[OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THEM THAT THUS DO FEAR THE LORD.]
Having thus briefly handled in particular thus far this fear of God, I shall now
show you certain of the excellent privileges of them that fear the Lord, not that
they are not privileges that have been already mentioned; for what greater privileges
than to have this fear producing in the soul such excellent things so necessary for
us for good, both with reference to this world, and that which is to come? But because
those fourteen above named do rather flow from this grace of fear where it is, than
from a promise to the person that hath it, therefore I have chosen rather to discourse
of them as the fruits and effects of fear, than otherwise. Now, besides all these,
there is entailed by promise to the man that hath this fear many other blessed privileges,
the which I shall now in a brief way lay open unto you.
First Privilege, then. That man that feareth the Lord, has a grant and a license
"to trust in the Lord," with an affirmation that he is their help, and
their shield— "Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; he is their help and
their shield" (Psa 115:11). Now what a privilege is this! an exhortation in
general to sinners, as sinners, to trust in him, is a privilege great and glorious;
but for a man to be singled out from his neighbours, for a man to be spoken to from
heaven, as it were by name, and to be told that God hath given him a license, a special
and peculiar grant to trust in him, this is abundantly more; and yet this is the
grant that God hath given that man! He hath, I say, a license to do it—a license
indicted by the Holy Ghost, and left upon record for those to be born that shall
fear the Lord, to trust in him. And not only so, but as the text affirmeth, "he
is their help and their shield." Their help under all their weaknesses and infirmities,
and a shield to defend them against all the assaults of the devil and this world.
So then, the man that feareth the Lord is licensed to make the Lord his stay and
God of his salvation, the succour and deliverer of his soul. He will defend him because
his fear is in his heart. O ye servants of the Lord, ye that fear him, live in the
comfort of this; boldly make use of it when you are in straits, and put your trust
under the shadow of his wings, for indeed he would have you do so, because you do
fear the Lord.
Second Privilege. God hath also proclaimed concerning the man that feareth the Lord,
that he will also be his teacher and guide in the way that he shall choose, and hath
moreover promised concerning such, that their soul shall dwell at ease—"What
man is he that feareth the Lord?" says David, "him shall he teach in the
way that he shall choose" (Psa 25:12). Now, to be taught of God, what like it?
yea, what like to be taught in the way that thou shalt choose? Thou hast chosen the
way to life, God's way; but perhaps thy ignorance about it is so great, and those
that tempt thee to turn aside so many and so subtle, that they seem to outwit thee
and confound thee with their guile. Well, but the Lord whom thou fearest will not
leave thee to thy ignorance, nor yet to thine enemies' power or subtlety, but will
take it upon himself to be thy teacher and thy guide, and that in the way that thou
hast chosen. Hear, then, and behold thy privilege, O thou that fearest the Lord;
and whoever wanders, turns aside, and swerveth from the way of salvation, whoever
is benighted, and lost in the midst of darkness, thou shalt find the way to the heaven
and the glory that thou hast chosen.
Further, He doth not only say, that he will teach them the way, for that must of
necessity be supplied, but he says also that he will teach such in it—"Him shall
he teach in the way that he shall choose." This argueth that, as thou shalt
know, so the way shall be made, by the communion that thou shalt have with God therein,
sweet and pleasant to thee. For this text promiseth unto the man that feareth the
Lord, the presence, company, and discovery of the mind of God, while he is going
in the way that he hath chosen. It is said of the good scribe, that he is instructed
unto, as well as into, the way of the kingdom of God (Matt 13:52). Instructed unto;
that is, he hath the heart and mind of God still discovered to him in the way that
he hath chosen, even all the way from this world to that which is to come, even until
he shall come to the very gate and door of heaven. What the disciples said was the
effect of the presence of Christ, to wit, "that their hearts did burn within
them while he talked to them by the way," shall be also fulfilled in thee, he
will meet with thee in the way, talk with thee in the way; he will teach thee in
the way that thou shalt choose (Luke 24:32).
Third Privilege. Dost thou fear the Lord? he will open his secret unto thee, even
that which he hath hid and keeps close from all the world, to wit, the secret of
his covenant and of thy concern therein—"The secret of the Lord is with them
that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant" (Psa 25:14). This, then,
further confirmeth what was said but just above; his secret shall be with them, and
his covenant shall be showed unto them. His secret, to wit, that which hath been
kept hid from ages and generations; that which he manifesteth only to the saints,
or holy ones; that is, his Christ, for he it is that is hid in God, and that no man
can know but he to whom the Father shall reveal him (Matt 11:27).
