Conceiving that the above lines, from the simplicity of their style, might be read with pleasure by some, we have inserted them. We think "Yadannek," might render himself an interesting correspondent, if he would become his own critic; and we would farther suggest, that his poetry would shine more, were there not so many "bright" words in it.

NO. 6.]

FOR JUNE, 1825.

DIVINITY.

[VOL. 8.

UNION OF FEAR, HOPE, LOVE, AND JOY, IN THE BEliever.

BY THE REV. FREEBORN GARRETSON.

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalm xxxiv, 11. SOLOMON says, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." In this, as well as in various other passages of Scripture, the fear of God is to be taken in a general sense, importing the whole circle of divine duties and religious worship. The fear of God has an influence upon all the duties of godliness, it being, if I may so say, the prepositor that guides and orders them, and, in fact, it may be called an eminent part of godliness; one of the prime parts of God's service; and therefore it may be well put for the whole service we owe to our Almighty Creator. It is on this account that a godly man in Scripture is described by his fear, as Solomon saith, Happy is the man that feareth always."

The fear of God is taken in another point of view, importing the convicting, justifying, and sanctifying grace of God; whereby the soul solemnly and reverently reflects upon the perfections of Deity, and the redemption which was purchased by Jesus Christ, and humbly submits to his will, and has an experience of sweet union and communion with the divine Spirit, from whence we are enabled, by an internal principle of genuine piety, to strive, in all we say and do, to promote his honour; and we should always remember that the purity of God is the object of a Christian's fear. On this subject Isaiah speaks beautifully, chapter vi, "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple: above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Then said I, wo is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Thus we see that when the prophet had a clear discovery of the beauty and perfection of Deity, and a view of his own vileness, he greatly reverenced him, and was afraid of offending against his Divine Majesty. The pure seraphim had their faces and feet covered, expressive of an awful reverence, and a humble, holy fear of the great God of the universe. With two wings they did fly-in ready and willing obedience to execute the commands of their great Creator.

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There is a fear spoken of in various parts of Scripture which is properly called slavish; but as my text intermeddleth not with that kind of fear, I shall say very little about it, and principally confine myself to showing the consistency of the fear of God spoken of in my text, with several other leading Christian graces, namely, faith, hope, love, and joy.

Before I proceed to show the particular union or agreement between those graces, permit me to premise a few particulars. This union ever did and ever will exist in every pious soul; for sin and grace are in opposition to each other, and pious persons will invariably hate sin, and dread the consequence of it. In every branch and degree, grace proceeds from the blessed Spirit through Jesus Christ, and is thought by some to be but one habit in a pious believing soul, and according to the variety of acts which it produceth, so it receiveth several titles: when it believes in God it is called faith; when it depends on him for the fulfilment of some promised good, it is then called hope; and when it feareth him it is thus entitled. Thus they all sweetly harmonise in the regenerated soul.

I would observe that there is a beauty and conveniency in the agreement of the graces of the divine Spirit; for one contempers the exorbitances which otherwise would be in another, as I shall show when I come to the particular graces. All the pious followers of Jesus Christ experience an actual existence of these graces united in their souls; and when they read the sacred pages they find them joined together by inspiration; and what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. These things being premised I proceed to the first grace.

I. There is a union between faith and fear in the soul; for the fear of God, although it weakens self-security, yet it never weakens the certainty of faith. Although faith dispels a slavish or distrustful fear, yet it cherishes that awful filial fear of which we are speaking; and this fear of God and faith are reciprocal causes of each other. "By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith," Heb. xi, 7. It is observable that Noah believed upward of a hundred years before the flood came, that there would be such a destruction, and yet he feared. Faith moved him to fear, and fear to diligence in obeying the commands of God in preparing an ark for the salvation of his family. St. Paul saith, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure." Faith takes hold on the promises, and stimulates to a holy fear lest we should come short of the promised blessings; and indeed the brighter our prospects are of glory, the more careful and atten

tive we shall be to the duties of religion, and we shall experience a sweet union between those graces, and the soul will aspire after the greatest depths of piety. If faith should cease to be exercised by the soul, there will be no such diligence; but in that degree that faith ceases to exist, coldness, remissness in duty, and inactivity, will also cease, and indeed in the same proportion will holy fear be destroyed.

