SECT. 3.

Awe more fit for thoughts of judgment, than fear.

THOU art afraid to think of judgment:-I would rather thou shouldst be awful, than timorous.

When St. Paul discoursed of the judgment to come, it is no marvel that Felix trembled; Acts xxiv. 25: but the same Apostle, when he had pressed to his Corinthians the certainty and generality of our appearance before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether good or evil; addeth, Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest to God, &c. 2 Cor. v. 11.

Lo, the holiest man may not be exempted from the dread, but from the slavish fear of the Great Judge. We know his Infinite Justice: we are conscious to ourselves of our manifold failings: how can we lay these two together, and not fear? But this fear works not in us a malignant kind of repining at the severe tribunal of the Almighty; as, commonly, whom we fear we hate; but rather a careful endeavour so to approve ourselves, that we may be acquitted by him, and appear blameless in his presence.

How justly may we tremble, when we look upon our own actions, our own deserts! but how confidently may we appear at that bar, when we are beforehand assured of a discharge! Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord; Rom. v. 1. When we think of an universal conflagration of the world, how can we but fear? But when we think of a happy restitution of all things (Acts iii. 21.) in this day, how can we but rejoice in trembling?

SECT. 4.

In that great and terrible day, our Advocate is our Judge. THOU quakest at the expectation of the Last Judgment :Surely, the very majesty of that Great Assize must needs be formidable. And, if the very delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai were with so dreadful a pomp of thunder and lightning, of fire, smoke, earthquakes, that the Israelites were half dead with fear in receiving it; with what terrible magnificence, shall God come to require an account of that Law, at the hands of the whole sinful generation of mankind!

Represent unto thy thoughts, that, which was shewed of old to the Prophet Daniel, in vision. Imagine that thou sawest the Ancient of Days sitting upon a throne like the fiery flame; a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him; thon

sand thousands ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him; the judgment set, and the books opened; Dan. vii. 9. 10. Or, as John, the Daniel of the New Testament, saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and the dead, both small and great, standing before God; and the books opened; and the dead judged out of those things, which were written in those books, according to their works; Rev. xx. 11, 12. Let the eyes of thy mind see, beforehand, that, which these bodily eyes shall once see; and tell me how thou feelest thyself affected with a sight of such a Judge, such an appearance, such a process: and, if thou findest thyself in a trembling condition, cheer up thyself with this, That thy Judge is thine Advocate; That, upon that throne, there sits not greater Majesty than Mercy. It is thy Saviour, that shall

sentence thee.

How safe art thou then, under such hands! Canst thou fear, that he will doom thee to death, who died to give thee life? Canst thou fear, he will condemn thee for those sins, which he hath given his blood to expiate? Canst thou fear the rigour of that justice, which he hath so fully satisfied? Canst thou misdoubt the miscarriage of that soul, which he hath so dearly bought?

No, my son, all this divine state and magnificence makes for thee. Let those guilty and impenitent souls, who have heaped unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. ii. 5: quake at the glorious Majesty of the Son of God; for whom nothing remains, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries; Heb. x. 26, 27. But, for thee, who art not only reconciled unto God by the mediation of the Son of his Love, but art also incorporated into Christ, and made a true limb of his mystical body; thou art bidden, together with all the faithful, to look up, and lift up thy head; for now the day of thy redemption is come; Luke xxi. 28. Eph. iv. 30.

And, indeed, how canst thou do other, since, by virtue of this blessed union with thy Saviour, this glory is thine? every member hath an interest in the honour of the Head.

Rejoice, therefore, in the day of the Lord Jesus; Phil. ii. 17, 18: and, when all the tribes of the earth shall wail, (Rev. i. 7.) do thou sing and rejoice; and call to the heavens and the earth to bear thee company: Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the sea make a noise, and all that is therein. Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; and with righteousness to judge the world, and the people with his truth; Ps. xcvi. 11, 12, 13.

SECT. 5.

Frequent meditation and due preparation, the remedies of our fear.

THOU art affrighted with the thought of that great day :-Think of it oftener, and thou shalt less fear it. It will come, both surely and suddenly: let thy frequent thoughts prevent it. It will come, as a thief in the night; without warning, without noise: let thy careful vigilance always expect it; and thy soul shall be sure not to be surprised, not to be confounded. Thine audit is both sure and uncertain: sure, that it will be; uncertain, when it will be. If thou wilt approve thyself a good steward, have thine account always ready: set thy reckoning still even, betwixt God and thy soul: Blessed is the servant, whom his Master shall find so doing; Matt. xxiv. 46. Look upon these heavens and this earth, as dissolving; and think, with Jerome, that thou hearest the last trump, and the voice of the archangel shrilling in thine ears, as once thou shalt, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment. Shortly, let it be thy main care, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity; Titus ii. 12, 13, 14: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body; according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself; Phil. iii. 21.