But O! what is there wrapped up in this Christ, this secret of God? why, all treasures
of life, of heaven, and happiness—"In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge." And "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily"
(Col 2).
This also is that hidden One, that is so full of grace to save sinners, and so full
of truth and faithfulness to keep promise and covenant with them, that their eyes
must needs convey, even by every glance they make upon his person, offices, and relation,
such affecting ravishments to the heart, that it would please them that see him,
even to be killed with that sight. This secret of the Lord shall be, nay is, with
them that fear him, for he dwelleth in their heart by faith. "And he will shew
them his covenant." That is, the covenant that is confirmed of God in Christ,
that everlasting and eternal covenant, and show him too that he himself is wrapped
up therein, as in a bundle of life with the Lord his God. These are the thoughts,
purposes, and promises of God to them that fear him.
Fourth Privilege. Dost thou fear the Lord? his eye is always over thee for good,
to keep thee from all evil—"Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear
him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep
them alive in famine" (Psa 33:18,19). His eye is upon them; that is, to watch
over them for good. He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. His eyes
are upon them, and he will keep them as a shepherd doth his sheep; that is, from
those wolves that seek to devour them, and to swallow them up in death. His eyes
are upon them; for they are the object of his delight, the rarities of the world,
in whom, saith he, is all my delight. His eye is upon them, as I said before, to
teach and instruct them—"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which
thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye" (Psa 32:8; 2 Chron 7:15,16).
The eye of the Lord, therefore, is upon them, not to take advantage of them, to destroy
them for their sins, but to guide, to help, and deliver them from death; from that
death that would feed upon their souls—"To deliver their soul from death and
to keep them alive in famine." Take death here for death spiritual, and death
eternal; and the famine here, not for that that is for want of bread and water, but
for that which comes on many for want of the Word of the Lord (Rev 20:14; Amos 8:11,12);
and then the sense is this, the man that feareth the Lord shall neither die spiritually
nor eternally; for God will keep him with his eye from all those things that would
in such a manner kill him. Again, should there be a famine of the Word; should there
want both the Word and them that preach it in the place that thou dost dwell, yet
bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure; thou shalt not die of the
famine, because thou fearest God. I say, that man shall not, behold he shall not,
because he feareth God, and this the next head doth yet more fully manifest.
Fifth Privilege. Dost thou fear God? fear him for this advantage more and more—"O
fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The young
lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord," that fear him,
"shall not want any good thing" (Psa 34:9,10). Not anything that God sees
good for them shall those men want that fear the Lord. If health will do them good,
if sickness will do them good, if riches will do them good, if poverty will do them
good, if life will do them good, if death will do them good, then they shall not
want them, neither shall any of these come nigh them, if they will not do them good.
The lions, the wicked people [19] of the world that fear not God, are not made sharers
in this great privilege; all things fall out to them contrary, because they fear
not God. In the midst of their sufficiency, they are in want of that good that God
puts into the worst things that the man that feareth God doth meet with in the world.
Sixth Privilege. Dost thou fear God? he hath given charge to the armies of heaven
to look after, take charge of, to camp about, and to deliver thee—"The angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Psa
34:7). This also is a privilege entailed to them that in all generations fear the
Lord. The angels, the heavenly creatures, have it in commission to take the charge
of them that fear the Lord; one of them is able to slay of men in one night 185,000.
These are they that camped about Elisha like horses of fire, and chariots of fire,
when the enemy came to destroy him.
They also helped Hezekiah against the band of the enemy, because he feared God (2
Kings 6:17; Isa 37:36; Jer 26:19). "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them" ; that is, lest the enemy should set upon them on any side; but let him
come where he will, behind or before, on this side or that, the angel of the Lord
is there to defend them. "The angel." It may be spoken in the singular
number, perhaps, to show that every one that feareth God hath his angel to attend
on him, and serve him. When the church, in the Acts, was told that Peter stood at
the door and knocked; at first they counted the messenger mad, but when she did constantly
affirm it, they said, It is his angel (Acts 12:13-15). So Christ saith of the children
that came unto him, "their angels behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
Their angels; that is, those of them that feared God, had each of them his angel,
who had a charge from God to keep them in their way. We little think of this, yet
this is the privilege of them that fear the Lord; yea, if need be, they shall all
come down to help them and to deliver them, rather than, contrary to the mind of
their God, they should by any be abused—"Are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb 1:14).
