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Second. There flows from this godly fear, watchfulness. As it is said of Solomon's servants, they "watched about his bed, because of fear in the night," so it may be said of them that they have this godly fear—it makes them watchful people. It makes them watch their hearts, and take heed to keep them with all diligence, lest they should, by one or another of its flights, lead them to do that which in itself is wicked (Prov 4:23; Heb 12:15). It makes them watch, lest some temptation from hell should enter into their heart to the destroying of them (1 Peter 5:8). It makes them watch their mouths, and keep them also, at sometimes, as with a bit and bridle, that they offend not with their tongue, knowing that the tongue is apt, being an evil member, soon to catch the fire of hell, to the defiling of the whole body (James 3:2-7). It makes them watch over their ways, look well to their goings, and to make straight steps for their feet (Psa 39:1; Heb 12:13). Thus this godly fear puts the soul upon its watch, lest from the heart within, or from the devil without, or from the world, or some other temptation, something should surprise and overtake the child of God to defile him, or to cause him to defile the ways of God, and so offend the saints, open the mouths of men, and cause the enemy to speak reproachfully of religion.

Third. There flows from this fear of a holy provocation to a reverential converse with saints in their religious and godly assemblies for their further progress in the faith and way of holiness. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." Spake that is, of God, and his holy and glorious name, kingdom, and works, for their mutual edification; "a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name" (Mal 3:16). The fear of the Lord in the heart provoketh to this in all its acts, not only of necessity but of nature: it is the natural effect of this godly fear, to exercise the church in the contemplation of God, together and apart. All fear, good and bad, hath a natural propenseness in it to incline the heart to contemplate upon the object of fear. Though a man should labor to take his thoughts from the object of his fear, whether that object was men, hell, devils, &, etc., yet do what he could the next time his fear had any act in it, it would return to its object. And so it is with godly fear; that will make a man speak of, and think upon, the name of God reverentially (Psa 89:7); yea, and exercise himself in the holy thoughts of him in such sort that his soul shall be sanctified, and seasoned with such meditations. Indeed, sacred thoughts of God, such as you see this fear doth exercise the heart withal, prepare the heart to, and for God. This fear, therefore it is that David prayed for for the people when he said, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee" (1 Chron 29:18).

Fourth. There flows from this fear of God's great reverence of his majesty, in and under the use and enjoyment of God's holy ordinances. His ordinances are his courts and palaces, his walks and places, where he giveth his presence to those that wait upon him in them, in the fear of his name. And this is the meaning of that of the apostle: "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified; and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied" (Acts 9:31). "And walking"—that word intendeth their use of the ordinances of God. They walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. In Old Testament language, this is called treading God's courts and walking in his paths. This, saith the text, they did here, in the fear of God. That is, in a great reverence of that God whose ordinances they were. "Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary; I am the Lord" (Lev 19:30, 26:2).

It is one thing to be conversant in God's ordinances and another to be conversant in them with a due reverence of the majesty and name of that God whose ordinances they are: it is common for men to do the first, but none can do the last without this fear. "In thy fear," said David, "will I worship" (Psa 5:7). It is this fear of God, therefore, from whence doth flow that great reverence that his saints have in them, of his majesty, in and under the use and enjoyment of God's holy ordinances; and, consequently, that makes our service in the performance of them acceptable to God through Christ (Heb 12). For God expects that we serve him with fear and trembling, and it is odious among men, for a man in the presence, or about the service of his prince, to behave himself lightly, and without due reverence of that majesty in whose presence and about whose business he is. And if so, how can their service to God have anything like acceptance from the hand of God that is done, not in, but without the fear of God? This service must be an abomination to him, and these servers must come off with rebuke.

