we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all "dead; and that he died for all, that they which live, "fhould not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him "which died for them, and rofe again." To the fame purpose the apostle John fays, "We have known and be"lieved the love that God hath to us. God is love; and "he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in "him t." We find in fcripture that there is a direct oppofition stated between the fpirit of genuine converts under the gospel, and a spirit of bondage, or flavifh fear; "For ye have not received the fpirit of bondage again to "fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, where"by we cry, Abba, Father ‡." So fays the fame apostle to Timothy, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, "but of power and of love, and of a found mind ||.” The truth is, it is equally plain from the nature and That which is done only or chiefly reafon of the thing. from fear, cannot be any evidence of the change that is acceptable to God, because, properly speaking, it is no real or inward change at all. The effects of fin are restrained or controlled by fuperior power, but the inclination to it remains ftill the fame. It is a common and known principle, that whatever is the effect of compulfion or force upon the agent, whether it be good or evil in itself, hath nothing moral in its nature. The fword that commits murder, and that which executes juftice, deferves equal blame or praise, or rather none of them deferves either the one or the other. A detected thief, compelled to make reftitution, or loaded with chains fo that he cannot fteal, does not thereby become honeft in his nature. The cafe is precifely the fame with those who, in their religious duties, are under the government of fear, although it be the fear of their almighty Judge. From any fimilar inftance between man and man, we may at once be fenfible of this truth. If one man is willing to overreach another, but, through his adverfary's fuperior fkill, is not able, or, terrified by threatenings, is not bold enough † 1 John iv. 16. ‡ Rom. viii. 15. 2 Cor. v. 14. # 2 Tim. i. 7. to attempt it, what character does he bear, or deferve, but that of a difappointed knave? What parent or master will be fatisfied with the obedience of a child or fervant, who plainly difcovers that he hates his commands, and grieves at his authority? It is true, as man can only judge with certainty of the outward appearance, this circumstance muft be left out of every fyftem of human government. We can make no laws on earth to punifh the intention : but fo much we know of it, as may make us fenfible what all fuch deferve, and fhall receive, at the hand of God, whofe prerogative it is that he knoweth and judgeth the fecrets of all hearts. I fhall only further obferve, that the fame thing appears in the clearest manner, from the nature of that happiness which is prepared for the children of God in the life to come. It is purely fpiritual, as it is perfectly holy: it confifts in the knowledge of God, in the exercife of love to him, in conformity to his nature, and the execution of his will. Those who are under the dominion of fear, who have no love to God, but only defire to avoid his wrath, will certainly find, that, though it were poffible for them to efcape hell, they neither deferve, nor are able to relish, the employment and happiness of heaven. As the commands of God are a burden to them on earth, his immediate prefence would be a ftill more infupportable burden in heaven.-From all this I hope it appears evidently, that a character may be formed upon religious principles, and yet, if it is never carried further than a restraint by fear, it is not that change which is neceffary to falvation. It will not be improper, or rather it will be abfolutely neceffary to make a reflection or two upon this branch of the fubject for its improvement, and to prevent its being mistaken or misapplied. For this purpose let it be observed, that we must carefully diftinguifh the flavifh dread above explained, from that dutiful reverential fear which every child of God is ftill bound to preferve upon his mind of his Father who is in heaven. Of the first kind it is faid, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love cafteth out 66 fear, because fear hath torment: he that feareth is not VOL. I Q "made perfect in love."* In proportion as the love of God prevails, the first fort of fear is banished, but the other is fo far from being banifhed, that it rather increases. This is no other than a profound veneration of the unfpeakable greatnefs and glory of God, and particularly of his holiness and purity, which fhould bring every creature proftrate before him. We find in the vifion of Ifaiah, the heavenly hofts represented as deeply penetrated with fuch a discovery: "In the year that king Uzziah died, I faw the Lord fitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train "filled the temple: above it stood the feraphims; each "one had fix wings; with twain he covered his face, "with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and faid, HOLY, HOLY, "HOLY, is the Lord of hofts, the whole earth is full of his glory."