fault with his dispensations and where there is that the heart is far from fear A murmuring spirit either comes from that wisdom that pretends to understand that there is a failure in the nature and execution of things or from an envy and spite at the execution of them Now if murmurings arise from this pretended wisdom of the flesh then instead of fearing of God his actions are judged to be either riged or ridiculous which yet are done in judgment truth and righteousness So that a murmuring heart cannot be a good one for the fear of God to grow in alas the heart where that grows must be a soft one as you have it in Job 23.15 16. And an heart that will stoop and be silent at the most abstruse of all his Judgments I was silent because thou didest it The heart in which this fear of God doth flourish is such that it bowes and is mute if it can but espie the hand wisdom justice or holiness of God in this or the other of his dispensations and so stirs up the soul to fear before him But if this murmuring ariseth from envy and spite that looketh so like to the spirit of the Devil that nothing need be said to give conviction of the horrible wickedness of it 8. Wouldst thou grow in this grace of fear then Take heed of an high and captious spirit for that is not good ground for the fear of God to grow in a meek and quiet spirit is the best and there the fear of God will flourish most therefore Peter puts meekness and fear together as being most suited in their nature and natural tendency one to another 1 Pet. 3.14 Meekness of spirit is like that heart that hath depth of earth in it in which things may take root and grow but an high and captious spirit is like to the stony ground where there is not depth of earth and consequently where this grace of fear cannot grow therefore take heed of this kind of spirit if thou wouldst that the fear of God should grow in thy soul. 9. Wouldst thou grow in the grace of fear then Take heed of an envious heart for that is not a good heart for the fear of God to grow in Let not thy heart envy sinners but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 To envy any is a signe of a bad spirit and that man takes upon him as I have already hinted to be a controller and a judge yea and a malicious executioner too and that of that fury that ariseth from his own lusts and revengeful spirit upon perhaps the man that is more righteous then himself But suppose he is a sinner that is the object of thine envy why the Text sets that envy in direct opposition to the fear of God Envy not sinners but be thou in the fear of God These two therefore to wit envy to sinners and fearing of God are opposites Thou canst not fear God and envy sinners too And the reason is because he that envieth a sinner hath forgotten himself that he is as bad and how can he then fear God He that envies sinners rejects his duty of blessing of them that curse and praying for them that despitefully use us and how can he that hath rejected this fear God He that envieth sinners therefore cannot be of a good spirit nor can the fear of God grow in his heart Lastly Wouldst thou grow in this grace of fear Then Take heed of hardning thy heart at anytime against convictions to particuler duties as to Prayer Alms Self-denial or the like Take heed also of hardning thy heart when thou art under any judgment of God as sickness losses crosses or the like I bid you before to beware of an hard heart but now I bid you beware of hardning your soft ones For to harden the heart is to make it worse then it is harder more desperate and bold against God then at the present it is Now I say if thou wouldest grow in this grace of fear take heed of hardning thy heart and especially of hardning of it against convictions to good for those convictions are sent of God like seasonable showrs of rain to keep the tillage of thy heart in good order that the grace of fear may grow therein but this stiffling of convictions makes the heart as hard as a piece of the nether Milstone Therefore happy is he that receiveth conviction for so he doth keep in the fear of God and that fear thereby nourished in his soul but cursed is he that doth otherwise Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28.14 A use of Encouragement I come now to a use of encouragement to those that are blessed with this grace of fear The last text that was mentioned saith Happy is the man that feareth alway and so doth many more Happy already because blessed with this grace and happy for time to come because this grace shall abide and continue till the soul that hath it is brought unto the mansion house of glory I will put my fear in their heart and they shall not depart from me Therefore as here is saith Happy IS he so it saith also It SHALL go well with him that is in time to come It SHALL go well with them that fear the Lord Eccles. 8.12 Had God given thee all the world yet cursed hadst thou been if he had not given thee the fear of the Lord for the fashion of this world is a fading thing but he that feareth the Lord shall abide for ever and ever This therefore is the first thing that I would propound for thy encouragement thou man that fearest the Lord. This grace will dwell in thy heart for it is a new covenant grace and will abide with thee forever It is sent to thee from God not only to joyn thy heart unto him but to keep thee from final apostacy I will put my fear in their heart and they shall not depart from me Jer. 32. That thou maist never forsake God is his design and therefore to keep thee from that wicked thing he hath put his fear in thy heart Many are the temptations difficulties snares traps trials and troubles that the people of God pass through in the world but how shall they be kept how shall they be delivered and escape Why the answer is the fear of God will keep them He that feareth God shall come out of them all It is not therefore a wonderful mercy to be blessed with this grace of fear that thou by it maiest be kept from final which is damnable apostacy Bless God therefore thou blessed man that hast this grace of fear in thy soul. There are five things in this grace of fear that have a direct tendency in them to keep thee from final apostacy 1. It is seated in the heart and the heart is as I may call it the main FORT
ministration as to this particular in leaving off to work now by the Law as afore and comming to the soul with the sweet word of promise of life and salvation by Jesus Christ. Thus far this fear is godly that is until Christ by the spirit in the Gospel is revealed and made over unto us and no longer Thus far this fear is godly and the reason why it is godly is because the ground-work of it is good I told you before what this fear is namely It is the fear of damnation Now the ground for this fear is good as is manifest by these particulars 1. The soul feareth damnation and that rightly because it is in its sins 2. The soul feareth damnation rightly because it hath not faith in Christ but is at present under the Law 3. The soul feareth damnation rightly now because by sin the Law and for want of faith the wrath of God abideth on it But now although thus far this fear of God is good and godly yet after Christ by the Spirit in the word of the Gospel is revealed to us and we made to accept of him as so revealed and offered to us by a true and living faith this fear to wit of damnation is no longer good but ungodly Nor doth the Spirit of God ever work it in us again Now we do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear that is to say to fear damnation but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry father father But I would not be mistaken when I say that this fear is no longer godly I do not mean with reference to the essence and habit of it for I believe it is the same in the feed which shall afterwards grow up to an higher degree and into a more sweet and gospel currant and manner of working but I mean refference to this act of searing damnation I say it shall never by the spirit be managed to that work it shall never bring forth that fruit more And my reasons are 1. Because that the soul by closing through the promise by the spirit with Jesus Christ is removed off of that foundation upon which it stood when it justly feared damnation It hath received NOW forgiveness of sin it is now no more under the law but in Jesus Christ by faith therefore there is now NO condemnation toit Act. 26.18 Rom. 6.14 chap. 8.1 The ground-work therefore being now taken away the spirit worketh that fear no more 2. He cannot after he hath come to the soul as a spirit of adoption come again as a spirit of bondage to put the soul in t his first fear to wit a fear of eternal damnation because he cannot say and unsay do and undo As a spirit of adoption he told me that my sins were forgiven me that I was included in the covenant of grace that God was my Father through Christ that I was under the promise of salvation and that this calling and gift of God to me is permanent and without repentance And do you think that after he hath told me this and sealed up the truth of it to my precious soul that he will come to me and tell me that I am yet in my sins under the curse of the Law and the eternal wrath of God No no the word of the Gospel is not yea yea nay nay It is only yea and amen it is so as God is true 2 Cor. 1.17 18 19 20. 3. The state therefore of the sinner being changed and that too by the spirits changing his dispensation leaving off to be now as a spirit of bondage to put us in fear and coming to our heart as the spirit of adoption to make us cry father father he cannot go back to his first workagain for if so then he must gratify yea and also ratifiy that profane and Popish doctrine forgiven to day unforgiven to morrow a child of God to day a child of Hell to morrow but what saith the Scriptures Now therefore such are no more strangers and foreiners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets Christ Jesus himself being the chief Corner-stone In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy Temple in the Lord in whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit Ephes. 2. Object But this is contrary to my experience Why Christian what is thy experience Why I was at first as you have said possessed with the fear of damnation and so under the power of the spirit of bondage Well said and how was it then Why after some time of continuance in these fears I had the spirit of adoption sent to me to seal up to my soul the forgiveness of sins and so he did and was also helped by the same spirit as you have said to call God Father Father Well said and what after that Why after that I fell into as great fears as ever I was in before Ans. All this may be granted and yet nevertheless what I have said will abide a truth for I have not said that after the spirit of adoption is come a Christian shall not again be in as great fears for he may have worse than he had at first but I say that after the spirit of adoption is come the spirit of bondage as such is sent of God no more to put us into those fears For mark for we have not received the spirit of bondage AGAIN to fear Let the Word be true whatever thy experience is Dost thou not understand me After the Spirit of God has told me and also helped me to believe it that the Lord for Christ's sake hath forgiven mine iniquities he tells me no more that they are not forgiven After the Spirit of God has helped me by Christ to call God my Father he tells me no more that the Devil is my Father After he hath told me that I am not under the Law but under grace he tells me no more that I am not under grace but under the Law and bound over by it for my sins to the wrath and judgment of God But this is the fear that the Spirit as a spirit of bondage worketh in the soul at first Quest. Can you give me further reason yet to convict me of the truth of what you say Answ. Yes 1. Because as the Spirit cannot give himself the lie so he cannot overthrow his own order of working nor yet contradict that testimony that his servants by his inspiration hath given of his order of working with them But he must do the first If he saith to us and that after we have received his own testimony that we are under grace that yet we are under sin the Law and wrath And he must do the second if after he hath gone through the first work on us as a spirit of bondage to the second as a spirit of adoption he
