12.13 Eccl. 1.6.20 the beginning of wisedome and the conclusion of all It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the root of wisedome Eccl. 1.23 It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of wisedome It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the crowne of wisedome I had need of the tongue of men Angels to give it its due prayse and full character But 2. Let us turne our eyes upon God the object of this feare we will find that he deserveth may challenge our feare and when we speake of God we will with David give him this addition God who ought to be feared For Psa 76. 11 1. He is omnipresent omniscient The eyes of the Lordin every place behold the evill Prov. 15.3 and the good therefore in every place stand in awe of him If a man were sure that his princes eye were alwayes upon him how fearefull how wary wold hee bee in all his carriage Feare him saith Aug. whose constant care it is to looke upon thee and walke chastly or if thou wilt needs offend seek some retired place wherein God cannot see thee then doe thy pleasure What height of Atheisme is it to feare the eye of a child and not to feare God his alseeing eye 2. Hee is omnipotent able to save I am 4.12 to destroy saith Iames now power is the proper object of seare Thou even thou saith David Psal 76.7 art to bee seared who may stand in thy sight who thou art angry and therfore God might well with indignation ask the question Ier. 5.12 Feare you not me will ye not trèble at my presence who have placed the sand for abound of the sea by a perpetuall decree the waues though they tosse roare cannot passe it Our lives our soules are in Gods hands Hee hath the keies of death of hell Thou turnest man to destructioÌ„ Psal 90.3 Mat. 10 28 saith David Hee is able to cast both body and soule into hel And shall wee not feare him Our Saviour redoubleth his words Luke 12.5 feare him yea I say unto you feare him afore whom man is but as a moth as the dust of the ballance 3. God is as just as Iealous as severe as powerfull Hee will not spare his owne children the aples of his eye the signets on his right hand if they wilfully offend him You only saith God to Israel have I knowne of all the families of the earth therefore I will be sure to punish you for all your iniquities Amos 3.2 Rom. 8.32 Nay he would not spare his onely son when heewold stand in the place of sinners Now what guilty man feares not an austere upright unswayd Iusticer What child feares not an angry fathers what servant feares not his incensedmaster Do you know what Gods anger is The fire kindled in his wrath burnes to the lowest hell as saith God Deut. 32.22 Psal 2. last verse If his wrath be kindled but a little blessed are they that trust in him saith David Doe they provoke mee to anger Ier. 7.19 saith the Lord doe they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces Heb. 10.31 It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God sayth Saint Paul Heb. 12. two last verses Serve the Lord with feare for hee is a consuming sire sayth the same Apostle And who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Isay 33.14 sayth the Prophet 4. God is gracious therefore feare him There is mercie with thee Psa 130.4 that thou mayest bee feared sayth the Psalmist A loving wife is fearfull to offend an indulgent husband An obedient childe is fearfull to offend a carefull father And shall wee turne Gods grace into wantonnesse and slight him for his kindnesse That were pitty 5. There is none so holy as the Lord 1 Sam. 2.2 sayth Hannah therefore wee ought to feare and reverence him King Herod feared Iohn Baptist Mar. 6.20 because hee was a just and a holy man and hee observed him sayth the Text. Shall a wicked man feare a man who is holy onely by participation â—â—â—d â—hall not we feare 〈◊〉 whose Essene is holines it selfe It is Davids argument Worship reverence God Psal 99.5 for he is holy 6. What ever God is in himselfe sure we are he is our God our Lord our master our father All which are strong obligations up on us to feare him Sanctifie the Lord of hosts Isay 8.13 let him bee your feare and dread There is one reason He is God But more then that hee is our Lord If I be father where is my honour If I be a master where is my feare Mala. 1.6 saith God Hee claimes our feare by this undoubted right It is Saint Peters inference If you call him father 1 Pet. 1.17 passe the time of your soiourning here in feare Lastly If wee regard not the duty for its owne sake nor for Gods sake yet let us feare God for our own sake For 1. The feare of God hath temporall promises annexed to it What doest thou desire the feare of God will make thee owner of it worldst thou have rest and ease and estate for thy selfe and thine this feare bring it what man is he saith David that feareth the Lord Psal 25.12 13. his soule shall dwell at ease his seed shal inherit the earth Wouldest thou not bee brought to poverty penury then fear God There is no want to them that feare the Lord Psal 34.9 saith David Woldst thou live long why the feare of the Lord prolongeth dayes Pro. 10.27 saith Salomon woldst