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think proper to do, on this Head, is to inftance in fome of the chief Impediments of this Kind, as well as the Means, that may be of Use to remove them.

1. What I reckon, then, the firft Hindrance to this Duty, is Inconfideration; for in this State a Man will not delight in God: And, to this Purpofe, we find him complaining, in that noted Place of the Prophet, The Ox knoweth his Owner, i. e. loveth and takes Pleasure in its Owner, and the Afs his Master's Crib, but Israel will not know me, Ifrael will not love and take Pleasure in me; and the Reason of all follows, My People will not confider. If ever therefore we intend to bring our Minds to take Pleasure in God, we must be careful to make them as active as poffible, and every Day appoint certain Portions of our Time, to be expended in Contemplation, and other religious Exercifes I fay, appoint and allot certain Portions of our Time; for, without doing this, by the fpecious Delays, which our deceitful Hearts are able to fuggeft, we may poffibly be prevailed with to neglect them altogether.

2. Sin and Senfuality is another Hindrance, that puts us at a greater Distance from delighting in God; for in this State we cannot do it: And the Reason is, becaufe, when once the Soul begins to tafte Things forbidden with Complacency, it becomes grofs and fleshly, and lofes its spiritual Tafte and Relish; the Wisdom of God having contrived it so, that none should be able to enjoy him, who prefume to fet up his Creatures in Competition with him. That God therefore may reign in our Affections, and be the fupreme Object of our Delight, it is neceffary that we moderate our Appetites in the Enjoyment of fuch Things, as are but too apt to engrofs them, and, above all, that we abstain from Sin, and be constant in our Duty. For

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this will keep us in Friendship, and reconcile our Minds to God; and, when we are reconciled, his Excellencies will command our Love and Admiration, which, when placed on him, will produce in us boundless Joy and Satisfaction.

3. But there is a worse Obftruction ftill to this Duty, and that is fad and uncomfortable Apprehenfions of the Nature of God, for, in this Cafe, we dare not delight in him. To form Conceptions of God, not according to the Image of his Word, but according to Mens particular Tempers, has been a cuftomary Thing in all Ages. The Stoicks were a rigid Sort of People, and accordingly, their Notion of God was, not that he governed himself by the Reafon of Things, but by a stern and inexorable Fate. Whether the Doctrine of God's abfolute Decrees has defcended from the fame Original, we will not here difpute; but to believe that he has determined a great Part of Mankind to eternal Mifery, merely to fhew the Arbitrariness of his Dominion, what a dark and cloudy Scene does this draw over the Face of the Almighty, and, when we confider it, how muft it damp our Rejoicing in him, and every now and then ftrike us with Affrightment; unless we could be fure of our own Exception, which none, without a particular Revelation, can? If therefore we would delight in God, and take Pleasure in the Contemplation of him, we must be careful to reprefent him fairly to our Minds, not according to our own fullen Temper, but as he has reprefented himself in Scripture, in fome fuch Lineaments as thefe, viz. That he is a bountiful Benefactor to his Creation, and an univerfal Lover of Souls, who would have all Men be faved, and come to the Knowledge of the Truth, and heartily contributes to their eternal Welfare; that he leaves no Art of Love, or Method of Kindness, unattempted to do us good; calls us back, when,

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we have gone aftray; upon our Return, graciously receives us; when he hath received us, fits us for Happiness; when he hath fitted us, abundantly rewards us; and, when he hath rewarded us, everlaftingly triumphs in our Glory and Happiness. These are Thoughts truly worthy of God, and befitting the infinite Goodness of his Nature: They will kindle in our Hearts a true Love and Delight in him, and make us ferve him, at all Times, with a chearful Heart and liberal Affections.

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3. Of fearing Go D.

