Having described this holy temper of spirit, this fortitude both of the active and passive kind, and having set before you various occasions for its exercise in the christian life, I proceed now to the third thing which I proposed, and that is, to excite you by some engaging motives, to seek after this temper, which is so necessary for a christian. I shall not enforce this from the light of nature, and from the mere laws of reason, which have been joined with ambitious and selfish principles in some of the pagan heroes, and have influenced many a man, in the days of heathenism, to some great exploits of fortitude and fame. There is nothing in all the principles of natural religion, that makes the mind brave and noble but it receives high advancements and glorious efficacy from christianity. I would call you,

First, To cast your eyes on the noble patterns of courage that you find in the New Testament. I do not invite you to meditate the examples of heathen warriors, but consider the example of christian heroes, your predecessors, who have stood fast in the faith, who have quitted themselves like men, in numerous and shining instances of active and passive courage. Look at the blessed apostles, Peter and John, when they rejoiced to suffer shame for the sake of Christ their Lord, and boldly told the council of priests, that they must preach the name of Jesus, in opposition to their menaces: They must obey God rather than men. Look at St. Paul the most eminent christian hero: Behold him in the midst of the Roman soldiers, and a violent multitude of unbelieving Jews. Hear how he acknowledges his exalted Saviour before captains and centurions, before king Agrippa, before Felix and Festus, who were two successive governors of Judea! And with the same fortitude of soul he appeared before Cæsar, at Rome. I am not ashamed, says he, of the gospel of Christ; Rom. i. 16. for he whom I have trusted in is almighty to support me. Read that most generous and pathetic speech of his; Acts xxi. 13. when the spirit of prophecy had foretold that Paul should be bound at Jerusalem, and delivered captive into the hands of the Gentiles; his friends and strangers besought him not to go up to that city. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart? For I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. I know, says he, and the Holy Ghost is witness, that bonds and afflictions wait for me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God; Acts xx. 24.

Now when a special occasion calls us to the exercise of this virtue, and to confess Christ before the world, for us to be mealy-mouthed, and baffled, and frighted at the countenances of men, this is to forsake the example of the blessed apostles, and obey men rather than God. The prophets and the apostles, the ancient saints and the primitive martyrs have given us noble patterns of this virtue; and why should our spirits fail us, or our lips tremble, if we are called to the same glorious confession? Is not our religion divine? Is not the gospel still worthy of the same honour? Is not our God the same almighty? Is not our Redeemer the same Jesus? And does not a dying, a rising, and a reigning Saviour deserve the same homage of our tongues, and demand the same glory at our hands? Yes, surely he demands it of us, and he deserves it infinitely: And not only his apostles, but his own example teacheth us to practise this fortitude, both of the active and the passive kind. In the

Second place then, behold this perfect pattern of fortitude, Jesus the Son of God: When he came into the world in the midst of poverty, and made but a mean figure, as the son of a carpenter, he was called to oppose the whole nation of the Jews, and the priests and princes of Jerusalem; he was sent to reform the vicious customs of a wicked and degenerate age. How did he stand and face danger without fear? When he went into the temple, with what a sacred zeal did he scourge the buyers and sellers out of his Father’s house of prayer? Ye know what a noble testimony he bare to the truth, when he was called before the great men, the rulers of the church and state. You know again, what instances of passive courage our Lord Jesus manifested, when he was hatefully reproached, and suffered shameful indignities from a rude multitude: When he was persecuted, when he was buffeted, when he wrestled with many and mighty sorrows, when his friends left him alone in the hands of his cruel enemies.

