The Hypocrite Discovered and Cured, Book 2 · Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV. The fourth Medicament. The thorough feare of God.
4. GEt Gods feare planted in your hearts. The feare of God vvill cure Hypocriſie, 2 Cro. 19.9.There is nothing more effectuall then that for the preſent cure. King Johoſhaphat knew that this would preſerve his Officers in their uprightneſſe, and ſtartle them if they were not ſo. Thoſe whom he ſet for judgment and for controverſies, he charged them, Thus ſhall ye doe in the feare of the Lord faithfully and with a perfect heart. Salomon knowing this the moſt neceſſary point of all his Sermons to be remembred, delivered it in the end of all, becauſe he would have it to dwell in the freſheſt thoughts of men; Eccleſ. 12.13. Pſal. 112.1. Pſal. 128.1.Let us heare the concluſion of the whole matter, fear God, and keep his Commandements. They are well joyned together, for that bleſſed man that feareth the Lord, will delight greatly in his Commandments, and will walke in his wayes; it is the beginning of wiſedom, that wiſedom which is in obedience; which the Pſalmiſt calls, A good wiſedom or underſtanding; Pſal. 111.10.The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wiſedom; a good underſtanding have all they that doe his Commandments. Pro. 8.13.It is that which will nouriſh and encreaſe an hatred of ſin, The feare of the Lord is to hate evill. It kept Joſeph from wronging his Maſter, and made him faithfull concerning the Kings ſtore-houſes and treaſure. Iob 31.21, 22, 23.It held him within the bounds of righteouſneſſe, where he had ſtrength and opportunity to breake thorough. It hinders the delighting in ſin, by which the integrity of ſome men is loſt; Delight cannot dwell with feare. It makes men deſpiſe other feares whereby ſome men are terrified from their conſtancie. Jeremiah was not diſmayed at the faces of the Princes, Ier. 1.17, 18.Prieſts and people, becauſe Gods feare made him a defenced citie, and an iron pillar, and braſen walls againſt the whole land. This cuts off baſe and unworthy complyings, he will not ſay, a confederacie, to whom the people ſay a confederacie, Iſa. 8.12, 13.nor feare their feare, who ſanctifie the Lord of Hoſts himſelf, and take him for their feare and their dread. A greater feare will ſwallow up a leſſer. Chriſt improves this argument upon his hearers, Mat. 10.28.that they ſhould not feare him that can kill the body, (and that is all they can doe, and the worſt of their ſpight) but that they ſhould feare him that can cast body and ſoul into Hell fire. The Aſſe a dull and ſlow creature feares the ſpur or the whip, and will drive on roundly, but if it come to a fire, he feares that ſo much, that the ſpur may fetch blood, and the whip be ſpent and worne with laſhing, yet he will not be forced to goe forward. Here is feare conquering feare. You feare men, they frown and threaten, and beare a ſword; but offend not God to pleaſe them, for in his frown is death, his ſword is ſharper and his arrows ready. Eccluſ. 1.15, 16, 17, 18.This is finely urged by an Apocryphal authour; They that feare the Lord will not diſobey his word, and they that love him will keep his wayes. They that feare the Lord will ſeek that which is well pleaſing unto him; and they that love him ſhall be filled with the Law. They that feare the Lord will prepare their hearts, and humble their fouls in his ſight, ſaying, we will fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men; for as his Majeſty is ſo is his mercy. The force of this feare the receipt that I am now commending, Antonin. Ep. Florent. Hiſt. Til. 26 part. 2. c 4. §. 3.I ſhall thinke fit to manifeſt in one experiment. The Emperour Henry the third had a Chaplain, who one might entertained an Harlot into his bed, the Emperour by ſome meanes knew of it, but making as if he knew nothing, he commanded him the next morning to officiate in the holy ſervica. The Chaplain it ſeems having remorſe, and daring not ſo highly to profane the name of God, being conſcious to himſelf of his ſinne, refuſed to doe it. The Emperour urged him much; it was it ſeems to try him thoroughly. But he ſtill refuſing, the Emperour ſaid he ſhould either doe it or be baniſhed. He obeyes the ſentence and leaves the Court. The Emperour ſends after him, and his officers bring him back bound as a delinquent and ready to ſuffer, rather then to pollute the ſervice of God as he eſteemed. But the Emperour took him, and highly commending his honeſty, that he feared Gods wrath more then his, preſently beſtowed a choice Biſhoprick upon him, and held him ever after very deare unto him.
