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Task that our great Lord requires of us, and for the fake of which he also beftows many Talents upon us to be thus improved in this Life, and for which we must also at the end of our Day give our Lord an Account; and therefore for the fake of this alfo we are to be thankful for our Life, and not be defirous to leave our Poft, our Station, our Business, our Life, till our Lord call us to himfelf in the ordinary way of his Providence; for he is the only Lord of our Lives, and we are not the Lords of our own Lives.

2. A fecond Caution is this: That as the Business, and Employments, and Concerns of our Life must not eftrange us from the Thoughts of Death, fo again we must be careful that the over-much thought of Death do not so much poffefs our Minds, as to make us forget the Concerns of our Life, nor neglect the Bufinefs which that Portion of Time is allowed us for: As the Bufinefs of fitting our Souls for Heaven; the Bufineffes of our Callings, Relations, Places, Stations: Nay, the comfortable, thankful, fober Enjoyments of thofe honeft lawful Comforts of our Life that God lends us; fo as it be done with great Sobriety and Moderation, as in the Prefence of God, and with much Thankfulness to him; for this is part of that very Duty we owe to God for thofe very external Comforts and Bleffings we enjoy. Deut. 28. 47. A wife and due Confideration of our Latter Ends, is neither to render us a fad, melancholy, difconfolate People; nor to render us unfit for the Bufineffes and Offices of our Life; but to make us more watchful, vigilant, induftrious, foberly chearful and thankful to that God, that hath been pleased thus to make ourselves ferviceable to him, comfortable to our felves, profitable to others; and after all this, to take away the Bitterness and Sting of Death, through Jefus Chrift our Lord.

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Of Wisdom and the Fear of God;

That that is true Wisdom.

Job xxvii. 28. And to Man he said, Behold, the Fear of the Lord that is Wifdom, and to depart from Evil is Understanding.

THE great Prebeminence that Man hath over Beafts, is his Reason; and the great Preheminence that one Man hath over another is Wisdom; though all Men have ordinarily the Privilege of Reafon; yet all Men have not the Habit of Wisdom. The greatest Commendation that we can ordinarily give a Man, is, that he is a wife Man; and the greatest Reproach that can be to a Man, and that which is worst refented, is to be called or esteemed a Fool; and yet as much as the Reputation of Wisdom is valued, and the Reputation of Folly is refented, the ge-. nerality of Mankind are in truth very Fools, and make it the great part of their Business to be fo; and many that pretend to feek after Wisdom, do either mistake the thing, or mistake the way to attain it; commonly thofe that are the greateft pretenders to Wisdom, and the fearch after it, place it in fome little narrow concern, but place it not in its true Latitude commenfurate to the Nature of Mankind : And hence it is that one efteems it the only Wisdom to be a wife Politician or Statesman; another, to be a wife and knowing Naturalift, another, to be a wife Acquirer of Wealth, and the like; and all these are Wifdoms in their kind; and the World perchance would be much better than it is, if thefe kinds of Wisdom were more in Fashion than they are: But yet these are but partial Wifdoms, the Wildom that is moft worth the feeking and finding, is that which renders a Man a Wife Man.

This excellent Man Job, after a diligent fearch (in the Speech of this Chapter) after Wisdom, what it is, where to be found, doth at length make thefe Two Conclufions, viz. 1. That the true Root of Wildom, and

that

that therefore beft knew where it was to be found, and how to be attained, is certainly none other but Almighty God, verf. 23. God underft andeth the way thereof, and knoweth the place thereof: And, 2. As he alone beft knew it, fo he beft knew how to prescribe unto Mankind the Means and Method to attain it. To Man he faid, To fear God that is Wisdom that is, it is the proper and adequate Wisdom fuitable to humane Nature, and to the Condition of Mankind: And we need not doubt but it is fo, because he that best knew what was the beft Rule of Wisdom, prefcribed it to Man, his best of visible Creatures, whom we have juft Reason to believe he would not deceive with a falfe or deficient Rule of Wisdom; fince as Wisdom is the Beauty and Glory of Man, fo Wisdom in Man fets forth the Glory, and Excellency, and Goodnefs of God. And, confonant to this, David a wife King, and Solomon the wifeft of Men, affirm the fame truth; Pfal. 111. 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wildom; a good underStanding have they that do bis Commandments. Prov. 1. 7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge; but Fools defpife Wisdom and Inftruction: And 9. 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is Understanding. And when the Wife Man had run all his long Travel of Experiments to attain that which might be that good for the Children of Men; in the end of his tedious Chace and Purfuit, he clofeth up all with this very fame Conclufion; Ecclef. 12. 13. Let us hear the Conclufion of the whole matter, Fear God and keep his Commandments; for this is the whole Duty of Man; and he gives a fhort, but effectual Reason of it; For God fhall bring every Work into judgment, with every fecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. And hence it is that this Wife Man, who had the greatest measure of Wisdom of any meer Man fince the Creation of Adam; that had as great Experience and Knowledge of all Things and Per fons; that made it his Bufinefs to fearch and enquire, not only into Wisdom, but into Madness and Folly; that had the greatest Opportunity or Wealth and Power to make the exacteft Enquiry therein; this wife, and inquifitive,

