conceptions; infinitely powerful, wise, and good; of unspotted purity; most holy, just, and true. And who can contemplate the Divine nature, as thus made known to us, without having his mind impressed with sentiments and feelings of the profoundest awe, and reverence, and veneration?

But the affection or emotion with which we at any time regard the Deity, will be suitable to the attribute, or perfection, to which our attention and thoughts are at that time more particularly directed. Thus the Divine wisdom will excite our admiration; the Divine goodness will fill our hearts with thankfulness, and encourage us to hope for mercy;-but when the Almighty power, unspotted purity, and inflexible justice which belong to the Divine nature, become the objects of our contemplation;-then, being conscious of much guilt and imperfection,of numberless violations of the Divine law, and shortcomings and neglects of that obedience which it enjoins, our fears must be alarmed for the dreadful consequences which may result to us from the Divine displeasure; for by no process of reasoning concerning this matter can we arrive at any other inference or conclusion, than that the Lawgiver will not permit his authority and the honour of his government and attributes to be insulted and trampled upon with impunity.

Viewing our condition in this light, it must appear a dreadful one. But is it irremediable? Is there no alternative, but to resign ourselves to the horrors of despair? Yes, there is. The holiness of God

rejects whatever is polluted; his justice condemns whatever offends against the majesty of his government. But his goodness, his mercy, his love, hath interposed to save a guilty race, to restore them to purity, and to conduct them to happiness. He hath laid our help upon One who is mighty, and able to save to the uttermost all who come to him. He hath delivered us from our state of helpless and hopeless terror, by the death of his own eternal Son, whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of our past sins, that he might still be just, and yet the Justifier of all them that believe in Jesus.

By this wonderful dispensation, we are not barely reprieved; but, from being condemned criminals, we are advanced to the rank, and invested with the privileges of the children of God; now, no longer a terrible and avenging God, vindicating the honour of his attributes by the destruction of a guilty race, but a kind and compassionate Father, ready to forgive his erring children upon their repentance and return to duty, bestowing the most ample means for training them up to virtue, and manifesting himself to them as the object, not of that servile dread with which slaves regard a cruel and tyrannical master, but of that filial reverence, affection, and respect, with which dutiful children look up to their earthly parents.

This filial reverence, and fear to offend, abiding in the heart, and directing the conduct; inspiring an unreserved submission in all things to the will of our

heavenly Father, and determining us to do whatsoever he hath commanded, and to avoid whatsoever he hath forbidden, whatever pains, or trouble, or sacrifice such obedience may cost us: this alone can be termed a truly religious fear of God; and to this temper, or affection of the mind towards God, it must be our principal concern and most earnest care to bring ourselves, if it is our wish to be finally acknowledged as his dear children, or if we would approve ourselves to be indeed the disciples of Him through whose merits alone we are rendered capable of this honourable and happy relation.

To this temper, I say, it should be our chief concern and constant endeavour to bring ourselves, because it is only by its influence that we can attain to that holiness which is necessary to qualify us for the Divine favour. Let none, however, be disheartened by the consciousness that reverence for God is not so habitually present to their minds, nor so efficacious as a principle of action, as we have said it ought to be. The remedy in this case is a more diligent cultivation of this holy affection, and renewed resolutions and endeavours to bring the life and conduct to a more perfect conformity to it, together with frequent and fervent applications by prayer at a throne of grace, for Divine aid. If there is thus a willing and sincere mind, there can be no doubt of success ; and even in the event of repeated failures, such persons ought not to desist, much less to despair, encouraged, as they are, to proceed, by the gracious

assurance that as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth those who truly fear him.

Neither let any suspect that their case is desperate, or even that their acceptance with God is doubtful, because they feel, that in their fear of Him there is an alloy of that servile dread, which regards his power and justice more than his goodness and mercy. Where the life has been comparatively blameless, such fear is groundless; and we may safely pronounce it excusable, on the score of the weakness and imperfection of our nature. But where the life has been ill-spent, and the work of repentance but just begun, the terrors of the Lord are evidently salutary; as no other consideration would appear sufficient to persuade men to encounter the difficulty of amendment,-the almost insuperable difficulty of rooting out vicious habits, and forsaking sinful practices. Happy it is for them that they are warned, by any means, to flee from the wrath to come, and to mind the things which belong to their eternal peace. The anguish of mind produced by remorse and terror, is in their case a blessing, for which they cannot be too thankful. But when, by the grace of God, their efforts have been crowned with success, and they have obtained the victory over sin; when they have escaped from the thraldom in which it held them, and have returned to that duty and obedience which they owe to their rightful Sovereign;-then the horrors and fearful anticipation of judgment, which produced and accompanied their repentance,

gradually subside into that reverential awe, and filial affection and gratitude, in which the true fear of God consists.

But besides the filial reverence, and ser vile dread which have been mentioned, there is a third kind of fear, which may be called a superstitious fear of God; and which ought to be particularly guarded against, because impious in itself, and pernicious in its effects upon the human character. It ascribes to God passions, and caprices, and motives of action, derogatory to his honour, and totally inconsistent with those perfections of wisdom, purity, justice, goodness and truth, which, according to Scripture, constitute his character, and invariably direct his conduct. It, in fact, loses sight of the true God, and forms a God for itself, who will accept of rites and fasts, and penances and duties, of human invention or contrivance, in place of a return to moral rectitude and purity, or as a sufficient atonement for moral delinquency. It is not that fear and trembling with which we are enjoined to work out our salvation, a fear to offend in word or deed, a trembling to disobey any Divine command; it is not that rational fear, which even amidst the greatest dangers sees only realities, and prompts to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise; but it is a gloomy sort of terror, inspired by erroneous, and generally by dark and uncomfortable, views of the Deity, often making those who are infected by it, afflict themselves with needless severities, and deny themselves many of the innocent enjoyments of life; and always so fixing their atten