CHAP V
A Practical Treatise of Fear.
the lower world with terrible flashes of lightning. And I doubtnotbuthehath, by the same permission, a great deal of influence and power upon the fancies and passions of men; and canraife more terrible storms and tempests within us, than ever we heard or felt without us : he canbyleavefromGod, approach our phantalies,disturb and trouble them exceedingly by forming frightful ideas there; for Satan not only works upon men mediately, by the ministry of their external senses, but by reason of his spiritual, angelical nature, hecanhaveimmediate access to the internal sense also, as appears by diabolical dreams ; and by practising upon thatpowerofthe soul, he influences the passions of it, and puts it under very dreadful apprehenfions andconsternations. Now if Satan can provoke and exasperate the fury and rage of wicked men, as it is evidenthecando, as well as he cango to the magazines and store-housesofthunder, lightnings, and storms: O what inward forms of fear can he shake our hearts withal, and if God give him but a permission, how ready will hebe to do it, seeing itissoconducible to hisdefign : for by putting men into such frights, he at once weakens their hands in duty, as is plain from his attempt his way upon Nehemiah, chap. vi. 13. and if he prevail there, he drives them intothesnaresandtrains of his temptations,as the fisherman and fowler do the birds and fishes into their nets, when once they have flushed and frighted them out of their coverts . And thus you have some account of the principal and true causes of our sinful fears.
CHAP .
Laying open thefinfuland lamentable effects off lavish and inordinate fear, both in carnal and regenerate persons .
Sect. I. HAVING taken aviewinthe former chapters of the kinds and causes of fear, and seen what lies at the root of slavish fear, and both breeds and feeds it, what fruitcanweexpect from such a cursed plant,but gall andwormwood, fruit as bitter as death itself? Let us then, in the next place, examine and well consider these following and deplorable effects of fear, to excite us to apply ourselves the more concernedlytothosedirectionsthat follow in the close of this treatise, for the cure of it. And, Effect 1. The first effect of this sinful and exorbitant passion is distraction of mind and thoughts in duty : Both Cicero and Quintilian will have the word tumultus, a tumult, to come from E2 J
A Practical Treatise of Fear. timormultus, much fear, it is acompoundofthose two words; much fear raises great uproars and tumults in the soul, and puts all into hurries and distractions, so that we cannot attend upon any service of God, with profit or comfort.
It was therefore a very necessary mercy that was requested of God, Luke i. 74.
" That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, " might serve him without fear."
For it is impossible to serve God without distractions, till we can serve him without the lavith fear of enemies.
The reverential fear of God is the greatest spur to duty, andchoicest help in it, but the distracting fears of men will either wholly divert us from our duty, or destroy the comfort and benefit of our duties; it is a deadly snare of the devil to hinder all comfortable intercourse with God.
It is very remarkable, that when the apostle was giving his advice to the Corinthians, about marriage in those times of persecution, and difficulty,he commends to them a single life as most eligible : Where it may be without sinful inconveniencies, and that principally for this reason, " That they might attend upon " the Lord without distraction," 1 Cor. vii. 35. He foresaw what straits, cares, and fears must unavoidably distract them in • such times that were most clogged and incumbred with families and relations ; when am an should be thinking, O what thall I do now to get my doubts and fears resolved about my interest in Christ ? How may I so behave myself in my sufferings as to credit religion, and not become a scandal and stumbling-stone to others ?
His thoughts are taken up with other cares and fears: O what will become of my wife and poor little ones ? What shall I do with them, and for them, to fecurethem from danger.
I doubt not but it isa great design of the devil to keep us in continual alarms and frights, and to puzzle our heads and hearts with a thousand difficulties,which possibly may never befal us, or if they do, shall never prove so fatal to us as we fancy them, and all this is to unfit us for our present duties, and destroy our com. fort therein ; for if by frights and terrorsofmindhecanbutonce distract our thoughts, he gains three great points upon us, to our unspeakable loss.