[Quest.] But how do they deliver them? for so says the text—"The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." Answ. The
way that they take to deliver them that fear the Lord, is sometimes by smiting of
their enemies with blindness, that they may not find them; and so they served the
enemies of Lot (Gen 19:10,11). Sometimes by smiting of them with deadly fear; and
so they served those that laid siege against Samaria (2 Kings 7:6). And sometimes
by smiting of them even with death itself; and thus they served Herod, after he had
attempted to kill the apostle James, and also sought to vex certain others of the
church (Acts 12). These angels that are servants to them that fear the Lord, are
them that will, if God doth bid them, revenge the quarrel of his servants upon the
stoutest monarch on earth. This, therefore, is a glorious privilege of the men that
fear the Lord. Alas! they are, some of them, so mean that they are counted not worth
taking notice of by the high ones of the world; but their betters do respect them.
The angels of God count not themselves too good to attend on them, and camp about
them to deliver them. This, then, is the man that hath his angel to wait upon him,
even he that feareth God.
Seventh Privilege. Dost thou fear the Lord? salvation is nigh unto thee—"Surely
his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land"
(Psa 85:9). This is another privilege for them that fear the Lord. I told you before,
that the angel of the Lord did encamp about them, but now he saith, "his salvation
is also nigh them" ; the which although it doth not altogether exclude the conduct
of angels,[20] but include them; yet it looketh further. "Surely his salvation,"
his saving, pardoning grace, "is nigh them that fear him" ; that is, to
save them out of the hand of their spiritual enemies. The devil, and sin, and death,
do always wait even to devour them that fear the Lord, but to deliver them from these
his salvation doth attend them. So then, if Satan tempts, here is their salvation
nigh; if sin, by breaking forth, beguiles them, here is God's salvation nigh them;
yea, if death itself shall suddenly seize upon them, why, here is their God's salvation
nigh them.
I have seen that great men's little children must go no whither without their nurses
be at hand. If they go abroad, their nurses must go with them; if they go to meals,
their nurses must go with them; if they go to bed, their nurses must go with them;
yea, and if they fall asleep, their nurses must stand by them. O my brethren, those
little ones that fear the Lord, they are the children of the highest, therefore they
shall not walk alone, be at their spiritual meats alone, go to their sick-beds, or
to their graves alone; the salvation of their God is nigh them, to deliver them from
the evil. This is then the glory that dwells in the land of them that fear the Lord.
Eighth Privilege. Dost thou fear the Lord? hearken yet again—"The mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children" (Psa 103:17). This still confirms what was last asserted,
that is, that his salvation is nigh unto them. His salvation, that is, pardoning
mercy, that is nigh them. But mind it, there he says it is nigh them; but here it
is upon them. His mercy is upon them, it covereth them all over, it encompasseth
them about as with a shield. Therefore they are said in another place to be clothed
with salvation, and covered with the robe of righteousness. The mercy of the Lord
is upon them, that is, as I said, to shelter and defend them. The mercy, the pardoning
preserving mercy, the mercy of the Lord is upon them, who is he then that can condemn
them? (Rom 8).
But there yet is more behind, "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them." It was designed for them before the world was, and shall
be upon them when the world itself is ended; from everlasting to everlasting it is
on them that fear him. This from everlasting to everlasting is that by which, in
another place, the eternity of God himself is declared—"From everlasting to
everlasting, thou art God" (Psa 90:2). The meaning, then, may be this; that
so long as God hath his being, so long shall the man that feareth him find mercy
at his hand. According to that of Moses—"The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before
thee, and shall say, Destroy them" (Deut 33:27).
Child of God, thou that fearest God, here is mercy nigh thee, mercy enough, everlasting
mercy upon thee. This is long-lived mercy. It will live longer than thy sin, it will
live longer than temptation, it will live longer than thy sorrows, it will live longer
than thy persecutors. It is mercy from everlasting to contrive thy salvation, and
mercy to everlasting to weather it out with all thy adversaries. Now what can hell
and death do to him that hath this mercy of God upon him? And this hath the man that
feareth the Lord. Take that other blessed word, and O thou man that fearest the Lord,
hang it like a chain of gold about thy neck—"As the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him" (Psa 103:11). If mercy
as big, as high, and as good as heaven itself will be a privilege, the man that feareth
God shall have a privilege.
Ninth Privilege. Dost thou fear God?—"Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" (Psa 103:13).