Faith is the eye of the soul, which seeth things which are invisible to mortal sight. As to God, all things are present, and with him there is neither first nor last. The eye of faith, in some sense, sees all things as present; and a believing soul views the day of judgment, and future rewards and punishments, as real as if they were this moment, because he sees them in God; and that all the promises and threatenings are sure, and this causeth him to fear. Take away faith and the soul will be self-secure; it being with the objects of our affections in distance of time, as it is with the objects of sense in distance of place. When a thing is far distant from the eye we cannot see it, so when that which is evil is at a great distance from us, without the eye of faith we shall not fear it. Faith realizes these things to the soul, and produces fear, and this holy fear in proves faith.

As the vapours that ascend from the earth cause clouds, and those clouds descend in showers, and so are the cause of vapours; so likewise there is a harmonious connexion in the causes with respect to the graces of the Spirit. Faith produces fear, and fear causes the soul more to believe the judgments of God and his threatenings; for when the mind presages evil and fears it, it will the more strongly believe it. The Scripture strongly unites those graces. "And all men shall fear and declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider the work of his doings. The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him, and all the upright shall glory." Psalm lxiv, 9, 10.

II. This fear of the soul is consistent with hope. Fear and hope to the soul of a Christian, are like the cork and lead to a net; the cork keeps it from sinking, and the lead from too much floating; so it is in a spiritual sense, fear keeps hope from rising into presumption, and hope keeps fear from sinking into despair. If you abstract fear from hope the soul will be presumptuous, and if you abstract hope from fear it will sink into despondency; therefore there must be fear joined with hope, which will more clearly appear when we view the following particulars :1. The author of that reward which hope respects. 2. The condition on which that reward is given.

3. The quality of the reward itself.

These particulars will show that there must be fear united with the hope of a Christian. 1. If we consider the holy God as the author of that promised reward, and that whenever there is a

hope to receive a crown of glory from his hand, there will be a fear of displeasing him and of missing the promised blessings: for we are probationers in this world, and the apostolic exhortation is, "Let no man take thy crown;" and "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Our blessed Lord saith, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away."

Suppose we have an earthly friend from whom our expectations are great, can we reasonably expect to rise by that friend, or have his favour, if we have a careless indifference whether we please or displease him? but if we do every thing in our power to please him we may then hope for his favour. A Christian who has no fear of offending God, can have no hope, on rational principles, to be advanced by him, or obtain the promised crown.

2. We are to consider the condition of the conveyance of the promised reward, which we find beautifully expressed by St. Paul, Heb. xii, 14. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Repentance, faith, and holiness, are the conditions upon which the promised reward is suspended. St. John saith, "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure ;" 1 John iii, 3, "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not," ver. 6; "He purifieth himself even as he is pure." Whoever intends to live with Christ in heaven should imitate him on earth. By nature we are weak, sinful creatures; but by grace, through faith in the precious blood of the immaculate Jesus, we may be cleansed from all sin. It is the privilege of the children of God to give themselves wholly to him, and receive Jesus Christ as their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and to repeat acts of faith in the atonement till the disposition and habit of the soul is holiness to God. This advanced state in Christian experience is far, very far, from excluding a filial fear of offending God, or a fear of not attaining and retaining the heights of Christian perfection, or of missing the promised kingdom. The best of Christians have to meet assaults from the enemy of the church, as well as from the world, together with a variety of mental and bodily weaknesses or infirmities. God's people, it is true, are a happy people; but nevertheless they have, and will have as long as they live in houses of clay, many difficulties to encounter. Though Solomon was under a darker dispensation than ours, yet he spoke beautifully of the pious Christian's travelling from this world to a better. Song iii, 14, "O my dove that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely." As it respects heaven and glory, the best of Christians only see through a glass darkly. God's blessed word is the mirror, through which, by faith, his children have a glimpse of glory; and have a lively hope of one day having the