Works, Part 2 · Treatise 8
A TREATISE OF GODS FEARE.
THe stile of Moses, Psal. 90. 11. doth vehemently set downe the paucitie ofFew feare God. them that truly feare God: hee saith who feareth, &c. wee knowe the thing sought for and enquired after, is not knowne to the Asker; for then the question were vaine and superfluous, and the verie nature and institution of a question is to hauehave relation euermore to the increase of knowledge in some thing not sufficiently knowne: wherefore it is like that Moses knew few fearing God aright, and in generall this stile is very needefull in all Gods things, for wee are slenderly acquainted with them, but in euill things there is no question or enquiry to be made, as being a thing comming into the eyes, eares, and hearts of all men enough, and as wee see by daily experience too much. Now if wee will goe from Moses time, to Dauids time, we shall see hee makes the like question, Psalme, 15. 1. Lorde who shall dwell in thy tabernacle, &c. as one that saw a great want of men desiring that way, but come to the contrarie: and Psalme 14. hee sheweth that all are gone out of the way, all are corrupt, there needes no question to be made of such. Goe yet further to the dayes of Esay, and we see his stile to iumpe with both the former, as Esay, 53 Who hath beleeued our report? as though they could hardly bee found that would credit his words, but euen in the very first chapter he was not afraid simply and without inquirie to say, that all were so full of sinne, that there were no place voide of wicked men from top to the toe. If wee come to Christ his time, he saith in his dayes, Who is a true and faithfull seruant, who is a trustie seruant, who when his Lord commeth, he shall finde faithfull▪ but of the ambitious Pharisies we knowe there was great store. If wee chronicle from Moses to Dauids time, from Dauid to Esaies time, from Esay to Christ his time, and from Christ to the end of the world, wee shall finde it a matter of controuersie to hauehave men fearing God; but of the other sort it is a thing without all manner of controuersie. And here we must not thinke, that it might be, many feared God, but they knew not mens hearts: for God himselfe, the searcher of the heart, acknowledgeth the same that they doe, as Esay saith, 59. 4. No man calleth for Iustice, no man contendeth for trueth. 16. and when he sawe there was no man, hee wondred that none should offer himselfe: neither is this excesse of euill noted onelyonly in the persons, but euenWe hauehave no time to doe good. the times are full of euill. Genes. 6. 6. It is saide the thoughts of mens hearts were euill continually, or eueryevery day: Micah saith, they spent the whole night in euill, and so goeth further: so that Moses hauing set downe all the day, and Micah all the night, wee may say all time is stuffed with euill; if we hauehave any time, for good it is in purpose, not in practise, it is in the time to come, not in time, present: in regard whereof the Prophet saith, the silly fowles and birds of the ayre, the Storke, the Doue and others keepe their time, but we neuer can finde our time to doe well in. Beyond all this, as all persons and times, so all places are tainted with this euill: Heauen it selfe hath not been voide of wickednesse; for euen from thence fell the wicked Angels: Paradise was not exempted; the Temple was not free from notable hypocrisie; the number exceeded euen in the actions themselues: wherfore Dauid crieth out at the view of such a packe, Lord, who doth vnderstand the errors of this life? Our daies may be numbred, as wee see Psalm. 90. but our sinnes are without number, and therefore are compared to the sand of the Sea. Then wee see in regard of the person, time, places, and actions, few doe good, and therefore such is the complaint and question of the men of God in this behalfe.
The fruit which we are to reape by this, is thus much: that if we see occasion of offence, and matter of grief be offered vsus, we see no more than Moses saw long agoe, than Dauid, Esay and Christ himselfe saw in their times before vsus, in comparison wherof we may make our aduantage, that seeing the time of Moses was a time of affliction, and the dayes wee liue in are daies of peace, it is lesse marueile to see euill in the daies of peace than in the time of trouble: and therefore Luther vponupon this question, who feares? Psalm. 90. maketh this answere, no man before affliction: shewing that affliction should specially leade vsus to feare, and being once affected with feare, wee should either say, Lord what shall I doe? or with Dauid say, What shall I repay vntounto the Lord?
Seeing the Lord is faine to complaine of the smal number of such as feare him, we must take order to mitigate this complaint, that it fall not more iustly vponupon vsus. In the time of Moses at the least there was Iosua and Caleb; in Christs time Simeon and Anna: At the least we must looke there be one true worshipper, as in Elias time, and so doing we shall make the question vaine, and surely if we desire to be such, fewe will put vsus by our desire: for as our sinnes be well called an hereditarie sicknesse, which if it were not so, wee would purchase them fast enough: so that knowledge and feare of God not being hereditarie, are not withstanding cheapened of few men.