ground of damnation it is evident thou oughtest not because the ground the cause is removed Object But since I was sealed to the day of redemption I have grievously sinned against God have not I therefore cause to fear as before may not therefore the spirit of bondage be sent again to put me in fear as at first sin was the first cause and I have sinned now Answ. No by no means for we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear That is God hath not given it us for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 If therefore our first fears come upon us again after that we have received at Gods hands the spirit of love of power and of a sound mind it is to be refused though we have grievously sinned against our God This is manifest from 1 Sam. 12. Fear not ye have done all this wickedness That is not with that fear which would have made them fly from God as concluding that they were not now his people And the reason is because sin cannot dissolve the covenant into which the Sons of God by his grace is taken If his children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgments if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their iniquities with stripes nevertheless my loving-kindness I will not utterly take away from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail Psal. 89.30 33. Now if sin doth not dissolve the covenant if sin doth not cast me out of this covenant which is made personally with the Son of God and into the hands of which by the grace of God I am put then ought I not though I have sinned to fear with my first fears 2. Sin after that the spirit of adoption is come cannot dissolve the relation of Father and Son of Father and child And this the Church did rightly assert and that when her heart was under great hardness and when she had the guilt of erring from his waies saith she Doubtless thou art our Father Doubtless thou art though this be our case and though Israel should not acknowledge us for such Isa. 63.16 17. That sin dissolveth not the relation of Father and Son is further evident see Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Father Father Now mark wherefore thou art no more a Servant that is no more under the Law of death and damnation but a Son and if a Son then an heir of God through Christ. Suppose a child doth grevously transgress against and offend his Father is the relation between them therefore dissolved Again suppose the Father should scourge and chasten the Son for such offence is the relation between them therefore dissolved Yea suppose the child should now through ignonorance cry and say this man is now no more my father is he therefore now no more his Father doth not every body see the folly of arguings why of the same nature is that doctrine that saith that after we have received the spirit of adoption that the spirit of bondage is sent to us again to put us in fear of eternal damnation Know then that thy sin after thou hast received the spirit of adoption to cry unto God Father Father is counted the transgression of a child not of a slave and that all that happeneth to thee for that transgression is but the chastizement of a Father And what Son as he whom the father chasteneth not It is worth your observation That the Holy Ghost checks those who under their chastizements for sin forgot to call God their Father You have saith Paul forgotten the Exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto Children my Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Yea observe yet further that Gods chastizing of his children for their sin is a sign of grace and love and not of his wrath and thy damnation therefore NOW there is no ground for the aforesaid fear For whom the Lord loveth he chastizeth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Heb. 12. Now if God would not have those that have received the spirit of the Son however he chastises them to forget the relation that by the adoption of Sons they stand in to God if he cheks them that do forget it when his rod is upon their backs for sin then it is evident that those fears that thou hast under a colour of the coming again of the spirit as a spirit of bondage to put thee in fear of eternal damnation is nothing else but Satan disguised the better to play his pranks upon thee I will yet give you two or three instances more wherein it will be manifest that what ever happeneth to thee I mean as a chastizement for sin after the spirit of adoption is come thou oughtest to hold fast by faith the relation of Father and Son 1. The people spoken of by Moses are said to have lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation which rock is Jesus Christ and that is a grievous sin indeed yet saith he Is not God thy Father that hath bought thee and then puts them upon considering the daies of old Deut. 32.6 2. They in the Prophet Jeremiah had played the harlot with many lovers and done evil things as they could and as another Scripture hath it gone a whoring from under their God yet God calls to them by the Prophet saying Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father thou art the God of my youth Jer. 3.1 7. 3. Remember also that eminent text made mention of in 1 Sam. 12. Fear not ye have done all this wickedness and labour to maintain faith in thy soul of thy being a child it being true that thou hast received the spirit of adoption before and so that thou oughtest not to fall under thy first fears because the ground is taken away of thy eternal damnation Now let not any from what hath been said take courage to live loose lives under a supposition that once in Christ and ever in Christ and the covenant cannot be broken nor the relation of Father and Child dissolved for they that do so 't is evident have not known what 't is to receive the spirit of adoption It is the Spirit of the Devil in his own hue that suggesteth this unto them and that prevaileth with them to do so shall we do evil that good may come shall we sin that grace may abound or shall we be base in life because God by grace hath secured us from wrath to come God forbid these conclusions betoken one void of the fear of God
give not way to thy first fears lest as I said before thou addest to thine affliction and to help thee here Let me give thee a few instances of the carriages of some of the Saints under some of the most heavy afflictions that they have met with for sin 1. Job was in great affliction and that as he confessed for sin Joh. 7.20 Insomuch that he said God had set him for his mark to shoot at and that he ran upon him like a Giant that he took him by the neck and shook him to pieces and counted him for his enemy that he hid his face from him and that he could not tell where to find him yet he counted not all this as a sign of a damnable state but as a tryal and chastizement and said when he was in the hottest of this battel when I am tried I shall come forth like gold And again when he was pressed upon by the tempter to think that God would kill him he answers with greatest confidence Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 16.14 ver 12. Chap. 19.11 Chap. 23.8 9 10. Chap. 13.15 2. David complained that God had broken his bones that he had set his face against his sins and had taken from him the joy of his salvation yet even at this time he saith O God thou God of my Salvation Psal. 51.8 9 12 14. 3. Haman complained that his soul was full of troubles that God had laid him in the lowest pit that he had put his acquaintance far from him and was casting off his soul and had hid his face from him That he was afflicted from his youth up and ready to die with trouble he saith moreover that the fierce wrath of God went over him that his terrours had cut him him off yea that by reason of them he was distracted and yet even before he maketh any of these complaints he takes fast hold of God as his saying O Lord God of my Salvation Psal. 88. 4. The Church in the Lamentations complains that the Lord had afflicted her for her transgressions and that in the day of his fierce anger also that he had trodden under foot her mighty men and that he had called the heathen against her she saies that he had covered her with a cloud in his anger that he was an enemy and that he had hung a chain upon her she adds moreover that he had shut out her prayer broken her teeth with gravel stones and covered her with ashes and in conclusion that he had utterly rejected her But what doth she do under all this tryal doth she give up her faith and hope and return to that fear that begot the first bondage No The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him yea she adds O Lord thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul thou hast redeemed my life Lamen 1.5 Chap. 2.1 2 5. Chap. 3.7 8 16. Chap. 5.22 Chap. 3 24 31 58. These things shew that Gods people even after they have received the spirit of adoption have fell foully into sin and have been bitterly chastized for it and also that when the rod was most smart upon them they made great conscience of giving way to their first fears wherewith they were made afraid by the Spirit as it wrought as a spirit of bondage for indeed there is no such thing as the coming of the Spirit of bondage to put us in fear the second time as such that is after he is come as the spirit of adoption to the soul. I conclude then that THAT fear that is is wrought by the spirit of bondage is good and godly because the ground for it is sound and I also conclude that he comes to the soul as a spirit of bondage but once and that once is before he comes as a spirit of adoption and if therefore the same fear doth again take hold of thy heart that is if after thou hast received the spirit of adoption thou fearest again the damnation of thy soul that thou art out of Christ and under the Law that fear is bad and of the Devil and ought by no means to be admitted by thee Quest. But since it is as you say how doth the Devil after the spirit of adoption is come work the child of God into those fears of being out of Christ not forgiven and so an heâ—r of damnation again Answ. 1. By giving the lie and by prevailing with us to give it too to the work of grace wrought in our hearts and to the testimony of the holy spirit of adoption Or 2. By abusing of our ignorance of the everlasting love of God to his in Christ and the duration of the covenant of grace Or 3. By abusing some scripture that seems to look that way but doth not Or 4. By abusing our senses and reason Or 5. By strengthening of our unbelief Or 6. By overshaddowing of our judgment with horrid darkness Or 7. By giving of us counterfeit representations of God Or 8. By stirring up and setting in a rage our inward corruptions Or 9. By pouring into our hearts abundance of horrid blasphemies Or 10. By putting of wrong constructions on the rod and chastizing hand of God Or 11. By charging upon us that our ill behavours under the rod and chastizing hand of God is a sign that we indeed have no grace but are down-right damned graceless reprobates By these things and others like these Satan I say Satan bringeth the Child of God not only to the borders but even into the bowels of the fears of damnation after it hath received a blessed testimony of eternal life and that by the holy spirit of adoption Quest. But would you not have the people of God stand in FEAR of his rod and be afraid of his judgments Answ. Yes and the more they are rightly afraid of them the less and the seldomer they will come under them for 't is want of fear that brings us into sin and 't is sin that brings us into these afflictions But I would not have them fear with the fear of slaves for that will add no strength against sin but I would have them fear with the reverential fear of Sons and that is the way to depart from evil Quest. How is that Answ. Why having before received the spirit of adoption still to believe that he is our father and so to fear with the fear of children not as slaves fear a tyrant I would therefore have them to look upon his rod rebukes chidings and chastizements and also upon the wrath wherewith he doth inflict to be but the dispensations of their Father This believed maintains or at least helps to maintain in the heart a Son-like bowing under the rod. It also maintains in the soul a Son-like confession of sin and a justifying of God under all the rebukes that he grieveth us with It also engageth us to come to him to claim and lay hold of former mercies to
