OF SEVERAL SORTS OF FEAR OF GOD IN THE HEART OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN.
Having thus spoken of the object and rule of our fear, I should come now to speak
of fear as it is a grace of the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people; but before
I do that, I shall show you that there are divers sorts of fear besides. For man
being a reasonable creature, and having even by nature a certain knowledge of God,
hath also naturally something of some kind of fear of God at times, which, although
it be not that which is intended in the text, yet ought to be spoken to, that that
which is not right may be distinguished from that that is.
There is, I say, several sorts or kinds of fear in the hearts of the sons of men,
I mean besides that fear of God that is intended in the text, and that accompanieth
eternal life. I shall here make mention of three of them. FIRST. There is a fear
of God that flows even from the light of nature. SECOND. There is a fear of God that
flows from some of his dispensations to men, which yet is neither universal nor saving.
THIRD. There is a fear of God in the heart of some men that is good and godly, but
doth not for ever 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 betwixt 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 Philistines had destroyed in themselves, when he said of his
wife 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 surely
the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for my wife's sake"
(Gen 20:11). I thought verily that in this place men had stifled and choked 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 powerful 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—
SECOND. To show that there is a fear of God that flows from some of his dispensations
to men, which yet is 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 showed itself 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 anew making of them guilty of sin before him (Exo 14:11-13; Num 14:1-9).
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" (Exo 23:27).
"This day," says God, "will I begin to put the dread of thee, and
the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven who shall hear
report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee" (Deut
2:25, 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 terror, but so as to stir up the spirit into acts of opposition and resistance,
yet withal they flee before it. "I will send hornets before thee, which shall
drive out the Hivite," &c. (Exo 23:28). Now this fear, whether it be wrought
by 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.
Second. There is a fear of God that driveth a man away from God—I speak not now of
the atheist, nor of the pleasurable sinner, nor yet of these, and that fear that
I spoke of just now—I speak now of such who through a sense of sin and of God's justice
fly from him of a slavish ungodly fear. This ungodly fear was that which possessed
Adam's heart in the day that he did eat of the tree concerning which the Lord has
said unto him, "In the day that 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 myself" (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 Adam's conscience to the sense of
justice only, and consequently to despair.
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 the Hebrews, that "they could not endure that which was
commanded" (Heb 12:20). Wherefore this fear Moses rebukes, and forbids their
giving way thereto. "Fear not," said he; but had that fear been godly,
he would have encouraged it, and not forbid and rebuke it as he did. "Fear not,"
said he, "for God is come to prove you" ; they thought otherwise. "God,"
saith he, "is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces."
Therefore that fear that already had taken possession of them, was not the fear of
God, but a fear that was of Satan, of their own misjudging hearts, and so a fear
that was ungodly (Exo 20:18-20). Mark you, here is a fear and a fear, a fear forbidden,
and a fear commended; a fear forbidden, because it engendered their hearts to bondage,
and to ungodly thoughts of God and of his word; it made them that they could not
desire to hear God speak to them any more (vv 19-21).
Many also at this day are possessed with this ungodly fear; and you may know them
by this,—they cannot abide conviction for sin, and if at any time the word of the
law, by the preaching of the word, comes near them, they will not abide that preacher,
nor such kind of sermons any more. They are, as they deem, best at ease, when furthest
off of God, and of the power of his word. The word preached brings God nearer to
them than they desire he should come, because whenever God comes near, their sins
by him are manifest, and so is the judgment too that to them is due. Now these not
having faith in the mercy of God through Christ, nor that grace that tendeth to bring
them to him, they cannot but think of God amiss, and their so thinking of him makes
them say unto him, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways"
(Job 21:14). Wherefore their wrong thoughts of God beget in them this ungodly fear;
and again, this ungodly fear doth maintain in them the continuance of these wrong
and unworthy thoughts of God, and therefore, through that devilish service wherewith
they strengthen one another, the sinner, without a miracle of grace prevents him,
is drowned in destruction and perdition.
It was this ungodly fear of God that carried Cain from the presence of God into the
land of Nod, and that put him there upon any carnal worldly business, if perhaps
he might by so doing stifle convictions of the majesty and justice of God against
his sin, and so live the rest of his vain life in the more sinful security and fleshly
ease. This ungodly fear is that also which Samuel perceived at the people's apprehension
of their sin, to begin to get hold of their hearts; wherefore he, as Moses before
him, quickly forbids their entertaining of it. "Fear not," said he, "ye
have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord."
For to turn them aside from following of him, was the natural tendency of this fear.