Great cause there is then why we should feare, it is an act of the euerlasting Parliament,How wee should feare: and why we doe not feare. that we must once die, Hebrues 9. and Iob saith that our life is but short, and doe wee not heare that all of all kindes are gone this way, all wise men, all men of pleasure, no Patriarkes escaped it; no Prophet was exempted, our eares can testifie this, doe wee not daily misse our friends? when Gods wrath hath taken them away, and the graue hath buried them in silence. Doe we not daily in comming to the congregation, passe ouer the graues of men, sufficient monuments of the execution of the generall day? Doe wee not vse as a generall prouerbe, as sure as death, and yet the seruants of God complaine, that wee know not the wrath of God. Surely wee doe not know this for all that, which Moses Psalme 90. proues by two reasons: first, hee prayes to bee taught in it; and if it were alreadie exactly knowne, then should this prayer be superfluous: againe, he argueth of the effect, that for so much as there followes no feare, therefore there is no knowledge of the wrath of God, for the want of feare sends a want of faith herein: and were wee perswaded that Gods wrath were such a thing, wee would feare; and therefore we feare not, because wee are not so perswaded of the wrath of God in it. In naturall things wee will not easily runne into things feared, nor feare those things which wee thinke not to be euill; and therefore because we feare the fire will burne, the water will drowne, wee are hardly brought to runne into the fire or into the water: much more should we so doe in things supernaturall, if we did truly feare them, wherefore though wee knowe in some part the wrath of God, yet wee are not come to the perfect knowledge of it required at our hands.
Hitherto we must vnderstand, it is one thing for man to determine of knowledge, and another thing for God to iudge of it; as Esay pronounced a difference betweene our esteeming of fasting and Gods iudging of it, Esay 58. for that if wee see a man abstaine from meate, we think he is a good deuout faster, but the Lord determines otherwise: so we may pronounce a difference betweene the valuation of knowledge in our eyes & in the Lords eies. It is nothing for vsus to say, this hauehave we quoted, thus hauehave we read, this hauehave I vttered, and therefore I know this; for this is nothing in Gods iudgement: for as he determineth of the fast, so will he determine of the knowledge of them that passe the auncient Rabbins of the Iewes, and outreach the wise men of the Heathen. And no maruel, for as we say there is a wise kinde of ignorance, a learned vnskilfulnesse: so surely there is an ignorant knowledge,Docta inscitia. a sottish kind of wisedome; and this now possesseth the whole world. And that wee may walke within our warrant, we shal fetch our proofe from the sixt of Esay, which place, for the excellencie of it, is oft repeated in the new Testament. Matthew 13. Acts 28. and Rom. 11. where wee see there may be a seeing without seeing, a kind of hearing, and yet no hearing indeede: Euen so there may be a knowledge, and yet no knowledge before God,Knowledge without practise is no knowledge. the cause is for that the Lord accounts of no knowledge, which comes not into practise: and if we hauehave neuer so much knowledge, and practise it not, it is nothing in Gods booke. And according as this is God his reckoning, so it is our vsuall account; for if wee hauehave taken paines to put precept vntounto precept, and to teach one that hath not profited by our paines, how attentiue soeuer he seeme; yet wee account him, and accuse him as one that heard not at all. Better is no candle, than a candle vnderunder a bushell: and the Lord accounts no light vnderunder a bushell for light. Better to hauehave no eares, than the eares of an Idoll. And indeed they are no eares, for they heare not: so it is no knowledge that is separated from practise. Wee doe beguile our selues in our accounts, when wee thinke wee hauehave a great knowledge, for that wee hauehave heard many Sermons, whereunto because we hauehave not ioynedVnprofitable hearing how dangerous. practise, we may well blot out of the score many of those Sermons: for such Sermons in Gods account be to vsus as no Sermons. We can say and cry, that where there is a want of the meanes, there is a great token of Gods curse; and I will not denie it, it is so indeed: but yet be it knowne, that with a singularitie of the benefit, if none profit by it, there goeth a singularitie of iudgement where it is abused: and a more notable iudgement remaineth for such a place, than for the other, because it had been better neuer to hauehave heard, than hauing heard so much, neuer to profit. It is good saith Dauid, that I hauehave been afflicted, for I hauehave learned thy law: indeede in this respect it was good for him; and yet it is not good for some to bee afflicted, who not profiting by it, become the worse for it, as it was to Lots wife, who was made a pillar of salt.
