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yet are we to fear him, as being fearful in praises. And therefore Nehemiah, in Neh. i. 5. praying to God, says, O Lord.... the great and the terrible God: wherein? is it in overwhelming kingdoms; in bringing upon them decreed destruction? is it in the fierce execution of his wrath against sinners? no; says he, O Lord....the terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him. So again, in chap. ix. 32. O God...the mighty and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy.

Let us now consider what there is in the mercy and favour of God, as he is a Reconciled God unto us and in covenant with us, that may justly render him the object of our fear.

[1] The consideration of that dreadful way and method, that God took to manifest his mercy towards us, is sufficient to affect our hearts with fear, though we stand fully possessed of his favour.

In Gen. xxviii. when God had made many gracious promises all along that chapter unto Jacob, of blessing him, of keeping him in all his ways, and of multiplying his seed as the dust of the earth, you would think this was no terrible thing: and yet, because God reveals this mercy to him in an awful and amazing manner, a gap is opened in heaven, a bright ladder reaching from earth to heaven; God on the top of it, angels on every round of it: though the message was joyful, yet the strange kind of delivering of the message makes Jacob cry out, How dreadful is this place! it is none other.....than the gate of heaven! the very gate of heaven becomes dreadful, when it is represented in such a majestical manner.

But, the way, that God took for his mercy to arrive at us, is much more dreadful, than any such dream or vision; and, therefore, we should be the more deeply affected with fear and trembling, even then when God speaks peace and pardon to us : for, if we consider either the Terms upon which he is become ours, or the Way by which he discovereth himself to be ours, both of them are full of dread and terror.

1st. It cannot but strike our hearts with fear, to reflect upon those dreadful Terms, upon which God is contented to be induced to become our God.

His mercy towards us is procured upon terms of infinite justice and severity. Divine vengeance arrests our Surety, and exacts from him the utmost satisfaction. That curse, that would for ever have blasted and withered the souls of all mankind, seizeth

VOL. III.

upon Christ in all its malignity. That wrath, some few drops of which scalds the damned in hell, was given him to drink off in a full and overflowing cup: He did bear the chastisement of our peace, and by his stripes we are healed. Nor would God, upon lower terms, have consented to a reconciliation betwixt wretched man and himself, than the precious blood of his Only Son. As of old, friendship betwixt two persons was wont to be attested and sealed by a sacrifice, as we find it both among heathen authors and also in Scripture; an instance of which we have of Laban, in Gen. xxxi. 54. where Laban and Jacob, returning to amity, make a ratification of it by a sacrifice: so, the atonement, that God made betwixt us and himself, is solemnized by a sacrifice, even the sacrifice of his Own Son, as of a Lamb without spot or blemish. In this blood, the treaty betwixt God and man stands ratified and confirmed. O dreadful mercy, that clasps and embraces us about with arms dyed red in the blood of Jesus Christ! But, is not this ground enough, to cause a holy fear of God to seize upon every soul, that shall but seriously consider this sad tragedy of pardoning grace? if a king resolve to forgive a malefactor, upon no other terms than a pardon writ with the last drop of the heart-blood of his dearest friend, who is there, that is so hardened, that will not tremble at such a mercy as this is, though it save him? so is the case betwixt God and us: the contents of the pardon are joyful, but it is written all with the blood of Jesus Christ, reeking warm from his very heart; and who then would not fear even a forgiving God?

2dly. Consider the Way and Method, that God takes with us when he becomes our God; and that is most dreadful, and must needs make the most confirmed heart to shake with fear and trembling.

Indeed God deals not with us in such rigour, as he dealt with Jesus Christ his Son: but yet, usually, when he becomes our God, when he enters upon us as his possession; first, he shakes all the foundations of our hearts, breathes in flames of fire into our very marrow, cramps our consciences and unjoints our souls. Oh, the tempests and storms of wrath, that God pours into a wounded conscience, when it is under searching convictions! Oh, the smart and anguish of a wounded spirit, when God, instead of balm, shall only chafe it with brimstone! And yet this is the common method, that God useth to prepare souls for himself: he seems to arm himself in all his terrors against them,

singling them out to the conflict; and, when they give up themselves for lost, lying gasping for hope, scarcely at length are administered some few reviving comforts. It is with these, as it was with the children of Israel upon Sinai: first, they were astonished with a confused noise of thunder, the air full of lightning, the mountains all on a flame, and the earth trembling under them, before they heard that comfortable voice, in Exod. xx. 2. I am the Lord thy God: so is it with convinced sinners : God dischargeth his threatenings against them, that speak more dreadfully to them than a voice of thunder: he speaks to them out of the midst of flames, and every word scorcheth up their hearts; and, when they stand trembling and despairing, once at length they hear those reviving words, I am the Lord thy God. What hearts are there now, that such a dreadful mercy as this would not overawe? Those discoveries of God's love, that break in upon the soul in the midst of a doleful and gloomy night of despair and despondency, work naturally a sweet kind of terror and a shivering joy.

And that is the First Consideration. The dreadful method, that God takes to procure mercy for us, even by the death of his Son, and to apply mercy to us, even by the terrors of a convinced conscience, is a sufficient ground to affect our hearts with fear, though we stand fully possessed of his favour.