"But fear not," said he, that is, with that fear that tendeth to turn you
aside. Now, I say, the matter that this fear worketh upon, as in Adam, and the Israelites
mentioned before, was their sin. You have sinned, says he, that is true, yet turn
not aside, yet fear not with that fear that would make you so do (1 Sam 12:20). Note
by the way, sinner, that when the greatness of thy sins, being apprehended by thee,
shall work in thee that fear of God, as shall incline thy heart to fly from him,
thou art possessed with a fear of God that is ungodly, yea, so ungodly, that not
any of thy sins for heinousness may be compared therewith, as might be made manifest
in many particulars, but Samuel having rebuked this fear, presently sets before the
people another, to wit, the true fear of God; "fear the Lord," says he,
"serve him - with all your heart" (v 24). And he giveth them this encouragement
so to do, "for the Lord will not forsake his people." This ungodly fear
is that which you read of in Isaiah 2, and in many other places, and God's people
should shun it, as they would shun the devil, because its natural tendency is to
forward the destruction of the soul in which it has taken possession.[8]
Third. There is a fear of God, which, although it hath not in it that power as to
make men flee from God's presence, yet it is ungodly, because, even while they are
in the outward way of God's ordinances, their hearts are by it quite discouraged
from attempting to exercise themselves in the power of religion. Of this sort are
they which dare not cast off the hearing, reading, and discourse of the word as others;
no, nor the assembly of God's children for the exercise of other religious duties,
for their conscience is convinced this is the way and worship of God. But yet their
heart, as I said, by this ungodly fear, is kept from a powerful gracious falling
in with God. This fear takes away their heart from all holy and godly prayer in private,
and from all holy and godly zeal for his name in public, and there be many professors
whose hearts are possessed with this ungodly fear of God; and they are intended by
the slothful one. He was a servant, a servant among the servants of God, and had
gifts and abilities given him, therewith to serve Christ, as well as his fellows,
yea, and was commanded too, as well as the rest, to occupy till his master came.
But what does he? Why, he takes his talent, the gift that he was to lay out for his
master's profit, and puts it in a napkin, digs a hole in the earth, and hides his
lord's money, and lies in a lazy manner at to-elbow all his days, not out of, but
in his lord's vineyard;[9] for he came among the servants also at last. By which
it is manifest that he had not cast off his profession, but was slothful and negligent
while he was in it. But what was it that made him thus slothful?
What was it that took away his heart, while he was in the way, and that discouraged
him from falling in with the power and holy practice of religion according to the
talent he received? Why, it was this, he gave way to an ungodly fear of God, and
that took away his heart from the power of religious duties. "Lord," said
he, "behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept, laid up in a napkin, for
I feared thee." Why, man, doth the fear of God make a man idle and slothful?
No, no; that is, if it be right and godly. This fear was therefore evil fear; it
was that ungodly fear of God which I have here been speaking of. For I feared thee,
or as Matthew hath it, "for I was afraid." Afraid of what? Of Christ, "that
he was an hard man, reaping where he sowed not, and gathering where he had not strawed."
This his fear, being ungodly, made him apprehend of Christ contrary to the goodness
of his nature, and so took away his heart from all endeavours to be doing of that
which was pleasing in his sight (Luke 19:20; Matt 25:24, 25). And thus do all those
that retain the name and show of religion, but are neglecters as to the power and
godly practice of it. These will live like dogs and swine in the house; they pray
not, they watch not their hearts, they pull not their hands out of their bosoms to
work, they do not strive against their lusts, nor will they ever resist unto blood,
striving against sin; they cannot take up their cross, or improve what they have
to God's glory. Let all men therefore take heed of this ungodly fear, and shun it
as they shun the devil, for it will make them afraid where no fear is. It will tell
them that there is a lion in the street, the unlikeliest place in the world for such
a beast to be in; it will put a vizard upon the face of God, most dreadful and fearful
to behold, and then quite discourage the soul as to his service; so it served the
slothful servant, and so it will serve thee, poor sinner, if thou entertainest it,
and givest way thereto. But,
Fourth. This ungodly fear of God shows itself also in this. It will not suffer the
soul that is governed thereby to trust only to Christ for justification of life,
but will bend the powers of the soul to trust partly to the works of the law. Many
of the Jews were, in the time of Christ and his apostles, possessed with this ungodly
fear of God, for they were not as the former, to wit, as the slothful servant, to
receive a talent and hide it in the earth in a napkin, but they were an industrious
people, they followed after the law of righteousness, they had a zeal of God and
of the religion of their fathers; but how then did they come to miscarry? Why, their
fear of God was ungodly; it would not suffer them wholly to trust to the righteousness
of faith, which is the imputed righteousness of Christ. They followed after the law
of righteousness, but attained not to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. But what was
it that made them join their works of the law with Christ, but their unbelief, whose
foundation was ignorance and fear? They were afraid to venture all in one bottom,
they thought two strings to one bow would be best, and thus betwixt two stools they
came to the ground. And hence, to fear and to doubt, are put together as being the
cause one of another; yea, they are put ofttimes the one for the other; thus ungodly
fear for unbelief: "Be not afraid, only believe," and therefore he that
is overruled and carried away with this fear, is coupled with the unbeliever that
is thrust out from the holy city among the dogs. But the fearful and unbelievers,
and murderers are without (Rev 21:8). "The fearful and unbelieving," you
see, are put together; for indeed fear, that is, this ungodly fear, is the ground
of unbelief, or, if you will, unbelief is the ground of fear, this fear: but I stand
not upon nice distinctions. This ungodly fear hath a great hand in keeping of the
soul from trusting only to Christ's righteousness for justification of life.
