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 for ever settled in heaven, and stand more steadfast than doth the world-Heaven and earth,' said Christ, shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' Mat. xxiv. 35. Those, therefore, that are favoured by the Word of God, those are favoured indeed, and that with the favour that no man can turn away; but those that by the word of the Scriptures are condemned, those 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 is unalterable. Da. x. 21. Re. xix. 9. Matt. xxiv. 35. Ps. cxix. 89. Jn. x. 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.* There wanteth even in the hearts of God's people a greater reverence of the Word of God than to this day appeareth 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 layeth men open to the fearful displeasure of God-Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed; but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.' Pr. xiii. 13. All transgression beginneth 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.' Ps. xvii. 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 in the midst of thine heart; for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.' Pr. iv. 20-22. Now, if indeed thou wouldest 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 standeth fast for ever; without and against which God will do nothing, either in saving or damning of the souls of sinners. But to conclude this, 6 *The Word is the decree upon which we must depend or perish. In vain, poor sinner, is any reliance upon churches or men; neither Papist nor Protestant have any power committed unto them' to forgive sins. If they claim it, believe them not, but pity their pride and delusion. Christ is the Rock, and not poor erring Peter, as some have vainly imagined. Peter is dead, awaiting the resurrection of his body, and the great day of judgment; but Christ ever liveth at all times, and in all places, able to save unto the uttermost. Put no trust in man, but in thy broken spirit seek the blessing of Christ, that he may pardon thy sins.-ED. 1. Know that those that have not due regard to the Word of the Lord, and that make 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?' Je. viii. 9. That there are such a 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 goeth forth out of our own mouth.' Je. xliv. 16. Was this only the temper of wicked men then? Is not the same spirit of rebellion amongst us in our days? 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.' Ec. i. 9. Therefore, as it was then, so it is with many in this day. As for the Word of the Lord, it is nothing at all to them; their lusts, and whatsoever proceedeth out of their own mouths, that they will do, that they will 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 despisest still abideth 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 Sa. xv. 22, 23. Nu. xxvi. 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 there be who verily will acknowledge the authority of the Word, yet will not stoop their souls thereto. Such, whatever they think of themselves, 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.' Mar. viii. 38. of those that mock at, and professedly contemn, 3. And if these things be so, what will become the words of God, making them as a thing ridicul- OF SEVERAL SORTS OF FEAR OF GOD IN THE HEART Having thus spoken of the object and rule of our fear, I should come now to speak of fear as it is a grace of the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people; but before I do that, I shall show you that there are divers sorts of fear besides. For man being a reasonable creature, and having even by nature a certain knowledge of God, hath also naturally something of some kind of fear of God at times, which, although it be not that which is intended in the text, yet ought to be spoken to, that that which is not right may be distinguished from that that is. of nature that is in them, at least so far forth as not to suffer it to put them in fear, when their lusts were powerful in them to accomplish their ends. on the object that was present before them. But this I will pass by, and come to the second thing, namely SECOND. To show that there is a fear of God that flows from some of his dispensations to men, which yet is neither universal nor saving. This fear, when opposed to that which is saving, may be called an ungodly fear of God. I shall describe it by these several particulars that follow: First. There is a fear of God that causeth a continual grudging, discontent, and heart-risings against God under the hand of God; and that is, when the dread of God in his coming upon men, to deal with them for their sins, is apprehended by them, and yet by this dispensation they have no change of heart to submit to God thereunder. The sinners under this dispensation cannot shake God out of their mind, nor yet graciously tremble before him; but through the unsanctified frame that they now are in, they are afraid with ungodly fear, and so in their minds let fly against him. This fear oftentimes took hold of the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness in their journey to the promised land; still they feared that God in this place would destroy them, but not with that fear that made them willing to submit, for their sins, to the judgment which they fear, but with that fear that made them let fly against God. This fear showed itself in them, even at the beginning of their voyage, and was rebuked by Moses at the Red Sea, but it was not there, nor yet at any other place, so subdued, but that it would rise again in them at times to the dishonour of God, and the anew making of them guilty of sin before him. 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 FIRST. To the first, to wit, that there is a fear in his approaches towards them to destroy them. of God that flows even from the light of nature. AI will send my fear before thee, and will destroy people may be said to do things in a fear of God, all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will when they act one towards another in things rea- make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.' sonable, and honest betwixt man and man, not Ex. xxiv. 27. 