"That a fear of God's wrath, and of eternal punishment, is a proper and fufficient motive to lead men to holiness."

This will appear, if we confider,

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1. The paffion itself, its rife, nature and ufe. 2. The natural apprehenfions we have of God, as a Lawgiver, Judge, and Avenger.

3. The depth of fin, into which fome men are plunged; and out of which, nothing but motives of terror and aftonifhment can poffibly raise them.

1. The paffion of fear is natural to us, and was given us by God for our fafety and convenience; to warn us of impending dangers, and to put us upon finding out proper ways for avoiding them. When therefore this paffion imprints on our minds a lively fenfe of the punithment due to fin, of the displeasure of God, of the mighty and infupportable torments of hell and doth from hence excite and quicken us into the practice of virtue; when it doth this, I fay, it doth its duty, and ferves the very end for which it was implanted in our nature, Every thing, that God made, is . good; that is, there is fome good ufe or other, to which it may be put. put and certainly our fears muft then be of the greateft ufe to us, when they are turned upon their most proper and important object, everlasting burnings. Do we think, they were defigned to admonith us only of fome lighter harms, which may reach our bodies, or our for tunes to keep us awake and alarmed in relation to the evils of this life alone, without extending to thofe of another, as certain as thefe, and far greater than thefe in degree and duration? Wo may as well imagine, that reafon was given us,

merely

merely as an help towards managing the little affairs of this prefent world to our advantage, with out any regard to what is future; to make us wife and prudent in our thort and momentary de figns upon happiness, without affifting us in the ditcovery and pursuit of eternal felicity. Cer tainly, as man is a creature framed for religion, fo every one of his faculties and affections was originally ordained to the fame end that he him felf was; and may therefore to that purpose be nfefully, and is always moft fitly employed. His fears therefore, and his hopes, and all the other paffions that belong to the reasonable nature, were given him, as much for religious ufes, as his very foul and his being were. So that when the ter Fors of the Lord perfuade men a natural end is fer? ved by a natural paffion; and, upon thefe terms, we may be fure, the Author of our nature will not refuse our obedience.

2. This will further appear, in the next place, from the natural apprehenfions we have of God, when we confider him as the Object of our duty and fervice: It is plain, that we do then reprefent him to ourselves, as a Lawgiver; that is, as one who prescribes a rule to our actions, and will punith the breach of it. We cannot conceive him as giving a law without a fanction, that is, without reprefenting him at the fame time to ourfelves, as enforcing that law with a threat, and securing the obfervance of it by fome penalty annexed. This is the method of all inferior legillators, and is from thence easily and naturallly transferred by us to the Supreme. So that our first and molt immediate conceptions of God, by which we are

excited

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excited to our duty, involve in them this very motive we are fo apt to fufpect and we cannot propofe to ourselves the one, without feeling in fome measure the powers and force of the other. To obferve God's laws under a profpect of ward, is what many of thofe, who reject a principle of dread, will not deny to be a reasonable and fufficient inducement to virtue. Now, how our defiring a good should make what we do on that account acceptable in the eye; of God, and yet that very thing be unacceptable, when done to avoid an evil; how the hope of reward fhould be a good motive, and yet the fear of lofing that reward be an ill one, is hard to determine. It is ọn each side, the selfishness of the principle, and the mixture of our own intereft with it, that feems to leffen its worth. And I cannot fee, how our intereft is lefs concerned in purfuing pleasure, than in flying pain.

Indeed, the noblest and most commendable reafon of our ferving God is, our love of him. God is love, and he chiefly delights in those dif interested duties which spring from that principle. However, he hath been pleased to condefcend to the weakness, pay to the bafenefs, of our natures, and to accept our bounden duty and fervice, upon much lower terms. He hath thought fit to, allure and to frighten us into obedience; and him that comes even this way 66 to him, he will in no wife caft out.

3. To ftrengthen this proof yet further, let us, in the third place, take a view of the state and condition of profligate finners. We fhall find it to be fuch, that nothing but terror can any ways lay

hold

hold of them. Is it poffible for a man that is funk into all manner of vice and impurity, to be ftruck on a fudden with the beauty of virtue and goodnefs, with the love of God, and of his infinite perfections? Can he (do we think) recover himfelf, by reflecting on the deformity and turpitude of fin, on the dignity of his nature, and ofthat divine character and refemblance, which he bears? Alas! let virtue be never fo lovely, goodnefs never fo defirable; yet he hath no eyes to fee it, no heart to defire it. He hath loft the tafte of every thing, but thofe very delights, in which he indulges himself; and reafon is no longer reafon to him, than it pleads for his enjoyments. Now what, I fay, can poffibly roufe fuch a creature as this, fo loft to all ingenuous motive, but the fenfe of divine vengeance, and the dread of eternal punishments? The terrors of hell may ftill perhaps perfuade him to confider (for fear will find an entrance where no other paffion can), but to all arguments befides he is perfectly impenetrable.

Indeed, after that the wrath of God hath ter rified him into reflexions on his wretched state, and into refolutions of quitting it, there is room for other motives to come in, and finish the work thus begun; to improve his contrition, and raife his refentments, and build him up in the practice of all manner of holinefs. But ftill the leading step towards repentance muft, I fay, proceed from his fear; which therefore is a fure foundation for all our penitents to build on, unlefs we can fuppofe that God ever leaves men in fin, without affording them any one proper mo

SER M. III, tive to stir them up to virtue; an opinion not eas fily to be entertained of infinite goodness.

Why then 'fhould the pious Chriftian barbour any doubts of this kind in his breaft?" Or, why fhould his foul be caft down, and his fpirit dif quieted within him?" There is no room for defpondency of mind in fuch a ftate as his; no reafon why that dread of divine wrath, which frightened him at first into the ways of virtue, fhould continue to haunt and purfue him ftill, now he is far advanced in them, The only fears which will be prejudicial to him, and which he ought to difmifs, are thofe concerning the vali dity of his repentance. His other fears, were agreeable to nature, and reafon, and to thofe methods, which the divine wifdom hath thought fit to make use of for reclaiming finners. To ferve God out of love, and love only, without the leaft mixture or allay of any bafer principle, is the privilege of angels and bleffed fpirits, who live in the prefence of God. It will hereafter be the reward of our having lived as became the gospel, but it cannot be matter of strict duty to us now. Lower and lefs noble ends muft influence us, while we are in this ftate of imperfection: Till" that which is perfect is come, that which is in part" need not, and cannot " be done away." There fore" why is his foul caft down, and why is his fpirit difquieted within him ?”

To all this perhaps the dejected Chriftian, for whofe fake I have entered on this argument, will reply, That the fear of eternal punishment is, indeed, a proper and fufficient motive to lead men to holinefs, if it be fuch a fear of God's power

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