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THIRD. Having shown you what godly fear flows from, I come now, I say, to show you what proceeds or flows from this godly fear of God, where it is seated in man's heart. And,

First, there flows from this godly fear a godly reverence of God. "He is great," said David, "and greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints." God, as I have already shown you, is the proper object of godly fear; it is his person and majesty that this fear always causeth the eye of the soul to be upon. "Behold," saith David, "as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us" (Psa 123:2). Nothing with the soul that feareth God so much as doth the glorious majesty of God. His person is above all things feared by them; "I fear God," said Joseph (Gen 42:18). That is, more than any other; I stand in awe of him, he is my dread, he is my fear, I do all mine actions as in his presence, as in his sight; I reverence his holy and glorious majesty, doing all things as with fear and trembling before him. This fear also gives them a great reverence of his Word; for that, I told you, was the rule of their fear. "Princes," said David, "persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe," in fear, "of thy word." Therefore, this grace of fear flows from it, and it flows reverence of the words of God; of all laws, that man feareth the word; and no law that is not agreeing in addition to that (Psa 119:116). There flows from this godly fear tenderness of God's glory. This fear, I say, will cause a man to afflict his soul when he seeth that by professors dishonor is brought to the name of God and to his Word. Who would not fear thee, said Jeremiah, O king of nations, for to thee doth it appertain? He speaks it as being affected with that dishonor that by the body of the Jews was continually brought to his name, his Word, and ways; he also speaks it of a hearty wish that they once would be otherwise minded. The same saying in effect hath also John in the Revelation—"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord," said he, "and glorify thy name?" (Rev 15:4), clearly concluding that godly fear produces a godly tenderness of God's glory in the world, for that appertaineth unto him; that is, it is due unto him, it is a debt which we owe unto him. "Give unto the Lord," said David, "the glory due unto his name." Now if there be begotten in the heart of the godly, by this grace of fear, a godly tenderness of the glory of God, then it follows of consequence, that where they that have this fear of God do see his glory diminished by the wickedness of the children of men, there they are grieved and deeply distressed. "Rivers of waters," said David, "run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law" (Psa 119:136). Let me give you the following instances—

How was David provoked when Goliath defied the God of Israel (1 Sam 17:23-29,45,46). Also, when others reproached God, he tells us that that reproach was even as "a sword in his bones" (Psa 42:10). How was Hezekiah afflicted when Rabshakeh railed upon his God (Isa 37). David also, for the love that he had for the glory of God's word, ran the hazard and reproach "of all the mighty people" (Psa 119:151, 89:50). How tender of the glory of God was Eli, Daniel, and the three children in their day. Eli died with fear and trembling of heart when he heard that "the ark of God was taken" (1 Sam 4:14-18). Daniel ran the danger of the lions' mouths for his tender love for God's word and worship (Dan 6:10-16). The three children ran the hazard of a burning fiery furnace, rather than they would dare to dishonor the way of their God (Dan 3:13,16,20). This, therefore, is one of the fruits of this godly fear, to wit, a reverence of his name, and tenderness of his glory.

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Fifth. This godly fear also floweth from sound repentance for and from sin; godly sorrow worketh repentance, and godly repentance produceth this fear—"For behold," says Paul, "this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you! yea, what clearing of yourselves! yea, what indignation! yea, what fear!" (2 Cor 7:10,11). Repentance is the effect of sorrow, and sorrow is the effect of faith's brilliant and intelligent impact. Therefore, fear must be an effect of and flow from repentance. Sinner, do not deceive thyself; if thou art a stranger to sound repentance, which standeth in sorrow and shame before God for sin, as also in turning from it, thou hast no fear of God; I mean none of this godly fear; for that is the fruit of, and floweth from, sound repentance.

Sixth. This godly fear also flows from a sense of the love and kindness of God to the soul. Where there is no sense of hope of the compassion and mercy of God by Jesus Christ, there can be none of this fear. Still, rather a wrath and despair, which produceth that fear that is either devilish or else that which is only wrought in us by the Spirit, as a spirit of bondage; but these we do not discourse of now; wherefore the godly fear that now I treat of, it floweth from some sense or hope of mercy from God by Jesus Christ—"If thou, Lord," says David, "shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared" (Psa 130:3,4). "There is mercy with thee"; this the soul hath sense of, and hope in, and therefore feareth God. Indeed, nothing can lay a more vital obligation upon the heart to fear God than a sense of hope in mercy (Jer 33:8,9). This begetteth genuine tenderness of heart, the true godly softness of spirit; this truly endureth the affections to God; and in this genuine tenderness, softness, and endearedness of affection to God, lieth the very essence of this fear of the Lord, as is manifest by the fruit of this fear when we shall come to speak of it.