'This day,' says God, will I begin to doing that to others they would not have done to put the dread of thee, and the fear of thee upon the themselves. This is that fear of God which Abra- nations that are under the whole heaven who shall ham thought the Philistines had destroyed in hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in themselves, when he said of his wife to Abimelech, anguish because of thee.' De. ii. 25; xi. 25. 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.' Ge. xx. 11. I thought verily that in this place men had stifled and choked that light There is, I say, several sorts or kinds of fear in the hearts of the sons of men, I mean besides that fear of God that is intended in the text, and that accompanieth eternal life. I shall here make mention of three of them. FIRST. There is a fear of God that flows even from the light of nature. SECOND. There is a fear of God that flows from some of his dispensations to men, which yet is neither universal nor saving. THIRD. There is a fear of God in the heart of some men that is good and godly, but doth not for ever abide so. To speak a little to all these, before I come to speak of fear, as it is a grace of God in the hearts of his children. And, Ex. xiv. 11-13. Nu. xiv. 1-9. Now this fear is also, as you here see, called anguish, and in another place, an hornet; for it, and the soul that it falls upon, do greet each other, as boys and bees do. The hornet puts men in fear, not so as to bring the heart into a sweet compliance with his terror, but so as to stir up the spirit into acts of opposition and resistance, yet | fear and a fear, a fear forbidden, and a fear commended; a fear forbidden, because it engendered their hearts to bondage, and to ungodly thoughts of God and of his word; it made them that they could not desire to hear God speak to them any more. ver. 19-21. withal they flee before it. I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite,' &c. Ex. xxiii. 28. Now this fear, whether it be wrought by misapprehending of the judgments of God, as in the Israelites, or otherwise as in the Canaanites, yet ungodliness is the effect thereof, and therefore I call it an ungodly fear of God, for it stirreth up murmurings, discontents, and heart-risings against God, while he with his dispensations is dealing with them. Second. There is a fear of God that driveth a man away from God-I speak not now of the atheist, nor of the pleasurable sinner, nor yet of these, and that fear that I spoke of just now-I speak now of such who through a sense of sin and of God's justice fly from him of a slavish ungodly fear. This ungodly fear was that which possessed Adam's heart in the day that he did eat of the tree concerning which the Lord had said unto him, 'In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.' For then was he possessed with such a fear of God as made him seek to hide himself from his presence. 'I heard,' said he, 'thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.' Ge. iii. 10. Mind it, he had a fear of God, but it was not godly. It was not that that made him afterwards submit himself unto him; for that would have kept him from not departing from him, or else have brought him to him again, with bowed, broken, and contrite spirit. But this fear, as the rest of his sin, managed his departing from his God, and pursued him to provoke him still so to do; by it he kept himself from God, by it his whole man was carried away from him. I call it ungodly fear, because it begat in him ungodly apprehensions of his Maker; because it confined Adam's conscience to the sense of justice only, and consequently to despair. The same fear also possessed the children of Israel when they heard the law delivered to them on Mount Sinai; as is evident, for it made them that they could neither abide his presence nor hear his word. It drove them back from the mountain. It made them, saith the apostle to the Hebrews, that they could not endure that which was commanded.' He. xii. 20. Wherefore this fear Moses rebukes, and forbids their giving way thereto. Fear not,' said he; but had that fear been godly, he would have encouraged it, and not forbid and rebuke it as he did. 'Fear not,' said he, 'for God is come to prove you;' they thought otherwise. God,' saith he, 'is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces.' Therefore that fear that already had taken possession of them, was not the fear of God, but a fear that was of Satan, of their own misjudging hearts, and so a fear that was ungodly. Ex. xx. 18-20. Mark you, here is a Many also at this day are possessed with this ungodly fear; and you may know them by this,— they cannot abide conviction for sin, and if at any time the word of the law, by the preaching of the word, comes near them, they will not abide that preacher, nor such kind of sermons any more. They are, as they deem, best at ease, when furthest off of God, and of the power of his word. The word preached brings God nearer to them than they desire he should come, because whenever God comes near, their sins by him are manifest, and so is the judgment too that to them is due. Now these not having faith in the mercy of God through Christ, nor that grace that tendeth to bring them to him, they cannot but think of God amiss, and their so thinking of him makes them say unto him, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.' Job xxi. 14. Wherefore their wrong thoughts of God beget in them this ungodly fear; and again, this ungodly fear doth maintain in them the continuance of these wrong and unworthy thoughts of God, and therefore, through that devilish service wherewith they strengthen one another, the sinner, without a miracle of grace prevents him, is drowned in destruction and perdition. It was this ungodly fear of God that carried Cain from the presence of God into the land of Nod, and that put him there upon any carnal worldly business, if perhaps he might by so doing stifle convictions of the majesty and justice of God against his sin, and so live the rest of his vain life in the more sinful security and fleshly ease. This ungodly fear is that also which Samuel perceived at the people's apprehension of their sin, to begin to get hold of their hearts; wherefore he, as Moses before him, quickly forbids their entertaining of it. 