Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 448

 

Now all this, and much more, can God do to his as a Father by his rod and fatherly rebukes; ah, who knows 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 and come upon thee.

Object. But I have sinned and am under God's high and mighty hand.

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, dishonor thy Father, overthrow sound 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 is 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 heaviest 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 answered with the most tremendous 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 because 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 underfoot 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 does she do under all this trial? Does 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 fallen foully into sin and have been bitterly chastised for it. Also, 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 has come as the spirit of adoption to the soul.

I conclude, then, that fear wrought by the spirit of bondage is excellent and godly because the ground for it is sound. I also suppose 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 the damnation of thy soul again, that thou art out of Christ and under the law, that fear is terrible and of the devil, and ought by no means to be admitted by thee.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 447

 

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 has 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 labor to maintain faith in thy soul, of thy being a child, it is 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. 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 based in life because God, by grace, has 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 labor to be 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 they may not see and let the abundance of waters cover them (Job 22:10,11).

Second. God can tell how to hide his face from them and 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, he 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, roll a stone upon thee, 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 to bow thee down with guilt and distress that thou shalt in no way be able to lift up thy head (Psa 40:12).

Eighth. God can tell how to break thy bones, and to make thee because 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 and 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 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 hell. Yea, he can tell how to let thee seem short of life, both in thine own eyes and 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).

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 446

 

Quest. How does 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 his condition, received the evidence of the spirit of adoption and has 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 labors always to contradict the work and order of the Spirit of truth (John 8).

3. It also appears to be the effects of such fears. For there is a great deal of difference between 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 afterward. 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 comes, 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, 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 drives 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 you question whether ever thou hast had 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 you 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 making thee desperate? Answ. Yes, verily, that they do. Quest. 8. Do not these fears hinder you from profiting from hearing or reading the Word? Answ. Yes, verily, for whatever I hear or read, I think nothing 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 almost concluded that I will no longer read, pray, hear, be in company with God's people, or the like.

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 conclusion mentioned above, 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.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 445

 

Quest. Can you give me further reason yet to convict me of the truth of what you say?

Answ. Yes.

1. Because the Spirit cannot give himself the lie, he cannot overthrow his own order of working nor 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, 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 follow, that is, he overthrows 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 abided 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 stand 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 stand complete before God in the righteousness of Christ; for that is an apparent contradiction.

Quest. But may it not come again as a spirit of bondage to put me into my first fears for my good?

Answ. The text is 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 labors to frustrate the faith, and hope, and comfort of the godly.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 444

 

Thus far, this fear is godly, and the reason it is godly is because its groundwork 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 feared damnation, and that rightly, because it is in its sins. 2. The soul feared damnation rightly because it has no faith in Christ but is now under the law. 3. The soul feared damnation rightly now because, by sin, the law, and for want of faith, the wrath of God abides 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 are 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 this fear is no longer godly. I do not mean concerning the essence and habit of it, for I believe it is the same in the seed which shall afterward 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 the soul, by closing through the promise by the Spirit, with Jesus Christ, is removed from that foundation upon which it stood when it justly feared damnation. It hath received no 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 cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a 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? After that, I fell into as great fear as ever before.

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 comes, 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 has come, the spirit of bondage, as such, is sent of God no more, to put us into those fears. Mark, 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 than 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.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 443

 

Second. By whom or by what is this fear wrought in the heart? I shall answer this in brief. The Spirit of God weds it in the heart, working there at first as a spirit of bondage to put us in fear. This Paul insinuated, 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. Then, the Spirit of God, even the Holy Ghost, convinces us of sin and our damnable state because of sin (John 16:8,9). For it cannot be that the Spirit of God should convince us of sin. Still, it must also show us our state to be damnable because of it, especially if it so convinced 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 appropriately 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, are not above an hour; some in these later times are so held for days and months if not years. But, I say, let the time be longer or shorter, it is the Spirit of God that holds 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 bears 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 changed 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. Although this godly fear is not to always last with us, as I shall further show you, it dramatically differs from that which is wholly ungodly of itself, both because of the author and its effects. 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 fall down before God with a broken mind under this judgment, 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. This fear makes a man judge himself and cast down at God's foot. Hence, 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 put his mouth in the dust; if so, 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 sit alone and keep silence," because he hath now this yoke upon him; "he put 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 cries out, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13).

5. This fear makes a man who cannot accept support and succor, which others who are destitute 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 will not go away until the Spirit of God changes his ministry as to this particular, 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.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 442

 

Fifth. This ungodly fear of God 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. The truth is, where this ungodly fear reigned, 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 cause 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, such as the washing of cups, beds, tables, and basins, with an 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 sackcloth, saying so many Paternosters, 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? Could they be brought to believe this doctrine, that Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification, and to apply it by faith with godly boldness to their souls, this fear would vanish. 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 thou shouldest fear God, it includes not, nor accepted 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 care should be, to see and prove thy fear to be godly, which shall be the next thing 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 good and godly men, yet doth not forever 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 beget 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. Still, 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 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 persecutes 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. I say he lay under it until Ananias came to him to comfort him and preach unto him the forgiveness of sin (Acts 9). The fear, therefore, that now I call godly is that fear which is appropriately called the fear of eternal damnation for sin, and this fear, at first awakening, is excellent and godly because it arises 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 the remission of sins: "He that believeth not shall be damned."—"He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abides on him" (Mark 16:16; John 3:18,36). 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.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 441

 

Second. There is a fear of God that drives 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 slavish ungodly fear. This ungodly fear 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 eat thereof, thou shalt surely die." For then, he feared God so much that he sought 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" (Gen 3:10). Mind it, he had a fear of God, but it was not godly. It was not that that made him afterward 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; his whole man was carried away from him. I call it ungodly fear because it begat in him ungodly apprehensions of his Maker. After all, 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 to that. "Fear not," said he, but had that fear been godly, he would have encouraged it and not forbid and rebuked it as he did. "Fear not," said he, "for God has come to prove you," but they thought otherwise. "God," saith he, "is come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces." Therefore, that fear that had already 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 anymore (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. If at any time the word of the law, by the preaching of the word, comes near them, they will not accept that preacher, nor such kind of sermons anymore. 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 tends 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 evil 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 also what Samuel perceived at the people's apprehension of their sin, to begin to get hold of their hearts; therefore, as Moses before him, quickly forbids their entertaining it. "Fear not," said he, "ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord." To turn them aside from following him was the natural tendency of this fear. "But fear not," said he, with that fear that tended 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.