expect more and to hope a good end shall be made of all Gods present dispensations towards us Mich. 7.9 Lam. 1.18 Psal. 77.10 11 12. Lam. 3.31 32 33 34. Now God would have us thus fear his rod because he is resolved to chastize us therewith if so be we sin against him as I have already shewed for although Gods bowels turn within him even while he is threatning his people yet if we sin he will lay on the rod so hard as to make us cry Wo unto us that we have sinned Lam. 5.16 and therefore as I said we should be afraid of his judgments yet only as afore is provided as of the rod wrath and judgment of a Father Quest. But have you yet any other considerations to move us to FEAR God with child-like FEAR Answ. I will in this place give you five 1. Consider that God thinks meet to have it so and he is wiser in heart than thou he knows best how to secure his people from sin and to that end hath given them Law and Commandments to read that they may learn to fear him as a Father Job 37.24 Eccles. 3.14 Deut. 17.18 19. 2. Consider he is mighty in power if he touch it but with a fatherly touch man nor Angel cannot bear it yea Christ makes use of that argument he hath power to cast into hell fear him Luke 12.4 5. 3. Consider that he is every where thou canst not be out of his sight or presence nor out of the reach of his hand Fear ye not me saith the Lord can any hide himself in secret places that I should not see him saith the Lord do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 5.22 chap. 23.24 4. Consider that he is holy and cannot look with liking upon the sins of his own people Therefore saies Peter Be as obedient children not fashioning your selves according to your former lusts in your ignorance but as he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be ye holy for I am holy And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 5. Consider that he is good and has been good to thee good in that he hath singled thee out from others and saved thee from their death and hell though thou perhaps was worse in thy life than those that he left when he laid hold on thee O this should engage thy heart to fear the Lord all the daies of thy life They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter daies Hos. 3.5 And now for the present I have done with that fear I mean as to its first workings to wit to put me in fear of damnation and shall come in the next place to treat of the grace of fear more immediately intended in the text Of the grace of fear more immediately intended in the text I shall now speak to this fear which I call a lasting godly fear First By way of Explication by which I shall shew 1. How by the Scripture it is described 2. I shall shew you what this fear flows from 3. And then I shall also shew you what doth flow from it For the first of these to wit how by the Scripture this fear is described and that 1. More generally 2. More particularly First More generally 1. It is called a grace that is a sweet and blessed work of the Spirit of grace as he is given to the elect by Hence the Apostle saies let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear Heb. 12. for as that fear that brings bondage is wrought in the soul by the spirit as a spirit of bondage so this fear which is a fear that we have while we are in the liberty of sons is wrought by him as he manifesteth to us our liberty where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty that is where he is as a Spirit of adoption setting the soul free from that bondage under which it was held by the same spirit while he wrought as a spirit of bondage Hence as he is called a spirit working bondage to fear so he as the Spirit of the Son and of adoption is called The Spirit of the fear of the Lord Isa. 11.2 Because it is that Spirit of grace that is the author animater and maintainer of our filial fear or of that fear that is son-like and that subjecteth the elect unto God his Word and Waies unto him his Word and Waies as a Father 2. This fear is called also the fear of God not as that which is ungodly is nor yet as that may be which is wrought by the spirit as a spirit of bondage but by way of eminency to wir as a dispensation of the grace of the Gospel and as a fruit of eternal love I will put MY FEAR in their hearts and they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.38 39 40 41. 3. This fear of God is called Gods Treasure for it is one of his choice Jewels it is one of the rarities of Heaven The fear of the Lord is his treasure Isa. 33.16 And it may well go under such a title for as treasure so the fear of the Lord is not found in every corner It is said all men have not faith because that also is more precious than gold the same is said about this fear There was no fear of God before their eyes that is the greatest part of men are utterly destitute of this goodly Jewels this treasure the fear of the Lord. Poor vagrants when hey come straglling to a Lords house may perhaps obtain some scraps and fragments they may also obtain old shooes and some sorry cast-off rags but they get not any of his Jewels they may not touch his choycest treasure that is kept for the children and those that shall be his heirs We may say the same also of this blessed grace of fear which is called here Gods treasure It is only bestowed upon the elect the heirs and children of the promise all others are destitute of it and so continue to death and Judgment 4. This Grace of fear Is that which maketh men excell and go beyond all men in the account of God It is that which beautifies a man and prefers him above all other Hast thou saies God to Satan considered my servant Job that there is none like him in all the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil Job 1.8 chap. 2. ver 4. Mind it There is none like him none like him in all the earth I suppose he means either in those parts or else he was the man that abounded in the fear of the Lord none like him to fear the Lord he only excelled others with respect to his reverencing of God bowing before him and sincerely complying with his will and therefore
Sons men I mean besides that fear of God that is intended in the text and that accompanieth Eternal Life I shall hear make mention of three of them 1. There is a fear of God that flows even from the light of nature 2. There is a fear of God that flows from some of his dispensations to men which yet are neither universal nor saving 3. There is a fear of God in the heart of some men that is good and godly but doth not forever abide so To speak a little to all these before I come to speak of FEAR as it is a grace of God in the hearts of his Children And first to the first to wit that there is a fear of God that flows even from the light of nature A people may be said to do things in a fear of God when they act one towards another in things reasonable and honest ' twxt man and man not doing that to others they would not have done to themselves This is that fear of God which Abraham thought the Philistians had destroyed in themselves when he said of his wise to Abimelech she is my Sister For when Abimelech asked Abraham why he said of his wife she is my Sister He replied saying I thought verily that the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake Gen. 20.11 I thought verily that in this place men had stifled and choaked that light of nature that is in them at least so far forth as not to suffer it to put them in fear when their lusts were powerfull in them to accomplish their ends on the object that was present before them But this I will pass by and come to the second thing Namely to shew that there is a fear of God that flows from some of his dispensations to men which yet are neither universal nor saving This fear when opposed to that which is saving may be called an ungodly fear of God I shall describe it by these several particulars that follow First There is a fear of God that causeth a continual grudging discontent and heart-risings against God under the hand of God And that is when the dread of God in his coming upon men to deal with them for their sins is apprehended by them and yet by this dispensation they have no change of heart to submit to God thereunder The sinners under this dispensation cannot shake God out of their mind nor yet graciously tremble before him but through the unsanctified frame that they now are in they are afraid with ungodly fear and so in their minds let fly against him This fear oftentimes took hold of the Children of Israel when they were in the Wilderness in their journey to the promised Land still they feared that God in this place would destroy them but not with that fear that made them willing to submit for their sins to the judgment which they fear but with that fear that made them let fly against God This fear shewed it self in them even at the beginning of their voyage and was rebuked by Moses at the Red Sea but it was not there nor yet at any other place so subdued but that it would rise again in them at times to the dishonour of God and the a-new making of them guilty of sin before him Exod. 14.11 12 13. Numb 14.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. This fear is that which God said he would send before them in the day of Joshua even a fear that should possess the inhabitants of the land to wit a fear that should arise for that faintness of heart that they should be swallowed up of at their apprehending of Joshua in his approaches towards them to destroy them I will send my fear before thee and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee This day saies God will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the Nations that are under the whole Heavens who shall hear report of thee and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee Dut. 2.25 Chap. 11.25 Now this fear is also as you here see called anguish and in another place an Hornet for it and the soul that it falls upon do greet each other as Boys and Bees do The Hornet puts men in fear not so as to bring the heart into a sweet compliance with his terrour but so as to stir up the spirit into acts of opposition and resistance yet withall they flee before it I will send Hornets before thee which shall drive out thee Hâ—vite c. Exod. 23.27 Now this fear whether it be wrought by a misapprehending of the judgments of God as in the Israelites or otherwise as in the Canaanites yet ungodliness is the effect thereof and therefore I call it an ungodly fear of God for it stirreth up murmurings discontents and heart-risings against God while he with his dispensations is dealing with them Secondly there is a fear of God that driveth a man away from God I speak not now of the Athest nor of the pleasurable sinner nor yet of these and that fear that I speak of just now I speak now of such who through a sense of sin and of Gods justice fly from him of a slavish ungodly fear This ungodly fear was that which possessed Adams heart in the day that he did eat of the tree concerning which the Lord had said unto him In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die For then was he possessed with such a fear of God as made him seek to hide himself from his presence I heard said he thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. 3.10 mind it he had a fear of God but it was not godly it was not that that made him afterwards submit himself unto him for that would have kept him from not departing from him or else have brought him to him again with bowed broken and contrite spirit But this fear as the rest of his sin managed his departing from his God and pursued him to provoke him still so to do by IT he kept himself from God by IT his whole man was carried away from him I call IT ungodly fear because it begat in him ungodly apprehensions of his Maker Because it confined Adams conscience to the sense of justice only and consequently to disspair The same fear also possessed the children of Israel when they heard the law delivered to them on Mount Sinai as is evident for it made them that they could neither abide his presence nor hear his word It drove them back from the Mountain It made them saith the Apostle to Hebrews That they could not endure that which was commanded Heb. 12. Wherefore this FEAR Moses rebukes and forbids their giving way thereto Fear not said he but had THAT fear been godly he would have incouraged it and not
