2. Another excellent use of this fear is, to preserve the purity and peace of our consciences, by preventing grief and guilt therein, Prov. xvi. 6. " The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil." See how it kept Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 9. and Nehemiah, chap. v. 15. And this benefit is invaluable, especially in a day of outward ca- lamity and distress. Look, in what degree the fear of God prevails in our hearts, answerable thereunto will the serenity, peace, and quietness of our consciences be ; and proportionable unto that will our strength and comfort be in the evil day, and our courage and confidence to look dangers in the face.
3. To conclude, a principal use of this fear of God is, to awaken us to make timely provisions for future distresses, that whensoever they come, they may not come by way of sui-prize upon us. Thus " Noah, being moved with fear, prepared an ark," Heb. xi. 7. It was the instrument of his and his family's salvation. Some men owe their death to their fears, but good men, in a sense, owe their lives to their fears ; sinful fears have slain some, and godly fears have saved others. " A wise man feareth and departeth from evil, '^ (saith Solomon) but a fool rageth and is confident. His fears give him a timely alarm before the enemy fall into his quarters, and beat them up; by this means he hath time to get into his chambers of security and rest before the storm fall : But the fool " rageth, and is confident," he never fears till he begin to feel ; yea, most time be is past all hope before be begin to have any iear.
S58 A PRACTICAL TBEATISE OF FEAR.
These are some of the uses God makes of the several kinds of fear.
JV7ierein the spi^'ing and causes qfsbifuljear ai'c searched outy and the evils of such fears thence discovered.
Sect. l.iXAVING shewn before, the kmds and uses of fear; it remains, that next we search out the springs from which these waters of Marah are derived and fed. And,
Cause 1. Firsts We shall find the sinful fears of most good men to spring out of their ignorance, and the darkness of their own minds; all darkness disposes to fear, but none like intellectual darkness. You read. Cant. iii. 8. how Solomon's life-guard had every man his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. The night is the frightful season, in the dark every bush is a bear; we sometimes smile by day, to see what silly things those were that scared us in the nighL So it is here; were our judgments but duly informed, how soon would our hearts be quieted .''
Now there is a live-fold ignorance, out of which our fears are generated :
1. Ignorance of God : Either we know not, or at least do not duly consider his Almighty Power, vigilant care, unspotted faith- fulness, and how they are all engaged, by covenant, for his peo- ple. This ignorance, and inconsiderateness, lay at the root of their fears, Isa. xl. 27, 28. " My way (saith Zion) is hid from the '' Lord, and my judgment passed over from my God:" Words importing a suspicion that God hath left her out of the account of his providence, and the catalogue of those whom we would look after, and take care for.
But were it once thoroughly understood and believed, what power there is in God's hand to defend us, what tenderness in his bowels to commiserate us, what faithfulness in all the promises, in which they are made over to us, O how quiet and calm would our hearts be ! Our courage would quickly be up, and our fears down.
2. Our ignorance of men generate our fears of men ; we fear them, because we do not know them ; if we understood them bet- ter, we would fear them less'; we over-value them, and then fright at them. They say the lion is painted more fierce than he is; I am sure our fancy paints out man more dreadful than indeed he is ; if wicked men, especially if multitudes of wicked men be con-
A PRACTICAL TREATISF. OF FEAIt. 259
federated against iis, our hearts fail, and presently apprehend in- evitable ruin. " The floods of the ungodly made me afraid,'' saith David, i. e. the multitudes of them which he thought, hke a flood or mighty torrent of water, must needs sweep away such a straw, such a feather, as he was, before them ; but, in the mean time, we know or consider not that they have no power against us, but what is given them from above, and that it is usual with God to cramp their hands, and clap on the bands of restraint upon them, when their hearts are fully set in them to do mischief: did we see and consider them as they are in the hand of our God, we should not tremble at them as we do.
3. Ignorance of ourselves, and the relation we have to God, creates slavish fears in our hearts, Isa. li. 12. for did believers but thoroughly understand how dear they are to God, what relations they sustain to him, of what account and value they are in his eyes, and how well they are secured by his faithful promises and gracious presence, they would not start and tremble at every noise and appear- ance of danger, as ihey do. God reckoned it enough, to cure all Abraham's sinful fears, when he told him hov/ his God stood en- gaged for his defence. Gen. xv. 1. " Fear not Abraham, I am thy "shield."
And noble Nehemiah valued himself in times of danger and fear, by his interest in God, as his words import, Neh. vi. 11. The conspiracy against him was strong, tlie danger he and the faithful with him at that time were in, was extraordinary ; some, therefore advised to flee to the temple, and barricado themselves there, against the enemy : But Nehemiah understood himself better ; Should such a man as I flee ? And iclio^ helng as I am, should jieef saith he, q. d. A man so called of God to this service, at man under such promises, a man of such manifold and manifest experiences, should such a man flee ? 'Let others, who have no such encourage- ments, flee if they will ; for my part, I will not flee. I remember it was an argument used by * TertuUian, to quiet the fears, and stay the flight of Christians in those bloody times : Art thou afraid of a man, O Christian ! when devils are afraid of thee, as a prisoner of his judge, and whom the world ought to fear, as being one that shall judge the world. O that we could, without pride and vanity, but value ourselves duly, according to our Christian dignities and pri- vileges, which, if ever it be necessary to count over and value, it is in such times of danger and fear, when the heart is so prone to dejection and sinking fears.
" Art thou afraid of a man, O Christian ! who should be feared by angels, sinre thou art to judge angels; who shouldst be feared by devils, since thou hast got power over devils ; who shouldsf be feared by all the world, since all the world is to be judged by thee. TertiU. on Fear.
260 A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF FEAR-
4. Ignorance of our dangers and troubles, causes our frights and terrors, we mistake tliem, and therelbre are frighted at them : we are ignorant of two things in our troubles among others^ viz.
1. The comforts that are in them.