heaven would not hold him for the love he had to my salvation, which
also he hath effectually accomplished for me at Jerusalem. Honourable
Jesus! precious Jesus! loving Jesus! Jonathan’s kindness captivated
David, and made him precious in his eyes for ever. ‘I am distressed for
thee, my brother Jonathan,’ said he; ‘very pleasant hast thou been unto
me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women’ (2 Sam
1:26). Why, what had Jonathan done? O, he had delivered David from the
wrath of Saul. But how much more should he be precious to me who hath
saved me from death and hell! who hath delivered me from the wrath of
God! ‘The love of Christ constraineth us.’ Nothing will so edge the
spirit of a Christian as, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood.’ This makes the heavens themselves ring with joy and
shouting. Mark the words, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on
the earth.’ What follows now? ‘And I beheld, and I heard the voice of
many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders: and
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands
of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven,
and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and
all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory,
and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,
for ever and ever’ (Rev 5:9-14).
Thus also is the song, that new song that is said to be sung by the
hundred forty and four thousand which stand with the Lamb upon Mount
Sion, with his Father’s name written in their foreheads. These are also
called harpers, harping with their harps: ‘And they sung as it were a
new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders:
and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four
thousand, which were redeemed from the earth’ (Rev 14:1-3).
But why could they not learn that song? Because they were not redeemed:
none can sing of this song but the redeemed; they can give glory to the
Lamb, the Lamb that was slain, and that redeemed them to God by his
blood. It is faith in his blood on earth that will make us sing this
song in heaven. These shoutings and heavenly songs must needs come from
love put into a flame by the sufferings of Christ.
THE LAST USE.
If all these things be true, what follows but a demonstration of the
accursed condition of those among the religious in these nations whose
notions put them far off from Jesus, and from venturing their souls
upon his bloody death? I have observed such a spirit as this in the
world that careth not for knowing of Jesus; the possessed therewith do
think that it is not material to salvation to venture upon a crucified
Christ, neither do they trouble their heads or hearts with inquiring
whether Christ Jesus be risen and ascended into heaven, or whether they
see him again or no, but rather are for concluding that there will be
no such thing: these men speak not by the Holy Ghost, for in the sum
they call Jesus accursed; but I doubt not to say that many of them are
anathematized of God, and shall stand so, till the coming of the Lord
Jesus, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.[7]
FOOTNOTES:
1. In this quotation, Bunyan has followed the Genevan or Puritan
version. It was a favourite version with our pilgrim forefathers, and
is in many texts more faithful than our authorized translation; but, in
this passage, our present version is more literal. The same Hebrew
word, to ‘break’ or ‘bruise,’ is used as to Satan’s head and the
Saviour’s heel.—Ed.
2. Genevan or Puritan version.—Ed.
3. ‘Common’ means public. ‘Not doing nor dying in a private capacity,
but in the room and stead of sinners.’—Ed.
4. It was common with the Reformers and Puritans, when condemning the
absurdities of Aquinas and the schoolmen, to call it ‘Dunsish
sophistry,’ from one of the chief of these writers named Duns, usually
called, from the place of his birth, Duns Scotus.—Ed.
5. The apostle evidently means by ‘Christ made sin for us,’ that he was
made an offering or sacrifice for our sins. He was made sin who knew no
sin. Our sins were laid upon him; he bore them away in his own body on
the tree. The clean animals sacrificed by the patriarchs, and under the
law, were types of this great sacrifice of Christ.—Ed.
6. ‘I hid myself when I for flies do wait, So doth the devil when he
lays his bait; If I do fear the losing of my prey, I stir me, and more
snares upon her lay, This way and that her wings and legs I tie, That
sure as she is caught, so she must die.’—Bunyan’s Divine Emblems, No.
XVIII. ‘Dialogue between a spider and a sinner.’
7. Here is faithful dealing! This is a most solemn and awful appeal to
the consciences of those who, forsaking the fountain of salvation,
venture to build their hopes of pardon upon some other foundation than
Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages. They seek refuge in lies, which, at the
great and trying day, will be fearfully and swiftly swept away, leaving
them, with all their guilt upon their heads, to suffer under the curse.