should overthrow as a spirit of bondage AGAIN what before he had built as a spirit of adoption And the third must therefore needs follow that is he overthroweth the testimony of his servants for they have said That now we receive the spirit of bondage AGAIN to fear no more that is after that we by the Holy Ghost are enabled to call God Father Father 2. This is evident also because the covenant in which now the soul is interested abideth and is everlasting not upon the supposition of my obedience but upon the unchangable purpose of God and the efficacy of the obedience of Christ whose blood also hath confirmed it It is ordered in all things and sure said David and this said he is all my salvation 2 Sam. 23.5 The covenant then is everlasting in it self being established upon so good a foundation and therefore standeth in it self everlastingly bent for the good of them that are involved in it Hear the tenor of the covenant and God's attesting of the truth thereof This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more Heb. 8.10 11 12. Now if God will do thus unto those that he hath comprized in his everlasting covenant of grace then he will remember their sins no more that is unto condemnation for so it is that he doth forget them then cannot the Holy Ghost who also is one with the Father and the Son come to us again even after we are possessed with these glorious fruits of this covenant as a spirit of bondage to put us in fear of damnation 3. The Spirit of God after it is come to me as a spirit of adoption can come to me no more as a spirit of bondage to put me in fear that is with my first fears because by that faith that he even he himself hath wrought in me to believe and call God Father Father I am united to Christ and stand no more upon mine own legs in mine own sins or performances but in his glorious righteousness before him and before his Father but he will not cast away a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones nor will he that the Spirit of God should come as a spirit of bondage to put him into a grounded fear of damnation that standeth compleat before God in the righteousness of Christ for that is an apparent contradiction And the third must therefore needs follow that is he overthroweth the testimony of his servants for they have said That now we receive the spirit of bondage AGAIN to fear no more that is after that we by the Holy Ghost are enabled to call God Father Father 2. This is evident also because the covenant in which now the soul is interested abideth and is everlasting not upon the supposition of my obedience but upon the unchangable purpose of God and the efficacy of the obedience of Christ whose blood also hath confirmed it It is ordered in all things and sure said David and this said he is all my salvation 2 Sam. 23.5 The covenant then is everlasting in it self being established upon so good a foundation and therefore standeth in it self everlastingly bent for the good of them that are involved in it Hear the tenor of the covenant and God's attesting of the truth thereof This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more Heb. 8.10 11 12. Now if God will do thus unto those that he hath comprized in his everlasting covenant of grace then he will remember their sins no more that is unto condemnation for so it is that he doth forget them then cannot the Holy Ghost who also is one with the Father and the Son come to us again even after we are possessed with these glorious fruits of this covenant as a spirit of bondage to put us in fear of damnation 3. The Spirit of God after it is come to me as a spirit of adoption can come to me no more as a spirit of bondage to put me in fear that is with my first fears because by that faith that he even he himself hath wrought in me to believe and call God Father Father I am united to Christ and stand no more upon mine own legs in mine own sins or performances but in his glorious righteousness before him and before his Father but he will not cast away a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones nor will he that the Spirit of God should come as a spirit of bondage to put him into a grounded fear of damnation that standeth compleat before God in the righteousness of Christ for that is an apparent contradiction Quest. But may it not come again as a spirit of bondage to put me into my first fears for my good Ans. The Text saith the contrary For we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Nor is God put to it for want of wisdom to say and unsay do and undo or else he cannot do good When we are sons and have received the adoption of children he doth not use to send the spirit after that to tell us we are slaves and heirs of damnation also that we are without Christ without the promise without grace and without God in the World and yet this he must do if it comes to us after we have received him as a spirit of adoption and put us as a spirit of bondage in fear as before Quest. But by what spirit is it then that I am brought again into fears even into the fears of damnation and so into bondage by Ans. By the spirit of the Devil who alwaies labours to frustrate the faith and hope and comfort of the godly Quest. How doth that appear Answ. 1. By the groundlesness of such fears 2. By the unseasonableness of them 3. By the effects of them 1. By the groundlesness of such fears The ground is removed for a grounded fear of damnation is this I am yet in my sins in a state of nature under the law without faith and so under the wrath
Prov. 19.23 It tendeth to life even as of nature every thing hath a tendency to that which is most natural to it self 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 which the fear of God hath a natural tendence to deliver thee and to keep thee in the way that tendeth to life 5. This fear of the Lord it 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 instuction of wisdom for indeed it is not only that which makes a man begin to be wise but to improve and make advantage of all those helps and means to life which God hath afforded to that end That is both to his own and his neighbours salvation also It is the instruction of wisdom it will make a man capable to use all his natural parts all his natural wisdom to Gods 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 any thing 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 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 knowledg 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 abundance of wisdom in the things he hath made that fear would also indeavour 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 to us 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 For this fear keeps a man even in his words and judgment of things It may be compared to the ballace of the Ship and to the poys of the ballance of the Scales it keeps all even and also makes us steer our course right with respect to the things that pertain to God and man What this fear of God flows from I come now to the second thing to wit to shew you what this fear of God flows from First This fear this grace of fear this son-like fear of God It flows from the distinguishing love of God to his elect I will be their God saith he and I will put my fear in their hearts None other obtain it but those that are inclosed and bound up in that bundle Therefore they in the same place are said to be those that are wrapt up in the eternal or everlasting covenant of God and so designed to be the people that should be blessed with this fear I will make an everlasting covenant with them saith God that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 This covenant declares unto men that God hath in his heart distinguishing love for some of the children of men for he saith he will be their God that he will not leave them nor yet suffer them to depart to wit finally from him Into these mens hearts he doth put his fear this blessed grace and this rare and effectual sign of his love and of their eternal salvation 2. This fear flows from a new heart This fear is not in men by nature the fear of Devils they may have as also an ungodly fear of God but this fear is not in any but where there dwelleth a new heart another fruit and effect of this everlasting covenant and of this distinguishing love of God An new heart also will I give them a new heart what a one is that why the same Prophet saith in another place A heart to fear me a circumcised one a sanctified one Jer. 32.39 Ezek. 11.19 Chap. 36.26 So then until a man receive an heart from God an heart from Heaven a new heart he has not this fear of God in him New wine must not be put into old bottles lest the one to wit the bottles mar the wine or the wine the bottles but new wine must have new bottles and then both shall be preserved Matth. 9.17 This fear of God must not be cannot be found in old hearts old hearts are not bottles out of which this fear of God proceeds but 't is from an honest and good heart from a new one from such an one that is also an effect of the everlasting covenant and love of God to men I will give them an heart to fear me there must in all actions be heart and without heart no action is good nor can there be faith love or fear from every kind of heart these must flow from such an one whose nature is to produce and bring forth such fruit Do men gather Grapes of thorns or Figs of thistles so from a corrupt heart there cannot proceed such fruit as the fear of God as to believe in God and love God Luke 6.43 44 45. The heart naturally is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked how then should there flow from such an one the fear of God it cannot be He therefore that hath not received at the hands of God a new heart cannot fear the Lord. 3. This fear of God it flows from an impression a sound impression that the word of God maketh on our souls for without an impress of the word there is no fear of God Hence it is said that God gave to Israel good laws statutes and judgements that they might learn them and in learning them learn to fear the Lord their God Therefore saith God in another place Gather the people together men women and children and the stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God Deut. 6.1 2. Chap. 31.12 For as a man drinketh good doctrine into his soul so he feareth God If he drinks it in much he feareth him greatly if he drinketh it in but little he feareth him but little if he drinketh it not in at all he feareth him not at all This therefore teacheth us how