1. Hereby he will cut off the freedom and sweetness of our communion with God in duties, and what an empty shell will the best duties be, when this kernel is wormed out by such a subtle artifice ? Prayer, as Damafcen aptly expresses it is
᾿Ανάβασις τε νε, the ascension of the mind or foul to God; but distraction clips its wings; he can never offer up his soul and thoughts to God, that hath not the possession of them himself
A Practical Treatise of Fear.
and he that is under distracting fears possesseth not himself.
The life of all communion with God in prayer, consists in the harmony that is betwixt our hearts and words, and both with the will of God ; this harmony is spoiledbydistractions, and fo
Satangains that point.
2.But this is not all he gains, and we lose,by distracting fears; for as they cut off the freedom and sweetness of our intercourse with God in prayer, so they cut off the foul from the succours and reliefs it might otherwise draw from the promises.
We find when the Ifraelities were in great bondage, wherein their minds were distracted with fears and sorrows, they regarded not the supporting promises of deliverance sent them by Moses,
Exod. vi. 3. Davidhad an express and particular promise of the kingdom from the mouth of God,which must needs include his deliverance out of the hand of Saul, and all his stratagems to destroy him ; but yet, when eminent hazards were before his eyes, he was afraid, and that fear betrayed the succours from the promise, so that it drew a quite contrary conclusion,
1 Sam. xxvii. 1. " I shall one day perish by the hand ofSaul : "
And again he is at the same point, Psal. cxvi. 11. "Allmen " are liars," not excepting Samuel himself, who had assured him of the kingdom.
This is always the property and nature of fear(as I the wed before) to makemen distrust the best security when they are in eminent peril : But oh ! what a mischief is this to make us suspicious of the promises, which are our chief relief and support in times of trouble : Our fears will unfit us for prayer, they will also shake the credit of the promises with us; and so great is the damage we receive both ways, that it were better for us to lose our two eyes, than two such advantages in trouble.
But, 3. This is not all, by our present fears, we lose the benefit and comfort of all our past experiences, and the singular relief we might have from all that faithfulness and goodness of God, which our eyes have seen in former straights and dangers, the present fear clouds them all, Ifa. li. 12, 13. Men and dangers are so much minded, that God is forgotten, eventheGod that hath hitherto preserved us, though our former fears told us, theenemywasdailyready to devour us. All these sweet reliefs are cut off from us by our distracting fears, and that at a time when we have most need of them .
Effect 2. Diffimulation and hypocrisy are the fruit of slavish fear; distraction you fee is bad enough, butdissimulation is worse than distraction, and yet as bad as it is, fear hath driven goodmen into this spare; it will make even an upright foul
A Practical Treatise of Fear. warp and bend from the rules of that integrity and candor, which should be inseparable at all times from a Christian : of whom (faith God to his Israel) haft thou been afraid, that thou hast lied, and haft not remembered me ?God finds falshood, and charges it upon fear, q. d. I know it was against the resolutions of my people's hearts thus todissemble, this certainly is the effect of a fright; who is he that hath scared you into this evil?
It was Abraham's fear that made him dissemble to the reproach of his religion, Gen. xx. 2, 11. And indeed it was but an odd fight to fee an heathen so schooling and reproving great Abraham about it, as he there doth .
It was nothing but fear that drew his son Isaac into the like snare, Gen. xxvi. 7. And it was fear that overcame Peter against his promise, as well as principle, to say concerning his dear Saviour, I know not the man, Matth. xxvi. 69. Had Abraham at that time remembered, and acted his faith freely upon what the Lord said to him, Gen. xvii. 1. Fear not, Abraham,
I am thy shield, he had escaped both the fin and the shame into which he fell, but even that great believer was foiled by his own fears ; and certainly this is a great evil, a complicated mischief.
For, 1. By these falls and scandals, religion is made vile and contemptible in the eyes of the world, it reflects with much reproach upon God and his promises, as if his word were not sufficient security for us to rely upon in times of trouble, as if it were safer trufssing to our wit, yea, to fin, than to the promises.
2. Itgreatlyweakens the hands of others, and proves a fore discouragement to them in their trials, to see their brethren faint for fear, and ashamed to own their principles; sometimes it hath this mischievous effect, but it is always improved by Satanandwickedmentothis purpose.
