Eccl. viii. 12. Surely I know that it shall he well with them which
fear God.
NOTHING certain can be determined respecting God's favour from the outward dispensations of his providence ^ The wicked seem on the whole to
a Eccl. ix. 1,
prosper more than others'"; nevertheless the godly are by far the happier persons". It is of them only that the assertion in the text can be made. We pro- pose to shew,
I. Who they are that fear God —
This, we may suppose, would be a point easy to be determined ; but, through self-love and Satan's de- vices, many mistake respecting it. The characters described in the text may be distinguished by the fol- lowing marks :
1. They stand in awe of God's judgments —
[Once they disregarded the displeasure of the Almighty*^ : they would not believe that his threatenings would be executed. But now they have learned to tremble at his word ^. Awakened by his Spirit, they exclaim with the prophet ^. The Scriptures uniformly represent them in this light ^.]
2. They embrace the salvation offered them —
[In their natural state they felt no need of a physician ^ : they saw no suitableness in the remedy which the Gospel offered them \ Their pride would not suffer them to submit to its humiliating terms ^ ; but now they gladly embrace Christ as their only Saviour. They flee to him, as the murderers did to a city of refuge. This is the description given of them in the inspired volume ^.]
3. They endeavour to keep all the commandments —
[If ever they obeyed God at all, they served him only to the extent the world would approve. Where the lax habits of mankind forbad their compliance with the divine command, they were afraid to be singular. But they dare not any longer halt between God and Baal : they have determined, through grace, to follow the Lord fully. The language of their hearts is like that of David ". This was the very ground on which God concluded that Abraham feared him ".]
These marks clearly distinguish those who fear God
from all others —
[The formal Pharisee has never felt his desert of condem- nation °. The merely aivakened sinner has never truly embraced
b Ps. Ixxiii. 5, 12. <= Ps. Ixxiii. 15. ^ Ps. x. 5.
e Isai. Ixvi. 2. ^ Isai. xxxiii. 14.
g Acts xvi. 29. and Ps. cxix. 120. i' Rev. iii. 17.
i 1 Cor. i. 23. ^ Rom. x. 3. ' Heb. vi. 18.
"» Ps. cxix. 5, 6. " Gen. xxii. 12. ° Lukexviii.il.