The Cause Use Cure of Fear, To the reader – License
By way of Preface to the Reader.
INeed not tell thee what the times are, how hard, fierce, and perillous; nor how we are diſtracted in them; ſo much thy very looks can tell me: The news, now a-dayes, is ſo legible, that he who runs may read it, and in moſt mens faces.
There is a paſſion now, quick and ſtirring within us, which may ſtand us in great ſtead at this time, as it may be ordered and pointed; if in a right way, and to the right object, nothing can doe us better ſervice to ſtay and ſtabliſh us: but if out of the way, and from that object, nothing works us more miſchiefe: nothing more unſettles us. It will betray all our ſuccour; it will ſhake us, as a leafe with the wind, and make us flee as a Roe before the hunter.
It were ſeaſonable now to reade a Lecture upon this paſsion of feare, not as a Philoſopher, but as a Chriſtian; I cannot ſay, ſo I have done; but I have beſtowed many ſad (yet quiet) thoughts upon its uncomfortable and unquiet motions; and here I have made them legible, That, though the adverſary doth all he can to make us afraid, yet he may not have his will 1 Pet. 3. 6.ſo farre, as to make us afraid with any amazement, for we have made three Concluſions, are fixed thereupon, and reſolved to take the Product or Reſult therefrom, That we will doe our Duty, not diſquieting our ſelves about what The LORD will doe hereafter, or what our foes are doing now. The firſt Concluſion.
1. That things ſtand at as great a diſtance from an honourable 2 King. 9. 22.Peace, as Iſrael ſtood when the WITCHCRAFTS of their mother Jezebel, and her whoredomes were ſo many. If one man ſin againſt another, a third may take up the difference, and make an agreement betwixt them: d1 Sam. 2. 25.The caſe is not ſo here; Man hath ſinned againſt The Lord, and we have provoked Him to His face by our Idolatries and bloud-ſhed: Man ſhall not determine this caſe, a caſe of bloud, and betwixt GOD and Man. There may be eſſayes and overtures that way, to ſcab-over the matter, but it cannot be; the wound is deep, much venome in the hottome, it hath layne feſtring there theſe by paſt yeeres, three or foure, and now The Lord is ſearching into it, making inquiſition for bloud: and before He hath done (for that is His manner) He will find it out, and His ſword ſhall not reſt, till He hath required and avenged it. That is the firſt Concluſion. The adverſary makes a ſecond, That as
2. He hath done all he can by fraud, ſo he doth and will doe all he can by force, not to waſte and deſtroy onelyonly, not to out Iſrael ſhort, but cleane off from being a Nation: So the Pſal. 74.Adverſary hath concluded now. And now the Church makes a third Concluſion, and thereon ſhe will fixe, and be eſtabliſhed for ever.
3. That God will make His Church a cup of trembling in the adverſaries hand, as a burdenſome ſtone upon his Zach. 12. 2.ſhoulders, as a torch of fire in a ſheafe, or amidſt ſtubble. The ver. 6.Lord doth open His eyes upon His people; He doth plead His owne cauſe. So the Church hath concluded.
I could ſet downe ſome Premiſes whence ſhe draws her Concluſion, but it is her LORDS promiſe ſo; and that is enough, given long ſince, but written for the generations to come.Pſal. 74. 22, 23.
The Reſult from hence is, That we do our duty, as the Church doth, & not trouble our ſelves with unneceſſary quaeres, what, how, or when GOD will work: He works wonders every day, and let Him work as He pleaſeth, He will work all for good, and all in the fitteſt ſeaſon. Let us doeour duty, that is our work; work out our ſalvation; & for the ſalvation of Iſrael, by all ſuch means, wherein GOD, Nature, Grace, have given us a capacity, and power of working. We muſt lye on our face in deep humiliation, while the Joſhuahs are ſearching the tents, that the accurſed thing may be caſt out, for ſo they have commanded us. We muſt doe for the cauſe of Chriſt, as the ſpirituall Lords, Devils, and men doe againſt Chriſt, to ſhoulder Him out of His throne: This is to doe our duty, to doe As, &c. and ſo doing, we doe our duty heartily, and ſhall rejoyce in time to come; that is very comfortable, as we read it; but there is more comfort in it then ſo, we ſhall laugh at the time to come aProv. 21. 2…. Ridet ad tempera ſeq…ontra.: Not care ſo much for the Army in the north, as their fore-fathers did for an Army of frogs, lice, & ſwarms of flies; nor for any other mountain in the way, for he ſhall be made a plaine: Wee have and will do our Duty; They that do ſo may laugh and ſing too.
But theſe are but words, the Lord knows not the ſpeech, but the power of our doing our duty. And He put it into our hearts, and keep it there for ever. We can hardly ſet upon it, though we are ſet upon by the hand of violence, our gods are taken away from us, I mean that we dote upon, which quickned a man as dead in his body, as we in our ſpirits; For thus it was The Phiſitians knew no way to quicken him out of his lethargy but by gingling his baggs before him upon the table; then he awakened and ſtirred himſelfe up, for he would hold Hor. li. 2. S…. Satyr. 3.his bags, as long as he could hold his breath. This god is takē from us, our liberty too, and that is our god alſo; Nay our LORD Chriſt is taking frō us, Who gives all to us, He is GOD indeed. Now or never we will bethink our ſelves, and lay out all we have & are to keepe Him, the LIFE of our lives, and SOUL of our ſouls, we wil keepe Him. There is but this that can diſcourage us (and it is the greateſt encouragement in the world, if we can contend for Him) we may loſe our eſtates and lives too. That is true; All may be loſt, & moſt happily loſt in ſuch a contention; Nay it is not loſt, it is gained, and the greateſt gain, for He is worthy, for Whoſe cauſe we do expend all this, if it be our deareſt blood, and all: He became poor for us, to make us 2 Cor. 8 9.riche; nay, a Curſe for us, to make us a Bleſſing. If we think of this, goods ſhal go and life too, and bleſſe God with all our hearts, that He put ſuch a price into our hand, to lay out our ſelves for Chriſt, to ſuffer for Him: Indeed it is as glorious a work as to beleeve in Him; we cannot do the one without the other, but ſuffering hath the preheminence, that no man may be diſmayed at his ſufferings, if called thereunto, and for Chriſt, for unto you it is given in the behalfe of Chriſt, not onelyonly to beleeve on Him, but Philip. 1. 29.alſo to ſuffer for His ſake.
I have done prefacing, The Lord give us underſtanding in the times, and what Iſrael ought to do.
PROV. 29. 25.
The feare of man bringeth a ſnare: but who ſo putteth his truſt in The Lord, ſhall be ſafe.
IT is ordered by the Committee of the Houſe of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing, this 22. day of December 1642. that this booke Intituled (The uſefulneſſe of Feare, &c.) be printed.
John White.
Of FEARE.
The Just Cause
The True Use
The Soveraign Cure