yet they cannot be separated in practice; that the existence of one necessarily implies the existence of them all; and therefore that no man can perform any one of them rightly without at the same time performing all the rest.

Thus before a man can truly fear God he must believe that He is, and no man can truly fear God without at the same time loving, serving, and obeying Him; as well as exercising that justice and charity towards his fellow-creatures which flow from, and arise out of this godly fear.

On the other hand, he who is destitute of the true fear of God will neither love, serve, nor obey Him as he ought to do; nor will there be seen in his actions the practice of those duties towards his neighbour which is so intimately connected with the 'fear of the Lord.'

In a word, the description given of the unjust judge in the Gospel will strictly apply to all such persons, where it is said of him that "he neither feared God nor regarded man."

By these observations, however, I would not be understood to assert that there is no sense in which the wicked can believe in and fear God, and when I said that the existence of one of the Christian virtues implies the existence of all the rest, I would only be understood to maintain this assertion when all the parts of such Christian virtue are performed according to our measure; though by reason of human infirmity none of those parts can be perfectly performed in this life.

That there is a faith which taken by itself does not constitute Christian faith, and which has by no means all the parts or qualities of it, may be learnt from the words of St. James who tells us that "the Devils also believe," and that there is a fear of God which standing alone does not make up that 'godly fear' which is exercised by the faithful only, may be learnt from the same text, where the Devils are not only said to believe, but also to tremble.'

In order, therefore, clearly to distinguish between these two kinds of fear, divines have been accustomed to call one of them a servile fear and the other a filial fear; and adopting this distinction, some have maintained that the former is a fear of God which belongs only to the wicked, and the latter a fear which belongs only to the righteous.

If, however, by a servile fear is meant a fear of divine punishment, and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,' why then there is no just ground for believing that this kind of fear is confined exclusively to the wicked, because these latter have no filial fear, and only dread the punishment of their sins. Indeed it would seem, on the contrary, that the union of both kinds of fear constitutes that root of all genuine piety which is said in scripture to be the beginning of wisdom.'

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Indeed, by maintaining that the faithful are only acted upon by a filial fear, we should shut out one of the most powerful motives to a good life which the dread of punishment is so eminently fitted to supply; and we

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should deprive ourselves of one of the best instruments which God has mercifully given to us constituted as we are, for urging us to depart from evil and to do good.'

That the opinion that the faithful are never acted upon by dread of divine punishment is maintained by those who take a very contracted view of human nature on the one hand, and of the general scheme of God's government on the other, a few considerations will shew; and that such an opinion is entirely repugnant to the express statements of Holy Scripture a few passages which will be cited will prove.

From what has been said, however, as well as from what follows, let it not be thought that it is intended to speak slightingly of filial fear; on the contrary, I fully admit that the union of this fear with the fear of the divine punishment, makes the entire difference between the exercise of both the parts of the true fear of God by the righteous, and only one of the parts by the wicked; and the error which it is the object of these observations to correct is the error of entirely excluding from the piety of the righteous all fear which arises from dread of punishment.

Indeed, it will be seen as we proceed, that though men may deny its existence in argument, yet it is always acknowledged by true Christians in their practice, that the fear of divine punishment for sin exists even more strongly in the righteous than in the wicked; but that it is kept from producing despair in the case of the righteous by its inseparable union with filial fear, and the two together by their union with those other Christian virtues with which they are inseparably and indissolubly connected.

That the entire exclusion of the fear of divine punishment from the piety of the righteous is made by those who take a contracted view of the present state of human nature, will appear, when we consider that such persons would entirely shut out the benefit which ought to be derived from those examples of the righteous judgments of God upon others which abound in Holy scripture; they would reject too the advantage which they might otherwise gain from a due consideration of those examples, of the punishment of sinners, which are daily taking place before their eyes, or which may have come under their observation in time past; and they would deprive themselves of the benefits which all these warnings put together are manifestly intended to impart.

That the fear of divine punishment, which examples of God's judgments are so well fitted to produce on the minds of all, is a feeling which ought not to be shut out from the minds of any, will further appear when we consider its wonderful adaptation to the present state of man, from the effects produced upon children by a dread of punishment.

But further, those who shut out the fear of punishment from the piety of the righteous, may also be shewn to take a contracted view of the general scheme of God's government.

And that because a more enlarged view of the dealings of God with mankind would lead all such persons to perceive that like as in the works of Nature every thing is fitted to the condition, the wants, and the comforts of man; so in the higher works of grace, and in the scheme of human Redemption, the actions of God are all of them fitted to our spiritual wants and condition, and are exactly suited, if we employ them as we ought to do, for our correction and instruction in righteousness.

And what is there, I would ask, to lead us to think that the fear of having every thought, word, and deed brought into judgment by God the righteous Judge, should ever in this world cease to act upon the godly; should discontinue to check the approaches to sin, and the giving heed to temptation; and should not always during the entire life of the Faithful upon earth, be a powerful instrument of causing them "to live in the fear of the Lord all the day long?"