thou have plentiful issue it is promised to the fearers of GOD. Woldst thou be content with thy present estates Psal 128. Hee that hath the feare of the Lord shall abide satis fied saith Salomon In a word God counts nothing too deere for such By the feare of the Lord are riches Pro. 22.4 honor life saith Salomon Either thou shalt enioy all these things or that which is equivalent to them or better then them or thou shalt be content with thy present state Better is a little with the feare of the Lord Pro. 15.16 then a great treasure But 2 all this is but drosse to the spirituall fruites of the feare of God For 1. It is the mother of wisedome Pro. 1.7 What man is hee that feares God Psal 25.12.14 him shall he teach in the way that hee shal choose saith David The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and hee will shew them his covenant Hee that feareth God shall bee acquainted with the pith and marrow of Gods wil when others shall scarce pierce the bark of it this is true wisedome to be wise to a mans selfe Pro. 9.12 every fearer of God is A prudent man foreseeth the evill Pro. 27.12 and hideth himselfe under the wings of Gods
degrees and extents of their operations The second distinction The second distinction is this that there is a forced feare and a voluntary feare of God 1. The forced is the guilty the slavish feare For he that is possessed with it labours to drive it away to drown it with drinking merriment joviall company vaine discourse or obscene songs as the ancient Italians would confound the noyce of thunder with the sound of Bells This was Belshazzars feare Dan. 5.5.6 when God sent a hand to write his doome upon the wall afore his face hee would faine have continued his mirth but it would not be for will he nill he his countenance was changed his thoghts troubled him so that the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees knockt one against the other Such was the feare of Felix the Romane Governour when he sent for Paul to speake before him hee was so farre from thinking that Paul should terrifie him that hee thought to terrifie Paul For when S. Pa l reasoned of Righteousnesse Act. 24.24.25 and Temperance and the Iudgement to come Felix trembled And he dismissed Saint Paul that he might rid himselfe of those fits and qualmes of feare 2. There is a voluntary free unconstrained feare of God and such is the filiall feare A feare that is desired and prized by him that feares It is thirsted after Nehem. 1.11 We desire to feare thy Name sayth Nehemiah It is prayed for Vnite my heart to feare thy Name Psa 86.11 sayth David It is a feare that a Saint dedicates and gives up himselfe unto Psa 119.38 Thy servant sayth David who is devoted to thy feare It is a feare that by the fearer is esteemed and valued at a high rate The feare of the Lord is his treasure Esay 33.6 This is the second distinction The thrid distinction is this The third distinction There is a fourefold feare of GOD. 1. A feare that flowes from the Spirit of God but is not resident in the heart with the Spirit of God and this is that initiall feare that paves a path for the Spirit of Adoption and for the true filiall feare The Spirit workes many a common grace in that heart wherein it selfe is not as it works this feare As the Sun afore it riseth darts light into that part of the heaven and ayre wherein he himselfe is not This feare is from the Spirit but not with the Spirit 2. There is a feare where the Spirit of God is and yet it flows not from the Spirit as many things may be done by children or servants in a house where the father or master is and yet they may not be the authors of them Thus a soule that is the mansion of the holy spirit of God may harbour in it carnall distrustfull feares and cares that the Spirit of GOD hath no hand in This was Davids feare that was joyned with a diffidence in Gods many promises made unto him to the contrary I shall perish one day 18 am 27.1 saith he by the hand of Saul This feare was with but not from the Spirit 3. There is a feare that neither proceedes from nor is joyned with the Spirit of God Such is that unsanctified slavish feare that turnes the affection from God and moves a man to flie from God It was the fear of those in the Psalmist that were in feare where no feare was Psal 53.3.5 and yet they turned back from God they were filthy they devoured Gods people they called not upon God This feare is neither with nor from the Spirit There is a feare that hath the holy Spirit of God both for its original and also its companion like that day light that is both with and from the Sunne this is filiall feare The Spirit of God is stiled the spirit of this feare Isai 11.2 because it is both from the Spirit and with the Spirit These distinctions beeing well weighed wil cast such beames of light upon the matter in quest that hee that runnes may read the full comprehension of the nature of the feare of God CHAP. III. How God being the chiefest good can bee feared IF it bee demanded how GOD beeing good in himselfe and good to all can be feared seeing wee usually feare onely evill T is answered 1. That we may feare God with a feare of honour and regard If I be a father sayth God where is my honour Matth. 