Two things hinder ripenes of knowledge, the one is that men are proudely ignorant,Why we profit not by our knowledge. perswading them falsely to know that they know not; the other is hardnes of hart, whereby they are obdurated against the true profit of knowledge: for either wee thinke we hauehave some deepe knowledge, or else we become stonie and senselesse; that if Gods iudgements be spoken we feare not, if his promises be offered we reioyce not, whatsoeuer is spoken we moue not: into such an heart, how much knowledge soeuer is powred in, though it seeme to runne ouer, yet the quantitie of it will amount to nothing.
Because we will not see Gods wrath, as it is, we see it in iustice: for by Gods wrath is iustice signified vntounto vsus. And surely howsoeuer other qualities in God doe not affect vsus sometime, yet wrath stirres vsus vp. Affections are commonly stirred vp by their obiects, as feare by wrath: Now if we feare the anger of a man, and specially of a Prince, because the wrath of a Prince seemeth so great a thing to vsus; what shall we thinke of the wrath of God,Simile. which one way or other we shall surely meete withall, either for to beare it, or else to be reconciled to him for the auoyding of it? Wherefore to reueale to vsus this wrath, it is Moses his office to teach vsus to see our sinne, & so to bring vsus within the compasse of the law, and of that forfeiture which the law doth award vsus, that so we may esteeme the more of that merciemercy which is offered in Christ. Now the cause why we esteeme not merciemercy, is because we account so slenderly of our sinnes, and therefore we doe lightly value our sinne, because we thinke no more reuerently of Gods wrath against sinne: for such is the sense of our sinne, as is the feare of his wrath And so we esteeme peace as we account of warre, and make a prize of our plentie, as we doe of our scarsitie. If we consider rightly of the want and famine of Samaria, or of Idumea, and see the heads of Asses sold for so much; then we shall be fit to iudge rightly of plentie: we are therefore in our afflictions to leuell at the wrath of God, which is the cause, & not to stay in our affliction, but still looke to our sinne, without the sight whereof, we shall either stand carping at Gods iudgements with Ionas, or we shall fall to curse the day of our birth with Iob: so farre shall we be from making our true profit by it.
Therefore we know not how to profit vnderunder the crosse, because we know not the causesHow wee must behaue our selues vnderunder the crosse. Si…al…. of it, but wedwell in the effects, & complaine of the thing done, not looking to the cause and originall of it, which we see in that a man being crossed by a wicked man, he stormes against the man, but lookes not to God: wherein he doth as if a man should quarrell with the staffe wherewith he is beaten, and neuer looke to the smiter: for a man is but as the rod of the Lord, or as the staffe of the diuell; we deale (I say) with the stripe, not with the diuell, by whose instigation that is done. And as we deale with the diuell in his motiues, so we deale with the Lord in his visitations: we could teare the rod, but not be humbled vnderunder him that vseth the rod. And what doe we profit by this behauiour? Admit we could wrest the rod out of Gods hand, what gaine is that for vsus, against whom he will take vp a sword and a mallet, or a great rocke, wherewith he will not stand to beate vsus, but out of hand to breake vsus in fitters? And therefore good wisedome it is not to wrestle with the effect, but to meete with the cause. Now then there are two things which blindfold vsus, that we cannotTwo causes of our blindnes in afflictions. see Gods wrath in our afflictions: the one, because we are not straight consumed with the anger of God: so long as men waste away by little and little, and are not beaten downe at one blow, they put off all suspition that God is displeased with them, and neuer acknowledge his wrath, vntill it come like an ambassadour of death. Some are consumed by apoplexies, and suddenly fall dead: some by hecticks, and peece by peece fall away. This is so much the more dangerous, because it is the lesse sensible, and rather killeth vsus than forewarneth vsus. It is as dangerous to moulder away, and as easie to dye of an hectick, as it is to fall dead and to be taken with an apoplexie: And therefore it is not good to tarrie for the dead blow. Another cause is this: that as Gods iudgement… are to many, mercies, and proceed from his louelove towards vsus: so though we see it not, many of his mercies we sent to vsus in his iudgement, and proceed from him in wrath. So Ieremie saith, that the Lord gaue Iosias in wrath to raigne ouer his people: and yet Iosias was a good King. The vse of all thisNote. is thus much, to shew vsus that the Lords anger works in him, as do al other affections when they hauehave not their worke in vsus. Hereof it is, that because we are not displeased with our selues for our sinnes, God is displeased with vsus; because we mislike not our corruptions, God sheweth his misliking of them; because we are not angrie with our selues, God is angrie with vsus. Sinne deserueth wrath, and sinne must hauehave wrath either at our hands or at▪ the Lords hands. If we be wrathfull with our selues, and take an indignation with our own selues, as 2. Cor. 7. the Lord will remit his wrath; if we will iudge our selues, God will not iudge vsus.