It must be confessed, his spirit trembled within him, and he was sore amazed, when it pleased his Father to bruise him, and put him to grief, and to make his soul an offering for sin; Is. liii. 10. These were unknown and inexpressible burdens, that made him groan indeed; and offered strong cries and tears to heaven, that the cup of terror might pass from him. If ever his courage seemed to fail him, it was in that agony in the garden, when he endured more than any mere man could bear. A formidable and a dismal hour, when the Father hid his face from him, and the powers of darkness fell upon him with angelic might and fury! But these are sorrows of atonement, which the saints are never called to suffer. And yet by secret divine supports, Jesus endured all these agonies, and upon the cross he triumphed not only over the malice of men, but over principalities and powers of hell, and made an open shew of them; Col. ii. 15. perhaps, before armies of the invisible world, and millions of applauding angels.

Read the sacred advice; Heb. xii. 1, 2, 3. Not only look ye, says the apostle, to the great cloud of witnesses that are gone before, but above all look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set down at the right-hand of the throne of God. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that opposed a multitude, a legion, a world of sinners, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds, nor let your spirits sink while you behold his divine fortitude: Let such an illustrious scene animate your souls, and inspire the fainting believer with new courage. Consider,

Thirdly, What you are; if you are christians, ye are soldiers of Christ, ye have already entered the lists, with all the powers of hell, and are ye afraid of man that is a worm, and the son of man that is a worm? Job xxv. 6. Ye have ranged yourselves under the banner of the Redeemer, and the Redeemer’s army must fight against all the armies of darkness and their allies. You have set up to oppose sin and Satan, two powerful enemies, and are ye afraid to be brow-beaten by a fellow-worm, one who is weak and mortal like yourselves? Consider,

Fourthly, If ye are christians, what promises of the divine presence and help you have in the bible, and when the mighty God has given such divine encouragement, he chides his people into courage; Is. li. 12, 13. I, even I am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass? And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor? A generous and divine cordial to keep the soul from fainting! The presence of God is an effectual support. St. Paul found it so; for when all men forsook him, the Lord stood by and strengthened him; 1 Tim. iv. 16, 17. Alas! we are poor, feeble, trembling soldiers, our hands hang down, and our faces gather paleness: But we dare to confront the terrors of this world, if we taste and feel such divine encouragements. We know that a weak christian can do wonders with an almighty Saviour and an all-sufficient promise. When St. Paul had this word given him, My grace is sufficient for thee, he could glory even in infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him; 2 Cor. xii. 9. The little feeble man, of a contemptible presence, could do all things through Christ strengthening him; Phil. iv. 13. And every believer has the same Almighty Helper, the same gospel, and the same promises.

In the last place, consider the large and never-fading crown of glory, that awaits the conqueror at the end of the christian conflict. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life; Rev. ii. 10. Consider the honour and triumph, those riches of glory, and that everlasting inheritance, that shall be your reward in the future world, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; He that overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne, &c. Rev. iii. 21. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; chap. xxi. 7. Put all these together in the balances, with a few crosses and disappointments, a little trouble and uneasiness, nay, though you should add torture and death in the same scale, you may easily judge which will outweigh. Gaze at your crown of life, and your immortal hopes, till you feel your souls divinely animated to the combat: Learn from the apostle, and assume that glorious language; Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are scarce to be mentioned or named with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory that shall be revealed; 2 Cor. iv. 17. Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach; therefore we bear all present sorrows with holy courage, because we look not at the things that are seen, little things that are temporal; but look at the great unseen things that are eternal; 2 Cor. iv. 18.

The fourth and last general head of discourse shall now furnish us with some sacred remedies against this slavish fear. The passion of fear in general, is wisely wrought by the great God into human nature: It is a disturbance both of our animal composition, and of the mind upon the apprehension of some approaching evil, or upon the apparent danger of it. This is an excellent provision, which the God of nature has made, to guard us from many mischiefs. It is innocent and useful when it is fixed on a proper object, and exercised in a proper degree. It becomes a part of our religion when God is the object of our fear, whereby we maintain such a holy awe of his majesty, as awakens a constant desire to please him, joined with a temper of holy love.