1.6 If I be a master where is my seare In that text feare and honour are all one 2. Though God bee good and wee cannot feare him as euill yet we may feare a losse of and a sepâ—ration from our good GOD the more good any thing is the more wee feare the cutting off of our interest in it And in this sense are those wordes of S. Nihil timemus nisi neid juod amanous aut adeptum amittamus aut non adipiscamur speratum Aug. Austine to bee taken We feare good in fearing lest wee should lose that good wee enjoy or not obtaine that good wee desire or hope for 3. We may feare our God though hee bee good because hee is a great and a just God who is able to save and to destroy I am 4.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 2. c. 5. as St. Iames speakes Those things saith Aristotle are to be feared which have an apparent power to inflict great punishments upon us and to doe us much hurt And this agrees with that of our Saviour Feare him who is able to destroy both body and soule Math. 10.28 All punishment comes from God but in that respect punishment is good because it is a worke of Iustice Thus wee may feare GOD though he be good Lastly wee may bee fearfull of offending God in the ingenuity of our dispositions because he hath been and is every way so good a God unto us Psal 30.4 1 Sam. 12.24 There is mercie with thee that thou mayst bee feared saith David And these two duties are joyned together Feare the Lord and Consider what great things hee hath done for you Wee feare God not onely for that evill that hee may do against us but also for that good that hee hath done for us Nay feare of God is thing so proper that some deriv◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the name of God from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies feare And why is GOD sayd to bee fearfull in prayses Exod. 15.11 but because we both feare and prayse him for his greatnesse and his goodnesse The object both of feare and prayse may be the same And to this sounds that of the Prophet They shall feare the Lord Hosea 3.5 and his goodnesse in the latter dayes CHAP. IIII. Whether Adam in the state of innocencie feared God and whether the Angels and Saints in heaven feare God ADAM had the naturall affection of feare in his Soule while he stood though he had no occasion
him 1 Pet. 2.17 Feare God honour the King sayth S. Peter Children must feare their parents Yee shall feare every man his mother and his father Leuit. 19.3 sayth Moses God in their parents and their parents in and for God First God and then their parents Wives must feare and reverence their husbands Let the wife see that shee feare her husband Eph. 5. last verse sayth Saint Paul Servants must feare their masters Servants be obedient to your masters according to the flesh Col. 3.22 with feare and trembling sayth Saint Paul who else-where conjoynes the obedience to masters with the feare of God Servants sayth he bee obedient to your masters in all things Ephes 6.5 not with eye-service but in singlenesse of heart fearing God That is fearing God in their masters and their masters for Gods sake 8. Wee must feare God above all the creatures in the world though all their force and vigour were united together This is the meaning of that of our Saviour Mat. 10.28 Feare not them that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but seare him who is able to kill both body and soule Feare not him that can kill the body that is feare not him so much as God Shal wee feare the creature and not God for whose sake only wee feare the creature for what strength hath any creature where with God invests it not What can any creature doe for thee or against thee that God cannot doe What can any man doe against or for thee that God doth not permit and that he cannot interupt or revoke The strength of all creatures combined together is but infirmity weaknes to Gods power human policy is folly to Gods wisdome Wee feare a giant more then an infant a mountaine then a molchill a flame then a sparke a sea then a drop why then feare wee not God more then al things Lastly We must feare God alwayes constantly without intermission or interruption In youth in age in adversity in prosperity Iosh 4.24 That you might feare the Lord your God for ever sayth Ioshua 1 Kings 18.12 I have feared the Lord my God from my youth Psal 72.5 saith Obadiah They shall feare then as long as the Sunne Pro. 23.17 and moone endureth sayth David Bee thou in the feare of the Lord all the day long saith Salomon Many duties there are that are sometimes out of season but the feare of the Lord never Thus I have displayd afore the readers eye the manner how wee ought to manage our feare of God Wherein I have studied plainenes to leave the lowest capacities without excuse In matter of direction in a duty wherin depends life or death it is absurd to walke in clouds or to use the enticing words of mans wisedome CHAP. XVII The meanes whereby the feare of God may bee wrought and increased Next to the manner how wee ought to feare God The meanes whereby this feare is ordinarily ingenerated confirmed and increased come next to hand 1. Bee a companion of all them that feare God Psal 119.63 as David professeth that hee was The company of bold fool-hardy wretches that dare venture upon any sinne is the next way to make thee who ever thou art fearelesse and carelesse till sudden unrecouerable mischief fal upon thee Megnâ— tibi cusledia necessariaest qui ante oculos judicis vivis cuncta cernentis Bern. Medit. 