!1FenceägaingunnecelaryFors. 3 î.5 It is Inch an atfe&ion, as is ftirred upvvith the apprchenfion ofevil:. for'èúif.is properly theohjc&offear: vve do not primarily fearany thing that is good,craept, the !of; of it, and his ill to lofeany good thing. . Again, it is . evil future: for if theevil be prefent, vve grieve, and not fear. A rid itis filch an evil as is difficult,and hard to refifl,and overcome vvith patience ; for ifit boa final' evil that is eafily conquered,; you contemn it, you fear it nor. You '.Ice then vvbatfearis ingeneral... Is all fear prohibited ? i Not the fear of God, &c. Fear is oft commando-el in Scripture, knovv then there Kinds of fesr. are divers kinds of fear. Firft,náturalfear, and thatis callednatural either in regard of the material orctfi- I. Natural. cient caufe. I. When the party thatdothfear, is phlegmatick, or mclancholiy, and fo is naturally I inclined to fear, this may be called a natural fear. Or, in regard of the obje&, vvhen there is fomevvhat in that vvhich is deftruaivc `to nature : and therefore the fearofdeath, it is natural tomatit land fovvhatfocvcrI mayprejudice nature. :, Novv thisnatural fear isan affe&ionthat Almighty Godconcrcated vvith the foul, it is naturally good, it is morally neither good nor evil, but according as it is d ter- thined by circumffances. I. ,Again,there is a carnal evil fear,namely,vvhena man fears the evil ofpunithment, 2. Carnal fear, snore than the evil offin ; a corporal evil more than a fpiritual : a temporal more than an eternal. He is afraid of lofing foaled-ling he enjoyes, or of notgetting omething he defirea, dec. In tither regards there may be a carnal fear, as ,I(hail explain it to you more anon i and this fo far as it is carnal is ever to becondcin:- ned: Thirdly, there is a fervile fear: and this Is fucdi a fear as looks. at the punifhment ;.Servile fear. only, andnot at the fin when aman is afraidofthe judgementsofGOD, acidne- ver fears finthat:is the cadreof it. And fovvithal,vvhen this fear is only fervile, and 1 is retained in the heart, that man delires frill to fin; there is a loveof fin, a vvithing that God would give him leave to fin, and let loofe the reins to him : that ifit were polfilslc therewerenoGod, noDevil, no Heaven,nor Hell,that hemight fin freely. And ifheabfiain from fin at any time, the caufe is,that there is this puni(h- ment that is the confequent of fin, andnot out oflove to God, or obedience to his commandments. , Now this fervile fear,though in it leiht benot favingly pleating to God,yet it is a thing that is good,as S. Auffinobferves: for that man that fears fervily,he doth that I which is good,thoughhe doth it not well: becaufc that is a thingthat dependsupon the difpotition,andwill of himthat doth the thing.though the thing be,good as far as it goes. It is good forthe reftesiningof evilmen from outrages in the world,and Aft z it is apreparative in the way to converfion, as it is Ali?. z. Laftiv, there is a filial fon-like fear, that arifeth out of the confideration ofthe 4. Filial feu, greatncfs, and efpccially of the goodnels ofGod, whereby a man fohates punith- iiicnt, as he hates fan alto the caufeof it. Now there arc divers degrees of filial fear. One degree we call innitial fear in this world. And a degree ofperfe&ion in the world tocome. In this world the fear we have, hathone eye upon the punithment, and anertker eye upon the commandment, or love of God. And heremany make a doubt,s bë ther they are to do that which is good, havingan eye to the recompcncc oFrypatrdl hrto abftain fromevil out of the fear ofpunithment. it For anfwcr briefly. Any thing almightyGod hath made a motic'c to its, to in- courage us todo well,or to deterus from evil; wemaymake a motive toour felves, and as longas we do fo,wedo well. It was fo withAdamin Paradife, thiswas pro, ; pounded asamotive ; In theday thou eateft thereofthoufhaltdie. Then to abftain . fromthe forbidden fruit,partlyout of fearofpuni(hment,ifAdam did fo,hedid well. ,Sn,every oneofusin regardofany evil,wemay havean eye tothg,pupi(hmcnt,that S f a will
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