hazzard and reproach of all the mighty people Psal. 119.151 Psal. 89.50 5. How tender of the glory of God was Ely Daniel and the three Children in their day 1. Ely died with fear and trembling of heart when he heard that the Ark of God was taken 1 Sam. 4.13 14 15 16 17 18. 2. Daniel ran the danger of the Lions mouths for the tender love that he had to the word and worship of God Dan. 6.10.16 3. The three children ran the hazzard of a burning fiery Furnace rather than they would dare to dishonour the way of their God Dan. 3.13 16 20. This therefore is one of the fruits of this godly fear to wit a reverence of his name and tenderness of his glory Secondly There flows from this godly fear watchfulness As it is said of Solomons Servants they watched about his bed because of fear in the night So it may be said of them that have this godly fear It makes them a watchful people 1. It makes them watch their hearts and take heed to keep them with all diligence lest they should by one or another of its sleights lead them to do that which in it self is wicked Prov. 4.23 Heb. 12.15 2. It makes them watch lest some temptation from Hell should enter into their heart to the destroying of them 1 Pet. 5.8 3. It makes them watch their mouths and keep them also at sometimes as with a bitt and bridle that they offend not with their tongue knowing that the tongue is apt being an evil member soon to catch the fire of hell to the defiling of the whole body Jam. 3.2 3 4 5 6 7. 4. It makes them watch over their ways look well to their goings and to make strait steps for their feet Psal. 39.1 Heb. 12.13 Thus this godly fear puts the soul upon its watch lest from the heart within or from the Devil without or from the world or some other temptation something should surprize and overtake the child of God to defile him or to cause him to defile the waies of God and so offend the Saints open the mouths of men and cause the enemy to speak reproachfully of religion Thirdly There flows from this FEAR a holy provocation to a reverential converse with Saints in their religious and godly assemblies for their further progress in the faith and way of holiness Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Spake that is of God and his holy and glorious name kingdom and works for their mutual edification a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name Mal. 3.16 The fear of the Lord in the heart provoketh to this in all its acts not only of necessity but of nature It is the natural effect of this godly fear to exercise the Church in the contemplation of God together and apart All fear good and bad hath a natural propenseness in it to incline the heart to contemplate upon the object of fear and though a man should labour to take off his thoughts from the object of his fear whether that object was Men Hell Devils c. yet do what he could the next time his fear had any act in it it would return again to its object And so it is with godly fear that will make a make a man speak of and think upon the name of God reverentially Psal 89 7. Yea and exercise himself in the holy thoughts of him in such sort that his soul shall be sanctified and seasoned with such Meditations Indeed holy thoughts of God such as you see this fear doth exercise the heart withal prepare the heart to and for God This fear therefore it is that David prayed for for the people when he said O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our Fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chron. 29.18 Fourthly There flows from this Fear of God great reverence of his Majesty in and under the use and enjoyment of God's holy Ordinances His Ordinances are his Courts and Palaces his Walks and Places where he giveth his presence to those that wait upon him in them in the fear of his name And this is the meaning of that of the Apostle Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judah and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied Act. 9.31 And walking that word intendeth their use of the ordinances of God They walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless This in Old Testament Language is called treading Gods Courts and walking in his Paths This saith the Text they did here in the fear of God That is in a great reverence of that God whose Ordinances they were You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord Levit. 19.30 Chap. 26.2 It is one thing to be conversant in Gods ordinances and another to be conversant in them with a due reverence of the Majesty and name of that God whose Ordinances they are it is common for men to do the first but none can do the last without this fear In thy fear said David will I worship Psal. 5.7 It is this fear of God therefore from whence doth flow that great reverence that his Saints have in them of his Majesty in and under the use and injoyment of Gods holy ordinances and consequently that makes our service in the performance of them acceptable to God through Christ. Heb. 12. last For God expects that we serve him with fear and trembling and it is odious among men for a man in the presence or about the service of his Prince to behave himself lightly and without due reverence of that Majesty in whose presence and about whose business he is And if so how can their service to God have any thing like acceptation from the hand of God that is done not in but without the fear of God this service must needs be an abomination to him and these servers must come off with rebuke Fifthly There flows from this godly fear of God Selfdenial That is an holy abstaining from those things that are either unlawful or inexpedient According to that of Nehemiah The former governours that had been before me were chargeable unto the people and had taken of them Bread and Wine besides forty Shekels of Silver yea even their Servants bear rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God Nehe. 5.15 Here now was Selfdenial he would not do as they did that went before him neither himself nor should his Servants but what what was it that put him upon these acts of Self-denial The answer is The fear of God But so did not I because of the fear of God Now whether by the fear of God in this place be meant his word or the
grace of fear in his heart may perhaps be a Scruple to some but in my judgment the next must have respect to the latter to wit to the grace of fear for without that be indeed in the heart the word will not produce that good selfdenial in us that here you find this good man to live in the daily exercise of The fear of God therefore that was the cause of his Self-denial was this grace of fear in his heart This made him to be as was said before tender of the honour of God and of the Salvation of his brother yea so tender that rather then he would give an occasion to the weak to stumble or be offended he would even deny himself of that which others never sticked to do Paul also through the sanctifying operations of this fear of God in his heart did deny himself even of Lawful things for the profit and Commodity of his Brother I will not eat flesh while the World standeth least I make my Brother to offend That is if his eating of it would make his Brother to offend 1 Cor. 8.13 Men that have not this fear of God in them will not cannot deny themselves of love to God and the good of the weak who are subject to stumble at indifferent things but where this grace of fear is there follows Selfdenial there men are tender of offending and count that it far better becoms their profession to be of a Self denying condesending conversation and temper them to stand sturdily to their own liberty in things inexpedient who even is offended thereat This grace of fear therefore is a very excellent thing because it yieldeth such excellent fruit as this For this Self-denial of how little esteem soever it be with some yet the want of it if the words of Christ be true as they are takes quite away from even a professor the very name of a disciple Mat. 10.37 38. Luke 14 ver 26 27.33 They saies Nehemiah Lorded it over the Brethren but so did not I. They took Bread and Wine and forty Shekles of Silver of them but so did not I yea even their Servants bare rule over the people but so did not I because of the fear of God Sixthly There flows from this godly fear of God singleness of heart Col. 3 2. Singleness of heart both to God and man singlenes of heart that is it which in an other place is called sincerity and godly simplicity and it is this when a man doth a thing simply for the sake of him or of the Law that commands it without respect to this by end or that desire of praise or of vain-glory from others I say when our obedience to God is done by us simply or alone for Gods sake for his words sake without any regard to this or that by-end or reserve not with eye service as men pleasers but with singleness of heart fearing God A man is more subject to nothing then to swerve from singleness of heart in his service to God and obedience to his Will How doth the Lord charge the Children of Israel and all their obedience and that for seventy years together with the want of singleness of heart towards him when ye fasted and mourned in the fift and seventh month even those seventy years did ye at all fast to me even to me And when ye did eat and when ye did drink did you not eat for your selves and drink for your selves Zech 7.5 6. They wanted this singleness of heart in their fasting in their eating in their mourning and in their drinking they had double hearts in what they did They did not as the Apostle bids whether they eat or drink or what ever they did do all to the glory of God And the reason of their want of this thing was they wanted this fear of God for that as the Apostle here saith effecteth singleness of heart to God and makes a man as John said of Gains do faithfully what ever he doth 3 John 5. And the reason is as hath bin already urged for that Grace of fear of God retaineth and keepeth upon the heart a reverent and awful sense of the Dread Majesty and All-seeing eye of God also a due consideration of the day of account before him it likewise maketh his service sweet and pleasing and fortifies the soul against all discouragements by this means I say the soul in its service to God or man is not so soon captivated as where there is not this fear but through and by it its service is accepted being single sincere simple and faithful when others with what they do are cast into Hell for their hypocrisie for they mix not what they do with Godly fear Singleness of heart in the service of God is of such absolute necessity that without it as I have hinted nothing can be accepted because where that is wanting there wanteth love to God and to that which is true holiness in deed T was this singleness of heart that made Nathaniel so honorable in the eyes of Jesus Christ. Behold said he an Israelite indeed in whom there is no Guile John 1. And t was the want of it that made him so much abhor the Pharisees They wanted sincerity simplicity and godly sincerity in their souls and so became an abhorrence in his esteem Now I say this golden Grace singleness of heart it flows from this godly fear of God Seventhly There flows from this godly fear of God compassion and bowels to those of the Saints that are in necessity and distress This is manifest in good Obadiah It is said of him That he took an hundred of the Lords Prophets and hid them by fifty in a Cave and fed them with Bread and Water in the daies when Jezebel that Tyrant sought their lives to distroy them 1 King 18.3 4. But what was it that moved so upon his heart as to cause him to do this thing why it was this blessed grace of the fear of God Now Obadiah saith the text Feared the Lord greatly for so it was when Jezebel cut off the Prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took an hundred Prophets and hid them by fifty in a Cave and fed them with Bread and Water This was charity to the distressed even to the distressed for the Lords sake Had not Obadiah served the Lord yea had he not greatly feared him he would not have been able to do this thing especially as the case then stood with him and also with the Church at that time for then Jezebel sought to stay all that indeed feared the Lord yea and the persecution prevailed so much at that time that even Elijah himself thought that she had killed all but him But now even now the fear of God in this good mans heart put forth it self into acts of mercy though attended with so eminent danger Se here therefore that the fear of God will put forth it self in the heart where God hath put it even to
