as the Old, we are taught to bear this in mind, that " our God is a consuming fire, and never to be approached but with reverence and godly feare."]
2. With obediential love —
[This is the point more especially noticed in the passage before us : and wherever the fear of God is, it must of neces- sity manifest itself in this way. There will be a real desire to please God ; and a full conviction, that every command of his is " holy, and just, and good." Nothing will be deemed " an hard saying ; " nothing be accounted " grievous." We shall not wish for any limit to our obedience ; but shall regard the entire surrender of our souls to him as a reasonable service. This is the conclusion to which Solomon came, after carefully weighing the whole matter : " Fear God and keep his com- mandments : for this is the whole duty (and end, and happiness) of man f."]
3. With undivided attachment —
[God will not endure a rival in our affections. He must have the whole heart : and the person who shall dare to offer him " a divided heart, shall surely be found guilty before himg." It is true, we do not give way to gross idolatry, like those to whom our text was addressed: but if we look into " the chambers of imagery" within us, we shall find as many idols as ever were worshipped in the time of Israel's most de- termined apostasy51. And " God is still, as he ever was, a jealous God," that " will not have his glory given to another:" yea, " his very name is, Jealous1." Know, then, that you must not " set your affections on any thing here below," but have them all concentrated on him, fearing nothing, desiring nothing, confiding in nothing, in comparison of him. Father, mother, wife and children, houses and lands, yea, and our own life also, must all be subordinated to him, and sacrificed for him, whensoever our duty to him shall call for it. We must love and serve him, him supremely, him only, him exclusively.]
Hear, then, I entreat you,
II. What we must expect at his hands, if we comply not with his requisition —
The Lord made the plagues of his people truly wonderful. Never since the world began was any nation visited with such heavy judgments as theyk, nor will there ever be the like again, even to the end
e Heb. xii. 28, 29. ' Eccl. xii. 13. « Hos. x. 2.
h Ezek. viii. 9 — 12. » Exod. xxxiv. 14. k Lam. i. 12.
220.1 THE DUTY OF FEARING GOD. 4v31
of time1. They are, and were designed to be, " a sign unto usm." Truly, then, if we fear not God, " our plagues also shall be wonderful." They shall be wonderful,
1. Here —
[Look at the different nations of the world, and see what tormentors they are to each other. Behold also the famines, pestilences, earthquakes, which God sends at different times, as " avengers of his quarrel" with those who rehel against him. See, too, the whole frame of society, whether in larger bodies or in private families; and behold what feuds obtain amongst them, insomuch that there is scarcely a body to be found, the members of which are not arrayed more or less in mutual hostility, and contributing to each other's disquiet. Take all the different individuals of mankind ; there is scarcely one who has attained the age of manhood, or, at all events, been long settled in the world, without having, in some respect or other, his very life embittered to him, so that at times, if there had been no future state of existence, he would have almost wished for death as a release from his troubles. Mark the tempers which agitate men's minds, and the curse which there is even upon their blessings, insomuch that those who most abound in this world's goods are not unfrequently the most miserable of mankind. Thus, even in this world, does God fulfil his threatening in our text, and " make our plagues wonderful."]