CHAP. XVII.

COMFORTS AGAINST THE FEARS OF OUR SPIRITUAL ENEMIES.

SECT. 1.

The great power of evil spirits, and their restraint.

THOU art affrighted at the thought of thy spiritual enemies : -No marvel: neither earth nor hell hath any thing equally formidable. Those three things which are wont to make enmity dreadful and dangerous (power, malice, subtlety,) are met in them: neither is it easy to say, in which of these they are most eminent. Certainly were we to be matched with them on even hand, there were just cause; not of fear only, but of despair.

"I could tremble," thou sayest, "to think that Satan hath done what he can do: What contestation he enabled the Egyptian sorcerers to hold with Moses: how they turned every man his rod into a serpent; so as they seemed to have the advantage, for the time, of many serpents crawling and hissing in Pharaoh's pavement, for one; Exod. vii. 11, 12: how they turned the waters into blood; v. 22: how they brought frogs upon the land of Egypt; ch. viii. 7: as if, thus far, the power of hell would presume to hold competition with heaven: What furious tempests he raises in the air; as that, which, from the wilderness, beat upon the four corners of the house of Job's eldest son, and overthrew it; Job i. 19: lo, Job was the greatest man in the east; Job. i. 3: his heir did not dwell in a cottage: that strong fabric could not stand against this hurricane of Satan: What fearful apparitions he makes in the upper regions: what great wonders he doth, causing fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men; Rev. xiii. 13: Lastly, what grievous tyranny he exerciseth upon all the children of disobedience;" Eph. v. 6.

Couldst thou look for any less, my son, from those, whom the Spirit of God himself styles, principalities and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in high places, and the prince of the power of the air? Eph. vi. 12. ii. 2. Surely, it were no mastery to be a Christian, if we had not powerful opposites.

But dost thou not, withal, consider, that all this power is by concession; and the exercise of it but with permission, with limitation? What power can there be in any creature, which is not derived from the Almighty? This measure the Infinite Creator was pleased to communicate to them, as angels; which they retain and exercise still, as devils: their damnation hath stripped them of their glory; but we know not of how much of their strength.

And, seest thou not how their power is bounded? Those, that could, in appearance, turn their rods into serpents, could not keep all their serpents from being devoured of that one serpent of Moses: those, that could bring frogs upon Egypt, cannot bring a baser creature, lice: those, that were suffered to bring frogs, shall not have power to take them away; Exod. vii. 12. viii. 18, 19; 8-11. Restrained powers must know their limits; and we, knowing them, must set limits to our fears. A lion chained up can do less harm, than a cur let loose. What is it to thee, how powerful the evil spirits are, while they are, by an over-ruling power, tied up to their stake that they cannot hurt thee?

SECT. 2.

The fear of the number of evil spirits, and the remedy of it. Thy fears are increased with their number: they are as many, as powerful. One demoniac was possessed with a legion: how many legions then shall we think there are, to tempt those millions of men, which live upon the face of the earth, whereof no one is free from their continual solicitations to evil! That holy man, whom our counterfeit hermits would pretend to imitate in the vision of his retiredness, saw the air full of them, and of their snares for mankind; and, were our eyes as clear as his, we might perhaps meet with the same prospect:

But be not dismayed, my son. Couldst thou borrow the eyes of the servant of a holier master, thou shouldst seet hat there are more with us, than they that are against us; 2 Kings vi. 16. Thou shouldst see the blessed angels of God, pitching their tents about thee; as the more powerful, vigilant, constant guardians of thy soul: lo, these are those valiant ones, which stand about thy bed: They all hold swords, being expert in war: every one hath his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night; Cant. iii. 7, 8.

Fear not therefore; but make the Lord, even the Most High, thy habitation. Then, there shall no evil befal thee: neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands; lest thou dash thy foot against a stone; Ps. xci. 9-12: yea, and, besides this safe indemnity, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon, shalt thou trample under feet; v. 13.

In secular enmity, true valour may be oppressed, will not easily be daunted with multitude. I will not be afraid of ten thousand, saith David; Ps. iii. 6. They came about me like bees; but, in the name of the Lord, will I destroy them; Ps. cxviii. 12. It was a brave resolution in that general, who, when one of his soldiers could tell him, that the cloud of Persian arrows shot at them darkened the sun: "Be of good cheer," said he, "we shall fight in the shade."

Answerable whereunto was that heroical determination of Luther, who, after his engagements, against all threats and dissuasions, would go into the city of Worms, though there were as many devils in it as tiles upon their houses. And why should not we imitate this confidence? What if there were as devils in the air, as there are spires of grass on the earth? many