so securely in the way Eleventhly There flows from this grace of fear Hope in the mercy of God The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in them than hope in his mercy Psal. 147.11 The latter part of the Text is an explanation of the former as if the Psalmist had said They be the men that fear the Lord even they that hope in his mercy for true fear produceth hope in Gods mercy And it is further manifest thus Fear true fear of God inclineth the heart to a serious enquiry after that way of salvation with God himself hath prescribed now the way that God hath appointed by the which the sinner is to obtain the salvation of his soul is his mercy as so and so set forth in the word and godly fear hath special regard to the word To this way therefore the sinner With this godly fear submits his soul rouls himself upon it and so is delivered from that death into which others for want of this fear of God do headlong fall It is as I also hinted before the nature of godly fear to be very much putting the soul upon the enquiry which is and which is not the thing approved of God and accordingly to imbrace it or shun it Now I say this fear having put the soul upon a strict and serious enquiry after the way of Salvation at lest it finds it to be by the mercy of God in Christ therefore this fear putteth the soul upon hoping also in him for eternal life and blessedness by which hope he doth not only secure soul but become a porson of Gods delight The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his mercy Besides This godly fear carrieth in it Self-evidence that the state of the sinner is happy because possessed with this happy grace Therefore as John saith We know we are passed from death to life because we love the Brethren 1 John 3.14 So here The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his mercy If I fear God and if my fearing of him is a thing in which he taketh such pleasure then may I boldly venture to roll my self eternal life into the Bosom of his mercy which is Christ. Thus fear also produceth hope if therefore poor sinner thou knowest thy self to be one that is possessed with this fear of God suffer thy self to be perswaded therefore to hope in the mercy of God for salvation for the Lord takes pleasure in thee And it delights him to see thee hope in his mercy Twelfthly There floweth from this godly fear of God An honest and conscientious use of all those means which God hath ordained that we should be conversant in for our attaining salvation Faith and hope in Gods mercy is that which secureth our justification and hope and as you have heard they do flow from this fear But now besides faith and hope there is a course of life in those things in which God hath ordained us to have our conversation without which there is no eternal life You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life and again without holiness no man shall see the Lord Not that faith and hope are deficient if they be right but they are both of them counterfeit when not attended with a reverent use of all the means upon the reverent use of which the soul is put by this grace of fear Wherefore beloved said Paul as you have alwaies obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in mine absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Rom. 6.22 Heb. 12.14 Philip. 2.12 There is a Faith and Hope of mercy that may deceive a man Though the faith of Gods elect and the hope that purifies the heart never will because they are alone and not attended with those companions that accompany salvation Heb. 6.3 4 5 7 8. but now this godly fear carries in its bowels not only a moving of the soul to faith and hope in Gods mercy but an earnest provocation to the holy and reverent use of all the means that God has ordained for a man to have his conversation in in order to his eternal salvation Work out your salvation with fear Not that work is meritorious or such that can purchase eternal life for eternal life is obtained by hope in Gods mercy but this hope if it be right is attended with this godly fear which fear putteth the soul upon a diligent use of all those means that may tend to the strengthening of hope and so to the makeing of us holy in all manner of conversation that we may be meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light For hope purifieth the heart if fear of God shall be its companion and so maketh a man a vessel of mercy prepared unto glory Paul bids Timothy to fly pride covetousness doteing about questions and the like and to follow after righteousness godliness faith Love patience to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold of eternal life 1 Tim. 6. So Peter bids that we Add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience to patience godliness to Godliness brotherly-kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Adding For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore the rather Brethren give deligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance sâ—all be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. The sum of all which is that which was mentioned before to wit to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling For none of these things can be conscientiously done but by and with the help of this blessed grace of fear Thirteenthly There flows from this fear this godly fear A great delight in the holy commands of God that is a delight to be conformable unto them Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that greatly delighteth in his commandments Psal. 112.1 This confirmeth that which was said before to wit that this fear provoketh to a holy and reverent use of the means for that cannot be when there is not an holy yea a great delight in the commandments Wherefore this fear maketh the sinner to abhor that which is sin because that is contrary to the object of his delight A man cannot delight himself at the same time in things directly opposite one to another as sin and the holy commandment is therefore Christ saith of the servant he cannot love God and Mammon he cannot serve God and Mammon If he cleaves to the one he must hate and dispise the other there cannot at the same time be service to both because that themselves are at
indeed they fear not God 2 Pet. 2.13 Rom. 13.13 1 Pet. 4.4 Alas some men are as if they were for nought else born but to eat and to drink and pamper their carcasses with the dainties of this world quite forgeting why God sent them hither but such as is said fear not God and so consequently are of the number of them upon whom the day of Judgment will come at unawars Luk. 21.34 4. The lyer is one that fears not God This also is evident from the plain Text Thou hast lied saith the Lord and hast not remembred me nor laid it to thy heart have not I held my peace even of old saith the Lord and thou fearest me not Isa. 57.11 What lie this was is not material 't was a lie or a course of lying that is here rebuked and the person or persons in this practice as is said were such as feared not God a course of lying and the fear of God cannot stand together This sin of lying is a common sin and it walketh in the world in several guises There is the profane scoffing lier there is the cunning artificial lier there is the hypocritical religious lier with lyers of other ranks and degrees But none of them all have the fear of God nor shall any of them they not repenting escape the damnation of Hell All lyers shall have their part in the lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Revel 21.8 Heaven and the new Jerusalem are not a place for such And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye ver 27. Therefore another Scripture saies That all liers are without For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolators and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie Chap. 22.15 But this should not be their sentence judgment and condemnation if they that are lyers were such as had in them this blessed fear of God 5. They fear not God who cry unto him for help in the time of their calamity and when they are delivered they return to ther former rebellion This Moses in a spirit of Prophecy asserteth at the time of the mighty judgment of the Hail Pharoah then desired him to pray to God that he would take away that judgment from him Well so I will saies Moses But as for thee and thy servants I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God Exod. 9.30 As who should say I know that so soon as this judgment is removed you will to your old rebellion again And what greater demonstration can be given that such a man feareth not God then to cry to God to be delivered from affliction to prosperity and to spend that prosperity in rebellion against him This is crying for mercies that they may be spent or that we may have something to spend upon our lusts and in the service of Satan Jam. 4.1 2 3. Of these God compalins in the 16 of Ezekiel and in the second of Hosea Thou hast saith God taken of thy fair Jewels of my Gold and of my Silver which I had given thee and madest to thy self images c. Ezek. 16.17 This was for want of the fear of God Many of this kind there be now in the World both of men and women and Children Art not thou that readest this Book of this number Hast thou not cried for health when sick for wealth when poor when lame for strength when in prison for liberty and then spent all that thou gottest by thy prayer in the service of Satan and to gratify thy lusts look to it sinner these things are signes that with thy heart thou fearest not God 6. They fear not God that way-lay his people and seek to overthrow them or to turn them besides the right path as they are journying from hence to their eternal rest This is evident from the plain Text. I Remember saith God what Amalek did unto thee by the way when ye were come forth out of Aegypt how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee even all that were feeble behind thee when thou wast faint and weary and he feared not God Deut. 25.17 18. Many such Amalekites there be now in the world that have set themselves against the feeble of the flock against the feeble of the flock especially still smiting them some by power some with the tongue some in their lives and estates some in their names and reputations by scandal slanders and reproach but the reason of this their ungodly practise is this They fear not God For did they fear HIM they would be afraid to so much as think much more of attempting to afflict and destroy and calumniate the Children of God but such there have been such there are and such there will be in the world for all men fear not God 7. They fear not God who see his hand upon backsliders for their sins and yet themselves will be backsliders also I saw saith God when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous Sister Judah FEARED NOT but went and played the harlot also Jer. 3.8 Chap. 2. verse 19. Judah saw that her Sister was put away and delivered by God into the hand of Salmanezer who carried her away beyond Babylon and yet though she saw it she went and plaied the harlot also A signe of great hardness of heart and of the want of the fear of God indeed For his fear had it been in her heart it would have taught her to have trembled at the judgment that was executed upon her Sister and not to have gone and played the harlot also And not to have done it while her Sisters judgment was in sight and memory But what is it that an heart that is destitute of the fear of God will not do No sin comes amiss to such yea they will sin they will do that themselves for the doing of which they believe some are in Hell Fire and all because they fear not God But pray observe if those that take not warning when they see the hand of God upon backsliders are said to have none of the fear of God have they it think you that lay stumbling blocks in the way of Gods people and use devices to cause them to backslide yea rejoyce when they can do this mischief to any And yet many of this sort there are in the world that even rejoyce when they see a professor fall into sin and go back from his profession as if they had found some excellent thing 8. They fear not God who can look upon a Land as wallowing in sin and yet are not humbled at the sight thereof Have ye said God by the Prophet to the Jews forgot the wickedness of your Fathers and the wickedness of the Kings of Judah and the wickedness of their Wives which they have committed in the Land of