2. The hourely consideration of Gods al-secing ey will keepe the feare of God lively and fresh in the heart That man cannot but bee fearefull and carefull that thinkes with himselfe that hee lives alwayes in the eyes of such a Iudge that is the great and unswayed spectator of all things 3. Reade and heare the word of God frequently and diligently there O Christian thou wilt finde what God is and what the fear of God is and what unanswerable reasons thou hast to feare him Deut 4.10 Gather the people sayth God I will make them heare my words that they may learne to feare me All the people shall heare and feare sayth Mâ—ses And againe Deut. 17.13 Deut 31.13 that their children may heare and learne to feare the Lord. The soule is in the care what knowest thou but that upon thy constant attendance on this sacred ordinance God may strike the speeding blow and worke his feare in thee Lastly we must daily and zealously pray to him whom we ought to feare to implant this his feare in us David will put words into our mouthes Psal 86. â—1 Lord unite my heart to feare thy name Arowse our drowsie leaden and secure spirits and cause the spirit of thy feare to rest upon us that at all times in all places above all things we may feare thee Much more might be added but he who conscionably uses these meanes cannot bee a stranger to the feare of GOD. You will say these means are but ordinary and plaine The better what wise Phisitian will goe a chymicall curious way to cure a patient when knowne remedies will doe the deed That were onely to try conclusions upon the patient Wee use to say plain iron may do that Ferrwn potest quod aurum non potest that gold cannot doe You cannot now say the way is dark for you have had sufficient direction nor that the well is deepe and you have no bucket to draw with for wholesome meanes have been prescribed If we now feare not God it is because we will not The next worke then must bee to bow our perverse wils and to provoke our cold dull affections to this transcendent grace CHAP. XVIII Arguments for and motives unto the feare of God AND now what incentives shall I use to worke our affections to this feare Let us looke but upon Gods little booke his word and upon his great booke of nature the world and there is no line in the one nor thing in the other but argueth hard and powerfully pleadeth for the feare of God But not to let my discourse loose into a hedgelesse field let us remember 1. The surpassing excellencie of this grace in it selfe It is an epitome an abstract of all religion That which Moses calleth feare Deu. 6.13 our Saviour quoting that place Mat. 4.10 calles worship And in the Greeke the same words doe signifie feare and religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if all religion lay in this feare When the Scripture would â—â—â—escribe a good 〈◊〉 denominateth 〈◊〉 from the feare of God As a tradesman commonly takes his name from that wherein hee most dealeth It was the stile of Obadiah Hee feared God greatly 1 Kin. 18.3 And of Hananiah Hee feared God above many Nehe. 7.2 And of Iob Hee feared God Nay Iob 1.1 the feare of God is the Alpha and Omega Et principuna praeâ—ipuum the beginning and end the complement and perfection of all Salomon calles it Pro. 1.7 Eccl.
ourselves in our kinde to bee worse than the Divell himselfe For Saint Iames sayth of them that they beleeve and tremble Iames 2.19 They beleeve Gods threates and tremble at his wrath In a word as it is a miserie that Death should be to a man the first symptome of his sicknesse so that man is to bee bewayled with teares of blood that awakes not till hee bee in hell when it is too late All these considerations layd together and well weighed cannot eradicate this poysonous roote of carnall securitie that is so diametrically and so unreconcileably opposite to the feare of GOD. We will not like the Israelites sit down to eate and drink Exod. 33.6 and rise up to play But feare and care will be a more frequent guest in our breasts CHAP. XII Of audacious presumption in sinning and the antidote against it A Second sinne that is contrary to the feare of God is presumptuous audaciousnesse or an audacious presumption in sinning It differs from security onely in degree for securitie is onely a privation of feare but presumption is joyned with an accession of boldnesse Indeed it is securitie strained to the highest pegge and dipped in a scarlet dye Cyclopica audacia Aliaque conges os â—â—ruâ—â—ssâ— ad dera montes Eulia propago contemptrix Superûm The Heathen use to call it a boldnesse like that of the Gyants spoken off by Ovid A generation