'Fear not,' said he, 'ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord.' For to turn them aside from following of him, was the natural tendency of this fear. 'But fear not,' said he, that is, with that fear that tendeth to turn you aside. Now, I say, the matter that this fear worketh upon, as in Adam, and the Israelites mentioned before, was their sin. You have sinned, says he, that is true, yet turn not aside, yet fear not with that fear that would make you so do. 1 Sa. xii. 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.' ver. 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 Is. ii., 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.* Third. There is a fear of God, which, although it hath not in it that power as to make men flee from God's presence, yet it is ungodly, because, even while they are in the outward way of God's ordinances, their hearts are by it quite discouraged from attempting to exercise themselves in the power of religion. Of this sort are they which dare not cast off the hearing, reading, and discourse of the word as others; no, nor the assembly of God's children for the exercise of other religious duties, for their conscience is convinced this is the way and worship of God. But yet their heart, as I said, by this ungodly fear, is kept from a powerful gracious falling in with God. This fear takes away their heart from all holy and godly prayer in private, and from all holy and godly zeal for his name in public, and there be many professors whose hearts are possessed with this ungodly fear of God; and they are intended by the slothful one. He was a servant, a servant among the servants of God, and had gifts and abilities given him, therewith to serve Christ, as well as his fellows, yea, and was commanded too, as well as the rest, to occupy till his master came. But what does he? Why, he takes his talent, the gift that he was to lay out for his master's profit, and puts it in a napkin, digs a hole in the earth, and hides his lord's money, and lies in a lazy manner at to-elbow all his days, not out of, but in his lord's vineyard; for he came among the servants also at last. By which it is manifest that he had not cast off his profession, but was slothful and negligent while he was in it. But what was it that made him thus slothful? What was it that took away his heart, while he was in the way, and that discouraged him from falling in with the power and holy practice of religion according to the talent he received? Why, it was this, he gave way to an ungodly fear of God, and that took away his heart * The fear of the wicked arises from a corrupt, sinful, selfcondemning conscience; they fear God as an angry judge, and therefore consider him as their enemy. As they love and will not part with their sins, so they are in continual dread of punishment.-Mason. To-elbow all his days in his lord's vineyard; to sit or stand idly resting upon his elbows, instead of labouring in the vineyard. A sovereign shame so elbows him.'-King Lear, Act iv. Scene 3.-ED. from the power of religious duties. Lord,' said he, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept, laid up in a napkin, for I feared thee.' Why, man, doth the fear of God make a man idle and slothful? No, no; that is, if it be right and godly. This fear was therefore evil fear; it was that ungodly fear of God which I have here been speaking of. For I feared thee, or as Matthew hath it, for I was afraid.' Afraid of what? Of Christ, that he was an hard man, reaping where he sowed not, and gathering where he had not strawed.' This his fear, being ungodly, made him apprehend of Christ contrary to the goodness of his nature, and so took away his heart from all endeavours to be doing of that which was pleasing in his sight. Lu. xix. 20. Mat. xxv. 24, 25. And thus do all those that retain the name and show of religion, but are neglecters as to the power and godly practice of it. These will live like dogs and swine in the house; they pray not, they watch not their hearts, they pull not their hands out of their bosoms to work, they do not strive against their lusts, nor will they ever resist unto blood, striving against sin; they cannot take up their cross, or improve what they have to God's glory. Let all men therefore take heed of this ungodly fear, and shun it as they shun the devil, for it will make them afraid where no fear is. It will tell them that there is a lion in the street, the unlikeliest place in the world for such a beast to be in; it will put a vizard upon the face of God, most dreadful and fearful to behold, and then quite discourage the soul as to his service; so it served the slothful servant, and so it will serve thee, poor sinner, if thou entertainest it, and givest way thereto. But, Fourth. This ungodly fear of God shows itself also in this. It will not suffer the soul that is governed thereby to trust only to Christ for justification of life, but will bend the powers of the soul to trust partly to the works of the law. Many of the Jews were, in the time of Christ and his apostles, possessed with this ungodly fear of God, for they were not as the former, to wit, as the slothful servant, to receive a talent and hide it in the earth in a napkin, but they were an industrious people, they followed after the law of righteousness, they had a zeal of God and of the religion of their fathers; but how then did they come to miscarry? Why, their fear of God was ungodly; it would not suffer them wholly to trust to the righteousness of faith, which is the imputed righteousness of Christ. They followed after the law