heart and life what fear God and be proud and covetous a wine bibber and a riotous eater of flesh how fear God and a lyer and one that cries for mercies to spend them upon thy lusts this would be strange True thou mayest fear as devils do but what will that profit Thou mayest by thy fear be driven away from God from his worship people and waies but what will that avail It may be thou mayest so fear at present as to be a little stopped in thy sinfull course perhaps thou hast got a knock from the word of God and art at present a little dazled and hindred from being in thy former and full carrier after sin but what of that If by the fear that thou hast thy heart is not united to God and to the love of his Son Word and People thy fear is nothing worth Many men also are forced to fear God as underlings are forced to fear those that are by force above them If thou only thus fearest God 't is but a false fear it flows not from love to God this fear brings not willing subjection which indeed brings the effect of right fear but being over mastred like an hypocrite thou subjectest thy self Psal. 18.44 by feigned obedience being forced I say by meer dread to do it Psal. 66.3 It is said of David That the same of him went out into all Lands and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all Nations 1 Chron. 14.17 But what did they now love David did they now chuse him to be their King no verily they many of them rather hated him and when they could made resistance against him They did even as thou dost feared but did not love feared but did not chuse his government that ruled over them It is also said of Jehosaphat when God had subdued before him Amon Moab and Mount Seir. That the fear of God was upon all the kingdoms of the Countries when they heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel 2 Ch. 20.29 But I say was this fear that is called now the fear of God any thing else but a dread of the greatness and power of the King no verily nor did that dread bring them into a willing subjection to and likeing of his laws and government it only made them like slaves and underlings stand in fear of his executing the vengeance of God upon them Therefore still notwithstanding this fear they were rebels to him in their hearts and when occasion and advantage offered themselves they shewed it by rising in rebellion against Israel This fear therefore provoked but feigned and forced obedience a right emblem of the obedience of such who being still enemies in their minds to God are forced by vertue of present conviction to yield a little even of fear to God to his word and to his ordinances Reader whoever thou art think of this it is thy concern therefore do it and examine and examine again and look diligently to thy heart in thine examination that it beguile thee not about this thy so great concern as indeed the fear of God is One thing more before I leave thee let me warn thee of Take heed of deferring to fear the Lord. Some men when they have had conviction upon their heart that the fear of God is not in them have through the overpowring of their corruptions yet deferred and put off the fear of God from them as it is said of them in Jeremiah This people have a revolting and a rebellious heart they are revolted and gone neither said they in their heart let us now fear the Lord Jer. 5.22 23 24. They saw that the Judgments of God attended them because they did not yet fear God but that conviction would not prevail with them to say let us now fear the Lord. They were for deferring to fear him still they were for puting off his fear from them longer Sinner hast thou deferred to fear the Lord is thy heart still so stubborn as not to say yet let us fear the Lord Oh the Lord hath taken notice of this thy rebellion and is preparing some dreadful Judgment for thee Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soul be avenged of such a Nation as this ver 29. Sinner why shouldest thou pull vengeance down upon thee why shouldest thou pull vengeance down from Heaven upon thee Look up perhaps thou hast already been pulling this great while to pull it down upon thee Oh pull no longer why shouldest thou be thine own Executioner Fall down upon thy knees man and up with thy heart and thy hands to the God that dwels in the Heavens cry yea cry aloud Lord unite mine heart to fear thy name and do not harden mine heart from thy fear Thus holy men have cryed before thee and by crying have prevented Judgment Before I leave this use let me give thee a few things that if God will may provoke thee to fear the Lod. 1. The man that feareth not God carrieth it worse toward him then the beast the bruit beast doth carry it towards that man The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every Beast of the earth yea and upon every Fowl of the air and upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the Fishes in the Sea Gen. 9.2 Mark All my creatures shall fear you and dread you saies God None of them shall be so hardy as to cast off all reverence of you But what a shame is this to man That God should subject all his creatures to him and he should refuse to stoop his heart to God The Beast the Bird the Fish and all have a fear and dread of man yea God has put it in their hearts to fear a man and yet man is void of fear and dread I mean of godly fear of him that thus lovingly hath put all things under him Sinner art thou not ashamed that a silly Cow a Sheep yea a Swine should better observe the Law of his creation then thou dost the Law of thy God 2. Consider He that will not fear God God will make him fear him whether he will or no. That is He that doth not will not now so fear him as willingly to bow before him and put his neck into his yoak God will make him fear him when he comes to take vengeance on him Then he will surround him with terror and with fear on every side fear within and fear without fear shall be in the way even in the way that thou goest when thou art going out of this World and that will be dreadful fear Eccles. 12.5 I will bring their fears upon them saith the Lord. Isa. 66.4 3. He that fears not God now the Lord shall laugh at his fears then Sinner God will be even with all them that chuse not to have his fear in their hearts For as he calls and they hear not now so they shall cry yea howl then
and he will laugh at their fears I will laugh saith he at their destruction I will mock when their fear cometh when your fear cometh as disolation and your distruction like a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall you call upon me but I will not answer you shall seek me early but you shall not find me for that you hated knowledge and did not chuse the FEAR of the Lord Prov. 1.26 27 28 29. Sinner thou thinkest to escape the fear but what wilt thou do with the pitt Thou thinkest to escape the pit but what wilt thou do with the Snare The Snare say you what is that I answer it is even the work of thine own hands The wicked is snared in the works of his own hands he is snared by the words of his lips Psal. 9.16 Chap. 12.13 Sinner what wilt thou do when thou comest into this snare that is into the guilt and terror that thy sins will snaffle thee with when they like a cord are fastned about thy soul This snare will bring thee back again to the pit which is Hell and then how wilt thou do to be rid of thy fear The fear pit and the snare shall come upon thee because thou fearest not God Sinner art thou one of them that hast cast off fear poor man what wilt thou do when these three things beset thee whither wilt thou fly for help And where wilt thou leave thy glory If thou fliest from the fear there 's the pit if thou fliest from the pit there 's the snare The second use is an Exhortation to fear God My next word shall be an Exhortation to fear God I mean an Exhortation to Saints O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Not but that every Saint doth fear God but as the Apostle saith in an other case I beseech you do it more and more The fear of the Lord as I have shewed you is a grace of the new covenant as other saving graces are and so is capeable of being stronger or weaker as other graces are Wherefore I beseech you fear him more and more It is said of Obadiah That he feared the Lord greatly every Saint fears the Lord but every Saint does not greatly fear him O there are but few Obadiah's in the world I mean among the Saints on earth See the whole relation of him 1 King 18. As Paul said of Timothy I have none likeminded so it may be said of some concerning the fear of the Lord They have scarce a fellow So it was with Job There is none like him in all the earth one that feareth God c. Job 1. Chap. 2. There was even none in Jobs day that feared God like him no there was not one like him in all the earth but doubtless there were more in the World that feared God but this fearing of him greatly that 's the thing that Saints should do and that was the thing that Job did do and in that he did outstrip his fellows It is also said of Hananiah That he was a faithful man and feared God above many Nehe. 7.2 He also had got as to the exercise of and growth in this grace the start of many of his Brethren He feared God above many Now then seeing this grace admits of degrees and is in some stronger and in some weaker let us be all awakned as to other graces so to this grace also That like as you abound in every thing in faith in utterance in knowledg and in all diligence and in your love to us See that ye abound in this grace also I will labour to inforce this exhortation upon you by several motives 1. Let Gods distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear him greatly He hath put his fear in thy heart and hath not given that blessing to thy neighbour perhaps not to thy Husband thy Wife thy Child or thy Parent Oh what an obligation should this consideration lay upon thy heart greatly to fear the Lord Remember also as I have shewed in the first part of this book that this fear of the Lord is his Treasure a choice Jewel given only to favorites and to those that are greatly beloved Great gifts naturally tend to oblige and will do so I trust with thee when thou shalt ingeniously consider it It is a signe of a very bad nature when the contrary shews it self Could God have done more for thee then to have put his fear in his heart This is better then to have given thee a place even in Heaven without it Yea had he given thee all faith all knowledge and the tongue of Men and Angels and a place in Heaven to boot They had all been short of this gift of the fear of God in thy heart Therefore love it nourish it exercise it use all meanes to cause it to increase and grow in thy heart that it may appear it is set by at thy hand poor sinner 2 Another motive to stir thee up to grow in this grace of the fear of God May be the priviledges that it laies thee under What or where wilt thou find in the Bible so many priviledges so affectionately intailed to any grace as to this of the fear of God God speaks of this grace and of the priviledges that belong unto it as if to speak with reverance he knew not how to have done blessing of the man that hath it It seems to me as if this grace of fear is the darling grace the grace that God sets his heart upon at the highest rate As it were he imbraces and hugs and laies the man in his bosom that hath and grows strong in this grace of the fear of God See again the many priviledges in which the man is intrested that hath this grace in his heart and see also that there are but few of them wherever mentioned but have intailed to them the pronunciation of a blessing or else that man is spoken of by way of Admiration 3. Another motive may be this The man that groweth in this grace of the fear of the Lord will escape those evils that others will fall into Where this grace is it keepeth the soul from final apostacy I will put my fear in their heart and they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 But yet if there be not an increase in this grace much evil may attend and be commited notwithstanding There is a child that is healthy and hath its limbs and can go but 't is careless now the evil of carelessness doth disadvantage it very much carelessness is the cause of stumblings of falls of knocks and that it falls into the dirt yea that somtimes 't is burned or almost drowned And thus it is even with Gods people that fear him because they ad not to their fear a care of growing more in the fear of God therefore they reap dammage whereas were they more in his fear it