But when we suffer creatures to raise and influence our fears upon every occasion, so as to ruffle and disquiet our spirits to throw the soul from off its rest, and to turn us aside from the steady course of duty, then it becomes a sinful and forbidden passion, and we should make it our business to watch against it, and suppress it. There are some persons so feeble in their native constitutions, or their spirits are so weakened by the distempers of the flesh, that fear is a constant tyrant over them: Their case is to be pitied indeed, but they ought to stir up themselves as far as possible to shake off this bondage, lest it withhold them from the practice of necessary duties, and rob them of all the comforts of religion. This slavish fear is a disease of the mind, as well as a weakness of nature; and besides, our summoning together all the powers and precepts of reason, we should also apply the remedies of religion, in order to remove it: If the divine Spirit concur with his blessing, the following methods may be made happily successful:

I. See to it that ye are christians indeed, that you have the power of religion wrought in your hearts, otherwise you will never be able boldly to maintain the form and the profession of it, in an hour of danger. Fear will prevail over every thing but true faith: And if your religion be not inward and sincere and built on solid foundations, it will tremble and totter, and be in great danger of being utterly lost. One hard name, one biting reproach, one witty scoff or ugly slander, will dash the hypocrite out of countenance, and he dares not stand up for his God and Saviour.

And remember also that your faith must be always kept awake and lively. See to it that your hope be not only well established, but you must preserve your evidences for heaven ever clear, that ye may look upon yourselves as the care and charge of Christ, and under the special eye and protection of God your Saviour. This was the divine foundation on which the great apostle raised his courage in the gospel to so high a degree. I am neither afraid to suffer these things, says he, that is, bonds and imprisonments; nor am I ashamed of this gospel, for I know whom I have believed, I know him as my Saviour, and I am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against the day of his appearance; 2 Tim. i. 12.

If you would raise your spirits to a sublime pitch of holy fortitude, brighten your faith and hope daily, by a frequent examination of the frame of your hearts, by watchful walking before God, by committing your souls afresh into the hands of Jesus and his Spirit, for pardoning and renewing grace, that you may believe on just and solid grounds, that you are the children of God, and that Jesus is your salvation. A lively faith gives divine courage. Faith is a noble shield to ward off fear, and our helmet is the hope of salvation.

Take heed of defiling yourselves with sensuality: Take heed of any false biasses on your spirit, and wrong designs in your actions, lest you bring fresh guilt upon your consciences. Guilt will create fear, and fill the soul with a perplexing tumult of thoughts. But when the terrors of this world assault you on every side, reproaches and threatenings, the frowns of your friends, and the rage of your enemies, you may be all serene and peaceful within, while you maintain a sacred consciousness of soul, that you have been seeking the light of truth, and pursuing the path of duty. When I can say, God is my witness that I am sincerely labouring in his service, when I can look up to heaven, though my friends scorn me, and say, my record is on high; I may imitate the faith and courage of Job in his best hours, and leave all my interests in the hand of my God. Let our faith be active then, and our conscience clear, that we may read our title to all the promises, and apply them to our own case with courage and assurance. The God of hope will fill us with all joy and peace in believing; Rom. xv. 13.

The covenant of grace is a blessed treasury: There is armour of defence to be found against every assault and danger. If the promises of the covenant be ours, we shall be secured of a happy final issue of all our sufferings: All things shall work together for our good; Rom. viii. 28. If God be for us who shall be against us? verse 31. If we behold God engaged on our side, we may defy a legion of adversaries in the name of the Lord our God. Thou art my glory, says the Psalmist, and my shield, and the lifter up of my head; Ps. iii. 3. The little word, my, shews his own interest in his God, and then he can grow brave in the very centre of a thousand deaths and dangers. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about; verse 6.