Seventh. This fear of God flows from a due consideration of the judgments of God that are to be executed in the world, yea, upon professors, too. Yea, further, God's people themselves, I mean as to themselves, have such a consideration of his judgments towards them as to produce this godly fear. When God's judgments are on earth, they affect the fear of his name in the hearts of his own people—"My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am," said David, "afraid of thy judgments" (Psa 119:120). When God smote Uzzah, David was afraid of God that day (1 Chron 13:12). Indeed, many regard not the works of the Lord, nor take notice of the operation of his hands, and such cannot fear the Lord. But others observe and regard, and wisely consider, his doings and the judgments that he executed, making them fear the Lord. This God himself suggested as a means to make us fear him. Hence, he commands the false prophet to be stoned "that all Israel might hear and fear." Hence, he also commanded that the rebellious son should be stoned "that all Israel might hear and fear." A false witness was also to have the same judgment of God executed upon him "that all Israel might hear and fear." The man also that did ought presumptuously was to die, "that all Israel might hear and fear" (Deut 13:11, 21:21, 17:13, 19:20). There is a natural tendency in judgments, as judgments, to beget a fear of God in the heart of man, as man; but when the observation of the judgment of God is made by him that hath a principle of true grace in his soul, that observation being made, I say, by a gracious heart, produceth a fear of God in the soul of its own nature, to wit, a gracious or godly fear of God.

Eighth. This godly fear also flows from a godly remembrance of our former distresses, when we were distressed with our first fears; for though our first fears were begotten in us by the Spirit's working as a spirit of bondage, and so are not always to be entertained as such. Yet, even that fear leaveth in us, and upon our spirits, that sense and relish of our first awakenings and dread also occasioned and produced this godly fear. "Take heed," says God, "and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons, and thy son's sons." But what were the things their eyes had seen that would so damnify them should they be forgotten? The answer is the things which they saw at Horeb; to wit, the fire, the smoke, the darkness, the earthquake, their first awakenings by the law, by which they were brought into a bondage fear; yea, they were to remember this especially—"Especially," saith he, "the day that thou stood before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth" (Deut 4:9-11). The remembrance of what we saw, felt, feared, and trembled under the sense of when our first fears were upon us is that which will produce in our hearts this godly filial fear.

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SECOND. I come now to the second thing, to wit, to show you what this fear of God flows from.

First, this fear, this grace of fear, this son-like fear of God, flows from God's distinguishing love to his elect. "I will be their God," saith he, "and I will put my fear in their hearts." None else obtain it but those enclosed and bound up in that bundle. Therefore, in the same place, they are said to be those who are wrapped up in the eternal or everlasting covenant of God and so designed to be the people who should be blessed with this fear. "I will make an everlasting covenant with them," saith God, "that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me" (Jer 32:38-40). This covenant declares unto men that God hath, in his heart, distinguishing love for some of the children of men; for he saith, he will be their God, that he will not leave them, nor yet suffer them to depart, to wit, finally, from him. Into these men's hearts, he doth put his fear, this blessed grace, and this rare and effectual sign of his love and of their eternal salvation.

Second. This fear flows from a new heart. This fear is not in men by nature; the fear of devils they may have, as also an ungodly fear of God; but this fear is not in any but where there dwelleth a new heart, another fruit and effect of this everlasting covenant, and of this distinguishing love of God. "A new heart also will I give them"; a new heart, what a one is that? Why, the same prophet saith in another place, "A heart to fear me," a circumcised one, a sanctified one (Jer 32:39; Eze 11:19, 36:26). So then, until a man receives a heart from God, a heart from heaven, a new heart, he has not this fear of God in him. New wine must not be put into old bottles, lest the one, to wit, mar the wine, or the wine the bottles. Still, new wine must have new bottles, and then both shall be preserved (Matt 9:17). This fear of God must not be, cannot be found in old hearts; old hearts are not bottles out of which this fear of God proceeds, but it is from an honest and good heart, from a new one, from such a one that is also an effect of the everlasting covenant, and love of God to men.