that despised God and heaped mountaine upon mountaine Pelion upon Ossa and Olympus upon Pelion as if they would dethrone God himself Such are all those that harbour blasphemous thoghts or such as belch out blasphemous words that reflect upon God either directly or by consequence and those that in their actions passe the bounds of all modesty like that unjust Iudge that neither feared God Luke 18.2 nor regarded man 1. There is an audacious presumption in the thoughts Psal 14.1 The foole hath sayd in his heart there is no God Thou thoughtest sayth God to the wicked that I was such a one as thy selfe Psal 50.21 As if hee should say thou imaginest that I am a favourer of theevery adultery and slandering And the spectator of all hearts knowes that our breasts are a daily stithy an anvill wherein are forged whereon are framed many horrid thoughts of God his worship his servants such thoughts as wee dare not utter So that we had need to pray that the thoughts of our hearts may bee forgiven us as Saint Peter counselled Simon Magus Acts 8.22 But in this we must leave men to stand or fall to their owne masters 2. There is an audacious presumption in words when the poyson of Aspes is under mens lips Rom. 3.13 when men bid God battell and stand in defiance against him And that is done 1. By that which we strictly call blasphemy when mens tongues doe not onely walk throgh the earth but they also set their mouthes against the heavens Psal 73.9 as David speakes Such was Lamech Gen. 4.23.24 sayth hee to his wives in a bravery I will slay a young man in my wounding If Cain be avenged seven fold Lamech shall be seventie times seven fold As if he should say I wil slay the best man that shall but never so little offend me And if God punishes Cain seven times I will be revenged seventy seven times upon him that but razes my skin He would be more severe than an enraged God Such was Pharaoh as his words report him Who is the Lord that I should they him to let Israel goe I know not the Lord Exod. 5.2 neither will I let Israel goe As if hee should say I know no Lord greater than my selfe Such was Senaccherib the Assyrian King who sent this message to good King Hezekiah Let not thy God in whom thou trustest 2 Kin. 19.10.11 deceive thee telling thee that Ierusalem shall not bee delivered into my hand Which words Hezekiah calleth A reproaching of the living God Such were those that in Iob say unto God Depart from us wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Iob. 21.14 15. What is the Almighty that wee should serve him And those that sayd With our tongues we wil prevaile Psal 12.4 our lips are our own who is Lord over us Your words sayth God have beene stout against mee Mat. 3.13.14 yee have sayd It is in vaine to serve God And I have read of a king who having received a strange blow from heaven vowed hee would be revenged upon God and therfore gave strict commandement that for ten yeares no man should speake to God or of God And many of the Popes and Papalins have not fallen much short of those monsters of men if some of their own authours say true The time would fayle me should I reckon to you their numerous blasphemies that no truly Christian eare can brooke Leo the tenth called the Gospella fable of Christ And one of his slaves sayd that without the the testimony of the Church the Scriptures are no more authenticall than Aâ—sops fables Another sayes that if the Pope should carry troopes of soules with him to Hell no man should dare to say to him Domine cur ita sacis Sir why doe you so Another sayes that there is well-neare as much vertue in the mothers milke as in the sonnes blood Another in the Counsell of Trent called the cup in the Lords supper a cup of poyson What is this but to afront to out-face to dare God to challenge him And there are but too many loose Protestanes that give their tongues strange liberty to invey against GOD and all godlines Black months tongues set on fire of hell such as dare say Religion is but a devise to keepe men in awe Preaching is but prating A religious life is but a male contented life He that useth plain dealing shall dye a beggar A young Saint an old Divell The heavens blush to see such foame to come forth from Christian mens mouthes 2. There is a presumption in words that displayes it selfe in justifying and defending of sinne calling evill good Isay 5.20 and good evill light darknesse and darknesse light sweete bitter and bitter sweet as the Prophet speakes Aequo certamine câ—rtat cum Deo qui quod Deus odit dâ—sendit Hee enters the lists and sights with God hand to hand who defends what God hates Herein Ionah much forgot himselfe when GOD sayd to him Doest thou well to be angry Iona. 4.9 Hee answered I dowel to be angry even to death This is to provoke the holy one of Israel to anger Isay 1.4 as Esay speakes 3. It is the highest degree of presumption to boast of sinne None but brazen browes can doe that Isay 48.4 Hee that is shamelesse is fearlesse It is wrong enough to God to worship an Idol But sayth David confounded bee all they that boast themselves of Idols Psal 97.7 If a man may