Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_500.lzh/D_527.TXT

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CHAP. V.                                          OF THE FEAR OF GOD.                                                               527

Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear,
&c. Psalm xxvii. 1, 3.    5. Such a fear is opposed to
pride and self-confidence; it is an humble fear, a dif-
fidence of a man's self, placing his trust and hope
alone in God; Be not high-minded, but fear, Rom. xi.
'20. this is that fear and trembling, or that modesty
and humility with which the saints are exhorted to
work about or employ themselves in things that ac-
company salvation; as knowing that both to will and
to do, the disposition and ability to perform any duty
aright, are owing to the efficacious operation of the
Spirit of God, and that it is by the grace of God they
are what they are, and do what they do; they that
fear the Lord are such who rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh, declaring that when they
have done all they can they are but unprofitable ser-
vants, Phil. ii. 12, 13. and iii. 3.
III. Wherein the fear of God appears, and by what
it is manifested.        1. In an hatred of sin. The fear
of the Lord is to hate evil, Prov. viii. 13. as nothing is
more opposite to good than evil, nothing is more to
be abhorred; it is to be hated with a Stygian hatred
as hell itself, \~apostugountev\~ abhor that which is evil,
Rom. xii. 9. and a man that fears God, who has a re-
verential affection for him, will hate it as being con-
trary to him, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, Psalm
xcvii. 10. every thing that is evil is hated by such a
man; as evil thoughts, which are only evil and that
continually; the heart is fifii of evil thoughts, and ont
of it they daily proceed, and these are the object of a
good man's hatred, I hate vain thoughts, says David,
Psalm cxix. 113. and now as no one but a man him-
self' is conscious of them and privy to them, to hate
them shews that the fear of God is in his heart. Evil
words are also hated by him; not only cursing, swear-
ing, blasphemy, and all obscene and filthy language,
but every vain and idle word, foolish and frothy ex-
pression, which comes out of his mouth when not on
his guard, gives him uneasiness, as being displeasing
to God, grieving to his Spirit, and what must be ac-
counted for in the day of judgment; as in many wortls
there are divers vanities, the wise man opposes the
.fear of God unto them, Eccl. v. 7. and if evil thoughts
and evil words are hated by such, then most certainly
evil actions; and not only those of others, as the
deeds of the Nicolaitans, the garment, the outward
conversation-garment spotted with the flesh, the filthy
conversation of the wicked,bnt his own actionsspring-
ing from corrupt nature, done by him contrary to the
law' of his mind; What I would, that do I not, but
what ] hate, that I do, Rom. vii. 15. evil men and
their company are abhorrent to those that fear the
Lord, and are shunned and avoided by them; they
choose not to have any fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, and the workers of them; society
with them is a grief and burden to them, as it was
to Lot, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, nay hate-
ful to them: Do not ] hate them that hate thee ? ]
hate them with perfect hatred, Psalm cxxxix. 21,
see Prov. iv. 14, 1.5. All evil and false ways, not only
of immorality, but of superstition and will worship,
are rejected with abhorrence by men that fear the
Lord, and make his word the rule of their faith and

practice. Wisdom herself, or Christ, has set an ex-
ample, proving the truth of the assertion iu Prov. viii.
13. Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the
froward mouth, do I hate; and wisdom is justified of
her children; says David, who was one of them, I
hate every false waft, Psalm cxix. 198. yea all evil
doctrines, which renect on the divine persons in the
godhead, on the free grace of .God in man's salva-
tion, on the person and offices of Christ, and the ope-
rations of the Spirit, are the object of the hatred and
aversion of one that fears God; he cannot bear them
that are evil, neither receive them into his house, nor
wish them God speed. In short, every thing that is
evil in its nature, as sin is in every shape exceeding
sinful, a breach of the law of God, contrary to his
nature, that abominable thing his righteous soul hates,
is also hateful to a good man, to a man that fears the
Lord, and hereby the fear of the Lord is manifested
him.----2. It sbeWs itself by departing from evil;
By the fear of the Lord men depart fro,n evil, Prov.
XvL 6. see chap. iii. 7. not only from open and public
sins, but from private and secret ones; Job was a man
that feared God and eschewed evil, avoided and de-
parted from it, as every wise man does; yea to de-
part from evil is understanding, this shews a man
both to be a wise man and one that fears the Lord,
Job i. 1. and xxviii. 28. Prov. xiv. 16. yea such an
one will abstain from all appearance of evil, from
every thing that looks like it or leads unto it; will
shun every avenue, every by-path, that has a tendency
to insnare into it, taking the wise man's advice, Enter
not into the path of the wicked, gc. Prov. iv. 14, 15.
---3. The fear of God appears in men in not allow-
ing themselves to do what others do, and what they
themselves formerly did; so Nehemiah, speaking of
some ill things done by former governors, says, So did
not 1, because o the ear o God N
 f he ~f    , ell v. 15. Not
that such who fear God are without sin; Job
feared God, but was not free from sin; he was sensible
of it, acknowledged it, and implored the pardon of it;
but they cannot give themselves that liberty to sin
that others do, and walk as other Gentiles walk, in the
vanity of their minds, and in a sinful course of life;
they have not so learned Christ, and the grace of God
teaches them other things....4. The fear of God
manifests itself by a carefulness not to offend God nor
man; such study to exercise a conscience void of of-
fence to both, and would willingly give no offence to
Jew nor Gentile, nor to the church of God; and next
to God they are careful that they offend not against
the generation of his children, either by word or deed,
and even to put no stumbling block before any, but
fear the Lord their God, for to do otherwise would be
contrary to it, Lev. xix. 14. Nay, such are not ouly
on their guard to avoid sin and give no offence by it,
but they are in an opposition to it; the spiritual part
in them lusteth against the carnal part; there are as
it were a company of two armies in them fighting one
against another; they strive against sin, acting the
part of an antagonist to it, take to themselves the
whole armour of God, and make use of it against it.
5. The fear of God in men is seen by a constant
attendance on the worship of God, and by a strict re-