But it was said that the opinion that the righteous are never acted upon by fear of divine punishment was entirely repugnant to the express statements of Holy scripture.

Solomon, in the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes, after stating that to fear God, and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man, adds, "for the Lord will bring every work into judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil."

Now, here the fear of the righteous judgment of God, is clearly used as a motive, to urge all men to obedience.

And in the New Testament we find the same teaching in the words of our Blessed Saviour Himself, "Fear Him," He says, "who is able to cast both body and soul into hell; yea, I say unto you fear ye Him.'

The instances are so numerous both in the Old and New Testaments, in which the judgments of God, past, present, and future, are employed to urge all men to lead a good life; that to refer to them all would be to cite a very large portion of the Bible, and therefore we cannot think that any persons were intended to be entirely exempt from the fear of divine punishment during their life upon earth; or that God ever intended that any should live without this powerful motive to urge them to the practice of all holiness and pureness of living.

Besides, the threatenings of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, which occur in almost every page of the Bible, evidently imply that all men should be so acted upon by the fear of those threatened judgments as to avoid and forsake those sins which if persisted in, will inevitably bring down the righteous punishment of the Lord upon their heads.

But further, it can be clearly shewn that the fear of divine punishment exists even more strongly in the righteous than in the wicked; for the righteous from a greater knowledge of the infinite power, holiness, and justice of God than the wicked, will of necessity, see more clearly than the wicked, the sure consequences of transgression, and the derangements which sin has introduced into the world; they will be more fully aware than the wicked can be, that there is no coming to God but by pardon through the Saviour's blood, and by living a correspondent life of holiness; and that God is infinitely just as well as infinitely merciful. Indeed, nothing is more clear from the testimony of experience, than that he who has the least dread of God's righteous judgment, is he who has wandered furthest from the good and the right way; that no man has so little fear of future punishment as he who has the greatest cause to fear it; and that none are so hopelessly sunk into a careless unconcern about another world as those who persist in their evil ways, and encourage themselves in sin by relying upon the general mercy of God without any respect being had to the only terms upon which that mercy is vouchsafed. And if it be asked how the fear of divine punishment is kept from

producing despair in the minds of the godly? how, seeing they have a clearer sense of God's judgments than the wicked, such a sense does not drive them to rush unbidden into the presence of their Maker, like Judas did under a dread of God's judgments? I answer because the fear of the divine judgments in the case of the righteous is connected, as it was not in the case of Judas, with that childlike fear of God which has therefore been called a filial fear, which leads the faithful to trust like children to the goodness of an Almighty and most merciful Father, and which prevents the despair which would otherwise arise from an unmixed dread of God's judgments by leading them to hope in His mercy.

Hence on the whole subject we see that whilst the fear of God's wrath acting alone can produce nothing but despair, when it comes to be joined to a childlike fear of God, there results from the union of the two, that true fear of God which is said in scripture to be wisdom.'

And if we pass on from the consideration of this fear itself to the result of it wherever it is truly exercised, we shall find no better clue to such result than that which is given in the second clause of the sentence which stands at the head of this essay, where we are taught that "to depart from evil is understanding."

And what other result can be produced, wherever this fear is truly possessed, than a sincere departure from evil?

How can he who is truly alive to the unbending nature of God's justice, and who truly considers, from the sacrifice of the Son of God being necessary, that divine justice must be satisfied either in the person of the surety or in that of the sinner, do otherwise than hate the thing that is evil, and depart from the love and practice of those sins which nailed the Divine Redeemer to the cross?

How can he who has a firm persuasion of the certainty of God's judgments, and who makes the proper use of the examples of them executed on others either as recorded in scripture, or as taking place before his eyes, fail to overcome when assaulted by temptation? And how can he

who is fully alive to the certainty of a future reckoning, when every one shall receive" according to that which he hath done whether it be good or whether it be evil," prefer the short-lived happiness of this world, to the un-ending happiness of the world to come; the pleasures of sin for a season, to the future recompense of the reward; and the enjoyments which are but for a moment, to that fulness of joy which is at God's right hand for evermore?

How can he who has the true fear of God before his eyes fail to be continually on his guard against the first approaches to evil; to suspect his own strength, and by God's help to fight manfully under Christ's banner against sin, the world, and the devil; to be true and just in every action, even when no eye but God's is upon him; and to keep continually in mind that strict and solemn account which all flesh must one day give before the judgment seat of Christ?

The true fear of God then being of that unspeakable importance which the scriptures everywhere declare it to be, it behoves us to take good heed to ourselves that we exercise it in both kinds, and that we use every means given to us to enable us to depart from evil, as well the means supplied by fear of divine punishment as those which arise out of a filial fear.

When Adam was in paradise, so long as he continued in the fear of