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.

Works of John Bunyan: A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD. 439

Second. It is a Word that is fearful and may well be called the fear of the Lord because of the subject matter of it; to wit, the state of sinners in another world, for that is it unto which the whole Bible bent itself, either more immediately or more mediately. All its doctrines, counsel, encouragements, and threatening judgments have a look, one way or another, upon us concerning the next world, which will be our last state because it will be to us a state eternal. This word, this law, these judgments, are they that we shall be disposed of by—"The word that I have spoken," says Christ, "it shall judge you (and so consequently dispose of you) in the last day" (John 12:48). Now, if we consider that our next state must be eternal, either eternal glory or eternal fire and that this eternal glory or this eternal fire must be our portion, according as the words of God, revealed in the holy Scriptures, shall determine; who will not but conclude that therefore the words of God are they at which we should tremble, and they by which we should have our fear of God guided and directed, for by them we are taught how to please him in everything?

Third. It is to be called a fearful Word because of the truth and faithfulness of it. The Scriptures cannot be broken. Here they are called the Scriptures of truth, the true sayings of God, and also the fear of the Lord, for that every jot and tittle thereof is forever settled in heaven and stand more steadfast than doth the world—"Heaven and earth," saith Christ, "shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matt 24:35). Those, therefore, that are favored by the Word of God, those are favored indeed, and that with the favor that no man can turn away. Still, those that are condemned by the word of the Scriptures can no man justify and set quit in the sight of God. Therefore, what is bound by the text is bound, and what is released by the text is released; also, the bond and release are unalterable (Dan 10:21; Rev 19:9; Matt 24:35; Psa 119:89; John 10:35). This, therefore, calleth upon God's people to stand more in fear of the Word of God than of all the terrors of the world.[7] There wanted even in the hearts of God's people a greater reverence of the Word of God than to this day appeared among us, and this let me say that want of reverence of the Word is the ground of all disorders that are in the heart, life, conversation, and in Christian communion. Besides, the want of reverence of the Word lay men open to the fearful displeasure of God—"Whoso despised the word shall be destroyed, but he that feared the commandment shall be rewarded" (Prov 13:13).

All transgression begins at wandering from the Word of God, but, on the other side, David saith, "Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer" (Psa 17:4). Therefore, Solomon saith, "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings; let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them amid thine heart; for they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh" (Prov 4:20-22). Now, if indeed thou would reverence the Word of the Lord and make it thy rule and director in all things, believe that the Word is the fear of the Lord, the Word that stands fast forever; without and against which God will do nothing, either in saving or damning of the souls of sinners. But to conclude this,

1. Know that those that have no due regard to the Word of the Lord, and that makes it, not their dread and their fear, but the rule of their life is the lust of their flesh, the desire of their eyes, and the pride of life, are sorely rebuked by this doctrine, and are counted the fools of the world; for "lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" (Jer 8:9). That there are such people is evident, not only by their irregular lives but by the manifest testimony of the Word. "As for the word of the Lord," said they to Jeremiah, "that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth" (Jer 44:16). Was this only the temper of wicked men then? Is not the same spirit of rebellion amongst us today? Doubtless, there is, for there is no new thing—"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun" (Eccl 1:9). Therefore, as it was then, so it is with many in this day.

As for the Word of the Lord, it is nothing to them; their lusts, and whatever proceeded out of their mouths, that they will do and follow. Now, such will certainly perish in their own rebellion; for this is as the sin of witchcraft; it was the sin of Korah and his company, and that which brought upon them such heavy judgments; yea, and they are made a sign that thou shouldest not do as they, for they perished (because they rejected the word, the fear of the Lord) from among the congregation of the Lord, "and they became a sign." The word which thou despise still abided to denounce its woe and judgment upon thee; and unless God will save such with the breath of his word—and it is hard trusting to that—they must never see his face with comfort (1 Sam 15:22,23; Num 26:9,10).

2. Are the words of God called by the name of the fear of the Lord? Are they so dreadful in their receipt and sentence? Then this rebukes them that esteem the words and things of men more than the words of God, as those do who are drawn from their respect of, and obedience to, the Word of God, by the pleasures or threats of men. Some will acknowledge the authority of the Word but will not stop their souls to it. Whatever they think of themselves, they are judged by Christ to be ashamed of the Word, wherefore their state is damnable as the other. "Whosoever," saith he, "shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of the Father, with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).

3. And if these things be so, what will become of those that mock at and professedly contemn the words of God, making them ridiculous and not to be regarded? Shall they prosper that do such things? From the promises, it is concluded that their judgment now, which has been slumbered for a long time, has not. When it comes, it will devour them without remedy (2 Chron 36:15). If God, I say, hath put that reverence upon his Word as to call it the fear of the Lord, what will become of them that do what they can to overthrow its authority, by denying it to be his Word, and by raising cavils against its authority? Such stumble, indeed, at the Word, being appointed thereunto, but it shall judge them in the last day (1 Peter 2:8; John 12:48). Thus, much for this.