If at any time we come to iudge of Gods wrath, we account of it as of an impotentHow great Gods …ratl… is. thing: wrath doth worke, the wrath of the least doth moue, and I would we feared the wrath of the Lord as much as we doe the wrath of Princes. But we thinke of Gods wrath as of his merciemercy, we feare him as one of sillie anger and small power, we thanke him for his mercies as a niggardly God, and pinching giuer. When we deale in duties to Godward, we cut them, we mince with him, we measure and stint him, as though we would be euen with him: but when it comes to our wickednesse, we are both large and bold: we doe as men that thought the Lord was either blind, and could not see our doing, or as though his armes were bound vp in a cloute that he could not strike vsus. The weakenes of God is stroger than any strong thing in man, 1. Corinth. 1. the very weakenes of God is stronger than the strength of men. But how shall we conceiue of this weakenes? In a man we account that weakenes, which his little finger hardly can touch. Now then if we will come (as it were) to Gods little finger, and take but the confession of all the wise men in Aegypt, and of their Magicians: and we shall see, that in those rare and notable plagues which came on the land, they said it was the finger of the Lord. Come to the afflictions of Iob, wherein he lost goods, cattell, and children, and the diuell (I say) makes all that but a touch of his little finger: and yet this spent all. The breath is counted in a man but a weak thing: but come to the very breath of the Lord, & we shall see all that is in a man is as grasse, and the best things in him as the flower of grasse, when the spirit of the Lord bloweth vponupon it. Esay. 40. 17. and Psal. 18. 8. it is said, Smoke went out of his nostrels, and a consuming fire out of his mouth: so that great is the power of his very nostrels, and mighty is the very weakenes and infirmitie of his wrath. If this be the weaknes of God, what is his strength, his strength (I say) when he is compared to a giant, or to a lion: to a giant of all men the greatest; to a Lyon of all beasts the strongest? If he be so mightie when he toucheth vsus but with his finger, how terrible is he if he strike vsus with his arme? Now what shall we say when he comes not onelyonly with strength in himselfe, in his finger, in his nostrels, and in his arme; but he is armed, he hath his sword whet and his bow bent against vsus, as a man prepared for the battell? So that if we be farre off, then he hath his bow to fetch vsus; if we be neere, then he hath his sword to strike vsus. But what speake we of a sword, or of a bow, when he hath not onelyonly these, but powers & whole armies of his creatures against vsus, as of fire, of haile, of thunderbolts, yea of the least and vilest creatures, as of lice and flies, to come on vsus? So that if the sword finde vsus not, his thunder-bolt shal meete vsus; when the hayle doth not make an end of vsus, the fire will consume vsus; if the fire would not burne, the mallet would b…uise vsus: further than all this, he hath his chariots and thousand of chariots in the whirle-winde, and his pillars of fire to terrifie vsus: and which is more, he hath his thousands and twentie thousands of Angels to make a spoyle of all at his becke: so great is the wrath of the Almightie, his power will not faile, all his works will assist him, and when one hath done his dutie, another will follow: so that we shall surely be wearie of suffering, before he be weary of afflicting, or weake in punishing. But to passe ouer the speaking of his strength: let vsus looke to our owne weakenes, we are but as potters vessels, if we hit but one against another, we breake, we fall into shards at eueryevery knocke: and if the Lord lift vp his rod against vsus, we shall be brought to dust; if a little rod will not serue to doe it, he will take a crow of iron and fling at vsus. To be short, the Lion commeth before him, the Vnicorne serues him: Behemoth is taken with his sword, Leuiathan cannot stand before him. And the difference betweene the power of God, and the power of Princes is as great: Princes can only seaze on the bodie, and all their wrath can goe no further than this life: but the Lord attacheth as well the soule as the body, and his anger is as hot and hotter in the life to come, as it is in this life.
