confdered under the Notion of Wifelom. guifhing manner he giveth it, in oppofition S E R M. to every thing elfe that pretends to it, I I Ihall afterwards confider ; at prefent, I ob- ferve, that what he meaneth by wifdom, is religion and virtue; and you will fee it to be fo, if you look into the following paf- fages in the 7th verfe of this chapter ; The fear of the Lord is the beginning of know- ledge ; which was a principle Solomon learn- ed from his pious father, to whofe inftruc- tions he often refers in this bbbk, and ac- knowledgeth his great obligations to them. This was David's doétrine, Pfal. cxi. i o. and indeed it was a maxim received by wife men in ages long before theirs, as you may fee in ,7ob xxviii. 28. where it is reprefented to be the firm of what God taught men, as the fubftance of their duty, and their molt important concern. The fear of the Lord, in the Rile of the facred writers, fgnifieth univerfal religions becaufe it is an eminent part of it, proper enough therefore, by an ufual way of fpcaking, to defcribe the whole; and becaufe it is a principle which, when the mind is duly poffeffed with, and brought thoroughly under its power, cannot fail of producing obedience to all the commands RIeitts of God. As every branch of virtue B3 is 1
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