in other places of the New Teftament. So it ftands diftinguifhed from honefly, when the apoftle fums up a good life in this, to "live in all godliness and honefty," 1 Tim. ii. 2. And "the grace of God" is faid to "teach us to live foberly, righteously and godly in this prefent world," Tit. ii. 11, 12. Where fobriety includes all our personal duties and felf-government; righteoufnefs, all that we ought to ́do, as we stand related to our fellow-creatures; and godlinefs our inclination to all that which is more immediately due to God. And juft in the fame fense I understand it here. are then to obferve,

We

That godliness is a temper of mind, to which we are particularly called by christianity.

Upon which head I would fhew, I. Wherein godlinefs or piety confifts. II. The indifpenfible obligations under which Chriftians lie to this.

1. We are to enquire what are the regards due from us to the bleffed God, or wherein the right temper of the foul towards God con

fifts.

1. A reverential fear of God is an effential branch of godlinefs. This is fo neceffary a part of a good man's frame, that there is no fingle phrafe more frequently made ufe of in Scripture to exprefs religion in general, than the fear of God. It is a temper arifing from an apprehenfion of his majefty and fupreme excellence. "Shall not his excellency make you afraid, and his dread fall upon you ?༩ Job xiii. 11. From the infinite diftance that there is between him and us; not only as be

cerns us.

is in heaven, while we are upon earth; but as "all nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity," Isa. xl. 17. It is founded in his abfolute fuperiority over us, and our entire dependence upon him; that there is none we have fo much to hope or to fear from, as we ftand upon good or ill terms with him; becaufe he hath a fovereign and irrefiftible power over us, and over every thing that conAnd it refults from thofe relations wherein we ftand to him; which bespeak authority and rightful claims on his part, and profound fubmiffion and awe on ours. We Should have fuch a regard to God, as a fubject hath to his fovereign, a fervant for his master, a child for his father. "A fon honoureth his father, and a fervant his master; if I be a father, where is mine honour ? and if I be a mafter, where is my fear? faith the Lord of hofts," Mal. i. 6. But, as the distance between God and us in all these relations, infinitely exceeds the diftance that can be between any fuch relations upon earth; fo our awe and reverence fhould proportionably be higher.

Upon fuch grounds as thefe, a reverential fear of God is due from all intelligent creatures. It was fo from man in innocence; it is fo from the highest angels in heaven; and will be the temper of holy men and holy angels to all eternity. In token of this, thofe above" fall before the throne on their faces, worshiping God," Rev. vii. 11. And fo the feraphims are reprefented as "covering their VOL. I.

faces

faces with their wings, and faying one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hofts," Ifa. vi. 2, 3. They who know God moft, and bear most of his likenefs, and fhare moft fully in his favour; have the profoundest reverence for him, arifing from the fenfe of his infinite perfection, unparalleled glory, and fovereign dominion; while they are above all fuch fear as gives uneafinefs and anxiety, for their perfect love prevents that. Those who fing the fong of Mofes and of the Lamb, exprefs themselves as if they could hardly. fuppofe it poffible there fhould be any without this fear: "Great and marvellous," fay they," are thy works, Lord God Almighty; juft and true are thy ways, O King of faints. Who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou art holy," Rev. xv. 3, 4. And if the faints and angels above reverence the glorious majefty in the heavens, certainly we fhould cultivate fuch a frame on earth. The apostle calls us to it upon the foot of the Gofpel, Heb. xii. 28, 29." Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," the fpiritual kingdom of Chrift, which is fet up upon the diffolution of the Jewish conomy, and it is to continue to the end of time; "let us have grace, whereby we may ferve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a confuming fire." He is fo reprefented even by the Gofpel it

felf.

far

As we are finners, our fear juftly goes ther; from the holiness of his nature, the juftice of his government, and the threatnings of

his law. In fuch a ftate, we have room to apprehend the fevere marks of his difpleasure in time; and especially to fear him, as able and ready to destroy both foul and body in hell, Mat.

X. 28.

We are relieved indeed against thefe fears by the grace of the gospel, and the mediation of Chrift; so that the greatest of finners ought not so to dread the wrath of an offended God, as to defpair of his mercy upon repentance :but ftill as long as they remain in their fins, they ought to represent to their minds the terrors of the Lord; as well as the riches of his grace, to excite them to return to their Father. The Gofpel, along with the good tidings it brings, makes a fuller representation than ever was made before, of the severity of God's, wrath against finners: "The wrath of God is there revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men," Rom. i. 18. And a forer punishment is threatened in many places to those who reject the Gofpel, than to other finners, John iii. 19. Mat. xi. 24. Heb. x. 28, 29. Surely this is done. to awaken anfwerable fears in the minds of finners. And no man can upon good reason get above fuch fears, farther than he hath evidence of his own fincere return to God. For good men themselves, while the divine nature in them is fo very imperfect, it may be expected, that the generality of them will have a mixture of hope and fear about their own fincerity; and this mixture can hardly fail to produce fome fears of God's wrath, along with their hopes of his mercy in Chrift. And

indeed the Scripture represents it as useful for the best men in this life to entertain. fome apprehenfions of their own apoftacy, and, upon. that fuppofition, of their final ruin.. St. Paul tells us in his own cafe, that he "kept his bo dy in fubjection, left after his preaching to others, he himself should be a caft-away," 1 Cor. ix. 27. And it is his advice to Chriftians in general, Heb. iv. 1. "Let us therefore fear, left a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you fhould feem to come short of it." One eminent way whereby "he who hath begun a good work in us, performeth it to the day of Chrift," is by keeping alive an apprehenfion of the danger of apoftacy, and fo awakening our conftant diligence and caution in our duty. But there will be no occafion for this in heaven; no fear, but that which is reverential, will follow us thither.

2. A fupreme love to God is another emi-. nent branch of godlinefs. This is of fuch importance, that Chrift fums up all the first table in it, Matt. xxii. 37, 38. "Thou fhalt. love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." This fuppofes an apprehenfion of God as moft amiable and good; for we love any thing under that notion and God deferves our higheft love, as being fupremely good. He is in himself most excellent, fit to be our chief. happiness, and hath actually fhewn himself our best friend; upon all which accounts our fupreme love is due to him.

(1.) There