" I will give them one heart" to fear me; there must be heart in all actions; without heart, no action is good, nor can there be faith, love, or fear from every kind of heart. These must flow from such a one, whose nature is to produce and produce such fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? So from a corrupt heart, there cannot proceed such fruit as the fear of God, as to believe in and love God (Luke 6:43-45). The heart naturally is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; how should the fear of God flow from such a one? It cannot be. He, therefore, that hath not received a new heart at the hands of God, cannot fear the Lord.

Third. This fear of God flows from an impression, a sound impression, that the Word of God maketh on our souls; without an impress of the Word, there is no fear of God. Hence, it is said that God gave Israel good laws, statutes, and judgments that they might learn and, in understanding them, learn to fear the Lord their God. Therefore, saith God, in another place, "Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God" (Deut 6:1,2, 31:12). For as a man drinketh sound doctrine into his soul, so he feareth God. If he drinks it in much, he feareth him greatly; if he drinketh it in but little, he feareth him but little; if he drinketh it not in at all, he feareth him not at all. This, therefore, teaches us how to judge who feareth the Lord; they are those who learn and who stand in awe of the Word. Those that have by the holy Word of God the very form of itself engraved upon the face of their souls fear God (Rom 6:17).[15]

But, on the contrary, those that do not love sound doctrine, that gives not the place to the wholesome truths of the God of heaven, revealed in his Testament, to take place in their souls, but rather despise it, and the true possessors of it, they fear not God. For, as I said before, this fear of God it flows from a sound impression that the Word of God maketh upon the soul; therefore,

Fourth. This godly fear floweth from faith; for where the Word maketh a sound impression on the soul, by that impression is faith begotten, whence also this fear doth flow. Therefore right hearing of the Word is called "the hearing of faith" (Gal 3:2). Hence it is said again, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" (Heb 11:7). The Word, the warning that he had from God of things not seen as yet, wrought, through faith therein, that fear of God in his heart that made him prepare against unseen dangers and that he might be an inheritor of unseen happiness. Where, therefore, there is no faith in the Word of God, there can be none of this fear; where the Word does not make a sound impression on the soul, there can be none of this faith. So that as vices hang together and have the links of a chain, dependence one upon another, even so, the graces of the Spirit also are the fruits of one another, and have such dependence on each other, that the one cannot be without the other. No faith, no fear of God; devil's faith, devil's fear; saint's faith, saint's fear.

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Second. And more particularly.

1. This grace is called "the beginning of knowledge" because by the first gracious discovery of God to the soul, this grace is begotten: and again, because the first time that the soul doth apprehend God in Christ to be pleasing unto it, this grace is animated, by which the soul is put into holy awe of God, which causeth it with reverence and due attention to hearken to him, and tremble before him (Prov 1:7). It is also by this fear that the soul doth inquire yet more after the blessed knowledge of God. This is more evident because, where this fear of God is wanting, or where the discovery of God is not attended with it, the heart still abides rebellious, obstinate, and unwilling to know more, that it might comply in addition to that; nay, for want of it, such sinners say instead, As for God, let him "depart from us," and for the Almighty, "we desire not the knowledge of his ways."

2. This fear is called "the beginning of wisdom" because then, and not till then, a man begins to be truly spiritually wise; what wisdom is there where the fear of God is not? (Job 28:28; Psa 111:10). Therefore, the fools are described thus, "For that, they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord" (Prov 1:29). The Word of God is the fountain of knowledge, into which a man will not with godly reverence look until he is endued with the fear of the Lord. Therefore, it is rightly called "the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov 1:7). Thus, this fear of the Lord makes a man wise for his soul, life, and another world. This teaches him what he should do to escape those spiritual and eternal ruins the fool is overtaken with and swallowed up forever. A man void of this fear of God, wherever he is wise, or in whatever he excels, yet about the matters of his soul, there is none more foolish than himself; for through the want of the fear of the Lord, he leaves the best things at sixes and sevens, and only pursueth with all his heart those that will leave him in the snare when he dies.

3. This fear of the Lord is to hate evil. To hate sin and vanity. Sin and vanity are the sweet morsels of the fool, and such is what the carnal appetite of the flesh runs after. It is only the virtue that is in fear of the Lord that maketh the sinner have an antipathy against it (Job 20:12). "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Prov 16:6). That is, men shun, separate themselves from, and eschew it in its appearances. Therefore, it is plain that those who love evil are not possessed with the fear of God.