And, 3. It will be a terrible blow and wound to our own consciences, for such flaws in our integrity we maybe kept waking and sighing many a night ; O fee the mischiefs of a timorous and faint spirit !
Effect 3. Slavish fears of the creature exceedingly strengthen our temptations in times of danger, and make them very efficacious and prevalent upon us, Prov. xxix. 25. The fear of man brings afnare. Satan spreads the net, but we are not within its reach, till our own fears drive us into it; the recoiling of our spirits from some imminent dangers, may cause the pulse of a true Christian to intermit and faulter, how regular soever it beats atothertimes; this will cause great trepidationand timi.
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dityinmen that are sincere and upright, and that is it that brings the snare over their fouls. Aaronwas agoodman, and idolatry he knew to be a great fin, yet fear prevailed with that good man to give too much way to that great evil, Exod. xxxii.
22. Thou knoweft the people that they arefet upon mischief, faith he, in his own excuse in the matter of the golden calf, q. d.
Lord, I durst do no otherwise at that time, the people were violently and paflionately set upon it; had I resisted them, it might have cost me dear.
It was fear that prevailedwithOrigen to yield fo far as he did in offering incense to the idol, the consideration of which fact brake his heart to pieces.
It was nothing but fear that made David play the fool, and act so dishonourably as he did, I Sam. xxi . 12. Fear is a snare in which Satan hath caught as many fouls as inanyother of his ftratagems andfnares whatsoever.
It were ealy to give instances, so many and so sad, as would enlarge this head even to tediousuess,but I chuse rather to come to the particulars, wherein the danger of this snare of the devil consists.
And, 1. Herein lies the ensnaringdanger of sinful fear, that it drives men out of their proper flat i on, out of their place and duty, beside which there is none to be found, but what is Satan'sground.
The subtle enemy of our salvation is aware that we are outofgun-shot,beyond his reach, whilst we abide with God in the way of our duty, that the Lord is with us, whilst we are with him, and there is no attempting our ruin, under the wings of his protection.
I fever, therefore, he meaneth to do any thing upon us, he must get us off that ground, and from under those wings; and there is nothing like fear to do this: then we are as the birds that are wandering from their nests, Prov. xxvii. 8. or like Shimei out of his limits.
2. Fear is usually the first passion in the foul that beats a parley with the enemy, and treats with the tempter about terms of rendition ; and, as the French proverb is, The castle that parleys, is half won .
It is fear that consults with flesh and blood, whilst faith is engaged with God for the supply of strength to endure the siege. We have a sad, and doleful instance of this in Spira ; he tells us how his own fears betrayed him, byparleying with the tempter: for thus Mr. Bacon, in the history of his life, records the occasion of his fall.
Whilst • Spira ws tossing upon the restless waves of doubts, without *guide to trust to, or haven to flee for fuccour, on a sudden,
•God'sfpirit assisting, he felt a calm, and began to discourse •with himself in this manner :
Whywanderest thou thus :
A Practical Treatise of Fear.
" inuncertainties ? Unhappy man! cast away fear, put on thy " shield of faith; where is thywonted courage, thy goodness,
" thy constancy ? Remember that Christ'sglory lies at the stake, " suffer then without fear, and he will defend thee, he will tell
" thee what thou shalt answer; he can beat down all danger, " bring thee out of prison, raise thee from the dead; confider
" Peter in the dungeon, the martyrs in the fire, &c."
• Now was Spira in reasonable quiet, being resolved to yield • to those weighty reasons; yet holding it wisdom to examine
•all things, he consults, also, with flesh, and blood; thus the •battlerenews, and the flesh begins, in this manner : ' Be well
" advised, fond man, consider reasons on both sides, and then " judge: how canst thou thus overween thine own fufficiency,
" as thou neither regardest the examples of thy progenitors, " nor the judgment of the whole church ? Dost thou not con- " sider what misery this day's rashness will bring thee unto ?
" Thou shalt lose all thy substance gotten with so much care, " and travail, thou shalt undergo the most exquisite torments
" that malice itselfcandevise, thou shalt be counted an heretic " of all, and to close up all, thou shalt die shamefully.