II. Get a large and general acquaintance with the promises of the gospel^[32], that in every special time of need you may have some suitable word of refuge and support. From xl. to the xlv. chapters of Isaiah, there is a variety of rich encouragements against slavish fear: And there is another treasure of them from the l. to lv. Many a christian has been able to live upon them, in the most dangerous and distressing seasons. They are divine springs of courage, and they overflow with consolation. The assurances of holy David in the midst of his perils, have been a glorious support to the fearful soul. Several of his Psalms are filled with the same heavenly cordials. You can hardly find three of them together, without some triumphs of faith in them. In the writings of the evangelists, and in the epistles you may read many precious promises scattered abroad, to allay your fears. In the second and third chapters of the Revelation, they stand thick as the spangles of heaven: They sparkle like stars in the firmament at midnight, and they ever shine brightest in the darkest sky. It is with unknown pleasure that the soul of a christian contemplates and surveys those heavenly lights in the most gloomy and dismal hours, and they turn the shadows of death into morning.

Though it is of excellent use, to have the mind and memory well stored with the various promises of the covenant, yet in some special seasons of trial, it is of eminent advantage to keep the mind and thoughts fixed upon some single promise, that is most suited to the present danger or suffering; and to the present taste and relish of the soul. In such a season, the running speedily from one promise to another, and skimming over them with a slight survey, will not be so effectual a relief, as fixing upon some peculiar and proper word of grace, and living upon it for a whole day together. Thus every morning you may take some new comforter with you, and let it abide upon your heart all day, and it will whisper to your soul with divine sweetness in the dark and solitary watches of the night. When some special terror possesses your thoughts, and the heavy oppression returns often upon your spirits, or when any fresh assault comes on you from without or within, fly to the word you have chosen for your refuge; repeat it often, and cleave to it by meditation. The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe; Prov. xviii. 10. And remember God has magnified his own word above all the rest of his name; Ps. cxxxviii. 2. Try this method, it has been successful and well approved, and I doubt not but that you will be able to attest the success of it through the aids of divine grace.

III. Preserve the spirit of prayer always in exercise, and the spirit of fortitude will descend on you. Address the throne of God with earnestness and faith, and cry to the Lord the God of your salvation without ceasing. It is he gives spirits to renew the battle, when we are almost tired and grow weary; Is. xl. 28, 29. He gives courage in the midst of terrors, for he can preserve and secure us in the extremest perils. We despaired of life, saith the apostle, and had the sentence of death in ourselves, but we were delivered, for we trusted in him that raiseth the dead; 2 Cor. i. 8, 9, 10. It is he that repels the most imminent danger, it is he that rebukes the spirit of fear, and gives us the spirit of power, and holy fortitude; 2 Tim. i. 7. Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart; wait I say on the Lord; Ps. xxvii. 14.

But be sure in all your addresses to the mercy-seat, have an eye to Christ Jesus the Mediator, your advocate at the throne, and the Captain of your Salvation, who is engaged to see you brought safe to heaven. The Father has entrusted you as sheep in his hand, and he will not suffer you to perish. Look to him as your great High-priest and Intercessor in heaven; and since you have such a High-priest as Jesus the Son of God, who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need; Heb. iv. 14, 15, 16. Many a feeble christian who has gone to the mercy-seat, trembling and terrified under huge apprehensions of danger, and almost overwhelmed with tumultuous fears, has risen up from his knees with a heavenly calmness and composure: The army of his fears has vanished at once, and he has gone out to face the most formidable of his adversaries, with divine resolution and courage. “I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were enlightened, and their faces were not ashamed. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him;” Ps. xxxiv. 4-8. “In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me: and didst strengthen me with strength in my soul;” Ps. cxxxviii. 3.

