The Souls Porter to Cast Out Sin, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. How the feare of God can ſtand with the love of God, with joy, faith, and hope in God.
IT may be queſtioned next, How the feare of God can conſiſt, and ſtand with the love of God, and with joy, faith, and hope in God, ſince it is ſayd, that perfect love caſteth out feare: 1 Ioh, 4.18.and feare & ioy, feare and faith; feare & hope, ſeem to bee plain contraries, and to exclude each other.
To reſolve which doubts, we muſt know,
1. For the love of God; that, though nothing is more oppoſite, than ſincere love, and ſlaviſh feare; yet none are more neare & deare companions, than love and the filiall feare of God. Nothing is more fearfull than his love, and nothing is more loving than his feare. Where there is love,Res eſt ſolliciti pl… timo … there is a feare of the wronging of the thing beloved. Love fulfills the Law, ſayth S. Paul, And to feare God, and obey him, is the whole duty of man, ſayth Salomon.
Love is a grace that unites and knits the heart to God: and feare is an uniting grace,Pſal. 86.11. Vnite my heart to feare thy name, ſayth David. I will put my feare into their hearts, Jer. 32.40.and they ſhall not depart from me, ſayth God. Feare and love keepe a man equally cloſe to God. And the ſame promiſes are made to love and feare in the Pſalmiſt.Pſal. 145.18.19.
2. The caſe is as cleare for joy in God; If feare and joy did expell each other, David would never have ſaid, Rejoyce with trembling; Pſal. 2.11.neither would he have joyned theſe two counſels together: Feare the Lord, Pſal. 112.1and rejoyce greatly in his Commandements. Hee that feares to offend God, hath moſt cauſe of joy.Gaudebit ſapious coetert laſciviunt. Aug. de Civit. Dei, l. 14. Mat. 28.8. He that feares God, is truly joyfull, others are but wanton. It is ſayd of the two Maries, that they departed with feare and great joy. So that great joy and feare may ſtand together.
3. The feare of God is no more an enemy to faith in God.
Noah beleeved that God would bring an univerſall deluge upon the world, and yet ſave him from it: and therefore beeing moved with feare, hee prepared an Ark. Heb. 11.7.Noah being warned of God in faith and feare, built an Arke. Nothing is more common with David, than to put faith and feare together. Taſte, ſayth he,Pſal. 34.8.9. and ſee how good the Lord is, bleſſed is the man that truſteth in him: O feare the Lord, all yee his Saints, for there is no want to them that feare him. The promiſes are made unto feare: if therefore you feare God, you may on that ground beleeve, that God wil make his promiſes good to you. You ſhall finde feare, joy, and faith linked together in two verſes in the Pſalme, All men ſhall feare God, Pſal. 6…. two laſt verſes.the righteous ſhall be glad in the Lord, and ſhall truſt in him. Therfore the righteous feare God, becauſe they beleeve that God is juſt, and powerfull. And therefore many doe not feare God, becauſe they doe not beleeve. Beſides, hee that ſtedfaſtly beleeves that God will ſave him, wil not therefore preſume, but feare to diſhonour ſo gracious a God.
4. Feare and hope kiſſe each other alſo. He that hopes (ſayth the Apoſtle) purifies himſelf, 1 Ioh. 3.3.that is, he feares to preſent his God with an unpurified heart. No man thinkes, that that man hopes to riſe, who feares not to vex, croſſe and abuſe his Prince. A loyall ſubiect, who feares to moove his Prince, is the man of hopes. And therefore David chaines feare and hope together. The eye of the Lord (ſayth hee) is upon them that Pſal. 33.18.feare him, upon them that hope in his merciemercy. And againe,Pſal. 147.11. the Lord takes pleaſure in thoſe that feare him, in thoſe that hope in his merciemercy.
If the Soule triumph then in the Chariot of Grace, whereof Love, Ioy, and Hope be three of the wheels, I know not why the feare of God may not be a fourth wheele.
The Soule ſtanding on theſe foure, is like a foure ſquare ſtone, which way ſoever you caſt it, it falles right.