Fifth. This ungodly fear of God is that which will put men upon adding to the revealed
will of God their own inventions, and their own performances of them, as a means
to pacify the anger of God. For the truth is, where this ungodly fear reigneth, there
is no end of law and duty. When those that you read of in the book of Kings were
destroyed by the lions, because they had set up idolatry in the land of Israel, they
sent for a priest from Babylon that might teach them the manner of the God of the
land; but behold when they knew it, being taught it by the priest, yet their fear
would not suffer them to be content with that worship only. "They feared the
Lord," saith the text, "and served their own gods." And again, "So
these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images" (2 Kings 17).
It was this fear also that put the Pharisees upon inventing so many traditions, as
the washing of cups, and beds, and tables, and basins, with abundance of such other
like gear,[10] none knows the many dangers that an ungodly fear of God will drive
a man into (Mark 7). How has it racked and tortured the Papists for hundreds of years
together! for what else is the cause but this ungodly fear, at least in the most
simple and harmless of them, of their penances, as creeping to the cross, going barefoot
on pilgrimage, whipping themselves, wearing of sackcloth, saying so many Pater-nosters,
so many Ave- marias, making so many confessions to the priest, giving so much money
for pardons, and abundance of other the like, but this ungodly fear of God? For could
they be brought to believe this doctrine, that Christ was delivered for our offences,
and raised again for our justification, and to apply it by faith with godly boldness
to their own souls, this fear would vanish, and so consequently all those things
with which they so needlessly and unprofitably afflicted themselves, offend God,
and grieve his people. Therefore, gentle reader, although my text doth bid that indeed
thou shouldest fear God, yet it includeth not, nor accepteth of any fear; no, not
of any [or every] fear of God. For there is, as you see, a fear of God that is ungodly,
and that is to be shunned as their sin. Wherefore thy wisdom and thy care should
be, to see and prove thy fear to be godly, which shall be the next thing that I shall
take in hand.
THIRD. The third thing that I am to speak to is, that there is a fear of God in the
heart of some men that is good and godly, but yet doth not for ever abide so. Or
you may take it thus—There is a fear of God that is godly but for a time. In my speaking
to, and opening of this to you, I shall observe this method. First. I shall show
you what this fear is. Second. I shall show you by whom or what this fear is wrought
in the heart. Third. I shall show you what this fear doth in the soul. And, Fourth,
I shall show you when this fear is to have an end.
First. For the first, this fear is an effect of sound awakenings by the word of wrath
which begetteth in the soul a sense of its right to eternal damnation; for this fear
is not in every sinner; he that is blinded by the devil, and that is not able to
see that his state is damnable, he hath not this fear in his heart, but he that is
under the powerful workings of the word of wrath, as God's elect are at first conversion,
he hath this godly fear in his heart; that is, he fears that that damnation will
come upon him, which by the justice of God is due unto him, because he hath broken
his holy law. This is the fear that made the three thousand cry out, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" and that made the jailer cry out, and that with
great trembling of soul, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 2, 16).
The method of God is to kill and make alive, to smite and then heal; when the commandment
came to Paul, sin revived, and he died, and that law which was ordained to life,
he found to be unto death; that is, it passed a sentence of death upon him for his
sins, and slew his conscience with that sentence. Therefore from that time that he
heard that word, "Why persecutest thou me?" which is all one as if he had
said, Why dost thou commit murder? he lay under the sentence of condemnation by the
law, and under this fear of that sentence in his conscience. He lay, I say, under
it, until that Ananias came to him to comfort him, and to preach unto him the forgiveness
of sin (Acts 9). The fear therefore that now I call godly, it is that fear which
is properly called the fear of eternal damnation for sin, and this fear, at first
awakening, is good and godly, because it ariseth in the soul from a true sense of
its very state. Its state by nature is damnable, because it is sinful, and because
he is not one that as yet believeth in Christ for remission of sins: "He that
believeth not shall be damned."—"He that believeth not is condemned already,
and the wrath of God abideth on him" (Mark 16:16; John 3:18,36). The which when
the sinner at first begins to see, he justly fears it; I say, he fears it justly,
and therefore godly, because by this fear he subscribes to the sentence that is gone
out against him for sin.