† 66 This not only may, but ought, in us to be accompanied with a fear of the punishment incurred by fin; at the fame time it must be infeparably connected with, or rather founded upon a fenfe of the holinefs of his nature, the purity of his law, and the juftice of his vengeance. On the contrary, that fear of God which prevails in the unregenerate, is founded only on the terror of his power, as a natural attribute. It is like the ftruggling of a chained flave, who "gnaws his tongue for pain," who is not fatisfiedwith the equity of the law, which he has tranfgreffed, and cannot admit the juftice of that sentence, the execution of which he apprehends. There is no inconsistency at all between the fear and love which terminate on the correfpondent attributes of God, majefty and mercy. A chriftian may, and ought, to grow in a fenfe of the divine prefence, and reverential dread of the divine majefty, and fo be ftill more afraid of finning; at the fame time, he may alfo grow in a sweet calm and compofure of mind, a fiducial truft and reliance on the divine faithfulness and mercy; juft as, on the other hand, fome finners evidently increase both in presumption and timidity. During a great part of their lives † Isaiah vi. 1, 2, 3° * 1 John iv. 18. they act without reflection and without restraint, and yet, at particular seasons, they are in a manner diftracted with terror: nay, though it often happens that grofs wickednefs fears the confcience, and produces an infenfibility and hardness of heart, there are inftances of the greatest profligates being liable to the moft alarming fears.* Let us never, therefore, confound things fo very oppofite as a fear of the living God, joined to an inward and hearty approbation of his commands, and that unwilling obedience or abstinence which views him as a ftern tyrant, and trembles at the thoughts of his wrath. It will be farther neceffary to obferve, that, as a flavish fear is to be entirely diftinguished from that which is filial and dutiful, fo no doubt there is often, even in real chriftians, a mixture of the fpirit of bondage itself, though they are fupremely governed by a better principle. This is not to be wondered at, fince they are fanctified but in part. There is a strong remainder of fin and corruption in them in different kinds, and, among the reft, a very blameable degree of unbelief and diftruft. How many are there whofe comfort is leffened, and whose hands hang down, through an exceffive fear of death, the last enemy? What a refreshment fhould it be to all fuch, to think of this end of our Saviour's coming, to "deliver them who, "through fear of death, were all their life-time fubject "unto bondage."+ For their fakes, I am perfuaded, it will not be difagreeable that in the clofe of this fection, I lay down a few marks, by which they may be enabled to judge whether this flavifh fear predominates or not. Ift then, Chriftians, whether or not is your fear of wrath immediately connected with a fenfe of the evil of fin? Do you fee thefe two things in their infeparable relation to, and mutual influence upon one another? Do you fear wrath as the effect of fin, and fin as the juft caufe of wrath? * We are tell that Nero, one of thofe monfters called Roman emperors, though he adventured to perpetrate fome of the most hor. rid crimes, was yet fo eafily terrified, that a thunderstorm used to make him hide himmelf under a bed. ↑ Hcb. ii. 15. Have you no fault to find with this connection? Do you plead guilty before God, and confefs that you are without excufe? Is fin truly hateful in itself, and your own unhappy proneness to it an habitual burden? The language of a believer is the fame with that of the apostle Paul: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, "and juft, and good. Was then that which is good made "death unto me? God forbid. But fin, that it might "appear fin, working death in me by that which is good, "that fin by the commandment might become exceeding "finful. For we know that the law is fpiritual, but I am carnal, fold under fin*." In thofe who are under the dominion of fear, there is no just fenfe of the evil of fin, there is a pronenefs to extenuate it, and inclination to justify it, and a continual attempt to forget or conceal it. The crime is ftill fweet, though the punishment is terrible. They are not fatisfied to find that God is fo holy, fo juft, and fo powerful. With them his government is arbitrary, his law is fevere, his nature implacable; and, inftead of changing their own difpofition, they would much rather with a change in his will, 2. Whether does your fear of God drive you from his prefence, or excite a strong defire of reconciliation and peace? The flavifh fear which is not attended with any juft views of the divine mercy, clothes God with terror, and makes him the object of averfion. This is plainly the firft effect of fin. It was fo in the cafe of Adam, who, as foon as he had lost his integrity, when he heard God's voice in the garden, fled and hid himself. We find the same sentiment expreffed by the men of Bethfhemesh, upon an extraordinary token of divine power and jealoufy: "And the men of Bethfhemefh faid, Who is able to ftand "before this holy Lord God, and to whom fhall he go up "from us t." Nay, the fame feems to have been the view of the apoftle Peter, when furprifed with an astonishing evidence of his mafter's power and Godhead. "When *Rom. vii. 12, 13, 14. t1 Sam. vi. 20. |