1. As to that of the fear of the Lord. The fitness of this phrase will appear, if we consider how great an influence the fear of God has upon men to make them religious. Fear is a passion that is deeply rooted in our natures, and flows immediately from that principle of self-preservation which God hath implanted in all of us. Every one desires his own preservation and happiness, and therefore has a natural dread of every thing that can destroy his being, or endanger his happiness; and the greatest danger is from the greatest power. So that the fear of God is an inward acknowledgment of a holy, just, all powerful Being; God having hid in every man's conscience a secret awe of his infinite power and eternal justice. Now fear being so intimate to our natures, it is the strongest bond of laws, and the great security of our duty.

Shame and fear are the two restraints which God hath put upon human nature. Shame is the weaker, and hath place only in those in whom there are some remains of virtue: fear is the stronger, and works upon all who love themselves, and desire their own preservation; therefore, in this degenerate state of mankind, fear is that passion which has the greatest power over us, and by which God and his laws take the surest hold of us. Our desire, love, and hope, are not so apt to be wrought upon by the representation of virtue, and the promises of reward and happiness, as our fear is

from the apprehension of divine displeasure: for, though we have lost in a great measure the relish of true happiness, yet we still retain a quick sense of pain and misery. So that fear relies upon a natural love of ourselves, and is complicated with a necessary desire of our own preservation; and therefore religion usually makes its first entrance into us by this passion; hence perhaps it is that Solomon, more than once, calls the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom.

2. As for the second phrase, departing from evil; the fitness of it to express the whole duty of man will appear, if we consider the connexion there is between forbearing to do those things that are forbidden, and doing those things that are commanded. He that is careful to avoid all sin, will sincerely endeavour to perform all righteousness; for the soul is an active principle, and will be employed one way or other if a man abstain from evil, he will do good. Now these being so closely connected, the whole of our duty may be expressed by either of them, but most fitly by departing from evil, because that is the first part of it. Religion begins in the forsaking of sin; and therefore the Scripture every where puts departing from evil first; Depart from evil, and do good: Cease to do evil; learn to do well, Ps. xxxiv. 14. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let

him return unto the Lord, Isa. i. 16, and liv. 7. We are first to put off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; and then to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new man, Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24. Eschew evil, and do good, 1 Pet. iii. 11. To all which I may add this farther consideration, that the law of God contained in the ten commandments, consisting mostly of prohibitions, (thou shalt not do such or such a thing,) our observation of it is most fitly expressed by departing from evil, which yet includes obedience likewise to the positive precepts implied in those prohibitions.

Having thus explained the words of my Text, I come now to consider the propositions contained in them:

First, That religion is the best knowledge.
Secondly, That it is the truest wisdom.

I. It is the best knowledge. The knowledge of religion commends itself to us upon these two accounts:

1. Because it is the knowledge of things which are in themselves most excellent and most desirable to be known; and those are God and our duty. God is the sum of all perfection. It is delightful to know the creatures, because there are particular excellencies dispersed among them, which are some shadows of the divine perfections; but in God all perfections, in their highest degree, are

united. How much more delightful then must it be to fix our minds upon such an object, in which there is nothing but beauty and brightness; nothing but what is amiable, and what is excellent; what will ravish our affections, and raise our wonder; please and astonish us at once! And that our finite understandings are not able to conceive the infinite perfections of God, this indeed shows the excellency of the object, but does not altogether take away the delightfulness of the knowledge. For as it is pleasant to the eye to have an endless próspect, so is it to the understanding to view unlimited excellencies, though it cannot comprehend them.

And as the knowledge of God, in his nature and perfections, is excellent and desirable; so likewise is it to know him in those glorious manifestations of himself, in the works of creation and providence; and, above all, in that stupendous work of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ.

And as the knowledge of God is excellent, that of our duty is so likewise, which is nothing but virtue, goodness, and holiness; a conformity to the nature and will of God; and an imitation of the divine excellencies and perfections, so far as we are capable: for, to know our duty is to know what it is to be like God in goodness, pity, patience, clemency; in pardoning injuries, and passing by provocations;

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in justice and righteousness; in truth and faithfulness; and in a hatred and detestation of the contrary of these. In a word, it is to know what is the acceptable will of God, what it is that he delights in, and would have us do in order to our perfection and our happiness. The knowledge of the laws of the land, the customs of the country we live in, and the will of the prince we live under, is deservedly accounted excellent, how much more so is it to know the statutes of heaven, and the laws of eternity; those immutable and eternal rules of justice and righteousness;-to know the will and pleasure of the Great Monarch of the universe, and the customs of that country where we must live for ever! This made David to admire the law of God in that extraordinary manner, and to advance the knowledge of it above all other knowledge; I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad, Ps. cxix. 96.

2. Religion is the knowledge of those things which are most useful and necessary for us to know. The goodness of every thing is measured by its end and use; that is the best thing which serves the best purpose; and the more necessary it is to such an end, the better it is: So that the best knowledge is that which is of greatest use and necessity to us in order to our great end, which is eternal salvation. Curious speculations, and the contemplation of things