Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 440

 

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 talk about 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 specific knowledge of God, hath also naturally something of some kind of fear of God at times, which, although it is not that which is intended in the text, yet ought to be spoken to, that that which is not suitable may be distinguished from that that is.

There are, I say, several sorts or kinds of fear in the hearts of the sons of men besides that fear of God that is intended in the text and that accompanies eternal life. I shall mention three of them here. FIRST. A fear of God 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 good and godly men, but doth not forever abide so. To speak a little to all these before I come to talk about fear, as it is a grace of God in the hearts of his children, And,

FIRST. To the first, to wit, there is a fear of God that flows even from the light of nature. People may be said to do things in fear of God when they act one towards another in things reasonable and honest between man and man, not doing that to others they would not have done to themselves. This is that fear of God that 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 a fear of God flows from some of his dispensations to men, which 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 caused 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 often took hold of the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness on 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 Moses rebuked them at the Red Sea. Still, it was not there, nor yet at any other place, so subdued, but that it would rise again in them at times to the dishonor 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, a 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 to bring the heart into sweet compliance with his terror, but 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 stirred up murmurings, discontents, and heart-risings against God, while he with his dispensations is dealing with them.