Second. By whom or by what is this fear wrought in the heart? To this I shall answer
in brief. It is wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God, working there at first
as a spirit of bondage, on purpose to put us in fear. This Paul insinuateth, saying,
"Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear" (Rom 8:15).
He doth not say, Ye have not received the spirit of bondage; for that they had received,
and that to put them in fear, which was at their first conversion, as by the instances
made mention of before is manifest; all that he says is, that they had not received
it again, that is, after the Spirit, as a spirit of adoption, is come; for then,
as a spirit of bondage, it cometh no more. It is then the Spirit of God, even the
Holy Ghost, that convinceth us of sin, and so of our damnable state because of sin
(John 16:8,9). For it cannot be that the Spirit of God should convince us of sin,
but it must also show us our state to be damnable because of it, especially if it
so convinceth us, before we believe, and that is the intent of our Lord in that place,
"of sin," and so of their damnable state by sin, because they believe not
on me. Therefore the Spirit of God, when he worketh in the heart as a spirit of bondage,
he doth it by working in us by the law, "for by the law is the knowledge of
sin" (Rom 3:20). And he, in this his working, is properly called a spirit of
bondage.
1. Because by the law he shows us that indeed we are in bondage to the law, the devil,
and death and damnation; for this is our proper state by nature, though we see it
not until the Spirit of God shall come to reveal this our state of bondage unto our
own senses by revealing to us our sins by the law.
2. He is called, in this his working, "the spirit of bondage," because
he here also holds us; to wit, in this sight and sense of our bondage-state, so long
as is meet we should be so held, which to some of the saints is a longer, and to
some a shorter time. Paul was held in it three days and three nights, but the jailer
and the three thousand, so far as can be gathered, not above an hour; but some in
these later times are so held for days and months, if not years.[11] But, I say,
let the time be longer or shorter, it is the Spirit of God that holdeth him under
this yoke; and it is good that a man should be in HIS time held under it, as is that
saying of the lamentation, "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his
youth" (Lam 3:27). That is, at his first awakening; so long as seems good to
this Holy Spirit to work in this manner by the law. Now, as I said, the sinner at
first is by the Spirit of God held in this bondage, that is, hath such a discovery
of his sin and of his damnation for sin made to him, and also is held so fast under
the sense thereof, that it is not in the power of any man, nor yet of the very angels
in heaven, to release him or set him free, until the Holy Spirit changeth his ministration,
and comes in the sweet and peaceable tidings of salvation by Christ in the gospel
to his poor, dejected, and afflicted conscience.
Third. I now come to show you what this fear doth in the soul. Now, although this
godly fear is not to last always with us, as I shall further show you anon, yet it
greatly differs from that which is wholly ungodly of itself, both because of the
author, and also of the effects of it. Of the author I have told you before; I now
shall tell you what it doth.
1. This fear makes a man judge himself for sin, and to fall down before God with
a broken mind under this judgment; the which is pleasing to God, because the sinner
by so doing justifies God in his saying, and clears him in his judgment (Psa 51:1-4).
2. As this fear makes a man judge himself, and cast himself down at God's foot, so
it makes him condole and bewail his misery before him, which is also well- pleasing
in his sight: "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself," saying,
"Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the
yoke," &c. (Jer 31:18,19).
3. This fear makes a man lie at God's foot, and puts his mouth in the dust, if so
be there may be hope. This also is well-pleasing to God, because now is the sinner
as nothing, and in his own eyes less than nothing, as to any good or desert: "He
sitteth alone and keepeth silence," because he hath now this yoke upon him;
"he putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope" (Lam 3:28,29).
4. This fear puts a man upon crying to God for mercy, and that in most humble manner;
now he sensibly cries, now he dejectedly cries, now he feels and cries, now he smarts
and criest out, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13).
5. This fear makes a man that he cannot accept of that for support and succour which
others that are destitute thereof will take up, and be contented with. This man must
be washed by God himself, and cleansed from his sin by God himself (Psa 51).
