Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachi the…Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachy the…

7. He who Fears God is not only afraid of evil actions, but to offend God in his Thoughts. Deut. 19.6. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, &c. To think of sin with delight is to act it over in the fancy, this is Culpable. A man may think himself into Hell. What were the Apostate Angels damned for, was it for any more than Proud thoughts? This is the first note of Trial, He who reverenceth a Deity flies from Sin. It is a saying of Anselm, If Sin were on one side and Hell on the other, I would rather leap into Hell than willingly sin against God.

2. He who Fears God, walks by Rule rather than Example: Example is for the most part corrupt. Examples of great men are influential^*. Pharaoh had learned Joseph to swear, but Joseph had not learned Pharaoh to pray. The examples of others cannot justify a thing intrinsically evil^†. A fearer ⟨p. 54⟩of God steers the Rudder of his Life according to the Compass of the Word. He looks to the sacred Canon as the Mariner to the Load-Star, or Israel to the Pillar of Fire, to direct him. Isa. 8.20. To the Law, to the Testimony.

2. He who Fears God, walks by Rule rather than Example: Example is for the most part corrupt. Examples of great men are influential^*. Pharaoh had learned Ioseph to swear, but Ioseph had not learned Pharaoh to pray. The examples of others cannnot justifie a thing intrinsecally evil^†