Two treatises the first of fear, from Isa. 8, v. 12, 13, and part of the 14 : the second, The righteous man's refuge in the evil day, from Isaiah 26, verse 20 / by John Flavell.

2. Rule.

Work upon your hearts the consideration of the many mischiefs and miseries men draw upon them∣selves and others, both in this world and that to come, by their own sinful fears.

1. The miseries and calamities that sinful Fear brings upon men in this world, are unspeakable; this is it that hath plunged the Consciences of so many poor wretches into such deep distresses! this it is that hath put them upon the Rack, and made them roar like men in Hell, among the damned. Some have been recovered, and others have perished in these deeps of horror and despair. In the year 1550. there was at Ferrara in Italy, one Faninus who by reading good Books was by the grace of God converted to the knowledge of the truth, wherein he found such sweetness, that by constant reading, me∣ditation and prayer, he grew so expert in the Scrip∣tures, that he was able to instruct others; and though he durst not go out of the bounds of his calling to preach openly, yet by conference and private exhor∣tations he did good to many. This coming to the knowledge of the Pope's Clients, they apprehended and committed him to Prison; where he renounced the truth, and was thereupon released: But it was not long before the Lord met with him for it: So as falling into horrible torments of Conscience, he was near unto utter despair, nor could he be freed from those terrors, before he had fully resolved to venture his life more faithfully in the service of Christ.

Dreadful was that voice which poor Spira seemed to hear in his own Conscience assoon as ever his sin∣ful fears had prevailed upon him to renounce the truth. Thou wicked wretch, thou hast denied me, thou hast renounced the Covenant of thine obedience, thou hast broken thy vow, hence Apostate, bear with thee the Sentence of thine eternal damnation. Presently he falls into a swoon, quaking and trembling, and still affirmed to his death, that from that time, he ne∣ver found any ease or peace in his mind; but pro∣fessed that he was captivated under the revenging hand of the Almighty God, and that he continually heard the sentence of Christ, the just Judge against him, and that he knew he was utterly undone, and could neither hope for grace, or that Christ should intercede for him to the Father.

In our dreadful Marian days Sir Iohn Cheek who had been Tutor to King Edward the Sixth, was cast into the Tower, and kept close Prisoner; and there put to this miserable choice, either to forego his life, or that which was more precious, his liberty of Conscience, neither could his liberty be procured by his great friends at any lower rate, than to recant his Religion; this he was very unwilling to accept of, till his hard imprisonment, joyned with threats of much worse in case of his refusal, at last wrought so upon him whilst he consulted with flesh and bloud, as drew from him an Abrenunciation of that truth which he had so long professed, and still believed. Upon this he was restored to his liberty, but never to his comfort; for the sense of his own Apostasie, and the daily sight of the cruel butcheries exercised upon others for their constant adherence to the truth, made such deep im∣pressions upon his broken spirit, as brought him to a speedy end of his life, yet not without some com∣fortable hopes at last.

Our own Histories abound with multitudes of such doleful examples.

Some have been in such horror of Conscience, that they have chosen strangling rather than life; they have felt that anguish of Conscience that hath put them upon desperate resolutions and attempts against their own lives to rid themselves of it. This was the case of Peter Moon, who being driven by his own fears to deny the truth, presently fell into such horrour of Conscience, that seeing a sword hanging in his Par∣lor, would have sheathed it in his own bowels. So Francis Spira, before mentioned, when he was near his end, saw a knife on the Table, and running to it would have mischieved himself, had not his friends prevented him; thereupon he said, O that I were above God, for I know that he will have no mercy on me. He lay about eight weeks (saith the Historian) in a conti∣nual burning, neither desiring, nor receiving any thing but by force, and that without digestion; till he became as an Anatomy, vehemently raging for drink, yet fearful to live long, dreadful of hell, yet coveting death, in a continual torment, yet his own Tormentor; and thus consuming himself with grief and horror, impa∣tience and despair, like a living man in hell, he repre∣sented an extraor dinary example of Gods justice and po∣wer, and so ended his miserable life.

Surely it were good to fright our selves by such dreadful examples, out of our sinful fears; is any mi∣sery we can fear from the hands of man like this? O Reader, believe it, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God: Hadst thou ever felt the rage and efficacy of a wounded and distressed Conscience, as these poor wretches felt it, no fears or threats of men should drive thee into such an Hell upon earth as this is.

2. And yet though this be a doleful case, it is not the worst case your own sinful fears will cast you in∣to, except the Lord overcome and extinguish them in you by the fear of his name, they will not only bring you into a kind of hell upon earth, but into hell it self for evermore: For so the righteous God hath said in his word of truth, Rev. 21. 8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, &c. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Behold here, the Marshal Law of Heaven, executed upon Cowards and Renegadoes, whose fears make them revolt from Christ in the time of danger. Think upon this you timorous & fainthearted professors; you cannot bear the thoughts of lying in a nasty Dungeon, how will you lie then in the lake of fire and brimstone? You are afraid of the face and frowns of a man that shall die, but how will you live among Devils? Is the wrath of man, like the fury of God poured out? Is not the little finger of God hea∣vier than the loyns of all the Tyrants in the World? Remember what Christ hath said, Matth. 10. 33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I al∣so deny before my father which is in heaven. Reader, The time is coming when he that spake these words shall break out of Heaven with a shout, accompani∣ed with myriads of Angels, and ten thousands of his Saints, the Heavens and the Earth shall be in dread∣ful conflagrations round about him: The last Trump shall sound, the Graves shall open, the Earth and Sea shall give up the dead that are in them. Thine eyes shall see him ascend the awful throne of judgment, his faithful ones that feared not to own and appear for him in the face of all enemies and dangers, sitting on the bench as Assessors with him; and then to be dis∣claimed and renounced for ever by Jesus Christ in the

face of that great assembly, and proclaimed a delin∣quent, a Traitor to him, that deniedst his name, and truths, because of the frowns of a fellow Creature long since withered as the grass; O how wilt thou be able to endure this! now put both these together in thy serious consideration, think on the terrors of Consci∣ence here, and the desperate horror of it in Hell; thi•• as a perboiling, that as a roasting in the flames of Gods insufferable wrath: These as some scalding drops sprinkled before hand upon thy Conscience, that tender and sensible part of man; that as the lake burning for ever with fire and brimstone. O who would suffer himself to be driven into all thi•• misery, by the fears of those sufferings which can but touch the flesh, and for their duration, they are but for a moment.

Think, and think again upon those words of Christ, Mark 8. 35. He that will save his life shall lose it. It may be a prolonging of a miserable life, a life worse than death, even in thine own account; a life with∣out the comfort or joy of life, a life ending in the se∣cond death, and all this for fear of a trifle compare•• with what thou shalt afterwards feel in thine own Conscience, and less than a trifle, nothing, compare•• with what thou must suffer from God for ever.

Notes

• Clarks examp. p. 27.