6. Therefore this fear goes not away until the Spirit of God doth change his ministration
as to this particular, in leaving off to work now by the law, as afore, and coming
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 groundwork
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 seed which shall
afterwards grow up to a higher degree, and into a more sweet and gospel current and
manner of working, but I mean reference to this act of fearing 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,
[Reasons why the Spirit of God cannot work this ungodly fear.]
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; there is "therefore now no condemnation to it"
(Acts 26:18; Rom 6:14, 8:1). The groundwork, 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 into 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 1:17-20).
3. The state therefore of the sinner being changed, and that, too, by the Spirit's
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 work again; for if so, then he must gratify,
yea, and also ratify, 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 ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens
with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord;
in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit"
(Eph 2:19-22).
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 a 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.[12]
Answ. 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 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
unchangeable 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 itself, being established upon so good a foundation, and therefore
standeth in itself 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 days, 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 all
shall know me, from the least to the greatest; for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more" (Heb 8:10-12).
Now if God will do thus unto those that he hath comprised 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 has 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 complete
before God in the righteousness of Christ; for that is an apparent contradiction.[13]
Quest. But may it not come again as a spirit of bondage, to put me into my first
fears for my good?
Answ. 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.
[This ungodly fear wrought by the spirit of the devil.]
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?
Answ. By the spirit of the devil, who always labours to frustrate the faith, and
hope, and comfort of the godly.
Quest. How doth that appear?
Answ. 1. By the groundlessness of such fears. 2. By the unseasonableness of them.
3. By the effects of them.
1. By the groundlessness 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 of God. This, I say, is the ground of the fear of damnation,
the true ground to fear it; but now the man that we are talking of, is one that hath
the ground of this fear taken away by the testimony and seal of the spirit of adoption.
He is called, justified, and has, for the truth of this his condition, received the
evidence of the spirit of adoption, and hath been thereby enabled to call God "Father,
Father." Now he that hath received this, has the ground of the fear of damnation
taken from him; therefore his fear, I say, being without ground, is false, and so
no work of the Spirit of God.
2. By the unseasonableness of them. This spirit always comes too late. It comes after
the spirit of adoption is come. Satan is always for being too soon or too late. If
he would have men believe they are children, he would have them believe it while
they are slaves, slaves to him and their lusts. If he would have them believe they
are slaves, it is when they are sons, and have received the spirit of adoption, and
the testimony, by that, of their sonship before. And this evil is rooted even in
his nature—"He is a liar, and the father of it" ; and his lies are not
known to saints more than in this, that he labours always to contradict the work
and order of the Spirit of truth (John 8).
3. It also appears by the effects of such fears. For there is a great deal of difference
betwixt the natural effects of these fears which are wrought indeed by the spirit
of bondage, and those which are wrought by the spirit of the devil afterwards. The
one, to wit, the fears that are wrought by the spirit of bondage, causeth us to confess
the truth, to wit, that we are Christless, graceless, faithless, and so at present;
that is, while he is so working in a sinful and damnable case; but the other, to
wit, the spirit of the devil, when he comes, which is after the spirit of adoption
is come, he causeth us to make a lie; that is, to say we are Christless, graceless,
and faithless. Now this, I say, is wholly, and in all part of it, a lie, and HE is
the father of it.
Besides, the direct tendency of the fear that the Spirit of God, as a spirit of bondage,
worketh in the soul, is to cause us to come repenting home to God by Jesus Christ,
but these latter fears tend directly to make a man, he having first denied the work
of God, as he will, if he falleth in with them, to run quite away from God, and from
his grace to him in Christ, as will evidently appear if thou givest but a plain and
honest answer to these questions following.
[This fear driveth a man from God.]
Quest. 1. Do not these fears make thee question whether there was ever a work of
grace wrought in thy soul? Answ. Yes, verily, that they do. Quest. 2. Do not these
fears make thee question whether ever thy first fears were wrought by the Holy Spirit
of God? Answ. Yes, verily, that they do. Quest. 3. Do not these fears make thee question
whether ever thou hast had, indeed, any true comfort from the Word and Spirit of
God? Answ. Yes, verily, that they do. Quest. 4. Dost thou not find intermixed with
these fears plain assertions that thy first comforts were either from thy fancy,
or from the devil, and a fruit of his delusions? Answ. Yes, verily, that I do. Quest.
5. Do not these fears weaken thy heart in prayer? Answ. Yes, that they do. Quest.
6. Do not these fears keep thee back from laying hold of the promise of salvation
by Jesus Christ? Answ. Yes; for I think if I were deceived before, if I were comforted
by a spirit of delusion before, why may it not be so again? so I am afraid to take
hold of the promise. Quest. 7. Do not these fears tend to the hardening of thy heart,
and to the making of thee desperate? Answ. Yes, verily, that they do. Quest. 8. Do
not these fears hinder thee from profiting in hearing or reading of the Word? Answ.