Reader, do not indulge in vain imaginations as to whether any sect is
here alluded to; Bunyan’s appeal is to persons—to you and me. If WE,
either by secret or open sins, or by carelessness of eternal realities,
or by departing from a simple and entire reliance by faith in the work
and merits of Christ—we trample under foot the blood of the covenant,
there is nothing left us but a fearful looking for of judgment, and
fiery indignation to devour us. May we appeal to our God, Lord, is it
I? Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. O lead me in the way
everlasting.—Ed
A TREATISE OF THE FEAR OF GOD;
SHOWING
WHAT IT IS, AND HOW DISTINGUISHED FROM THAT WHICH IS NOT SO.
ALSO, WHENCE IT COMES; WHO HAS IT; WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS; AND WHAT THE
PRIVILEGES OF THOSE THAT HAVE IT IN THEIR HEARTS.
London: Printed for N. Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, over
against the Stocks market: 1679.
ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and “a fountain of
life”—the foundation on which all wisdom rests, as well as the source
from whence it emanates. Upon a principle so vastly important, all the
subtle malignity of Satan has been directed, if possible to mislead the
very elect; while the ungodly and impenitent fall under his devices. To
the mind enlightened by Divine truth, the difference between a filial
fear of offending God and the dread of punishment is very plain. Still,
by the devil’s sophistry, some of the most pious Christians have been
puzzled and bewildered. Bunyan was not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and
he has roused the energies of his powerful mind, guided by Divine
truth, to render this important doctrine so clear and easy to be
understood, that the believer may not err.
This rare volume, first published in 1679, soon became so scarce that
Chandler, Wilson, Whitefield, and others, omitted it from their
editions of Bunyan’s works. At length it appeared in the more complete
collection by Ryland and Mason, about 1780. Since then, it has been
reprinted, somewhat modernized, by the Tract Society, from an original
copy, discovered by that ardent lover of Bunyan, the Rev. Joseph
Belcher. Of this edition, four thousand copies have been printed.
The great line of distinction that Bunyan draws is between that terror
and dread of God, as the infinitely Holy One, before whom all sin must
incur the intensity of punishment; and the love of God, as the Father
of mercies, and fountain of blessedness, in the gift of his Son, and a
sense of adoption into his family; by the influences of which the soul
fears to offend him. This fear is purely evangelical; for if the
slightest dependence is placed upon any supposed good works of our own,
the filial fear of God is swallowed up in dread and terror—for
salvation depends upon the perfection of holiness, without which none
can enter heaven, and which can only be found in Christ.
Mr. Mason, on reading this treatise, thus expressed his feelings—“When
the fear of the Lord is a permanent principle, inwrought in the soul by
the Divine Spirit, it is an undoubted token of election to life
eternal; for the most precious promises are made to God’s fearers, even
the blessings of the everlasting covenant. Such are sure to be
protected from every enemy; to be guided by unerring counsel; and what
will crown all, to be beloved of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;
till, by almighty and effectual grace, he will be translated to those
mansions of glory and blessedness prepared for him, where he will sing
the praises of his covenant-God while eternity endures.”
May this be the blessed experience of all those who prayerfully read
this important treatise.
Geo. Offor.
A TREATISE ON THE FEAR OF GOD
“BLESSED IS EVERY ONE THAT FEARETH THE LORD.”—PSALM 128:1
“FEAR GOD.”—REVELATION 14:7
This exhortation is not only found here in the text, but is in several
other places of the Scripture pressed, and that with much vehemency,
upon the children of men, as in Ecclesiastes 12:13; 1 Peter 1:17, &c. I
shall not trouble you with a long preamble, or forespeech to the
matter, nor shall I here so much as meddle with the context, but shall
immediately fall upon the words themselves, and briefly treat of the
fear of God. The text, you see, presenteth us with matter of greatest
moment, to wit, with God, and with the fear of him.