IV. Get a greater degree of weanedness from the flesh, and from all the delights and satisfactions that belong to this mortal life: Then as you will not feel so great a pain in being stripped of them, so neither will your soul be filled with terror, when you are in danger of losing them. Learn to put off a little of that sinful tenderness for self, which we brought into the world with us. One of the first lessons in the school of Christ, is self-denial; Mat. xvi. 24. If any man will come after me, that is, be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

It is a certain tender fondness for our flesh that makes us afraid of pain. It is a fondness for our name and reputation that makes us afraid of reproaches. It is a fondness for our possessions, and our easy circumstances in the world that makes us afraid of poverty: And too great a fondness for life makes us afraid of dying. Whensoever therefore the cause of Christ plainly calls us to risk our name and honour in the world, to part with our wealth or our ease, and to venture and to expose life itself, we shrink from the command; slavish and sinful fear prevails mightily upon us, because we love earth, and self, and flesh better than we ought to do. We must subdue this self-love, and unmanly softness, if we would approve ourselves as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and gain a spirit of sacred courage and resolution. We must be dead to the things of flesh and sense, and gain a victory over the complaints and groanings of nature. We must go as far as we can toward parting with right-hands, and right-eyes, in every sense of the words, if we would be christians indeed.

V. Endeavour to keep yourselves always employed in some proper work, that your fears may be diverted when they cannot immediately be overcome. If our thoughts and hands are idle and empty we lie open to the invasion and tumult of our fears, and we give them leave to assault us on all sides.

The passion and principle of this slavish fear, is mingled with our flesh and blood, and therefore we must employ even our flesh and blood in some better business, that we may turn the current of animal nature, and leave the imagination no leisure to sit brooding over its own terrors. Want of occupation and engagement of the powers of nature, exposes the mind of man to the inroad of all the frightful images, that fancy can furnish out, and to all the terrifying suggestions of a watchful and malicious tempter. That wicked spirit has some strange and unknown methods of access to our souls: He will worry the sheep of Christ with terrors, when he is not suffered to devour or destroy them; and an unbusied mind is prepared to admit his worst temptations.

But while I am pressing you to find out some employment for yourselves, take care that it be such as may approve itself to God and your own consciences. We must be ever found in the way of duty, as I hinted before, if we would support a holy courage. It is only the righteous that has just reason to be bold as a lion. Be ready to meet Christ the judge, and his glorious appearance at all times, and then you need not fear all that earth or hell can do against you.

[If this Sermon be too long, it may be divided here.]

Let us proceed now to propose some further remedies against this slavish passion of fear.

VI. Keep your eye fixed on the hand of God in all the affairs of men. View his powerful and over-ruling providence in all things, even in those things that awaken your most troublesome fears. Think with yourselves, that you put creatures in the place of God, if you fear them more than God, as though they were the sovereign lords and disposers of all your comforts. Learn to see God in all things, and behold him in all things as your God, and then creatures will have but little influence to awaken any of the passions of the soul, or to raise distressing fears within you.

Are your spirits so weak, that thunder and lightning, and the storms of the air affright you? Think who it is that commands the tempests to arise, and quashes the storms at his pleasure. In whose hand is the thunder? Who kindles the lightning? Who directs the flashes, and guides every sweeping blast of wind or fire to its appointed place? Remember the disciples in the midst of the storm, and the language of Jesus walking upon the water, It is I, be not afraid; Mat. xiv. 27.

Or if the public commotions of the world awaken your fears, read the name and presence of God, even your God, in the xlvi. Psalm, and rejoice and stand firm amidst the tumult and shaking of the nations. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help, in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea, verses 2, 3. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered his voice, the earth melted; verse 6. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge; verse 11. Selah^[33].

Or perhaps more particular and personal dangers and afflictions threaten your good name, your estate, your flesh, your life. Well, the name of God in his presence is an universal spring of comfort and courage, a wide spreading shield against every mischief.

Are you terrified at the thoughts of personal reproach and slander, know that the tongues of men are within the reach of the hand of God, and he can cast a bridle of restraint upon them, but if he take off that restraint, and leave them to their own perverseness and rage, learn to say as good David, when Shimei cursed him; the hand of the Lord is in it, God hath given him a loose to curse me: And thus sweetly compose yourselves to an acquiescence in the providential will of your heavenly Father.

