the melancholy confideration of the Short-SER M. nefs of Life an Argument for Debauchery, VII. when that very Debauchery is evidently the Cause of making Mans's Life ftill fhorter. Temperance and Sobriety, the regular Government of our Appetites and Paffions, the promoting Peace and good Order in the World, are, even without regard to any Arguments of Religion, the greatest instances of Human Wisdom ; because they are the most effectual means of preferving our Being, and Well-being in the World; of prolonging the Period, and inlarging the Comforts and Enjoyments of Life. Religion, has added Strength to these Confiderations; and, by annexing the Promife of God's immedi ate Bleffing to the natural Tendency and Confequences of Things, has made the Wisdom of choofing Virtue, infinitely more confpicuous; and the Folly of Vice, more apparently abfurd. Length of Days upon Earth, is in the old Teftament frequently promised to the Righteous; And the principal intent of that Promife, was to be an Emblem or Signification of a longer Life, even of Eternity, more expreffly promised in the New. The Land

t

cf

SER M. of Canaan was a Type of Heaven, the VII. true Land of Promife; And the days of

the righteous being long in the Land which the Lord their God had given them, was a figurative Præfignification of that future and more complete State of Happinefs, wherein their days fhould be multiplied without number, and the years of their Life fhould be increafed without End. This is a Demonftration indeed, of the Wisdom of being Religious; and of the happy Effects of having always before our Eyes the Fear of the Lord. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and the Knowledge of the Holy is Understanding; For by me thy Days fhall be multiplied, and the Years of thy Life Shall be increased.

The Fear of the Lord, and the Knowledge of the Holy, are two fynonymous Expreffions, each of which fignifies in Scripture Phrafe, the Practice of Virtue and true Religion. For fo it is very ufual in all good Authors, to exprefs the Whole by fome principal Part. Thus, when 'tis faid, The Soul that finneth, it fhall die; because the Soul is the principal and most excellent part of Man, 'tis of the fame

import,

VII.

import, as if it had been expreffed, The SER M. Man that finneth, fhall die. And Gen. xlvi. 27. All the Souls of the House of Jacob which came into Egypt; that is, all the Perfons, were threefcore and ten. In like manner, because the Fear or Love of God, the Knowledge or Study of his Will, Faith or Truft in him, the Remembrance of him, or frequent Meditating upon his Laws, are principal Parts of Religion; and fuch as are apt to have fo great an influence upon Men, that One of thefe Virtues can hardly be fuppofed to be found any where feparate from the reft, or without producing its true and genuine Effects in the general courfe of a religious and Holy Life; therefore each of thefe are frequently put fingly in Scripture for the Whole of Religion, and to exprefs the Practice of Virtue in general. Thus, to Remember our Creator in the days of our Youth, is the Wifeman's defcription of an early Piety; and with the Wicked that fhall be turned into Hell, in the Pfalmift's language, are joined all the Nations that forget God. In like manner Believers, or they that have Faith in God, fignifies always in the New Tefta

ment

SER M.ment good Chriftians, or fuch as are endu VII. ed with all virtues and graces of the Spirit; and on the contrary every kind of Wickedness, as well as Infidelity, is reprefented under the Character of Unbelief. The Love of God, is by St John and by our Saviour himself, defined to be this, that we keep his Commandments, 1 Joh. v. 3; and Joh. xiv. 15. The Knowledge of God, is in the writings of the fame Apoftle explained by the very fame Phrafe of keeping his Commandments, 1 Joh. ii. 3, 4: and they that know not God, are by St Paul defcribed as Perfons nothing differing from thofe that obey not the Gospel. 2 Th. i. 8. Laftly, Because Fear is of all other Paffions the most deeply rooted in our Nature; and is more apt to be strongly moved by Apprehenfions of the Divine difpleafure, than the milder Paffions of Defire and Hope are to be worked upon by Representations of the Excellency of Virtue and of the Greatnefs of its Reward; therefore the Fear of God is the most frequently of all these figurative Expreffions, put in Scripture for the Whole of Religion; and Perfons of Univerfal Piety and remarkable Holiness, are by no

character

character more ufually defcribed than by SER M. This, that they fear the Lord, or have the VII. Fear of God before their Eyes. And because each one of these Phrases singly, fignifies thus, properly enough, the Summ of Religion; therefore any Two of them may likewise be used, as fynonymous to each other; As, in the Text, the Fear and the Knowledge of the Lord: The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and the Knowledge of the Holy is Underftanding; For by me thy Days fall be multiplied, and the Years of thy Life shall be increased.

IN the Words we may observe,

ift, THAT the Practice of Religion is in general Man's trueft Wisdom: The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wif dom; and the Knowledge of the Holy is Understanding.

2dly, THAT the Practice of Religion is in particular Wife in this respect, that it tends to prolong our Life and lengthen our days For by Me thy Days fhall be multiplied, and the Years of thy Life fhall be increased. And

:

3dly, IT may be reasonable to inquire, how far this Bleffing of long Life promised

VOL. II.

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