6 Religion and Virtue, S is R m. is enjoined by the divine precepts, which I. thew us all that is morally good with re- ) fpeel to ourfelves and our fellow - creatures, as well as to God, fo true religion is nothing elfe but the practice of virtue, from a regard to the Deity, The fear of the Lord, if we underftand it in the ftriéteft fenfe, of a pi- ous reverence for the fupreme Being, with a difpofition to do his will, is called the be4 ginning of wifdom, as being a very eminent part of our duty, or rather a principle na- turally productive of that righteoufnefs and goodnefs in which true wifdom confifteth ; If we take it in a greater latitude, as inclu- ding with the principle all its genuine fruits, in an univerfal conformity to the will of God, then it is the whole duty of man, as Solomon fays, Ecclef: xii. 13. and compre- hendeth all which the facred writers call wifdom. So yob delivereth the dottrine in the place already referr'd to, Unto man he laid, The fear of the Lord, that is wifdom and to depart from evil, is underflanding. Again ; the wifdom which Solomon re- commendeth is called the knowledge of the Holy, chap, ix. 1o. where the princi- ple already mentioned, is repeated in the fame words, The fear of the Lord is the be- ginninl
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