What " thinkest thou of the loathsome stinking dungeon, the bloody " ax, the burning faggot? Are they delightful ? &c."
Thus through fear he first parleyed with thetempter, confultedwith flesh and blood, and at last fainted, and yielded.
3. It is fear that makes men impatient ofwaitingGod's time, and method of deliverance, and so precipitates the soul, and drives it into the snare of the next temptation. Ifa. li. 14. "The 46 captive exile hasteth to be delivered out of the pit." Any way, or means of escape, that comes next to hand, faith fear, is better than to lie here in the pit; and when the soul is thus prepared, by its own fears, it becomes an easy prey to the next temptation ; by all which you see the mischief that comes by fear, in times of danger.
Effect 4. Fear naturallyproduceth pusillanimity and cowardliness in men, a poor, low spirit, that presently faints, and yields upon every flight assault.
It extinguisheth all Christian courage, and magnanimity, where-ever it prevails ; and therefore you find it joined, frequently in the scriptures, with difcouragement.
Deut. i. 21. " Fear not, neither be discouraged, " with fainting, and trembling. " Deut. xx. 3. " Let not your
" hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble ;" with dismayedness, Deut. xxxi. 6. and faint-heartedness, Ifa. vii. 4. these are the effects, and confequents of sinful fear. And how dangerous athing it is, to have our courage extinguished, and faint-
A Practical Treatise of Fear.
ness of heart prevail upon us, in a time when we have thegreatestneed, and use of courage, and our perseverance, peace, and eternal happiness rely, and depend so much upon it, let all serious Christians judge.
It is sad to us, and dishonourable to religion, to have the hearts of women, as it is said of Egypt,
Ifa. xix. 16. when we should play the men, as the apostle exhorts us, I Cor. xvi. 13. We find, in all ages, those that have manifested most courage for Christ in time of trial, have been those whose faith hath fur mounted fear, and whose hearts were above all discouragements from this world.
Such a man was Basil, as appears by his answer to Valens, the emperor ; who tempting him with offers of preferment, received this answer, offer these things, said he, to children : and when he threatened him with grievous sufferings, he replied ;
Threaten these things to your purple gallants, that give themselves to pleasure, and are afraid to die.
And this was the spirit of courage and magnanimitywith which the generality of the primitive Christians were animated ; they feared not the faces of tyrants, they shrunk not from the most cruel torments : and it redounded not a little to the credit ofChriftianity, when one of Julian's nobles, present at the tormenting of Marcus,bishop ofArethusa, told the apostate to his face, We are ashamed, O emperor, the Christians laugh at your cruelty, and grow more resolute by it.
So Lactantius alsoteftifies of them, Our women and children, faith he, not to speak of men, overcame their torments, and the fire cannot fetch so much asafighfrom them.
If carnal fear once get the ascendant over us, all our courage and resolution will flag and melt away ; we mayfuffer out of unavoidable necessity, but shall never honour
Christ and religion by our sufferings.
Effect 5. Carnal fear is the very root of apostacy, it hath made thousands of professors to faint and fall away in the hour of temptation.
It is not so much from the fury of our enemies without, as from our fears within, that temptations become victorious over us .
From the beginning of fears, Christ dates the beginning of apostasy, Matth. xxiv. 9, 10. " Then shall
" theydeliveryou up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye " shall be hated of all nations for my name's fake, and then
" shall many be offended."
When troubles and dangers come to an height, then fears begin to work at an height too, and then is the critical hour ; fears are high, and faith is low; temptation strong, and resistance weak : Satan knocks at the door, and fear opens it, and yields up the soul to him, except
VOL . IV.
A Practical Treatise of Fear. special aid and assistance come in seatonably from heaven; fo long as we can profess religion without any great hazard of life, liberty, or estares, we may thew much zeal and forwardness in the ways ofgodliness: but when it comes to the sharps, to refiftingunto blood, few will be found to own and assert it openly in the face of fuchdangers.