Is poverty and want the thing you dread? But is not God your heavenly Father? And can you not trust him to provide for his children? Will he give the young ravens their food, when they cry, and will he not feed his sons and his daughters? It is true you may be reduced to bread and water, and brought down to the very lowest circumstances, and you must submit to his will: God will feed your nature, though he will not feed your pride.

Are you affrighted at the thoughts of sickness and pain? Remember diseases are the servants of our Lord Christ, he can bid pains and anguish of body go or come as he pleases; nor can they seize you without his commission, nor tarry with you beyond his appointed moment. Commit your flesh to him as well as your spirit: He is a wise physician, and he will deal tenderly with you: He has worn flesh and blood, and has a sympathising heart, nor will he grieve his own members beyond what his wisdom and his love sees needful.

Are you afraid of persecuting enemies, that hunt you from place to place, and would pursue you even to the death? Remember that they are but the slaves of Satan, and they and their master are all in a chain, under the sovereign dominion of Christ your Lord. The wicked of the earth, in this sense, are called the hand of God; Ps. xvii. 14. They are but as instruments to execute his divine purposes, and they cannot move nor act beyond his permission. He put a hook in the nostrils of Sennacherib, that Assyrian wild beast, and a bridle into his jaws; he suffered him to come and gaze at Jerusalem, then in one night the angel of death destroyed all his army, and the Lord put a song of triumph into the mouth of his people.

In a time of persecution in the last century, some pious ministers were met together, expressing their mutual fears, and consulting how to provide for their own safety: When one stood up in the spirit of faith, and said, We are all immortal till our work is done; whereby he declared his lively sense of the restraining power of God over the malice of men, and his assurance that God would preserve them in life, so long as he had any service to employ them in. This was in truth a sublime thought: A Roman orator or a Greek poet would have been admired and celebrated for it by all the critics: This was the language of faith, and it had a sublime and glorious effect, it dispersed their fears at once, and they went away rejoicing.

VII. Recollect your own experiences of the goodness of God in carrying you through former seasons of danger and sorrow. I will remember, says David, the works of the Lord, and his wonders of old; Ps. lxxvii. 11. I will remember the special deliverances I have obtained in times of most imminent peril. Think with yourselves how high the tempest of your fears has sometimes risen, and God has sunk them at once into silence. Think how extreme your danger has been, when you have been perplexed in a wilderness of thorns, and have seen no way for your escape, but the eye of God hath found a path of safety for you, a path which the eagle’s eye hath not seen: He has led you as one that was blind, by the way that you knew not, he has made darkness light before you, and crooked things straight, according to his promise; Is. xlii. 16.

And remember also, that sometimes when the very evil which you feared has fallen upon you, it has not been half so heavy and painful as your fears have represented it, and you have been enabled to bear that which you thought was intolerable. Remember the years of ancient time, and rejoice in that God who has often disappointed your fears of destruction, and has outdone all your hopes in a way of deliverance. I said, I am cut off from the earth, and shall go to the gates of the grave: I reckoned from night till the morning that he will cut me off with pining sickness, from day even to night, he will make an end of me: But in love to my soul, O Lord, thou hast delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Perhaps your own experience may teach you to sing this song of Hezekiah, as it is recorded; Is. xxxviii. 10-17. Or to join with holy David, and repeat his hymns of praise. And thus, beside your own experiences you may review the happy experiences of the saints of old, or of Christians in later times, and encourage your faith in opposition to all your fears.

VIII. Charge your conscience solemnly with the authority of the divine command to suppress your fears. Remember that the exercises of faith, courage, and holy firmness of soul, are duties as well as blessings. Read how often the great God forbids his people to indulge their fears; Is. xl. 10-13, 14. xliii. 1-5. xliv. 2-8. Fear not, is a command perpetually repeated, because God well knew how prone our feeble natures are to be affrighted at every appearance of danger: And even when he calls his people Jacob a worm, and confesses the extreme weakness of their nature under that emblem, yet he insists on the same precept still, Fear not thou worm Jacob; Is. xli. 14.