There is a generation that will pursue evil, that will take it in, nourish it, lay it up in their hearts, hide it, plead for it, and rejoice to do it. These cannot have in them the fear of the Lord, for that is to hate it and to make men depart from it: where the fear of God and sin is, it will be with the soul, as it was with Israel when Omri and Tibni strove to reign among them both at once, one of them must be put to death, they cannot live together (see 1 Kings 16): sin must down, for fear of the Lord begetteth in the soul a hatred against it, an abhorrence of it. Therefore, sin must die, that is, as to the affections and lusts of it, for as Solomon says in another case, "where no wood is, the fire goeth out." So we may say, where there is a hatred of sin, and men depart from it, it loses much of its power, waxed feeble and decayed. Therefore Solomon saith again, "Fear the Lord, and depart from evil" (Prov 3:7). As who should say, Fear the Lord, and it will follow that you shall depart from evil: departing from evil is a natural consequence, a proper effect of the fear of the Lord where it is. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil, that is, in their judgment, will, mind, and affections. Not that by the fear of the Lord sin is annihilated or has lost its being in the soul; there still will those Canaanites be, but they are hated, loathed, abominated, fought against, prayed against, watched against, striven against, and mortified by the soul (Rom 7).

4. This fear is called a fountain of life—"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death" (Prov 14:27). It is a fountain, or spring, which so continually supplieth the soul with a variety of considerations of sin, of God, of death, and life eternal, as to keep the soul in continual exercise of virtue and in holy contemplation. It is a fountain of life; every operation, every act, and exercise had an authentic and natural tendency to spiritual and eternal felicity. Wherefore the wise man saith in another place, "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life, and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil" (Prov 19:23). It tendeth to life; even as of nature, everything hath a tendency to that which is most natural to itself; the fire to burn, the water to wet, the stone to fall, the sun to shine, sin to defile, &c. Thus I say, the fear of the Lord tendeth to life; the nature of it is to put the soul upon fearing of God, of closing with Christ, and of walking humbly before him. "It is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death." What are the snares of death, but sin, the wiles of the devil, &c. From this, the fear of God has a natural tendency to deliver thee and keep thee in the way that tendeth to life.

5. This fear of the Lord is called "the instruction of wisdom" (Prov 15:33). You heard before that it is the beginning of wisdom, but here you find it called the instruction of wisdom; for indeed it is not only that which makes a man begin to be wise, but to improve, and take advantage of all those helps and means to live, which God hath afforded to that end; that is, both to his own and his neighbor's salvation also. It is the instruction of wisdom; it will make a man capable of using all his natural parts, all his natural wisdom, to God's glory and his own good. There lieth, even in many natural things, that, into which if we were instructed, would yield us a great deal of help to the understanding of spiritual matters; "For in wisdom has God made all the world"; nor is there anything that God has made, whether in heaven above, or on earth beneath, but there is couched some spiritual mystery in it. The which men matter no more than they do the ground they tread on, or than the stones that are under their feet, and all because they have not this fear of the Lord; for had they that, that would teach them to think, even from that knowledge of God, that hath by the fear of him put into their hearts, that he being so great and so good, there must needs be an abundance of wisdom in the things he hath made: that fear would also endeavor to find out what that wisdom is; yea, and give to the soul the instruction of it. In that it is called the instruction of wisdom, it intimates that its tendency is to keep all even and in good order in the soul. When Job perceived that his friends did not deal with him in an even spirit and orderly manner, he said that they forsook "the fear of the Almighty" (Job 6:14). This fear keeps a man even in his words and judgment of things. It may be compared to the ship's ballast and the poise of the balance of the scales; it keeps all even and makes us steer our course right concerning the things about God and man.

What this fear of God flows from.

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OF THE GRACE OF FEAR MORE IMMEDIATELY INTENDED IN THE TEXT.

I shall now speak to this fear, which I call a lasting godly fear; first, by way of explication, which I shall show, FIRST. How by the Scripture it is described. SECOND. I shall show you what this fear flows from. And then, THIRD. I shall also show you what doth flow from it.