Our knowledge must end in feare: that ignorance is bold it is plaine: but that experienceOf the feare of God, and why men doe not feare. should tremble at things either imminent or present that is it which Moses thought so strange a thing, that he durst conclude, Psal. 90. that if we feare not we are ignorant. No marueile, it pleaseth the holy Ghost to ioyne feare, and the wisedom of God alwaies together, either as the beginner, or as the finisher of it. That it is the beginning of wisedome it is plaine, Prouerbs 1. that it is the end of wisedome it is manifest Ecclesiastes 12; so that it is not possible to hauehave true wisedome without this beginning, neither can we attaine to the perfection of it without this ending. Now the causes why we doe not feare are these, either for that we are wise in our owne conceit, or else we be stonie hearted, both which euils are cured in vsus by feare. The first is proued, Prouerb. 21. where it is said: Blessed is the man that feareth: but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into euill: where is a plaine opposition between the feare of God and hardnes of heart. The second is to be shewed Pro. 3. 7. Be not wise in thine owne eyes, but feare the Lord: where we see the feare of God correcteth this conceit of our selues in vsus. This we say then, that he that feareth not, hath either pride or hardnes; and if these two, then no wisedome, and consequently he is conuinced not to hauehave knowledge. Feare and wisedome makes a man a man: it is the conclusion also, andLoueLove without feare. shutting vp of all louelove; the reason is, louelove groweth secure without feare, and being secure it loseth her spouse, as we see in the song of Salomon: where the Church bewailes the losse of her LoueLove, whilest she fell asleepe: wherefore I say, as in the beginning, we must hauehave a feare of wrath; so in the end we must hauehave a feare of losing. In Hebr. 12. when the Apostle b…ore had spoken of LoueLove, least that we should securely lose it, he ends all with a trembling sentence, and shutteth it vp with a firie clause, God is a consuming fire. It is giuen to allSinne breeds feare, & how much. since Adam, after we hauehave sinned to feare, and to hide our selues, in regard whereof the theefe trembles at the sight of the Iudge, & the very dead tree strikes a feare into the conscience of the superstitious worshipper. Nay I may say the diuell trembleth, and eueryevery sinner shaking off feare, after he hath sinned, iustifieth the diuell himselfe in this respect, and so in shuffling off the forewarning of Gods iudgement, he passeth all in wickednesse, either in the Church or without the Church, or in hell Neither must we simply feare, but hauehave a certaine measure of feare: we may say as Abraham said in Genesis, if there be no feare of God, then there is surely no place left for the Church of God. Through the merciemercy of God we cannot yet say so: for though the Church at this day be not so iustifiable as it should be, nay it is condemnable in respect of that which it ought to be: yet we cannot say but Abraham hath a place with vsus: wickednes is not yet come to such a pitch, that there is no feare of God with vsus. How be it herein we be defectiue, in that our knowledge and feare of God is not proportionable to our teaching, and the iustice of God: For setting our continuall teaching with our discontinued profit in learning, and seeing the markes of Gods iudgmēts are set in the bowels of the Nations round about vsus, this thing rightly weighed, our feare is nothing, our knowledge is little, the Lord may hauehave his action against vsus, because though we hauehave some thin feare, yet it is nothing proportionable. Wherefore as it is not sufficient that our meditations in the law be meditations, but that in strength & comfort they exceed all our thoughts of the world; and as God requireth not onelyonly an hearing, but such attention in hearing, as we heare nothing more heedily and carefully: so we must feare and that accordingly, and this according is that which will condemnevs, because (I say) our affections are not according to their obiect. But behold a greater euill, for as we set not our affections high enough in good things, so we racke them too farre in euill things. We feare not God enough; we feare the world too much; we louelove the word too scantly; we louelove our profits too excessiuely. So there is a iarre in both, our feare in spirituall things is defectiue, in worldly things excessiue. And surely though we could not doe it in such measure about the best things, because we cānot reach so high in lesser things (which thing if we could doe, it were a great part of an Apologie for vsus) yet for that we feare so much in lesser things, and feare so little in greater, this will indeed accuse vsus. Againe, that our feare is not according to Gods wrath, it is knowne by taking that small measure and scantling of it, which we are wont to doe; for whereas the word hath made the feare of God to be our measure for the feare and forsaking of sinne, Iob. 1. we by making our feare of God light, make also our departing from euill light. Thus we see the Lord must hauehave an order in things; first we will hauehave his kingdome prouided for, then other things in their place: we in keeping so low an ebbe in his feare, make vp his inditement he hath against vsus.
FINIS.