First they present us with God, the true and living God, maker of the
worlds, and upholder of all things by the word of his power: that
incomprehensible majesty, in comparison of whom all nations are less
than the drop of a bucket, and than the small dust of the balance. This
is he that fills heaven and earth, and is everywhere present with the
children of men, beholding the evil and the good; for he hath set his
eyes upon all their ways.
So that, considering that by the text we have presented to our souls
the Lord God and Maker of us all, who also will be either our Saviour
or Judge, we are in reason and duty bound to give the more earnest heed
to the things that shall be spoken, and be the more careful to receive
them, and put them in practice; for, as I said, as they present us with
the mighty God, so they exhort us to the highest duty towards him; to
wit, to fear him. I call it the highest duty, because it is, as I may
call it, not only a duty in itself, but, as it were, the salt that
seasoneth every duty. For there is no duty performed by us that can by
any means be accepted of God, if it be not seasoned with godly fear.
Wherefore the apostle saith, “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve
God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.” Of this fear, I say, I
would discourse at this time; but because this word fear is variously
taken in the Scripture, and because it may be profitable to us to see
it in its variety, I shall therefore choose this method for the
managing of my discourse, even to show you the nature of the word in
its several, especially of the chiefest, acceptations. FIRST. Then by
this word fear we are to understand even God himself, who is the object
of our fear. SECOND. By this word fear we are to understand the Word of
God, the rule and director of our fear. Now to speak to this word fear,
as it is thus taken.
[THIS WORD FEAR AS TAKEN FOR GOD HIMSELF.]
FIRST. Of this word “fear,” AS IT RESPECTETH GOD HIMSELF, who is the
object of our fear.
By this word fear, as I said, we are to understand God himself, who is
the object of our fear: For the Divine majesty goeth often under this
very name himself. This name Jacob called him by, when he and Laban
chid together on Mount Gilead, after that Jacob had made his escape to
his father’s house; “Except,” said he, “the God of my father, the God
of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadst
sent me away now empty.” So again, a little after, when Jacob and Laban
agree to make a covenant of peace each with other, though Laban, after
the jumbling way of the heathen by his oath, puts the true God and the
false together, yet “Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac” (Gen
31:42,53).[1]
By the fear, that is, by the God of his father Isaac. And, indeed, God
may well be called the fear of his people, not only because they have
by his grace made him the object of their fear, but because of the
dread and terrible majesty that is in him. “He is a mighty God, a great
and terrible, and with God is terrible majesty” (Dan 7:28, 10:17; Neh
1:5, 4:14, 9:32; Job 37:22). Who knows the power of his anger? “The
mountains quake at him, the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his
presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand
before his indignation? who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him”
(Nahum 1:5,6). His people know him, and have his dread upon them, by
virtue whereof there is begot and maintained in them that godly awe and
reverence of his majesty which is agreeable to their profession of him.
“Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” Set his majesty
before the eyes of your souls, and let his excellency make you afraid
with godly fear (Isa 8:13).
There are these things that make God to be the fear of his people.
First. His presence is dreadful, and that not only his presence in
common, but his special, yea, his most comfortable and joyous presence.
When God comes to bring a soul news of mercy and salvation, even that
visit, that presence of God, is fearful. When Jacob went from Beersheba
towards Haran, he met with God in the way by a dream, in the which he
apprehended a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to heaven;
now in this dream, from the top of this ladder, he saw the Lord, and
heard him speak unto him, not threateningly; not as having his fury
come up into his face; but in the most sweet and gracious manner,
saluting him with promise of goodness after promise of goodness, to the
number of eight or nine; as will appear if you read the place. Yet I
say, when he awoke, all the grace that discovered itself in this
heavenly vision to him could not keep him from dread and fear of God’s
majesty. “And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the
Lord is in this place, and I knew it not; and he was afraid and said,
How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God,
and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen 28:10-17).