Yes, verily, for still whatever I hear or read, I think nothing that is good belongs
to me. Quest. 9. Do not these fears tend to the stirring up of blasphemies in thy
heart against God? Answ. Yes, to the almost distracting of me. Quest. 10. Do not
these fears make thee sometimes think, that it is in vain for thee to wait upon the
Lord any longer? Answ. Yes, verily; and I have many times almost come to this conclusion,
that I will read, pray, hear, company with God's people, or the like, no longer.
Well, poor Christian, I am glad that thou hast so plainly answered me; but, prithee,
look back upon thy answer. How much of God dost thou think is in these things? how
much of his Spirit, and the grace of his Word? Just none at all; for it cannot be
that these things can be the true and natural effects of the workings of the Spirit
of God: no, not as a spirit of bondage. These are not his doings. Dost thou not see
the very paw of the devil in them; yea, in every one of thy ten confessions? Is there
not palpably high wickedness in every one of the effects of this fear? I conclude,
then, as I began, that the fear that the spirit of God, as a spirit of bondage, worketh,
is good and godly, not only because of the author, but also because of the ground
and effects; but yet it can last no longer as such, as producing the aforesaid conclusion,
than till the Spirit, as the spirit of adoption, comes; because that then the soul
is manifestly taken out of the state and condition into which it had brought itself
by nature and sin, and is put into Christ, and so by him into a state of life and
blessedness by grace. Therefore, if first fears come again into thy soul, after that
the spirit of adoption hath been with thee, know they come not from the Spirit of
God, but apparently from the spirit of the devil, for they are a lie in themselves,
and their effects are sinful and devilish.
Object. But I had also such wickedness as those in my heart at my first awakening,
and therefore, by your argument, neither should that be but from the devil.
Answ. So far forth as such wickedness was in thy heart, so far did the devil and
thine own heart seek to drive thee to despair, and drown thee there; but thou hast
forgot the question; the question is not whether then thou wast troubled with such
iniquities, but whether thy fears of damnation at that time were not just and good,
because grounded upon thy present condition, which was, for that thou wast out of
Christ, in thy sins, and under the curse of the law; and whether now, since the spirit
of adoption is come unto thee, and hath thee, and hath done that for thee as hath
been mentioned; I say, whether thou oughtest for anything whatsoever to give way
to the same fear, from the same 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, and 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 God's 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 Samuel 12:20; "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, are 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 the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless,
my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to
fail" (Psa 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.
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
ways, saith she. "Doubtless thou art our Father" (Isa 63:16,17). Doubtless
thou art, though this be our case, and though Israel should not acknowledge us for
such.
That sin dissolveth not the relation of Father and son is further evident—"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, [Abba, or] 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" (Gal 4:4-7).
Suppose a child doth grievously 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 ignorance, cry, and say, This man is now
no more my father; is he, therefore, now no more his father? Doth not everybody see
the folly of such 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 chastisement of
a father—and "what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" It is worth
your observation, that the Holy Ghost checks those who, under their chastisements
for sin, forget to call God their Father—"Ye have," said Paul, "forgotten
the exhortation which 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 God's chastising of his children for their sin, is a 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 chasteneth, 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 checks 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
whatever happeneth to thee, I mean as a chastisement for sin, after the spirit of
adoption is come, thou oughtest to hold fast by faith the relation of Father and
son. 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 days of old (Deut 32:6). 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 guide of my youth?" (Jer 3:4). Remember also that eminent text made
mention of in 1 Samuel 12:20, "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, it is
evident, have not known what it 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 indeed, and of
the spirit of adoption too. For what son is he, that because the father cannot break
the relation, nor suffer sin to do it—that is, betwixt the Father and him—that will
therefore say, I will live altogether after my own lusts, I will labour to be a continual
grief to my Father?
[Considerations to prevent such temptations.]
Yet lest the devil (for some are "not ignorant of his devices" ), should
get an advantage against some of the sons, to draw them away from the filial fear
of their Father, let me here, to prevent such temptations, present such with these
following considerations.
First. Though God cannot, will not, dissolve the relation which the spirit of adoption
hath made betwixt the Father and the Son, for any sins that such do commit, yet he
can, and often doth, take away from them the comfort of their adoption, not suffering
children while sinning to have the sweet and comfortable sense thereof on their hearts.
He can tell how to let snares be round about them, and sudden fear trouble them.