[2] Though God be our God; yet to consider, that it is possible to lose his favour and the sense of it, is enough to affect the heart with a holy fear, even of a Reconciled God.

It is true, God's original and fountain-love can never be dried up: Whom he loves, he loves unto the end: John xiii. 1. And my loving-kindness will I never utterly take away from him: Ps. lxxxix. 33. But, yet, the streams of this fountain-love may be very much obstructed from flowing freely down upon us : though we shall never again be children of wrath, yet we may be children under wrath. Every presumptuous sin, which we commit, raiseth God's displeasure against us: he is angry with us, upon every more notorious and known sin, which we commit: and since, then, we are in danger every day of falling into gross and foul sins, and are kept only by his almighty and free grace from the worst, what cause have we to fear, lest we forfeit his favour and turn his displeasure against us! Yea, again, though we should be preserved from sin and continue in his love, yet we cannot assure ourselves that we shall continue in the sense and

comfortable apprehension of it: comfort is most arbitrary, and at God's free dispose; neither hath he engaged himself to bestow it upon any by any absolute promise: though now his lamp shines clearly upon thy tabernacle, and thou rejoicest in his smiles; yet how quickly may he wrap thee up in a dark night of desertion, and turn all thy songs into mourning! Thou, therefore, that art now assured that God is thy God, fear lest ere long thou mayest not think him to be so: certain thou art he is so now; yet, before it be long, possibly, through thy miscarriage, thou mayest not think him to be so: and it is all one, as to comfort or discomfort, whether God be thy God or not, if thou dost not apprehend him to be so, and therefore fear him.

[3] Every frown and stroke toucheth to the quick, that cometh from a Reconciled God and a Loving Father; and, therefore, the rather fear, because he is thy God.

Every little blow from a father strikes deeper and causeth more smart, than greater blows from other persons: others strike the body; but, when a loving father strikes, he wounds the heart. So is it here: the nearness of the relation betwixt God and us, puts an anguish and sting into every correction. As the Psalmist speaks in his own case, Ps. lv. 12, 13. It was not an enemy, that reproached me....neither was it he, that hated me....then could I have borne it...But it was thou, a friend, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. These are sad accents. And so is it here: the blows of a sin-revenging God may indeed break the back; but the blows of a gracious and reconciled Father break the heart. Fear, therefore, lest, through some miscarriage of thine (and such miscarriages thou art every day guilty of) thou shouldest provoke thy God to lay some heavy stroke upon thee; which will be the more smart, from the aggravation that provoked love puts upon it.

And thus you see now, in these Three particulars, what ground there is from the consideration of God as our God, to enforce a holy fear of his divine majesty upon our hearts. He is our God; therefore fear him, because the way that he became ours is most dreadful: he is our God, as yet; fear lest we may not apprehend him so long: he is our God; therefore fear him, because every stroke and frown from a God in covenant comes with an aggravated smart and sting.

ii. Now this Holy Fear, as it is no enemy to Full Assurance, as

I have shewed you, so neither, IS IT ANY WAY PREJUDICIAL TO

A MOST ARDENT LOVE OF GOD.

Filial love and filial fear are twins: but not such as Jacob and Esau, that strive to supplant one another. The pure flame of divine and heavenly love is like other flames: the higher it mounts, the more it vibrates and trembles.

Indeed St. John tells us, 1 John iv. 18. that perfect love casteth out fear. It should seem then, that all fear of God is swallowed up in those hearts, that are once brought into a holy love. But the Apostle doth very well explain himself, in the reason that he gives of this assertion, in the next words: perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment in it.

Hence, therefore, we may distinguish of a Twofold Fear of God.

The one is tormenting; causing unquiet rollings and estuations in the heart, in a sad suspense of what our future and eternal state may prove and this is slavish. Now this fear perfect love casts out and expels for where divine love is perfected in the soul, there are no more such suspenses, hesitations, and doubtings, what will become of it to eternity. Now by perfect love may be meant, either that state of perfection, to which we shall attain in glory, where our whole work to all eternity shall be to love and please God; or, else, that perfection, that consists in its sincerity in this life. If we take it for that perfection of love, that shall for ever burn in our hearts when we ourselves shall be made perfect; so, it is certain that it will cast out all tormenting fears: for, certainly, if, in heaven, hope itself shall be abolished, much more shall fear be abolished; for, there, every saint shall have much more than a full assurance, even a full fruition of glory, and they shall know themselves to be for ever confirmed in that blessed state which shall prevent all doubts and fears. If we understand it of that perfection of love, that we may attain to in this life, so also the strong and vigorous actings of love to God cast out all tormenting fears: it is not possible, that that soul, which actually loves God with a vigorous and most ardent affection, should, at the same time, be racked with distracting fears of hell and damnation; for it is the sense of God's love unto the soul, that draws from it reciprocal love again unto God: We love him, says the Apostle, because he first loved us: that is, as strong as our apprehensions are of God's love to us, so strong will our love be in its returns to God again: water riseth naturally as high as its spring; wherefore, the assurance

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