This feare is in other phraſes called in the Scripture, The ſetting of God before one, or the walking with God. And that will make a man ſincere. Gen. 17.1.Walke before me, ſaith God to Abraham, and be upright. And thus it was that Enoch walked with God. Gen. 5.We are ſure his wayes were ſincere, for the Scripture teſtifieth that they pleaſed God. This will cruſh the firſt riſings of hypocriticall thoughts; Heb. 11.5.God ſees, ſhall I then dally, ſhall I mock God? We would not doe many things that we doe, if but a child ſaw us; and ſhall we not reſpect Gods eye? or doe we think God is blind? The Church in the Pſalme, obſerves this effect to her ſelfe of this medicine. Pſa. 44.17, &c.All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falſely in thy covenant; Our heart is not turned back, neither have our ſteps declined from thy way. But how came ſhe to be thus healthy? It follows; If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands; to a ſtrange god; ſhall not God ſearch this out? for he knoweth the ſecrets of the heart. This had a right operation in the Apoſtles, 2 Cor. 2.17. foreign.We are not as many which corrupt the word of God, or, which deale deceitfully with the word, but as of God, in the ſight of God, ſpeake we in Chriſt. We conſider that our commiſſion is from God, and that our worke is done and diſcharged in his eye. And in the ſame manner the Apoſtle ſpeakes to the Theſſalonians; Our exhortation was not of deceit, 1 Theſ. 2.3, 4.nor of uncleaneneſſe, nor in guile; But as we were allowed of God to be put in truſt with the Goſpell, even ſo we ſpeake, not as pleaſing men but God, which trieth our hearts. Even idle and waſtfull ſervants when their Maſters come home, compoſe themſelves and are double diligent. But our Maſter is never abſent; Pro. 5.21.The wayes of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings. Therefore David like a good ſervant beſtirred himſelf at all times; I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies, Pſal. 119.168.for all my wayes are before thee. And no wonder that Paul and David have been thus wrought upon, for we find this phyſick to have prevailed with the ſtrong constitution and tough humour of Heathen men. Senec. Ep. 10. Sic vive cum hominibus tanquam D…us vldeat, ſic loquere cum Deo, tanquam bomines audiunt. Ep. 32.Seneca gave it among his adviſes to his friend Lucillius; That he ſhould live with men as if God ſaw him, and pray to God as if men heard him. And in another Epiſtle; live thou ſo (ſaith he) as if I were by to heare and ſee all that thou doſt. Truly 'tis much that ſome men will doe, and much that they will forbeare and reſtraine themſelves in, becauſe ſome men are by whoſe preſence they regard. I knew one who was ſaid to be an extraordinary ſwearer, and yet in diverſe moneths together when he had occaſion to live under the ſame roofe, I never heard him ſweare an Oath. And ſo it is with many ordinary drunkards and wantons, they will curbe themſelves moſt ſtrangely in the company and preſence of the good. I have ſometimes been thinking that this may be a reaſon why many retired godly, grave Miniſters cry not out ſo much in their Pulpits againſt ſuch and ſuch ſinnes, becauſe their ſoules come into none of their ſecrets, they have ſuch foule ſinnes, but by heare-ſay, they know them not. I remember J once heard that inward liver, that spirituall Divine Dr Sibbs ſpeak ſomewhat to this purpoſe in conference. But what Atheiſticall wretches are they that reſpect a mans preſence, and have no regard to the eyes of the all-ſeeing God? O let them not thinke to hide any thing from his ſight or knowledge, Pro. 24.11, 12.to whom their very thoughts, their baſe and deceitfull thoughts are knowne. If thou forbeare to deliver them that are drawn to death, and thoſe that are ready to be ſlain; If thou ſaiſt, Behold we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart conſider it? And he that keepeth thy ſoul doth not he know it? Is thy ſoule and all the windings of it in Gods hand, and is there any thing in it, that he is not acquainted with?