" The Lord pitieth them that fear him" ; that is, condoleth and is affected,
feeleth and sympathizeth with them in all their afflictions. It is a great matter
for a poor man to be in this manner in the affections of the great and mighty, but
for a poor sinner to be thus in the heart and affections of God, and they that fear
him are so, this is astonishing to consider. "In his love and in his pity he
redeemed them." In his love and in his pity! "In all their affliction he
was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity
he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old" (Isa
63:9). I say, in that he is said to pity them, it is as much as to say, he condoleth,
feeleth, and sympathizeth with them in all their afflictions and temptations. So
that this is the happiness of him that feareth God, he has a God to pity him and
to be touched with all his miseries. It is said in Judges, "His soul was grieved
for the misery of Israel" (Judg 10:16). And in the Hebrews, he is "touched
with the feeling of our infirmities," and can "succour them that are tempted"
(4:15, 2:17,18).
But further, let us take notice of the comparison. "As a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Here is not only pity, but
the pity of a relation, a father. It is said in another place; "Can a woman,"
a mother, "forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? yea, they may, yet will not I forget thee." The pity of
neighbours and acquaintance helpeth in times of distress, but the pity of a father
and a mother is pity with an over and above. "The Lord," says James, "is
very pitiful, and of tender mercy." Pharaoh called Joseph his tender father,[21]
because he provided for him against the famine, but how tender a father is God! how
full of bowels! how full of pity! (James 5:11; Gen 41:43). It is said, that when
Ephraim was afflicted, God's bowels were troubled for him, and turned within him
towards him. O that the man that feareth the Lord did but believe the pity and bowels
that are in the heart of God and his father towards him (Jer 31:18-20).
Tenth Privilege. Dost thou fear God?—"He will fulfil the desire of them that
fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them" (Psa 145:19). Almost
all those places that make mention of the men that fear God, do insinuate as if they
still were under affliction, or in danger by reason of an enemy. But I say, here
is still their privilege, their God is their father and pities them—"He will
fulfil the desire of them that fear him." Where now is the man that feareth
the Lord? let him hearken to this. What sayest thou, poor soul? will this content
thee, the Lord will fulfil thy desires? It is intimated of Adonijah, that David his
father did let him have his head and his will in all things. "His father,"
says the text, "had not displeased him at any time in (so much as) saying, Why
hast thou done so?" (1 Kings 1:6). But here is more, here is a promise to grant
thee the whole desire of thy heart, according to the prayer of holy David, "The
Lord grant thee, according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel."
And again, "The Lord fulfil all thy petitions" (Psa 20).
O thou that fearest the Lord, what is thy desire? All my desire, says David, is all
my salvation (2 Sam 23:5), so sayest thou, "All my salvation" is "all
my desire." Well, the desire of thy soul is granted thee, yea, God himself hath
engaged himself even to fulfil this thy desire—"He will fulfil the desire of
them that fear him, he also will hear their cry, and will save them." O this
desire when it cometh, what a tree of life will it be to thee! Thou desirest to be
rid of thy present trouble; the Lord shall rid thee out of trouble. Thou desirest
to be delivered from temptation; the Lord shall deliver thee out of temptation. Thou
desirest to be delivered from thy body of death; and the Lord shall change this thy
vile body, that it may be like to his glorious body. Thou desirest to be in the presence
of God, and among the angels in heaven. This thy desire also shall be fulfilled,
and thou shalt be made equal to the angels (Exo 6:6; 2 Peter 2:9; Phil 3:20,21; Luke
16:22, 20:35,36). O but it is long first! Well, learn first to live upon thy portion
in the promise of it, and that will make thy expectation of it sweet. God will fulfil
thy desires, God will do it, though it tarry long. Wait for it, because it will surely
come, it will not tarry.
Eleventh Privilege. Dost thou fear God?—"The Lord taketh pleasure in them that
fear him" (Psa 147:11). They that fear God are among his chief delights. He
delights in his Son, he delights in his works, and takes pleasure in them that fear
him. As a man takes pleasure in his wife, in his children, in his gold, in his jewels;
so the man that fears the Lord is the object of his delight. He takes pleasure in
their prosperity, and therefore sendeth them health from the sanctuary, and makes
them drink of the river of his pleasures (Psa 35:27). "They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river
of thy pleasures" (Psa 36:8). That or those that we take pleasure in, that or
those we love to beautify and adorn with many ornaments. We count no cost too much
to be bestowed on those in whom we place our delight, and whom we make the object
of our pleasure. And even thus it is with God. "For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people," and what follows? "he will beautify the meek with salvation"
(Psa 149:4).
