554 THE ESE OF THE rassioxS IN RELIGIOSE. pfthe heart ; when the fear of God rises so high, and grows an strong in the soul, as to subdue and overcome all other fears And if we fear God sincerely, we need fear nothingelse. It ig very honourable to Christ and his religion- when the love of God and of Jesus Christ, the. Saviour, flames high above all other loves, and makes us forego and forget every thing which might be dear and valuable to us before, if it stands in competü_ tion with God, the supreme object of our love. When the Christian cad rejoice, and say " I love my father and my mother, my wife and children with as true and tender an affection as. ever I did ; but I love God, and my Redeemer, with a more sublime passion. Neither father nor mother, nor dear young children, nor the wife of the bosom, shall withhold me from my duty to God ; and, through theaids of divine grace, T would be ready tO offer myself, with all my interest in them, as a sacrifice to the love of Christ. It is glorious indeed to see the devout passions so much transcend all other passions and appetites, all other fears, loves, and desires, as that they all melt away and vanish before the powerof divine fear and divine love. To see all our fondest de, sires, and our warmest passions for creatures languish andsink, and lid under the present influences of devout affection, as the light of a candlevanishes and is lost in the midst of sun-beams, . or as thenoise of 'a shaking leaf, dies and is unheard in the midst Of thunder : O happy souls, who have arrived at this sublime de- gree of Christianity ! Thither let our hearts aspire daily, and never cease our holy labours and prayers till we love, tillwe fear, till we desire God, in this glorious and intense degree. VII. In the last place I add, " the sanctified passions rot- der us so much the more conformable to the blessed Jesus, and 'fitter for his presence and enjoyment in heaven." As the Son of God put on our flesh andblood, so heassumed the variouspowers and properties of human nature, the appetites and passions, of mankind: He endured hunger-and thirst, he had fear and love, hope and joy ; nor were the more troublesome affections of anger and sorrow left out of his constitution, but they were all innocent andholy ; they were never tainted with sin as ours are; they tad nocorrupt mixtures to defile his soul. Our passions are like water with mud at the bottom ; when they are moved, they too. frequently raise the mud, and betray their impurity : But the passions of Christ were ever pure ; like water from the clearest fountain in a glass of crystal, which, though it be never so much agitated, is still unpolluted. These: pathetic powers of his holysoul were ever engaged in the interestof religion, and employedfor pious purposes. He loved God his Father with the most perfect and intenseaffec- tion ;- and he let the world know, that he loved the Father;;
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