in the mystical world man It is not placed in the head as knowledge is nor in the mouth as utterance is but in the heart the seat of all I will put my fear in their heart If a King will keep a Town secure to himself let him be sure to man sufficiently the main FORT thereof If he have twenty thousand men well armed if they lie scattered here and there the Town may be taken for all that but if the main fort be well man'd then the Town is more secure What if a man had all the parts yea all the arts of Men and Angels that will not keep the heart to God But when the heart this principal fort is possessed with the fear of God then he is safe but not else 2. As the heart in general so the will in special That chief and great faculty of the soul is the principal that is acted by this fear The will which way that goes all goes If it be to Heaven or Hell Now the will I say is that main faculty that is governed by this fear that doth possess the soul therefore all is like to go well with it This Samuel insinuateth where he saith If ye WILL fear the Lord. Fearing of God is a voluntary act of the will and that being so the soul is kept from rebellion against the Commandment because by the will where this fear of God is placed and which IT governeth is led all the rest of the powers of the soul 1 Sam 12.14 In this will then is this fear of God placed that this grace may the better be able to govern the soul and so by consequence the whole man for as I said before look what way the will goes look what the will does thither goes and that does the whole man See Psal. 110.3 Man when his will is alienate from God is reckoned rebellious throughout Joh. 5.40 and that not without ground for the will is the principal faculty of the soul as to obedience and therefore things done without the will are as if they were not done at all The spirit is willing If ye be willing she hath done what she could and the like by these and such like sayings the goodness of the heart and action is judged as to the subjective part thereof Now this fear that we have been speaking of is placed in the soul and so consequently in the will that the man may thereby the better be kept from final and damnable apostacy 3. This fear as I may say even above every other grace is Gods well-wisher and hence it is called as I also have shewed you HIS fear As he also saies in the Text mentioned above I will put MY fear in their heart These words HIS and MY they are intimate and familiar expressions bespeaking not only great favor to man but a very great trust put in him As who should say this fear is my special friend it will subject and bow the soul and the several faculties thereof to my pleasure it is my great favorite and subdueth sinners to my pleasure you shall rarely find faith or repentance or parts go under such familiar characters as this blessed fear of the Lord doth Of all the counsellors and mighties that David had Hushi only was called the Kings Friend 2 Sam. 15.37 Ch. 16.16 So of all the graces of the spirit this of the fear of God goes mostly if not alwaies by the title of my fear Gods fear his fear c. I told you before if the King will keep a Town the main fort therein must be sufficiently man'd and now I will add that if he have not to govern those men some trusty and special friend such as Hushi was to David he may find it lost when it should stand him in greatest stead If a soul should be possessed with all things possible yet if this fear of God be wanting all other things will give place in time of rebellion and the soul shall be found in and under the conduct of Hell when it should stand up for God and his truth in the World This fear of God it is Gods special friend and therefore it has given unto it the chief seat of the heart the will that the whole man may now be and also be kept hereafter in the subjection and obedience of the Gospel For 4. This grace of fear is the softest and most tender of Gods honour of any other grace It is that tender sensible and trembling grace that keepeth the soul upon its continual watch To keep a good watch is you know a wonderful safety to a place that is in continual danger because of the enemy Why this is the grace that setteth the watch and that keepeth the watchman awake Song 3.7 8. A man cannot watch as he should if he be destitute of fear let him be confident and he sleeps he unadvisedly lets into the garison those that should not come there Israels fault when they came to Canaan was that they made a Covenant with the inhabitants of the Land to wit the Gibeonites without asking counsel of God But would they have done so think you if at the same time the fear of God had had its full play in the soul in the Army no they at that time forgat to fear The grace of fear had not at that time its full stroke and sway among them 5. This grace of fear is that which as I may so say first affects the hearts of Saints with Judgments after we have sinned and so is as a begining grace to bring again that to rights that by sin is put out of frame O it is a precious grace of God I know what I say in this matter and also where I had been long ago through the power of my lusts and the wiles of the Devil had it not been for the fear of God But Secondly Another encouragement for those that are blessed with this blessed grace of fear is this This fear failes not to do this work for the soul if there in truth be it never so small in measure A little of this leven levens the whole lump ' True a little will not do or help the soul to do those worthy exploits in the heart or life as well as a bigger measure thereof nor indeed can a little of any grace do that which a bigger measure will but a little will preserve the soul from final apostacy and deliver it into the armes of the Son of God at the final Judgment Wherefore when he saith I will put my fear in their heart he saies not I will put so much of it there such a quantity or such a degree but I will put my ear there I speak not this in the least to tempt the godly man to be content with the least degree of the fear of God in his heart ' True men should be glad that God hath put even the least degree of this grace into their souls but they should not
be content therewith they should earnestly covet more pray for more and use all lawful that is all the means of Gods appointing that they may get more There are as I have said already several degrees of this grace of fear and our wisdom is to grow in IT as in all other the graces of the Spirit The reasons why I have shewed you and also the way to grow therein but the least measure thereof will do as I said that is keep the soul from final apostacy There are as I have shewed you those that greatly fear the Lord that fear exceedingly and that fear him above many of their brethren but the small in this grace are saved as well as these that are great therein He will save them that fear him small and great This fear of the Lord is the pulse of the soul and as some pulses beat stronger some weaker so is this grace of fear in the soul. They that beat best are a signe of best life but they that beat worst shew that life is present As long as the pulse beats we count not that the man is dead though weak and this fear where it is preserves to everlasting life Pulses there are also that are intermitting to wit such as have their times for a little a little time to stop and beat again ' True these are dangerous pulses but yet too a signe of life This fear of God also is sometimes like this intermitting pulse there are times when it forbears to work and then it works again David had an intermitting pulse Peter had an intermitting pulse as also many other of the Saints of God I call that an intermitting pulse with reference to the fear we speak of when there is some obstruction by the workings of corruptions in the soul I say some obstruction from and hindrance of the continual motion of this fear of God yet none of these though they are various and some of them sings of weakness are signs of death but life I will put my fear in their heart and they shall not depart from me But you may say How shall I know that I fear God Ans. If I should say that desires true sincere desires to fear him is fear it self I should not say amiss Nehe. 1.11 For although a desire to be or do so and so makes not a man to be in temporal or natural things what he desires to be for a sick or poor or imprisoned man may desire to be well to be rich or to be at liberty and yet be as they are sick poor or in prison Yet in spirituals a mans desire to be good to believe to love to hope and fear God doth flow from the nature of grace it self I said before that in temporals a man could not be properly be said to be what he was not yet a man even in naturals or temporals shews his love to that thing that he desires whether it be health riches or liberty and in spirituals desires of from love to this or that grace of God sincere desires of it flow from the root of the grace it self Thy Servants that desire to fear thy name Nehemiah bore himself before God upon this That he desired to fear his name And hence again it is said concerning desires true desires The desire of a man is his kindness Prov. 19.22 For a man shews his heart his love his affections and his delights in his desires and since the grace of fear of God is a grace so pleasant in the sight of God and of so sanctifying a nature in the soul where it is a true sincere desire to be blessed with that grace must needs flow from some being of this grace in the soul already ' True desires are lower than higher acts of grace but God will not look over desires But now they DESIRE a better Country that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City Mark they desire a Country and they shall have a City At this LOW place to wit sincere desires God will meet the soul and will tell him that he hath accepted of his desires that his desires are his kindness and flow from grace it self He will fulfil the desires of them that fear him Therefore desires are not rejected of God but they would if they did not flow from a principle of grace already in the soul therefore desires sincere desires to fear God flow from grace already in the soul. Therefore since thou fearest God and it is evident by thy desires ' that thou dost so do thou ART happy NOW in this thy fear and SHALT be happy for ever hereafter in the injoyment of that which God in another world hath laid up for them that fear him 3. Another encouragement for those that have this grace of fear is this This grace can make that man that in many other things is not capable of serving of God serve him better then those that have all without it Poor Christian man thou hast scarce been able to do any thing for God all thy daies but only to fear the Lord. Thou art no Preacher and so canst not do him service that way Thou art no rich man and so canst not do him service with outward substance Thou art no wise man and so canst not do any thing that way But here is thy mercy thou fearest God Though thou canst not preach thou canst fear God Though thou hast no bread to feed the belly nor fleece to cloth the back of the poor thou canst fear God O how blessed is the man that feareth the Lord because this duty of fearing of God is an act of the mind and may be done by the man that is destitute of all things but that holy and blessed mind Blessed therefore is that man for God hath not laid the comfort of his people in the doing of external duties nor the salvation of their souls but in believing loving and fearing God Neither hath he laid these things in actions done in their health nor in the due mannagement of their most excellent parts but in the receiving of Christ and fear of God The which good Christian thou maiest do and do acceptably even though thou shouldest lie bed-rid all thy daies thou maiest also be sick and believe be sick and love be sick and fear God and so be a blessed man And here the POOR Christian hath some thing to answer them that reproach him for his ignoble pedigree and shortness of the glory of the wisdom of the World ' True may that man say I was taken out of the Dunghil I was born in a base and low estate But I fear God I have no worldly greatness nor excellency of natural parts but I fear God When Obadiah met with Elijah he gave him no worldly and fantastical complement nor did he glory in his promotion by Ahab the King of Israel but gravely and after a gracious manner said