First, he saith, "thou shalt not be afraid of the fear of the
night." By the night is there in scripture sometimes understood
tribulation, as appeareth in the thirty-fourth chapter of Job: "God
hath known the works of them, and therefore shall he bring night
upon them," that is, tribulation for their wickedness. And well you
know that the night is of its own nature discomfortable and full of
fear. And therefore by the night's fear here I understand the
tribulation by which the devil, through the sufference of God,
either by himself or by others who are his instruments, tempteth
good folk to impatience as he did Job. But he who, as the prophet
saith, dwelleth and continueth faithfully in the hope of God's
help, shall so be clipped in on every side with the shield of God
that he shall have no need to be afraid of such tribulation as is
here called the night's fear. And it may be also fittingly called
the night's fear for two causes: One, because many times, unto him
who suffereth, the cause of his tribulation is dark and unknown.
And therein it varieth and differeth from that tribulation by which
the devil tempteth a man with open fight and assault for a known
good thing from which he would withdraw him, or for some known evil
thing into which he would drive him by force of such persecution.
Another cause for which it is called the night's fear may be
because the night is so far out of courage, and naturally so
casteth folk into fear, that their fancy doubleth their fear of
everything of which they perceive any manner of dread, and maketh
them often think that it were much worse than indeed it is.
The prophet saith in the psalter, "Thou hast, good Lord, set the
darkness and made was the night, and in the night walk all the
beasts of the woods, the whelps of the lions roaring and calling
unto God for their meat." Now, though the lions' whelps walk about
roaring in the night and seek for their prey, yet can they not get
such meat as they would always, but must hold themselves content
with such as God suffereth to fall in their way. And though they
be not aware of it, yet of God they ask it and of him they have
it. And this may be comfort to all good men in their night's fear,
that though they fall in their dark tribulation into the claws of
the devil or the teeth of those lions' whelps, yet all that they
can do shall not pass beyond the body, which is but as the garment
of the soul. For the soul itself, which is the substance of the
man, is so surely fenced in round about with the shield of God,
that as long as he will abide faithfully in the hope of God's help
the lions' whelp shall not be able to hurt it. For the great Lion
himself could never be suffered to go further in the tribulation
of Job than God from time to time gave him leave.
And therefore the deep darkness of the midnight maketh men who
stand out of faith and out of good hope in God to be in far the
greater fear in their tribulation, for lack of the light of faith,
by which they might perceive that the uttermost of their peril is
a far less thing than they take it for. But we are so wont to set
so much by our body, which we see and feel, and in the feeding and
fostering of which we set out delight and our wealth; and so
little (alas) and so seldom we think upon our soul, because we
cannot see that but by spiritual understanding, and most
especially by the eye of our faith (in the meditation of which we
bestow, God knows, little time), that the loss of our body we take
for a sorer thing and for a great deal greater tribulation than we
do the loss of our soul. Our Saviour biddeth us not fear those
lions' whelps that can but kill our bodies and when that is done
have no further thing in their power with which they can do us
harm, but he biddeth us stand in dread of him who when he hath
slain the body is able then beside to cast the soul into
everlasting fire. Yet are we so blind in the dark night of
tribulation, for lack of full and fast belief of God's word, that,
whereas in the day of prosperity we very little fear God for our
soul, our night's fear of adversity maketh us very sore to fear
the lion and his whelps for dread of loss of our bodies. And
whereas St. Paul in sundry places telleth us that our body is but
the garment of the soul, yet the faintness of our faith in the
scripture of God maketh us, with the night's fear of tribulation,
not only to dread the loss of our body more than that of our
soul--that is, of the clothing more than of the substance that is
clothed therewith--but also of the very outward goods that serve
for the clothing of the body. And much more foolish are we in that
dark night's fear than would be a man who would forget the saving
of his body for fear of losing his old rain-beaten cloak, that is
but the covering of his gown or his coat. Now, consider further
yet, that the prophet in the afore-remembered verses saith that in
the night there walk not only the lions' whelps but also "all the
beasts of the wood." Now, you know that if a man walk through the
wood in the night, many things can make him afraid of which in the
day he would not be afraid a whit. For in the night every bush, to
him that waxeth once afraid, seemeth a thief.
I remember that when I was a young man, I was once in the war with
the king then my master (God absolve his soul) and we were camped
within the Turk's ground many a mile beyond Belgrade--would God it
were ours now as it was then! But so happed it that in our camp
about midnight there suddenly rose a rumour and a cry that the
Turk's whole army was secretly stealing upon us. Therewith our
whole host was warned to arm them in haste and set themselves in
array to fight. And then were runners of ours, who had brought
those sudden tidings, examined more leisurely by the council, as
to what surety or what likelihood they had perceived. And one of
them said that by the glimmering of the moon he had espied and
perceived and seen them himself, coming on softly and soberly in a
long range, all in good order, not one farther forth than the
other in the forefront, but as even as a third, and in breadth
farther than he could see the length. His fellows, being examined,
said that he had somewhat pricked forth before them, and came back
so fast to tell it to them that they thought it rather time to
make haste and giving warning to the camp than to go nearer unto
them. For they were not so far off but what they had yet
themselves somewhat an imperfect sight of them, too. Thus stood we
on watch all the rest of the night, evermore hearkening when we
should hear them come, but "Hush, stand still! Methink I hear a
trampling," so that at last many of us thought we heard them
ourselves too. But when the day was sprung, and we saw no one, out
was our runner sent again, and some of our captains with him, to
show whereabout was the place in which he had perceived them. And
when they came thither, they found that the great fearful army of
the Turks, so soberly coming on, turned (God be thanked) into a
fair long hedge standing even stone-still.
And thus fareth it in the night's fear of tribulation, in which
the devil, to bear down and overwhelm with dread the faithful hope
that we should have in God, casteth in our imagination much more
fear than cause. For since there walk in that night not only the
lion's whelps but all the beasts of the wood beside, the beast
that we hear roar in the dark night of tribulation, and fear for a
lion, we sometimes find well afterward in the way that it was no
lion at all, but a silly rude roaring ass. And sometimes the thing
that on the sea seemeth a rock is indeed nothing else but a mist.
Howbeit, as the prophet saith, he that faithfully dwelleth in the
hope of God's help, the shield of his truth shall so fence him
round about that, be it an ass or a colt or a lion's whelp, or a
rock of stone or a mist, the night's fear thereof shall be nothing
to dread.