Reverence and godly Fear. Thirdly, Confider every Froron and Stroke roucheth to the Q,;:ick, that cometh j~om a Reaf. . reton&iled God and a loving Father, and therefore the rt~ther ft.ar bccauft he U thy God. Wh 3 Every little Blow from a Father .ftrikes de~per and cauf~th more Smart than foo1~tfoar grearer Blows from other Perfons ; others ftnke the Body, but when a loving G1d be. ·Father ftrikes, he wounds the Heart: So is it here; the nearnefs of the Relation ,,ufo t11ery betwixt God and us, puts an Anguifh and Sting into every Corrctlion. As the Frown of Pfalmift fpeaks in his own Cafe, Pfal. 55· 12. It w.u not ar~ Enemy that repruached tur ~ad m~, neither WM it he. that hated m_e, then I .could have born it ; but it WM thozt a Friend, ~j~cgu:,;~ mme Equal, my Gutde, and mtne Acquatntance. Thefe are fad Accents; and fo is it here : The Blood of a Sin-revenging God may indeed break the Back, but the Blows of a gracious and reconciled Father break the Heaft. ·Fear therefore, left through fame Mifcarriagc of thine (and fuch Mifcarriages thou art every Day guilty of) thou lhouldeft provoke thy God to lay fome heavy Stroke upon thee, which will be the more fmart from the aggravation that provoked Love puts upon it. And thus you fee now in thefe three Particulars, what grou:1d ~h~rc ~s frCJm the confideration of.God as our God, to enforce a ho ly Fear of his divine Majefty upon our Heart$. He is our God, therefore fear him becaufe the way that he became ours is moft dreadful; he is our God as yet, fear left we may not apprehend him fo long; he is our God therefore fear him, becaufe every Stroke and Frown from a God in Covenant, comes with an aggravated fmart .1nd ft ing. Why now this holy Fear, as it is no Enemy to full alfurance, as 1 have !hewed you, fo neither, (2) Secondly, Is ir 11ny way prejudicial to a moft ardent love of God. Filial Love HoJ.1 Fear and Filial Fear are two Twins; but not fuch as 'Jm.:ob and Efdu, that ftrive to is notron.. fupplant one another. The pure Fb.me of divine and heavenly Love is like o- tr4'.1 rorhc ther Flames, the higher it mounts the more it vibrates and rrcmbles. Indeed {(;eof St. ']ohrJ tells us, 1 John 4· 18. That perfeU Lo'!Je cafteth our Fear. lt fhould fee m 1 j~h. + then that all Fear of God is fwallowed up in thofe Hearts that are once brought 18. into an holy Love. But the Apoftle doth very well explain himfelf in the reafon OP<:ned. that he gives of this A~htion in the next Words, PerfeEt L1'!Je cafterh out Fe11r becaufe Fea,r bath Torment in it. Hence therefor~ we may difringuifh of a twofold fear of God. The one is tormenting, caufin.g unquiet railings and ef.l:uations in the Heart, in a fad fufpcnfe of what our future and eternal State may prove, and this is fi.1vifh. Now this Fear perfeCt Love cafteth out and expels; for where divine Love is perfeB:ed in the Soul, there are no more fuch Sufpences, Hcfitations and Doubtings, what will become of it to Eternity. Now by pcrfert Love may be ment, either that ftate of P~rfeCHon to which we fuJll att~in in Glory, where our whole Work to all .Etermty fhall be to love and pleafc God, or elfe that Perfection that confifts in its Sincerity in this Life : If we take it for that Perfection of Love th.1t Ihall for ever burn in our Hearts when we our felves fha!l be tnade pcrfca, fo it is certain it will ca!t out all tormenting Fears ; for certainly if in Heaven· Hope it felf fhall be abolilhed, much more fhall Fear be abolifued, for there every Saint !ball have much more than a full alfurance, e\·en a full fruitiori of Glory, and they Ihall know themfelves to be for ever confirmed in that bletred ftate which fhall prevent all doubts and fears. If we uuderfrand it of that perfeB:ion of Love that we may attain to in this Life, fo alfo the itrong and vigorous, aaings of Love to Ge:d, cafteth out all tormenting Fears. lt is not poffible t hat that Soul that aaually loves God with a vigorous and moft ardent AffeCtion, fhould at the fame time be rack'd with diftraB:ing fears of Hell and Damnation ; for it is the fenfe of God's Love unto the Sou l that draws from it reciprocal Love again unto God. We love him, fays the Apoftle, becaufe he jirft loved tM. That is, as ftrong as our apprehenfions are of God's Love to us, fo ft_rong will our Love be in its returns to God again. Water rifeth naturally as htgh as its Spring; wherefore the aifurance ot God's Love being the Spring from whence our Love flows, fuch as is our Love, fuch will be our affurancc alfo: If then our Love be ftrong in its aCHngs it muft needs caft out Fear, becaufe it flows from that a[urance with which tormenting Fear is utterly incbnfiftent. But then t here is another kind of Fear that is not torment ing, and that is an awful frame of Heart ftruck with reverential apprebenfions of God's infinite Majefty, and our own vilenefs and unworthinefs ; and this perfea Love doth not caft out, but perfeCts this awful, fedate, calm fear of God. The A~tzels and the glorified Saints in Heaven,
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