He can tell how to send darkness that they may not see, and to let abundance of waters
cover them (Job 22:10,11).
Second. God can tell how to hide his face from them, and so to afflict them with
that dispensation, that it shall not be in the power of all the world to comfort
them. "When he hideth his face, who then can behold him?" (Job 23:8,9,
34:29).
Third. God can tell how to make thee again to possess the sins that he long since
hath pardoned, and that in such wise that things shall be bitter to thy soul. "Thou
writest bitter things against me," says Job, "and makest me to possess
the iniquities of my youth." By this also he once made David groan and pray
against it as an insupportable affliction (Job 13:26; Psa 25:7).
Fourth. God can lay thee in the dungeon in chains, and roll a stone upon thee, he
can make thy feet fast in the stocks, and make thee a gazing-stock to men and angels
(Lam 3:7,53,55; Job 13:27; Nahum 3:6).
Fifth. God can tell how to cause to cease the sweet operations and blessed influences
of his grace in thy soul, and to make those gospel showers that formerly thou hast
enjoyed to become now to thee nothing but powder and dust (Psa 51; Deut 28:24).
Sixth. God can tell how to fight against thee "with the sword of his mouth,"
and to make thee a butt for his arrows; and this is a dispensation most dreadful
(Rev 2:16; Job 6:4; Psa 38:2-5).
Seventh. God can tell how so to bow thee down with guilt and distress that thou shalt
in no wise be able to lift up thy head (Psa 40:12).
Eighth. God can tell how to break thy bones, and to make thee by reason of that to
live in continual anguish of spirit: yea, he can send a fire into thy bones that
shall burn, and none shall quench it (Psa 51:8; Lam 3:4, 1:13; Psa 102:3; Job 30:30).
Ninth. God can tell how to lay thee aside, and make no use of thee as to any work
for him in thy generation. He can throw thee aside "as a broken vessel"
(Psa 31:12; Eze 44:10-13).
Tenth. God can tell how to kill thee, and to take thee away from the earth for thy
sins (1 Cor 11:29-32).
Eleventh. God can tell how to plague thee in thy death, with great plagues, and of
long continuance (Psa 78:45; Deut 28).
Twelfth. What shall I say? God can tell how to let Satan loose upon thee; when thou
liest a dying he can license him then to assault thee with great temptations, he
can tell how to make thee possess the guilt of all thy unkindness towards him, and
that when thou, as I said, art going out of the world, he can cause that thy life
shall be in continual doubt before thee, and not suffer thee to take any comfort
day nor night; yea, he can drive thee even to a madness with his chastisements for
thy folly, and yet all shall be done by him to thee, as a father chastiseth his son
(Deut 28:65-67).
Thirteenth. Further, God can tell how to tumble thee from off thy deathbed in a cloud,
he can let thee die in the dark; when thou art dying thou shalt not know whither
thou art going, to wit, whether to heaven or to hell. Yea, he can tell how to let
thee seem to come short of life, both in thine own eyes, and also in the eyes of
them that behold thee. "Let us therefore fear," says the apostle,—though
not with slavish, yet with filial fear—"lest a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Heb 4:1).
Now all this, and much more, can God do to his as a Father by his rod and fatherly
rebukes; ah, who know but those that are under them, what terrors, fears, distresses,
and amazements God can bring his people into; he can put them into a furnace, a fire,
and no tongue can tell what, so unsearchable and fearful are his fatherly chastisements,
and yet never give them the spirit of bondage again to fear. Therefore, if thou art
a son, take heed of sin, lest all these things overtake thee, and come upon thee.
Object. But I have sinned, and am under this high and mighty hand of God.
Answ. Then thou knowest what I say is true, but yet take heed of hearkening unto
such temptations as would make thee believe thou art out of Christ, under the law,
and in a state of damnation; and take heed also, that thou dost not conclude that
the author of these fears is the Spirit of God come to thee again as a spirit of
bondage, to put thee into such fears, lest unawares to thyself thou dost defy the
devil, dishonour thy Father, overthrow good doctrine, and bring thyself into a double
temptation.
Object. But if God deals thus with a man, how can he otherwise think but that he
is a reprobate, a graceless, Christless, and faithless one?
Answ. Nay, but why dost thou tempt the Lord thy God? Why dost thou sin and provoke
the eyes of his glory? Why "doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment
of his sins?" (Lam 3:39). He doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the children
of men; but if thou sinnest, though God should save thy soul, as he will if thou
art an adopted son of God, yet he will make thee know that sin is sin, and his rod
that he will chastise thee with, if need be, shall be made of scorpions; read the
whole book of the Lamentations; read Job's and David's complaints; yea, read what
happened to his Son, his well-beloved, and that when he did but stand in the room
of sinners, being in himself altogether innocent, and then consider, O thou sinning
child of God, if it is any injustice in God, yea, if it be not necessary, that thou
shouldest be chastised for thy sin. But then, I say, when the hand of God is upon
thee, how grievous soever it be, take heed, and beware that thou 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 you 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.