At another time, to wit, when Jacob had that memorable visit from God,
in which he gave him power as a prince to prevail with him; yea, and
gave him a name, that by his remembering it he might call God’s favour
the better to his mind; yet even then and there such dread of the
majesty of God was upon him, that he went away wondering that his life
was preserved (Gen 32:30). Man crumbles to dust at the presence of God;
yea, though he shows himself to us in his robes of salvation. We have
read how dreadful and how terrible even the presence of angels have
been unto men, and that when they have brought them good tidings from
heaven (Judg 13:22; Matt 28:4; Mark 16:5,6). Now, if angels, which are
but creatures, are, through the glory that God has put upon them, so
fearful and terrible in their appearance to men, how much more dreadful
and terrible must God himself be to us, who are but dust and ashes!
When Daniel had the vision of his salvation sent him from heaven, for
so it was, “O Daniel,” said the messenger, “a man greatly beloved”; yet
behold the dread and terror of the person speaking fell with that
weight upon this good man’s soul, that he could not stand, nor bear up
under it. He stood trembling, and cries out, “O my lord, by the vision
my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how
can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me,
straightway there remained no strength in me” (Dan 10:16-17). See you
here if the presence of God is not a dreadful and a fearful thing; yea,
his most gracious and merciful appearances; how much more then when he
showeth himself to us as one that disliketh our ways, as one that is
offended with us for our sins?
And there are three things that in an eminent manner make his presence
dreadful to us.
1. The first is God’s own greatness and majesty; the discovery of this,
or of himself thus, even as no poor mortals are able to conceive of
him, is altogether unsupportable. The man dies to whom he thus
discovers himself. “And when I saw him,” says John, “I fell at his feet
as dead” (Rev 1:17). It was this, therefore, that Job would have
avoided in the day that he would have approached unto him. “Let not thy
dread,” says he, “make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer; or
let me speak, and answer thou me” (Job 13:21,22). But why doth Job
after this manner thus speak to God? Why! it was from a sense that he
had of the dreadful majesty of God, even the great and dreadful God
that keepeth covenant with his people. The presence of a king is
dreadful to the subject, yea, though he carries it never so
condescendingly; if then there be so much glory and dread in the
presence of the king, what fear and dread must there be, think you, in
the presence of the eternal God?
2. When God giveth his presence to his people, that his presence
causeth them to appear to themselves more what they are, than at other
times, by all other light, they can see. “O my lord,” said Daniel, “by
the vision my sorrows are turned upon me”; and why was that, but
because by the glory of that vision, he saw his own vileness more than
at other times. So again: “I was left alone,” says he, “and saw this
great vision”; and what follows? Why, “and there remained no strength
in me; for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no
strength” (Dan 10:8,16). By the presence of God, when we have it
indeed, even our best things, our comeliness, our sanctity and
righteousness, all do immediately turn to corruption and polluted rags.
The brightness of his glory dims them as the clear light of the shining
sun puts out the glory of the fire or candle, and covers them with the
shadow of death. See also the truth of this in that vision of the
prophet Isaiah. “Wo is me,” said he, “for I am undone, because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips.” Why, what is the matter? how came the prophet by this sight?
Why, says he, “mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa
6:5). But do you think that this outcry was caused by unbelief? No; nor
yet begotten by slavish fear. This was to him the vision of his
Saviour, with whom also he had communion before (vv 2-5). It was the
glory of that God with whom he had now to do, that turned, as was noted
before of Daniel, his comeliness in him into corruption, and that gave
him yet greater sense of the disproportion that was betwixt his God and
him, and so a greater sight of his defiled and polluted nature.
3. Add to this the revelation of God’s goodness, and it must needs make
his presence dreadful to us; for when a poor defiled creature shall see
that this great God hath, notwithstanding his greatness, goodness in
his heart, and mercy to bestow upon him: this makes his presence yet
the more dreadful. They “shall fear the Lord and his goodness” (Hosea
3:5). The goodness as well as the greatness of God doth beget in the
heart of his elect an awful reverence of his majesty. “Fear ye not me?
saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence?” And then, to
engage us in our soul to the duty, he adds one of his wonderful mercies
to the world, for a motive, “Fear ye not me?” Why, who are thou? He
answers, Even I, “which have” set, or “placed the sand for the bound of
the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they
roar, yet can they not pass over it?” (Jer 5:22). Also, when Job had
God present with him, making manifest the goodness of his great heart
to him, what doth he say? how doth he behave himself in his presence?