The first retreat is usually made fromafreeandopen, toaclofeand concealed practice of religion; pot opening our windows, as Daniel did, to shewwe care not who knows we dare worship our God, and are not ashamed of our duties, but hiding our principles and practice with all the art and care imaginable,reckoningitwellifwe canescapedanger by letting fall our profession which mightexposeus to it : but if the inquestgo on, and we cannot befecuredany longer under this refuge, we must comply with false worship, and give some open signal,that we do so, or else be marked out for ruin ; then faith fear, Give a little more ground, and retreat to the next security, which is to comply seemingly with that which we do not allow, hoping God will be merciful to us, and accept us, if we keep our hearts for him, though we are forced thus to dissemble and hide our principles.
Eamus ad communem errorem, said Calderinus, when going to the mass, Let usgo to the common error ; and, as Seneca adviseth about worshipping the Roman gods, In animi religione non habeat, fed in ačtibus fingat ; let us make a semblance and shew of worshipping them, though our hearts give no religious respect to them.
But if still the temptation hunts us farther, and we come to be more narrowly sifted, and put to a severer test, by subscribing contrary articles, or renouncing our former avowed principles, and that upon penalty of death, and loss of all that is dear to us in this world ; now nothing in all the world hazards our eternal salvation, as our own fears will do; this is like to be the rock on which we shall split all, and make an horrible shipwreck both of truth and peace.
This was the case of Cranmer, whose fears caused him to subscribe against the dictates of his ownconfcience, and cowardly to betray the known truth ; and indeed there is no temptation in the world that hath overthrown so many, as that which hath been backed and edged with fear; the love ofpreferments and honours hath slain its thousands, but fear offufferings its ten thousands.
Effect 6. Sinful fear puts menundergreat bondage of spirit, and makes death a thousand times more terrible and intolerable than it would otherwise be to us.
You read of some, Heb. ii.
16. " who through the fear of death were all their life-timefub- " ject to bondage," i. e it kept them ina miserable anxiety and
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perplexity of mind, like slaves that tremble at the whip which isheldover them; thus many thousands live under the lash; foterrible is the name of Death, especially a violent death, that they are not able with patience to hear it mentioned; which gave the ground of that saying, Praeftat femel, quam femper mori; it is better to die once, than to be dying always . And surely there is not a more miserable life any poor creature can live, than such a trembling life as this is.
For, 1. Such a bondage as this destroys all the comfort and pleasure of life; no pleasure can grow or thrive under the shadow of this cursed plant.
Nil ei beatum cui femper aliquis terror impendet, faith Cicero *, all the comforts we possess in this world are embittered by it.
It is storied of Democles, a flatterer ofDionyfius the tyrant, that he told him he was the happiestmaninthe world, having wealth, power, majesty, and abundance of all things: Dionyfius sets the flatterer in all his ownpomp ata table furnished with all daintes, and attended upon as a king, but with a heavy sharp sword hanging by a finglehorse hair right over his head; this made him quake and tremble, fo that he could neither eat nor drink, but desired to be freed from that estate.
The design was to convince him how miserable a life they live, who live under the continual terrors of impending death and ruin.
It was afore judgment which God threatened against them in Jer. v. 6. " A lion out
" of the forest shall flay them, and a wolf of the evening " thall spoil them; a leopard shall watch over their cities, every
" one thatgoeth out thence, shall be torn in pieces."
What amiferable life must those people live, who could not stir out of the city, but they presently were seized by lions, wolves, and leopards, that watched over them, and lurked in all the avenues to make them a prey ! and yet this is more tolerable than for am an's own fear to watch continually over him.
2. And yet I could wish this were the worst of it, and that our fears destroyed no better comforts than the natural comforts of this life : but, alas, they alfodestroy our spiritual comforts, which we might have from God's promises, and our own and others experiences, which are incomparably the sweetest pleasures men have in this world: but as no creature-comfort is pleasant, so no pro mile relishes like itself to him that lives in this bondage of fear; when the terrors of death are great, the confolations of the Almighty are small.
*Cicer. Tufc. Q. 15.
