A Difcourfe of the Fear of God. 923 Graces of the Spirit. "'F.:iili produceth Fea;,-;;;;JFe;;:;;-feth the Soul ~~ lieve the Judgments of God and his Threatnings; for when once the mind prefagesChap. S· Evil and fears it, it will the more llrongly believe it. The Scripture unites thefe~ two Graces, ·Pfal. 64. 9, to. .All men fha/1 fear, &c. the rigiJteo<IS fha!l be glad in the Lord, and truft in him; here is an Union between thcfe two Graces. 2. Secondly, This Fear of tl1~ Soul is conflllent with Hope. Fear and Hope in the Soul of a Chrillian, are like the Cork and the L•.ad to a Net, the Cork keeps it from linking and the Lead keeps it from too much floating; fo it is here, Fear keeps Hope from degenerating into Prefumption, and Hope keeps Fear from linking into Defpair. If you do abll'38: Fear from Hope, the Soul will he lazy ; and if you do abflra8: Hope from J:lear, the Soul wtll link into a Defpondency. Therefore there mull be a Fear with Hope, and that will appear, ifyou do confider thefe three things. t. The Author of that Reward which Hope refpeB:s. 2. The Tenure of the Conveyance of that Reward. 1• The Q!!ality of the Reward it felf. Thefe three fhew there mull be fear with the Hope of a Chrillian. 1. Firjl, If you confider the Author of that Reward, it is the Holy God; and therefore wherever there is a Hope to receive a Crown from his hand, there will be a Fear to difpleafe him. I will bring <his down to a Temporal Cafe, thus. It is a ra• tional thing to imagine that a SubjeCt doth hope to rife when he doth fear to difpleafe his Prince, for the King i; the Fountain of Honour; and therefore if he cloth jlot fear to difpleafe him, he can never hope to rife by him. No, it is the Loyal SubJeCt that fears to difpleafe his Sovereign, that expeCts Advancement by him. A Chrilfian who doth not fear to difpleafe God, can never hope to be adva<>ced by l1im. ' 2. Secondly, 16 you refpe8: the. Conveyance of this Reward, and that is exprelfed thus, Heb. I 2. t 4· Fo!lotv Peace 1v11h afi men and Holmefl, wuhout whi&h no man fh411 f:r:t; i7rafci,l :;!~!s ;~1;,c~~~i:~e~/~~~ ~~~;t;ke,~::;~ i~ ~I~~~~~fte~Zdh~:}eif even as he is pure. What Hope is that? That is, he that expeCts to be conformed to Chrift in Glory, he will imitate Chrill in Purity. 1·' Nay, Thirdly, Gonfider the very Q!!ality of the Reward, and that likewife excites Fear. For what is the Recompence of our Hope but this, the Vifion of God? Now what faith our Saviour, Nfat. 5· 8. Ble/f;d are the pure in heart, for they fhaU fee God, who is a pure God; lince the HappinefS of a Saint is the Sight of the pure God, there mull: be Purity of Heart to difpofc him for it. The Au· above is fo pure that no Sin can li've there. And therefore wherever there is Hope of Heaven, there mYll: be a Fear of, Sin, becaufe Heaven confifls in an abfolute Freepom from it. Now there muft ' be Hope with Fear for <hdc two Reafons, for I. Fear without Hope defiles the Soul. 2. Feat· without Hope ruines the Soul. Firjl, Lt defiles the Soul; for it renders our guilt more Omnipotent than God's GoodnefS :; it makes Sin to be as infinite an Evil as God is an infinite Good. And what is th.is but to debafe God ? and thus it llains the Soul. , 2. Fear without Hope l'llines the Soul, and drives a Man t.o a wretched NegleB:. of all the means of Recovery, and to a dreadful Flight from God. As the Broil and. Cold in Winter do fa bind up the Influences of rhe Earth, that it cannot produce its Fruits; fo thcfe AffeCtions of Fear and Defpair do fo bind up the Soul that it cannot cxercife ACts of Dependance upon God ; and therefore there mufl be a Mixture of thcfe two Graces in the Soul, that fo the repenting Sinner when he defpairs in himfclf, may hope in God. When he fees nothing within him, nothing below him to help him, yet he may fee fomething above him, that is, the Mercy of God. ~· Thirdly, There is an Union in the Soul between Fear and Loye. Lo~e without Fear would become fecure, and Fear without L6ve would become llavifh. Love is the dear~ft Companion of this Fear; there i~ nothing more fearful than an ingenuous Love, and nothing more loving than a Fihal Fear. Thefe two Graces do equally knit
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