3. Unbelief makes men negligent and careless in providing for troubles before they come, and so brings them by way of surprise upon them : and the more surprising any evil is, the more fright- ful it is always found to be : we cannot think that Noah was so affrighted at the flood, when it began to swell above all the hills and mountains, as all the rest of the world were ; nor was there
* Mvltajidem promissa levant, i. e. Many promises support faith.
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any reason that he should, having foreseen it by faith, and made provision for it, Heb. xi. 7. Byjaith Noah, being warned of God, jjrejyared an ark. * Augustine relates a very pertinent and memor- able story of Paulinus, bisliop of Nola, who was a very rich man both in goods and grace : he had much of the world in his hands, but little of it in his heart; and it was well there was not, for the Goths, a barbarous people, breaking into that city, like so many devils, fell upon the prey ; those that trusted to the treasures which they had, were deceived and ruined by them, for the rich were put to tortures to confess where they had hid their monies : This good bishop fell into their hands, and lost all he had, but was scarce moved at the loss, as appears by his prayer, which my author relates thus : Lo7'd, let me not he trouhledfor my gold and silver : thou knowest it is not my treasure ; that I have laid up in heaven, accord- ingto thy command. I was warned qf this judgment hejbreit came, and provided Jbr it ; and where all my iiiierest lies, Lord, thou knowesf. Thus Mr. Bradford, when the keeper's wife came running into his chamber suddenly, with words able to have put the most men in the world into a trembling posture : Oh, Mr. Bradford ! I bring you heavy tidings; to-morrow you must be burned, and your chain is now buying : He put off his hat, and said, Lord, I thank thee ; I have looked Jbr this a great while, it is not terrible to me ; God make me worthy qf such a mercy. See the benefit of a prospect of, and preparation for sufferings !
4. Unbelief leaves our dearest interests and concerns in our own hands, it commits nothing to God, and consequently must needs fill the heart with distracting fears when imminent dangers threa- ten us. Reader, if this be thy case, thou wilt be a Magor Missa- bib, surrounded with terrors, whensoever thou shalt be surround- ed with dangers and troubles. Believers in this, as well as in many other things, have the advantage of thee, that they have commit- ted all that is precious and valuable to them into the hands of God by faith, to him they have committed the keeping of their souls, 1 Pet. iv. 19. and all their eternal concernments, 2 Tim. i. 16. And these being put into safe hands, they are not distracted with fears about other matter of less value, but can trust them where they have entrusted the greater, and enjoy the quietness and peace of a resigned soul to God, Prov. xvi. 3. But as for thee, thy life, thy liberty, yea, which is infinitely more than all these things, thy soul will lie upon thy hands in the day of trouble, and thou wilt not know what to do with them, nor which way to. dispose of them. Oh ! these be the dreadful straits and frights that unbelief leaves men in ; it is a fountain of fears and distractions. And indeed it
* Aug. de Civi'ta. Dei, lib. 1. cap, 10.
^2()6 A PRACTICAL TREATIf-E OF FEAE.
cannot but distract and confound carnal men, in whom it reigns, and is in its full strength, when sad experience shev/s us what fears and tremblings the very remains and reliques of this sin beget in the best men, who are not fully freed from it. If the unpurged reliques of unbelief in them can thus darken and cloud their evi- dences, thus greaten and multiply their dangers ; if it can draw such sad and frightful conclusions in their hearts, notwithstand- ing all the contrary experience of their lives, as we see in that sad instance, 1 Sara, xxvii. 1. what panic fears and unrelieved terrors must it put those men under, where it is in its full strength and do- minion ?
Cause 4. Moreover, we shall find many of our fears raised and provoked in us by the promiscuous administrations of providence in this world, when we read in scripture, " that there is one event to '' the righteous and to the wicked, and all things come alike to all/^ Eccl. ix. 2. that when the sword is drawn, God suffers it to cut off the righteous and the wicked, Ezek. xxi. 3. The sword makes no difference where God hath made so great a difference by grace ; it neither distinguishes faces nor breasts, but is as soon sheathed in the bowels of the best as the worst of men. When we read how the same fire of God's indignation devours the green tree and the dry tree, Ezek. xx. 47. how the baskets of good figs (the emblem of the best men of those times) were carried into Babylon as well as the bad, Jer. xxiv. 5. how the flesh of God's saints hath been given for meat to the fowls of heaven, and to the beasts of the field, Psal. xcvii. 12. and how the wicked have devoured the man that is more righteous than himself, as it is Hab. i. 13. I say, when we observe such things in scripture, and find our observations confirmed by the accounts and histories of former and later ages ; when we reflect upon the unspeakable miseries and butcheries of those plain heart- ed and precious servants of Christ, the Albigenses and Waldenses, how they fell as a prey to their cruel adversaries, notwithstanding the convincing simplicity and holiness of their lives, and all their fervent cries and appeals to God ; how the very flower of the re- formed Protestant interest in France was cut off with more than barbarous inhumanity, so that the streets were washed, and the ca- nals of Paris ran with their precious blood ; what horrid and unparalleled torture the servants of God felt in that cruel massacre in Ireland, a history too tragical for a tender-hearted reader to stay long upon ; and how, in our own land, the most eminent ministers and Christians were sent to heaven in a fiery chariot in those dread- ful Marian days : I say, when we read and consider such things as these, it rouses our fears, and puts us into frights, when we see ourselves threatened with the same enemies and danger ; when the feet of them that carried out the dear servants of God in bloody
A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF FEAR. S67
wlnding-slieets to their graves, stand at the door to carry us forth next, if providence loose their chain, and give them a permission so to do ; and our fears, on this account, are heightened, by consider- ing and involving these four things in our thoughts, which we are always more inclined to do, than the things that should fortify our faith, and heighten our Christian courage. As,