[How this Fear is described by the Scripture.]

FIRST. For the first of these, how by the Scripture this fear is described; and that, First. More generally. Second. More particularly.

First. More generally.

1. It is called grace, a sweet and blessed work of the Spirit of grace, as he is given to the elect by God. Hence, the apostle says, "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Heb 12:28). For as that fear that brings bondage is wrought in the soul by the Spirit as a spirit of bondage, so this fear, which is a fear that we have while we are in the liberty of sons, is wrought by him as he manifesteth to us our freedom; "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," that is, where he is as a spirit of adoption, setting the soul free from that bondage under which it was held by the same Spirit. In contrast, he wrought as a spirit of bondage. Hence as he is called a spirit working bondage to fear, so he, as the Spirit of the Son and of adoption, is called "the Spirit of the fear of the Lord" (Isa 11:2). Because it is that Spirit of grace that is the author, animator, and maintainer of our filial fear, or of that fear that is son-like, and that subjecteth the elect unto God, his word, and ways; unto him, his word, and ways, as a Father.

2. This fear is also called the fear of God, not as that which is ungodly is, nor yet as that may be which is wrought by the Spirit as a spirit of bondage, but by way of eminency; to wit, as a dispensation of the grace of the gospel, and as a fruit of eternal love. "I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me" (Jer 32:38-41).

3. This fear of God is called God's treasure, for it is one of his choice jewels, it is one of the rarities of heaven, "The fear of the Lord is his treasure" (Isa 33:6). And it may well go under such a title; for as treasure, so the fear of the Lord is not found in every corner. It is said all men have no faith because that also is more precious than gold; the same is said about this fear—"There is no fear of God before their eyes"; that is, the most significant part of men are utterly destitute of this godly jewel, this treasure, the fear of the Lord. Poor vagrants, when they come straggling to a lord's house, may perhaps obtain some scraps and fragments; they may also obtain old shoes and some sorry cast-off rags, but they get not any of his jewels, they may not touch his choicest treasure; that is kept for the children and those that shall be his heirs. We may say the same about this blessed grace of fear, which is called God's treasure here. It is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs, and children of the promise; all others are destitute of it and continue to die in judgment.

4. This grace of fear is that which maketh men excel and go beyond all men, in the account of God; it is that which beautifies a man and prefers him above all others; "Hast thou," says God to Satan, "considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and eschewed evil?" (Job 1:8, 2:3). Mind it, "There is none like him, none like him in the earth." I suppose he means either [that Job was the only most perfect and upright man] in those parts, or else he was the man that abounded in fear of the Lord; none like him to fear the Lord, he only excelled others concerning his reverencing of God, bowing before him, and sincerely complying with his will; and therefore is counted the excellent man. It is not the knowledge of the will of God, but our sincere complying in addition to that, that proveth we fear the Lord; and it is our so doing that putteth upon us the note of excelling; hereby appears our perfection, herein is manifest our uprightness. A perfect and upright man is one that feareth God, and that is because he eschewed evil. Therefore, this grace of fear is that without which no part or piece of service we do to God can be accepted by him. It is, as I may call it, the salt of the covenant, which seasoneth the heart, and therefore must not be lacking there; it is also that which salteth, or seasoneth all our doings, and therefore must not be lacking in any of them (Lev 2:13).

5. I take this grace of fear to be that which softeneth and mollified the heart, and that makes it stand in awe both of the mercies and judgments of God. This is that that retaineth in the heart that due dread, and reverence of the heavenly majesty, that is meet should be both in and kept in the heart of poor sinners. When David describes this fear, in the exercise of it, he calls it an awe of God. "Stand in awe," saith he, "and sin not"; and again, "my heart standeth in awe of thy word"; and again, "Let all the earth fear the Lord"; what is that? or how is that? Why? "Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him" (Psa 4:4, 119:161, 33:8). This is that therefore that is, as I said before, so excellent a thing in the eyes of God, to wit, a grace of the Spirit, the fear of God, his treasure, the salt of the covenant, that which makes men excel all others; for it is that which maketh the sinner to stand in awe of God, which posture is the most comely thing in us, throughout all ages. But,

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[How the devil worketh these fears.]