of righteousness, but attained not to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. But what was it that made them join their works of the law with Christ, but their unbelief, whose foundation was ignorance and fear? They were afraid to venture all in one bot tom, they thought two strings to one bow would be best, and thus betwixt two stools they came to the ground. And hence, to fear and to doubt, are put together as being the cause one of another; yea, they are put ofttimes the one for the other; thus ungodly fear for unbelief: 'Be not afraid, only believe,' and therefore he that is overruled and carried away with this fear, is coupled with the unbeliever that is thrust out from the holy city among the dogs. But the fearful and unbelievers, and murderers are without. Re. xxi. 8. The fearful and unbelieving,' you see, are put together; for indeed fear, that is, this ungodly fear, is the ground of unbelief, or, if you will, unbelief is the ground of fear, this fear: but I stand not upon nice distinctions. This ungodly fear hath a great hand in keeping of the soul from trusting only to Christ's righteousness for justification of life. Fifth. This ungodly fear of God is that which will put men upon adding to the revealed will of God their own inventions, and their own performances of them, as a means to pacify the anger of God. For the truth is, where this ungodly fear reigneth, there is no end of law and duty. When those that you read of in the book of Kings were destroyed by the lions, because they had set up idolatry in the land of Israel, they sent for a priest from Babylon that might teach them the manner of the God of the land; but behold when they knew it, being taught it by the priest, yet their fear would not suffer them to be content with that worship only. They feared the Lord,' saith the text, and served their own gods.' And again, So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images.' 2 Ki. xvii. It was this fear also that put the Pharisees upon inventing so many traditions, as the washing of cups, and beds, and tables, and basons, with abundance of such other like gear, * none knows the many dangers that an ungodly fear of God will drive a man into. Mar. vii. How has it racked and tortured the Papists for hundreds of years together! for what else is the cause but this ungodly fear, at least in the most simple and harmless of them, of their penances, as creeping to the cross, going barefoot on pilgrimage, whipping themselves, wearing of sackcloth, saying so many Pater-nosters, so many Ave-marias, making so many confessions to the priest, giving so much money for pardons, and abundance of other the like, but this ungodly fear of God? For could they be brought to believe this doctrine, that Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification, and to apply it by faith with godly boldness to their own souls, this fear would vanish, and so consequently all those things with which they so needlessly and unprofitably afflicted themselves, * 'Gear;' apparel, furniture, implements. The apostles were not fixed in their residence, but were ready in their gears to move whither they were called.'-Barrow.-ED. offend God, and grieve his people. Therefore, gentle reader, although my text doth bid that indeed thou shouldest fear God, yet it includeth not, nor accepteth of any fear; no, not of any [or every] fear of God. For there is, as you see, a fear of God that is ungodly, and that is to be shunned as their sin. Wherefore thy wisdom and thy care should be, to see and prove thy fear to be godly, which shall be the next thing that I shall take in hand. THIRD. The third thing that I am to speak to is, that there is a fear of God in the heart of some men that is good and godly, but yet doth not for ever abide 80. Or you may take it thus-There is a fear of God that is godly but for a time. In my speaking to, and opening of this to you, I shall observe this method. First. I shall show you what this fear is. Second. I shall show you by whom or what this fear is wrought in the heart. Third. I shall show you what this fear doth in the soul. And, Fourth, I shall show you when this fear is to have an end. First. For the first, this fear is an effect of sound awakenings by the word of wrath which begetteth in the soul a sense of its right to eternal damnation; for this fear is not in every sinner; he that is blinded by the devil, and that is not able to see that his state is damnable, he hath not this fear in his heart, but he that is under the powerful work. ings of the word of wrath, as God's elect are at first conversion, he hath this godly fear in his heart; that is, he fears that that damnation will come upon him, which by the justice of God is due unto him, because he hath broken his holy law. This is the fear that made the three thousand cry out, Men and brethren, what shall we do?' and that made the jailer cry out, and that with great trembling of soul, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' Ac. ii, xvi. The method of God is to kill and make alive, to smite and then heal; when the commandment came to Paul, sin revived, and he died, and that law which was ordained to life, he found to be unto death; that is, it passed a sentence of death upon him for his sins, and slew his conscience with that sentence. Therefore from that time that he heard that word, Why persecutest thou me?' which is all one as if he had said, Why dost thou commit murder? he lay under the sentence of condemnation by the law, and under this fear of that sentence in his conscience. He lay, I say, under it, until that Ananias came to him to comfort him, and to preach unto him the forgiveness of sins. Ac. ix. The fear therefore that now I call godly, it is that fear which is properly called the fear of eternal damnation for sin, and this fear, at first awakening, is good and godly, because it ariseth in the soul from a true sense of its very state. Its state by nature is damnable, because it is sinful, and because he is not one that as yet believeth in |