[Carriages of some of the saints under heavy afflictions for sin.]
First. Job was in great affliction and that, as he confessed, for sin, 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 trial, and
chastisement, and said, when he was in the hottest of the battle, "when he hath
tried me I shall come forth as 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 7:20, 13:15, 14:12, 16,
19:11, 23:8-10).
Second. 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" (Psa 51:8,9,12,14).
Third. Heman 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 terrors had cut 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" (Psa 88).
Fourth. 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 says, 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 trial? 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 causes of my soul, thou hast
redeemed my life" (Lam 1:5, 2:1,2,5, 3:7,8,16, 5:22, 3:24,31,58).
These things show, that God's people even after they have received the spirit of
adoption, have fell foully into sin, and have been bitterly chastised 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 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.
[How the devil worketh these fears.]
1. 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 heir 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 overshadowing 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 chastising hand of God. Or, 11. By charging upon us, that our ill
behaviours under the rod, and chastising hand of God, is a sign that we indeed have
no grace, but are downright graceless reprobates. By these things and other 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.
[The people of God should fear his rod.]
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
will they come under them; for it is want of fear that brings us into sin, and it
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 chastisements,
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 God's present dispensations towards
us (Micah 7:9; Lam 1:18; Psa 77:10-12; Lam 3:31-34).[14]
Now God would have us thus fear his rod, because he is resolved to chastise us therewith,
if so be we sin against him, as I have already showed; for although God's bowels
turn within him, even while he is threatening his people, yet if we sin, he will
lay on the rod so hard as to make us cry, "Woe 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.
[Five considerations to move to child-like fear.]
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; Eccl 3:14; Deut 17:18,19). 2. Consider
he is mighty in power; if he touch 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 everywhere; 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 shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord"
(Jer 5:22, 23:24). 4. Consider that he is holy, and cannot look with liking upon
the sins of his own people. Therefore, says Peter, be "as obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as
he which 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 man's 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 wast 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 days of
thy life. They "shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days"
(Hosea 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
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8. The fear of the wicked arises from a corrupt, sinful, self-condemning conscience; they fear God as an angry judge, and therefore consider him as their enemy. As they love and will not part with their sins, so they are in continual dread of punishment.—Mason. [8]
9. "To-elbow all his days in his lord's vineyard" ; to sit or stand idly resting upon his elbows, instead of labouring in the vineyard. "A sovereign shame so elbows him."—King Lear, Act iv, Scene 3.—Ed. [9]
10. "Gear" ; apparel, furniture, implements. "The apostles were not fixed in their residence, but were ready in their gears to move whither they were called."— Barrow.—Ed. [10]
11. God does not limit himself as to his mode of calling poor sinners. The three thousand he convinced at one hour, and they immediately made a profession, but Bunyan was for years in a state of alarming uncertainty; some are driven by fiery terrors, others by a still small voice. Reader, our anxious inquiry should be, Have we entered in by Christ the gate? Are our fruits meet for repentance? Let no one vaunt of his experience, because he go well bedaubed with the dirt of the slough. Every soul that enters the gate is equally a miracle of grace.—Ed. [11]
12. This is remarkably instanced in Bunyan's Grace Abounding.—Ed. [12]
13. Those who are adopted into the family of heaven are "justified from all things" ; being delivered from sin, the curse, and wrath, "there is now no condemnation for them" ; and trusting to Jesus' precious blood of pardon, to his righteousness for acceptance, and to his grace for sanctification, they are, by the indwelling of the Spirit which adopted them, possessed of that love which casteth out fear, and rejoiceth in hope of the glory of God. And to those who, through their manifold infirmities and departures, are often beset with unbelieving fears, the Lord says, for their encouragement, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isa 41:10).—Mason. [13]
14. Effectual grace in the soul is accompanied by doubts and fears, owing to the remains of indwelling corruption; hence arises a continual warfare. Believer, how needful is it ever to retain your confidence and assurance of your Lord's love to you! Rely on his faithfulness, persevere steadfastly in the way of duty, looking to Jesus, and living upon his fulness.—Mason. How does all this reasoning remind us of Bunyan's own experience, recorded in his Grace Abounding; he was not ignorant of Satan's devices.—Ed. [14]
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