Those in whom we delight, we take pleasure in their actions; yea, we teach them,
and give them such rules and laws to walk by, as may yet make them that we love more
pleasurable in our eyes. Therefore they that fear God, since they are the object
of his pleasure, are taught to know how to please him in everything (1 Thess 4:1).
And hence it is said, that he is ravished with their looks, that he delighteth in
their cry, and that he is pleased with their walking (Can 4:9; Prov 15:8, 11:20).
Those in whom we delight and take pleasure, many things we will bear and put up that
they do, though they be not according to our minds. A man will suffer that in, and
put up that at, the hand of the child or wife of his pleasure, that he will not pass
by nor put up in another. They are my jewels, says God, even them that fear me; and
I will spare them, in all their comings-short of my will, "even as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him" (Mal 3:16,17). O how happy is the man that feareth
God! His good thoughts, his good attempts to serve him, and his good life pleases
him, because he feareth God.
You know how pleasing in our eyes the actions of our children are, when we know that
they do what they do even of a reverent fear and awe of us; yea, though that which
they do amounts but to little, we take it well at their hands, and are pleased therewith.
The woman that cast in her two mites into the treasury, cast in not much, for they
both did but make one farthing; yet how doth the Lord Jesus trumpet her up,[22] he
had pleasure in her, and in her action (Mark 12:41-44). This, therefore, that the
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, is another of their great privileges.
Twelfth Privilege. Dost thou fear God? the least dram of that fear giveth the privilege
to be blessed with the biggest saint—"He will bless them that fear the Lord,
small and great" (Psa 115:13). This word small may be taken three ways—1. For
those that are small in esteem, for those that are but little accounted of (Judg
6:15; 1 Sam 18:23). Art thou small or little in this sense, yet if thou fearest God,
thou art sure to be blessed. "He will bless them that fear him, small and great,"
be thou never so small in the world's eyes, in thine own eyes, in the saints' eyes,
as sometimes one saint is little in another saint's eye; yet thou, because thou fearest
God, art put among the blessed. 2. By small, sometimes is meant those that are but
small of stature, or young in years, little children, that are easily passed by and
looked over: as those that sang Hosanna in the temple were, when the Pharisees deridingly
said of them to Christ, "Hearest thou what these say?" (Matt 21:16). Well,
but Christ would not despise them, of them that feared God, but preferred them by
the Scripture testimony far before those that did contemn them. Little children,
how small soever, and although of never so small esteem with men, shall also, if
they fear the Lord, be blessed with the greatest saints—"He will bless them
that fear him, small and great." 3. By small may sometimes be meant those that
are small in grace or gifts; these are said to be the least in the church, that is,
under this consideration, and so are by it least esteemed (Matt 25:45). Thus also
is that of Christ to be understood, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, ye did it not to me" (1 Cor 6:4).
Art thou in thine own thoughts, or in the thoughts of others, of these last small
ones, small in grace, small in gifts, small in esteem upon this account, yet if thou
fearest God, if thou fearest God indeed, thou art certainly blessed with the best
of saints. The least star stands as fixed, as the biggest of them all, in heaven.
"He will bless them that fear him, small and great." He will bless them,
that is, with the same blessing of eternal life. For the different degrees of grace
in saints doth not make the blessing, as to its nature, differ. It is the same heaven,
the same life, the same glory, and the same eternity of felicity that they are in
the text promised to be blessed with. That is observable which I mentioned before,
where Christ at the day of judgment particularly mentioneth and owneth the least—"Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least." The least then was there, in his kingdom
and in his glory, as well as the biggest of all. "He will bless them that fear
him, small and great." The small are named first in the text, and are so the
first in rank; it may be to show that though they may be slighted and little set
by in the world, yet they are much set by in the eyes of the Lord.
Are great saints only to have the kingdom, and the glory everlasting? Are great works
only to be rewarded? works that are done by virtue of great grace, and the abundance
of the gifts of the Holy Ghost? No: "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one
of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily
I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his (a disciple's) reward." Mark, here
is but a little gift, a cup of cold water, and that given to a little saint, but
both taken special notice of by our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 10:42). "He will
give reward to his servants the prophets, and to his saints, and to them that fear
his name, small and great" (Rev 11:18). The small, therefore, among them that
fear God, are blessed with the great, as the great, with the same salvation, the
same glory, and the same eternal life; and they shall have, even as the great ones
also shall, as much as they can carry; as much as their hearts, souls, bodies, and
capacities can hold.