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Inthewrittenwordare found all forts of refreshing, strengthening, and heart-reviving promises, prepared by the wisdom and care of God for our relief in the days of darkness and trouble; promises of support under the heaviest burdens and pressures, Ifa. xli. 10. " Fear not, for I am with thee; be notdifmayed, for I am thy God ; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right-hand of my righteousness." A promise able to make the most timorous and trembling foul to shout with the joy of men in harvest, or as they that divide the spoil.
There are found the encouraging promises of defence and protection, Isa. xxvii. 2, 3. and Isa. xxxiii. 2. promises that lead us unto the almighty power of God, and put us under the wings of his care in time of danger.
Promises of moderation and mitigation in the day of sharp affliction that we may be able to bear it, Isa, xxvii. 8. 1 Cor. x. 13.
Promises of deliverance out of trouble, if the malice ofmanbring us into trouble, the mercy of God will afssuredly bring us out, Psal. xci. 14, 15. and Psal. cxxv. 3.
And, which is most comfortable of all the rest, promises to sanctify and bless our troubles to our good, so that they shall not only cease to be hurtful, but, by virtue of the promise, become exceed. ing beneficial to us, Ifa. xxvii. 9. Rom. viii. 28.
All these promifses are provided by our tender Father for us, against a day of straits and fears; and because he knew our weakness, andhowapt our fears would be to make us suspect our security by them, he hath, for the performance of them, engaged his wisdom, power, care, faithfulness and unchangeableness, 2 Pet. ii. 9. Ifa. xxvii. 2, 3. 2 Cor. xvi. 9. 1 Cor. x. 13. Ifa. xliii. 1, 2.
In the midst of such promises so sealed, how chearful and magnanimous shouldwebein the worst times ! and say as David, Psal. xlix. 5. " Why should I fear in the day
" of evil ?"
Let those that have no God to flee to, no promise to rely upon, let them fear in the day of evil, I have no cause todofo.
But even from these most comfortable refuges in the promises our own fears beat us ; we are so scared that we mind them not, foas to draw encouragement, resolution, and courage from them.
Thus the shields of the mighty are vilely cast away.
So, for all the choice records of the saints experiences in all former troubles and distresses,God hath, bya singular providence
(aiming at our relief in future distresses) preserved them for us ; if danger threaten us,wemayturn to the recorded experiences his people have left us of the strange and mighty influence of
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hisprovidenceupon the hearts of their enemies, to shew them favour, Gen. xxxi. 29. Psal.xvi. 46. Jer. xv. 11 .
There are also found the antient rolls and records of the admirable methods of his peoples deliverance, contrived by his infinite and unsearchable wisdom for them, when all their own thoughts have been at a loss, and their understandings posed and staggered, Exod. xv. 6. 2 Chron. xx. 12, 15. 2 Kings xix.
37.
There are the recorded experiences of God'sun spotted faithfulness, which never failed any foul that durst trust himself in its arms, Micah vi. 4, 5. Joshua vii. 9.
There are also to be found the records of his tender and most fatherly care for his children, who have been to him as a pecoliar treasure in times of danger, Psal. xl. 17. Deut. xxxii.
10, 11, 12. Ifa. xlix, 16.Job xlix. 16. Job xxxvi. 7. 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
All these and many more supports and cordials are made ready to our hand, and provided for a day of trouble; but alas! to what purpose, if our own fears so transport us, that we can neither apply them, nor so much as calmly ponder and confider them.
3. To conclude, by these fears we are deprived of those manifold advantages we might gain by the calm, and composed meditations of our own death, and the change it will make upon us; could we fit down in peace, and meditate in afamili. ar way upon death: could we look with a composed andwellsettled mind into ourowngraves, and not be scared and frighted with the thoughts of death, and startle whenever we take it
(though but in our thoughts) by the cold hand: To what seriousness would those meditations frame us ? And what abundance of evils would they prevent in our conversations ? The sprinkling of dust uponnewwriting prevents many a blot and blur in our books or letters : And could we thus sprinkle the dust of the grave upon our minds, it would prevent many a fin and miscarriage in our words and actions.
But there is no profit or advantage redoundingto us either from promises, experiences, or death itself, when the soul is discomposed and put intoconfufionby its own fears. And thus you see some of those many mischievous effects of your own fears..