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HE wife and good Author of our nature, THF foreseeing that, in this degenerate and corrupted state of it, the rules of duty he pref ribed, would not, without great difficulty and reluctance, be complied with, hath been graciously pleased to address himself, not to our reafon only, but our paffions alfo, and to enforce his commands, by propofing, together with them, fuch motives and confiderations, as (he knew) would have the greateft influence towards determining our choice; towards fecuring, and enlivening our Chriftian bedience. And the moft operative of thefe mo

tives feems to be that, which applies itself to our fears, and urges upon us the strict practice of virtue, by the threats of divine vengeance, which will certainly attend our difobedience. This confideration the facred writers frequently inculcate; and particularly St. Paul in the words of the text, wherein he exhorts the Philippians to" work out their own falvation with fear and trembling."

On which words I intend to build this plain, but useful propofition, That " A fear of God's "wrath, and of eternal punishment, is a proper "and fufficient motive to lead men to holiness." This feems to be a very evident truth; and yet thofe, who have to deal with fcrupulous confciences, know, that fome very pious and wellmeaning Chriftians, do in good carneft doubt of it; and will not allow thomselves to be in a regenerate estate, or to have a fure title to the divine favour, because their repentance wholly took its rife at the first, and hath fince perhaps in fome measure received its growth and increafe, from that bafe and flavifh principle of fear, to which they imagine, the true fons of adoption and the elect of God are always ftrangers.

To remove the fcruples, under which fuch good, but mistaken men labour, fhall be the business of my prefent difcourfe: Wherein I will endeavour,

I. First, By fome general reflections, to leffen the ill opinion, which thefe perfons entertain of themfelves: And then proceed,

II. Secondly, To prove more directly, that the principle, from which their repentance and obedience

dience hath fprung, is fuch, as they may fecurely rely on. And,

First, I defire them to confider, that although the gospel doth (almoft in every page of it) repre fent to us the neceffity of repentance in general; yet, as to any particular motive, from whence this change of mind and manners must neceffarily flow, it is altogether filent. Which feems to intimate this truth, That if a man be but fincerely and thoroughly good, it matters not much out of what principle he first became fo: Elfe the Scripture, which fa often and earneftly preffes upon us the one, would have laid fome ftrefs on the other alfo. It is faid indeed that we muft" love the Lord our God with all our heart, and withall our foul, and with all our mind, and with all our ftrength;" Luke x. 27. that we must "walk in his ways, and keep all his commandments;" but it is no where determined, from what motive® this our love and obedience muft originally fpring, in order to find acceptance with God.

And: therefore where no exprefs directions are given, there the divine Goodness feems to have indulged a latitude. And why then should we make the way that leads to eternal life, narrower, and the gates ftraiter, than God himself appears to have made it? But,

2. It seems a little unequal and prepofterous in thefe perfons, to lay fo great a ftrefs on their fears in one refpect, when they diftruft them fo much in another. For the ftate of their cafe is plainly this,That by a dread of divine vengeance they were at first feared from the practice of VOL IV.

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vice, and led into the paths of virtue: And it is the fame religious dread that now inclines them to fufpect, and condemn themselves, on that very account. They fear they have not repented in that manner they ought to have done, because their repentance was at firft the effect of their fear; that is, they allow the fuggeftions of this paffion to have a great deal of weight in the latter cafe, but none at all in the former. Which is, at one and the fame time, to pay too much, and too little regard to it, and to " condemn ourselves" (as St. Paul elfewhere speaks)" in that thing we allow," Rom. xiv. 22. And the judgments men pafs on their own condition, from fuch inconfift-' ent and confufed views as thefe, muft needs be very uncertain, and unfit to be relied on. Nay,

3. It is no flight token of a man's being really and fincerely good, and upon fuch principles and grounds as are well-pleating to God, in that he fufpects himself not to be fo: Since we rarely find any but the best and most religious minds, entertaining fuch little doubts, and encouraging fuch nice fcruples as thefe. The bold prefumptuous finner goes on hardly in his way; careless and : fearlefs; without looking backward to the point from whence he fet out, or forward to the end of his journey." He repenteth not of his wick"ednefs", (according to the defcription given of him by the prophet Jeremy), “faying, What "have I done? but turneth again to his course, "as the horfe rufheth into the battle," Jer. xviii.o. The hypocrite, on the other fide, is as fecure and well fatisfyed in his way, having acted his part fo! long, as to come at last to think it real, and to

deceive

deceive even his own heart, as well as the eyes and obfervations of others; and contenting himfelf with a demure fhew and face of religion, without any troublesome doubts or mifgivings. But it is the good and confcientious man chiefly, that is uneafy and diffatisfied with himself; always ready to condemn his own imperfections, and to fufpect his own fincerity, upon the flighteft occafions. He defires fo much and earnestly, to please God, that he can never think he pleafes him as much as he ought to do. Every wry step, by which he imagines himself to have declined from the path of duty, affrights him when he reflects on it; every the leaft obliquity in thought, word, and deed, feems confiderable to him. So that these fufpicions and godly jealoufies do, I fay, ufually abound moft there, where there is leaft need of them; and it is (generally speaking) a very good fign of a man's loving God heartily and in good earneft, when he begins to doubt, whether he loves him or no; and suspects even the beft fruits of holiness, which fhine in his life and practice, because he cannot look back with fatisfaction on the principle of fear, from whence they flowed. And therefore thefe very fcruples and jealoufies, which he thus cherishes, concerning the goodness of his ftate, would really afford matter of found comfort to him, if he had but skill and courage enough to make a right use of them.

In order to convince him of which truth, after premifing thefe general reflexions, I proceed now, as I propofed, more particularly and directly to prove,

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