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O fear God, is to have fuch a due Sense of his Majesty, and Holiness, and Justice, and Goodness, as fhall make us not dare to offend him for each of thefe Attributes is proper to raise a suitable Fear in every confidering Mind. His Majesty, a Fear, left we affront it by being irreverent; his Holinefs, a Fear, left we offend it by being carnal; his Justice, a Fear, left we provoke it by being prefumptuous; and his Goodness, a Fear, left we forfeit it by being unthankful. Upon which it follows, that the Fear of God is, in a great Measure, the fame reverential Affection, which a dutiful and loving Child pays to his Parents, fuch as will make him very careful in his whole Behaviour, and reftrain him from the Commiffion of Sin, even tho' God had threatened no Punishment against it: And accordingly we fhall, 1. Obferve how reasonable and beneficial this Duty is; and then, 2. Suggeft an Argument or two to enforce it.

1. If we reflect upon the many Evils and Calamities, we are expofed to in this Life, we must agree, that it is no fmall Happiness to us to have the Paffion of Fear implanted in our Nature. For, as in a Town, alarmed by an Enemy, Centinels are fet to watch their Approaches, and to prevent the Danger

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Danger of a Surprize; fo Fear in the Soul is appointed to this Office, to watch when and which. Way all Evils come upon us, and to give us timely Warning of their Coming, that either we may decline their Attack, or be provided to receive it. But the fame God, who hath given us Fear, for a Caution against Evil in general, has, in the mean Time, given us Notice, that his Displeasure is the greatest of all Evils; and therefore, as we account it a Point of Wifdom to be watchful against other Evils, fo it is neceffarily the highest Point of Wifdom to be watchful against this.

Confidering indeed the infinite Distance between God and us, as he is our Maker, and we his Creatures; as he is our Benefactor, and we his Dependants; as he is our Supreme Lord, and we his Subjects; and as he infinitely excels us in all the Perfections of his Nature; we cannot but efteem him the only proper Object of our Dread and awful Apprehenfions. For what are our fhallow, and dark, and confufed Conceptions, compared to that Wifdom, by which he comprehends all the Differences of Times at one View, and has all the Reasons and and Poffibilities of Things lying open and naked before him? What is all the Force of Mankind, though collected into one, in Comparison of that Divine Power, which gave Being to the World, when it was not, and governs and orders all Things in it, with greater Eafe, than we can move a Finger? If we attend to thefe, I fay, and several other Properties of the Divine Nature, fhall not his Excellency make us afraid, and his Dread fall upon us ? Efpecially confidering, that the best of Men have Sins, and Guilt enough, to make them apprehend the utmost Expreffes of his Wrath: For, if he charges his Angels with Folly, and the Heavens are not clean in his Sight, how much more abominable and filthy is Man, which drinketḥ Iniquity like Water, i. e. whose

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whofe natural Propenfity to Evil is like that of the thirsty Traveller, to drink of every Brook that he meets in his Way? I have finned, therefore fays holy Job, in the Anguish and Bitterness of his Soul, I bave finned, and what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preferver of Men? For thou writeft bitter Things against me, and makeft me poffefs the Iniquities of my Youth.

And indeed, when once God hath fet himself to write bitter Things against us, Loffes and Cares, Pains and Diseases, are some of his leaft Inflictions He can send Terrors into the Soul, and, by letting loose our Thoughts upon us, make us more miferable, than all the Tyrants in the World can do by the most exquifite Torments. The Arrows of the Almighty are within me, fays Job, in fuch Circumstances, the Poifon whereof drinketh up my Spirit; the Terrors of the Lord do fet themselves in Array against me: And therefore he begs Compaffion from his Friends, Have Pity upon me, have Pity upon me, O ye my Friends; for the Hand of the Lord bath touched me. And indeed, confidering how exceedingly heavy this Hand is, when once it is raised to give the Blow, that it cannot only kill the Body, but, after it hath killed the Body, has Power to caft both Body and Soul into Hell, there to be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever, we cannot but break out into the Pfalmift's Acknowledgment, Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who may ftand in thy Sight, when once thou art angry?

But, how much foever God deferves to be feared, we cannot but obferve, that nothing is more cuftomary among us, than to have our Actions more influenced by the Fear of Man, than of God., Thus, when we commit any Sin in Secret, which we are afraid to commit openly; when we feek Retirement and Solitude, in order to cover our Guilt from the Cognizance of Men, we then fhew,

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