1. Quest. But since it is as you say, how doth the devil, after the spirit of adoption is come, work the child of God into those fears of being out of Christ, not forgiven, and so an heir of damnation again?

Answ. 1. By giving the lie, and by prevailing with us to give it too, to the work of grace wrought in our hearts, and to the testimony of the Holy Spirit of adoption. Or, 2. By abusing our ignorance of the everlasting love of God to his in Christ and the duration of the covenant of grace. Or, 3. By abusing some scripture that seems to look that way but does not. Or, 4. By abusing our senses and reason. Or, 5. By strengthening our unbelief. Or, 6. By overshadowing our judgment with horrid darkness. Or, 7. By giving us counterfeit representations of God. Or, 8.

By stirring up and setting in a rage, our inward corruptions. Or, 9. By pouring into our hearts abundance of horrid blasphemies. Or, 10. By putting the wrong constructions on the rod and chastising the hand of God. Or, 11. By charging upon us, that our ill behaviors under the rod, and chastising hand of God, is a sign that we indeed have no grace, but are downright graceless reprobates. By these things and others like these, Satan, I say, Satan bringeth the child of God, not only to the borders, but even into the bowels of the fears of damnation, after it hath received a blessed testimony of eternal life, and that by the Holy Spirit of adoption.

[The people of God should fear his rod.]

Quest. But would you not have the people of God stand in fear of his rod and be afraid of his judgments?

Answ. Yes, and the more they are rightly afraid of them, the less and the seldomer will they come under them, for it is want of fear that brings us into sin, and sin brings us into these afflictions. But I would not have them fear with the fear of slaves; for that will add no strength against sin; but I would have them fear with the reverential fear of sons, which is the way to depart from evil.

Quest. How is that?

Answ. Why, having before received the spirit of adoption, still to believe that he is our father, and so to fear with the fear of children, not as slaves fear a tyrant. I would, therefore, have them to look upon his rod, rebukes, chidings, and chastisements, and also upon the wrath wherewith he doth inflict, to be but the dispensations of their Father. This belief maintains, or at least helps to support, in the heart, a son-like bowing under the rod. It also keeps in the soul a son-like confession of sin and a justification of God under all the rebukes he grieves us with. It also engageth us to come to him, to claim and lay hold of former mercies, to expect more, and to hope a good end shall be made of all God's present dispensations towards us (Micah 7:9; Lam 1:18; Psa 77:10-12; Lam 3:31-34).[14]

Now God would have us thus fear his rod, because he is resolved to chastise us therewith, if so be we sin against him, as I have already showed; for although God's bowels turn within him, even while he is threatening his people, yet if we sin, he will lay on the rod so hard as to make us cry, "Woe unto us that we have sinned" (Lam 5:16). Therefore, as I said, we should be afraid of his judgments, yet only as afore is provided as of the rod, wrath, and judgment of a Father.

[Five considerations to move to child-like fear.]

Quest. But have you yet any other considerations to move us to fear

God with child-like fear?

Answ. I will give you five in this place. 1. Consider that God thinks to meet to have it so, and he is wiser in heart than thou; he knows best how to secure his people from sin, and to that end hath given them law and commandments to read, that they may learn to fear him as a Father (Job 37:24; Eccl 3:14; Deut 17:18,19). 2. Consider he is mighty in power; if he touches but with a fatherly touch, man nor angel cannot bear it; yea, Christ uses that argument, he "hath power to cast into hell; Fear him" (Luke 12:4,5). 3. Consider that he is everywhere; thou canst not be out of his sight or presence, nor out of the reach of his hand. "Fear ye not me? saith the Lord." "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord" (Jer 5:22, 23:24). 4. Consider that he is holy, and cannot look with liking upon the sins of his own people. Therefore, says Peter, be "as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." 5. Consider that he is good, and has been good to thee, good in that he hath singled thee out from others, and saved thee from their death and hell, though thou perhaps wast worse in thy life than those that he left when he laid hold on thee. O this should engage thy heart to fear the Lord all the days of thy life. They "shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the latter days" (Hosea 3:5). And now for the present, I have done with that fear, I mean as to its first workings, to wit, to put me in fear of damnation, and shall come, in the next place, to treat

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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.

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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).

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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.