Second. And more particularly.
1. This grace is called "the beginning of knowledge" because by the first gracious discovery of God to the soul, this grace is begotten: and again, because the first time that the soul doth apprehend God in Christ to be pleasing unto it, this grace is animated, by which the soul is put into holy awe of God, which causeth it with reverence and due attention to hearken to him, and tremble before him (Prov 1:7). It is also by this fear that the soul doth inquire yet more after the blessed knowledge of God. This is more evident because, where this fear of God is wanting, or where the discovery of God is not attended with it, the heart still abides rebellious, obstinate, and unwilling to know more, that it might comply in addition to that; nay, for want of it, such sinners say instead, As for God, let him "depart from us," and for the Almighty, "we desire not the knowledge of his ways."
2. This fear is called "the beginning of wisdom" because then, and not till then, a man begins to be truly spiritually wise; what wisdom is there where the fear of God is not? (Job 28:28; Psa 111:10). Therefore, the fools are described thus, "For that, they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord" (Prov 1:29). The Word of God is the fountain of knowledge, into which a man will not with godly reverence look until he is endued with the fear of the Lord. Therefore, it is rightly called "the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov 1:7). Thus, this fear of the Lord makes a man wise for his soul, life, and another world. This teaches him what he should do to escape those spiritual and eternal ruins the fool is overtaken with and swallowed up forever. A man void of this fear of God, wherever he is wise, or in whatever he excels, yet about the matters of his soul, there is none more foolish than himself; for through the want of the fear of the Lord, he leaves the best things at sixes and sevens, and only pursueth with all his heart those that will leave him in the snare when he dies.
3. This fear of the Lord is to hate evil. To hate sin and vanity. Sin and vanity are the sweet morsels of the fool, and such is what the carnal appetite of the flesh runs after. It is only the virtue that is in fear of the Lord that maketh the sinner have an antipathy against it (Job 20:12). "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Prov 16:6). That is, men shun, separate themselves from, and eschew it in its appearances. Therefore, it is plain that those who love evil are not possessed with the fear of God.
There is a generation that will pursue evil, that will take it in, nourish it, lay it up in their hearts, hide it, plead for it, and rejoice to do it. These cannot have in them the fear of the Lord, for that is to hate it and to make men depart from it: where the fear of God and sin is, it will be with the soul, as it was with Israel when Omri and Tibni strove to reign among them both at once, one of them must be put to death, they cannot live together (see 1 Kings 16): sin must down, for fear of the Lord begetteth in the soul a hatred against it, an abhorrence of it. Therefore, sin must die, that is, as to the affections and lusts of it, for as Solomon says in another case, "where no wood is, the fire goeth out." So we may say, where there is a hatred of sin, and men depart from it, it loses much of its power, waxed feeble and decayed. Therefore Solomon saith again, "Fear the Lord, and depart from evil" (Prov 3:7). As who should say, Fear the Lord, and it will follow that you shall depart from evil: departing from evil is a natural consequence, a proper effect of the fear of the Lord where it is. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil, that is, in their judgment, will, mind, and affections. Not that by the fear of the Lord sin is annihilated or has lost its being in the soul; there still will those Canaanites be, but they are hated, loathed, abominated, fought against, prayed against, watched against, striven against, and mortified by the soul (Rom 7).
4. This fear is called a fountain of life—"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death" (Prov 14:27). It is a fountain, or spring, which so continually supplieth the soul with a variety of considerations of sin, of God, of death, and life eternal, as to keep the soul in continual exercise of virtue and in holy contemplation. It is a fountain of life; every operation, every act, and exercise had an authentic and natural tendency to spiritual and eternal felicity. Wherefore the wise man saith in another place, "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil" (Prov 19:23). It tendeth to life; even as of nature, everything hath a tendency to that which is most natural to itself; the fire to burn, the water to wet, the stone to fall, the sun to shine, sin to defile, &c. Thus I say, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life; the nature of it is to put the soul upon fearing of God, of closing with Christ, and of walking humbly before him. "It is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death." What are the snares of death, but sin, the wiles of the devil, &c. From this, the fear of God has a natural tendency to deliver thee and keep thee in the way that tendeth to life.
5. This fear of the Lord is called "the instruction of wisdom" (Prov 15:33). You heard before that it is the beginning of wisdom, but here you find it called the instruction of wisdom; for indeed it is not only that which makes a man begin to be wise, but to improve, and take advantage of all those helps and means to live, which God hath afforded to that end; that is, both to his own and his neighbor's salvation also. It is the instruction of wisdom; it will make a man capable of using all his natural parts, all his natural wisdom, to God's glory and his own good. There lieth, even in many natural things, that, into which if we were instructed, would yield us a great deal of help to the understanding of spiritual matters; "For in wisdom has God made all the world"; nor is there anything that God has made, whether in heaven above, or on earth beneath, but there is couched some spiritual mystery in it. The which men matter no more than they do the ground they tread on, or than the stones that are under their feet, and all because they have not this fear of the Lord; for had they that, that would teach them to think, even from that knowledge of God, that hath by the fear of him put into their hearts, that he being so great and so good, there must needs be an abundance of wisdom in the things he hath made: that fear would also endeavor to find out what that wisdom is; yea, and give to the soul the instruction of it. In that it is called the instruction of wisdom, it intimates that its tendency is to keep all even and in good order in the soul. When Job perceived that his friends did not deal with him in an even spirit and orderly manner, he said that they forsook "the fear of the Almighty" (Job 6:14). This fear keeps a man even in his words and judgment of things. It may be compared to the ship's ballast and the poise of the balance of the scales; it keeps all even and makes us steer our course right concerning the things about God and man.
What this fear of God flows from.
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