“I have heard of thee,” says he, “by the hearing of the ear, but now
mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes” (Job 42:5,6).
And what mean the tremblings, the tears, those breakings and shakings
of heart that attend the people of God, when in an eminent manner they
receive the pronunciation of the forgiveness of sins at his mouth, but
that the dread of the majesty of God is in their sight mixed therewith?
God must appear like himself, speak to the soul like himself; nor can
the sinner, when under these glorious discoveries of his Lord and
Saviour, keep out the beams of his majesty from the eyes of his
understanding. “I will cleanse them,” saith he, “from all their
iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all
their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have
transgressed against me.” And what then? “And they shall fear and
tremble for all the goodness, and for all the prosperity that I procure
unto it” (Jer 33:8,9). Alas! there is a company of poor, light, frothy
professors in the world, that carry it under that which they call the
presence of God, more like to antics, than sober sensible Christians;
yea, more like to a fool of a play, than those that have the presence
of God. They would not carry it so in the presence of a king, nor yet
of the lord of their land, were they but receivers of mercy at his
hand. They carry it even in their most eminent seasons, as if the sense
and sight of God, and his blessed grace to their souls in Christ, had a
tendency in them to make men wanton: but indeed it is the most humbling
and heart-breaking sight in the world; it is fearful.[2]
Object. But would you not have us rejoice at the sight and sense of the
forgiveness of our sins?
Answ. Yes; but yet I would have you, and indeed you shall, when God
shall tell you that your sins are pardoned indeed, “rejoice with
trembling” (Psa 2:11). For then you have solid and godly joy; a joyful
heart, and wet eyes, in this will stand very well together; and it will
be so more or less. For if God shall come to you indeed, and visit you
with the forgiveness of sins, that visit removeth the guilt, but
increaseth the sense of thy filth, and the sense of this that God hath
forgiven a filthy sinner, will make thee both rejoice and tremble. O,
the blessed confusion that will then cover thy face whilst thou, even
thou, so vile a wretch, shalt stand before God to receive at his hand
thy pardon, and so the firstfruits of thy eternal salvation—“That thou
mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
because of thy shame (thy filth), when I am pacified toward thee for
all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God” (Eze 16:63). But,
Second. As the presence, so the name of God, is dreadful and fearful:
wherefore his name doth rightly go under the same title, “That thou
mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD” (Deut
28:58). The name of God, what is that, but that by which he is
distinguished and known from all others? Names are to distinguish by;
so man is distinguished from beasts, and angels from men; so heaven
from earth, and darkness from light; especially when by the name, the
nature of the thing is signified and expressed; and so it was in their
original, for then names expressed the nature of the thing so named.
And therefore it is that the name of God is the object of our fear,
because by his name his nature is expressed: “Holy and reverend is his
name” (Psa 111:9). And again, he proclaimed the name of the Lord, “The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty”
(Exo 34:6,7).
Also his name, I am, Jah, Jehovah, with several others, what is by them
intended but his nature, as his power, wisdom, eternity, goodness, and
omnipotency, &c., might be expressed and declared. The name of God is
therefore the object of a Christian’s fear. David prayed to God that he
would unite his heart to fear his name (Psa 86:11). Indeed, the name of
God is a fearful name, and should always be reverenced by his people:
yea his “name is to be feared for ever and ever,” and that not only in
his church, and among his saints, but even in the world and among the
heathen—“So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all kings
thy glory” (Psa 102:15). God tells us that his name is dreadful, and
that he is pleased to see men be afraid before his name. Yea, one
reason why he executeth so many judgments upon men as he doth, is that
others might see and fear his name. “So shall they fear the name of the
Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun” (Isa
59:19; Mal 2:5).