this passage of my text; fix it in your memories; and ever desire to rejoice and to delight in the very same things which filled the heart of your Redeemer with pleasure, and which consoled him in his afflictions, and in the very midst of those sorrows which he daily experienced in those memorable years of his humiliation.

But so did not I, because of the fear of God.

IT is of himself that Nehemiah writes this; and he writes not through vain-glory, or ostentation, but for an example to the people of God in all ages. It would be hard to find, among the most shining characters of the great men of this world, such a character as that of Nehemiah, even in those things in which they have excelled. In fortitude and true greatness of mind; in steadiness and firmness of resolution; in generosity, humanity, and the love of his country; in wisdom and prudence as a magistrate; where is his superior? and I had almost said, where shall we find his equal? But of this, let judicious persons judge, after they have read his story and compared it with that of other great men.

Nehemiah, however, has qualifications infinitely more valuable than these; as much more so, as heavenly and spiritual endowments are more excellent than any earthly gifts and talents: He is a holy man he walks in the fear of God; and he gives God the glory. The very same virtues which in many a hero and patriot are all earthly in their nature, and have all their reward in this world, are produced in Nehemiah by the fear of God;-so immensely different is the principle of action in Nehemiah and in all holy men, from what it is in men of the world, even in the same things!

Nehemiah is giving an account how the governors of Judea, before himself, had been chargeable unto the people, by taking of them bread and wine, and many shekels of silver; "but so did not I," says he. Now, if we stop here, we see nothing but what some persons of heathen virtue had done. There have been among them, those that were liberal and humane and generous; but they were in general so, because of the love of praise and glory from men,-that pestilent, ungodly principle; which, however, is the highest virtue with many who call themselves Christians, but

who are heathens in temper and practice, and notions of virtue. Nehemiah does not so, "because of the fear of God." And, in like manner, in the former part of the chapter, in which he exhorts the Jews to acts of mercy and kindness towards their brethren, and rebukes them for oppression and extortion, he supports his exhortation with the words, "It is not good that which ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?" This is a motive worthy of a holy man. He fears Almighty God, not with a bondsman's slavish fear of punishment, which hath only torment, but with a child-like fear of his Heavenly Father. And this is that godly fear which always takes possession of the heart after a man becomes a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. He fears God's, displeasure and his chastisement; and this reverential awe keeps him in the way of duty; so that the fear of the Lord is the constant character of his people in Scripture. And what difficulty is there which this principle cannot surmount? Men may have other false or worldly principles of conduct-as, love of honour, patriotism, regard for reputation, selfishness, and such like-which will

make them perform some actions that appear good; but it is the fear of God only, that can lead a man into the discharge of all duties. He who is actuated by this motive, is not impelled to do what is right by a desire of the approbation of the multitude: he does what he does as unto God; and he sees God in every place and in every thing. It is a steady, abiding principle; being one effect of God's love to his real and faithful servants, according to the tenor of the covenant: "I will," I will," says he, put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not turn away from me."

There is but one way-namely, the scriptural way, by which men who live under the Christian dispensation can possibly arrive at the possession of this godly principle; and that is, through repentance, and through a change of heart, called in the Bible being "born again by a lively faith in Christ Jesus." There must be, not only a sense of God's holiness, and of his severity in condemning sin and sinners, but also of his compassion in finding out a way of reconciliation for them, in order that the penitent sinner may obtain a spirit of filial fear and reverence for God, as distinct from that fear which implies slavery and