Thirteenth Privilege. Dost thou fear God? why, the Holy Ghost hath on purpose indited
for thee a whole psalm to sing concerning thyself. So that thou mayest even as thou
art in thy calling, bed, journey, or whenever, sing out thine own blessed and happy
condition to thine own comfort and the comfort of thy fellows. The psalm is called
the 128th Psalm; I will set it before thee, both as it is in the reading[23] and
in the singing Psalms—
" Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. For
thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well
with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy
children, like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man
be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion; and thou
shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy
children's children, and peace upon Israel."
AS IT IS SUNG.
Blessed art thou that fearest God,
And walkest in his way:
For of thy labour thou shalt eat;
Happy art thou, I say!
Like fruitful vines on thy house side,
So doth thy wife spring out;
Thy children stand like olive plants
Thy table round about.
Thus art thou blest that fearest God,
And he shall let thee see
The promised Jerusalem,
And her felicity.
Thou shalt thy children's children see,
To thy great joy's increase;
And likewise grace on Israel,
Prosperity and peace.[24]
And now I have done with the privileges when I have removed one objection.
Object. But the Scripture says, "perfect love casteth our fear" ; and therefore
it seems that saints, after that a spirit of adoption is come, should not fear, but
do their duty, as another Scripture saith, without it (1 John 4:18; Luke 1:74,75).
Answ. Fear, as I have showed you, may be taken several ways. 1. It may be taken for
the fear of devils. 2. It may be taken for the fear of reprobates. 3. It may be taken
for the fear that is wrought in the godly by the Spirit as a spirit of bondage; or,
4. It may be taken for the fear that I have been but now discoursing of.
Now the fear that perfect love casts out cannot be that son-like, gracious fear of
God, that I have in this last place been treating of; because that fear that love
casts out hath torment, but so has not the son-like fear. Therefore the fear that
love casts out is either that fear that is like the fear of devils and reprobates,
or that fear that is begot in the heart by the Spirit of God as a spirit of bondage,
or both; for, indeed, all these kinds of fear have torment, and therefore may be
cast out; and are so by the spirit of adoption, which is called the spirit of faith
and love, when he comes with power into the soul; so that without this fear we should
serve him. But to argue from these texts that we ought not to fear God, or to mix
fear with our worship of him, is as much as to say that by the spirit of adoption
we are made very rogues; for not to fear God is by the Scripture applied to such
(Luke 23:40). But for what I have affirmed the Scripture doth plentifully confirm,
saying, "Happy is the man that feareth alway." And again, "It shall
be well with them that fear God, which fear before him." Fear, therefore; the
spirit of the fear of the Lord is a grace that greatly beautifies a Christian, his
words, and all his ways: "Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you;
take heed, and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect
of persons, nor taking of gifts" (2 Chron 19:7).
I come now to make some use and application of this doctrine.
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19. So Ainsworth understands, p. 134, vol. 10. He renders it, "lurking lions, which are lusty, strong-toothed, fierce, roaring, and ravenous. And hereby," says he, "may be meant the rich and mighty of the world, whom God often bringeth to misery." "They that are ravenous, and prey on all about them, shall want, but the meek shall inherit the earth; they shall not want who, with quiet obedience, work and mind their own business; plain-hearted Jacob has pottage enough, when Esau, the cunning hunter, is ready to perish." Henry.—Ed. [19]
20. "The conduct of angels" means not merely their guiding pilgrims in the way, but also, in a military sense, a guard, or what is now called a convoy.—Ed. [20]
21. See margin, Genesis 41:43, and 40:8.—Ed. [21]
22. To publish by sound of trumpet, to trumpet good tidings. In Bunyan's time it was never used ironically.—Ed. [22]
23. This if from the Bible, and not from the inferior version in the Book of Common Prayer, commonly called the reading Psalms.—Ed. [23]
24. Sternhold and Hopkin's edit. 1635.—The propriety of singing in public worship
was strongly debated by some of the Nonconformists. There were very weighty reasons,
in persecuting times, for meetings being held as quietly as possible. The Quakers
to this day do not admit singing in their assemblies. The introduction of this psalm
proves that Bunyan was acquainted with the "singing" Psalms, and, in all
probability, practised singing in public worship. When James I. improved this version
for church use, called the Psalms of KING David,
translated by KING James, his last four lines are—
Thou of Jerusalem shalt see
While as thou liv'st the good,
Thou shalt thy children's children see,
And peace on Israel's brood.
How blessed are we in our day with the poetry of Watts, Wesley, and a host of others,
who have supplied the church with beautiful soul-inspiring compositions, without
fear to restrain us in using them.—Ed. [24]
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