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and

and experienced Man, in all his Writings ftiles the Mar fearing God, and obeying him, the only wife Man; and the Perfon that neglects this Duty, the only Fool and mad Man.

And yet it is ftrange to fee how little this is thought of or believed in the World: Nay, for the most part he is thought the wifest Man who hath the leaft of this principle of Wifdom appearing in him; that thakes off the fear of God, or the fenfe of his Prefence, or the Obedience to his Will, and the Discipline of Confcience, and by Craft, or Sub tilty, or Power, or Oppreffion, or by whatfoever Mcthod may be moft conducible, purfues his Ends of Profit, or Power, or Pleasure, or what else his own vain thoughts and the mistaken eftimate of the Generality of Men render defirable in this World: And on the other fide he that governs himself, his Life, his Thoughts, Words, Actions, Ends, and Purposes with the Fear of Almighty God, with a Senfe and awe of his Prefence, according to his Word, that drives at a nobler End than ordinarily the World thinks of; namely Peace with Almighty God, and with his own Heart and Confcience, the Hope and Expectation of Eternity, fuch a Man is counted a fhallow, empty, inconfiderate, foolish Man; one that carries no Stroak in the World; a Man laden with a melancholy Delufion, fetting a great Rate upon a World he fees not, and neglecting the Opportunities of the World he fees.

But upon a found and true Examination of this Business, we fhall find that the Man that feareth God is the wifeft Man, and he that upon that Account departs from Evil, is the Man of greatest Understanding. I fhall fhew there fore thefew things; 1. What it is to fear God; 2. That this fear of God is moft demonftratively the best Wif dom of Mankind, and makes a Man truly and really a wife Man.

I. Touching the firft of thefe, Fear is an Affection of the Soul that is as much diverfified as any one Affection whatfoever; which Diverfification of the Affection arifeth from the Diverfification of thofe Objects by which this Affection is moved. I fhall mention thefe Four:

1. Fear

1. Fear of Defpondency or Desperation; which arifeth from the Fear of fome great and important Danger that is unavoidable, or at least so apprehended, and this is not the Fear that is here commended to Mankind.

2. Fear of Terror or Affrightment; which is upon the fenfe of fome great important Danger, that though poffibly it may be avoided, yet it carries with it a great Probability and immediate Impendency; as the fear of Mariners in a Storm; or a fear that befals a Man in fome time or place of great Confufion or vifible Calamity. And this kind of fear of Almighty God is fometimes effectual and ufeful to bring Men to Repentance after fome great Dipleasure of Almighty God by Sin or Apoftacy, but this is not that Fear that is here, at leaft primarily and principally meant, but these Two that follow.

3. A Fear of Reverence or Awefulness, and this Fear is raifed principally upon the fenfe of fome Object, full of Glory, Majefty, Greatness, though poffibly there is no caufe of expecting any hurt from the Perlon or thing thus feared. Thus a Subject bears a Reverential Fear to his Prince, from the fenfe of his Majesty and Grandeur: and thus much more the Majefty and Greatness of Almighty God excites Reverence and Awefulness, though there were no other ingredient in that Fear. Jer. 5. 21. Will ye not fear me, faith the Lord? Will ye not tremble at my Prefence? &c. Jer. 10.7. Who would not fear thee, O King of

Nations?

4. A Fear of Caution or Watchfulness. This is that which the Wife Man commends, Prov. 28. 14. Bleffed is the Man that feareth always. And this fear of Caution is a due Care and Vigilancy not to difpleafe that Perion from whom we enjoy or hope for Good; the fear of a Benefactor, or of that Perfon from whom we may, upon fome juft Cause or Demerit, expect an Evil, as the fear of a juft and righteous Judge. And thefe Two latter kinds of Fear; namely, the Fear of Reverence, and the Fear of Caution, are thofe that are the principal Ingredients conftituting this Fear of God that thefe excellent Men commend to us as true Wisdom.

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