Our blessed Lord joins frequently in the same prohibition of a slavish fear; Mat. x. 28. Fear not them which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but fear him rather, who can destroy body and soul in hell. And Peter, who once wanted courage, and denied his Lord, in his elder and better days, grew bolder for the name of Christ, and he forbids us to be afraid or troubled at the terror of men; 1 Pet. iii. 13. He repeats the charge of the prophet Isaiah, sanctify the Lord of hosts in your heart; Is. viii. 13. The Lord of hosts alone is the proper object of our supreme fear. This will over-rule and abolish all other fears, as the little noises of earth are lost in the thunders of heaven. The fear of God in a sublime degree will be an effectual cure of our sinful fear of creatures.

It is true, the principal of fear is a natural affection, it is rooted in flesh and blood, it grows high and domineers, especially in some constitutions, and when the natural spirits are enfeebled, it still gains the greater ascendancy over us: But if it be indulged and encouraged, it soon becomes sinful, for it seems to stand opposite to the grace of faith, and too often prevails over it. Therefore Christ chides his disciples, when they were affrighted in the storm while he was in the ship: Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? Mark iv. 40. And even when Peter was walking upon the water, and Christ was near him, he saith, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Mat. xiv. 31. For a christian to give himself up to the wild tyranny of his fears, is contrary to the very spirit and design of the gospel of Christ; Rom. viii. 15. Ye have not received the spirit of bondage to fear, but the spirit of adoption. The spirit of power and love; 2 Tim. i. 7. Remember then you are the sons and daughters of God: It is below the dignity of your character to yield to this slavery, and your Father himself reproves, and your Redeemer forbids it.

IX. Think of the many advantages that arise from a holy fortitude of spirit in the midst of dangers. This divine temper of mind will establish your feet on a rock in the midst of storms, it will animate you to practise every duty, and to prevent many of the mischiefs you fear. This will preserve the soul in a sacred serenity and calmness under all the gloomy and painful events of providence. Without this firmness of spirit you can never practise what Christ commands his disciples, and that is, to possess their souls in patience in the hour of their distress; Luke xxi. 19. But we may keep up the government of ourselves by a holy fortitude and calm submission to the will of God. This will make sorrows lighter, and the heaviest afflictions become more tolerable.

Whereas, if we give a loose to fear, it throws the whole frame of nature into a tumultuous hurry and confusion, it takes away the use of prudence to contrive the proper means for our escape, it cuts the sinews of our most active powers, and enfeebles our whole nature, so that we become an easy prey to every adversary. The more we are affrighted, the less able are we to defend ourselves.

Fear is a dreadful bondage of the soul, and it holds the man in chains: Therefore in the text just now cited, the spirit of fear is called a spirit of bondage. It is this that brings the soul down to taste the bitterness, and to feel the smart of those very evils which affright us at a distance, and which perhaps never come near us. Those very sufferings which are prevented by the mercy of God, we endure them in our thoughts, and feel the pain of them by an indulgence of an excessive fear. We suffer an affliction once, if we are overwhelmed with the terror of it: And if at last it does really overtake us, we double the suffering, and make the pain the longer. Oftentimes in cases of bodily distempers, the fear itself brings the disease, and aggravates all the symptoms. If we could read the records of the grave, we should find that many a person has been oppressed, and sunk down to death, by the excessive fear of dying.

The last remedy of fear which I shall mention, is this, suppose the worst that can come, and be calmly prepared for it: This will be a mighty relief against the tyranny of our fears.

You are afraid of losing your honour among men, afraid to bear the scourge of their tongues, and bitter reproaches. But think with yourselves, when slander and falsehood have done their worst, it is but the wind of the breath of man, and this cannot hurt your best interest, while you stand approved of God. Infamy amongst men is but a trifling evil if compared with praise honour and glory among the saints before the throne, and the applause of Jesus and his angels at the last great day.

You are frighted with the hideous appearance of poverty, because scorn attends it as well as want. But our blessed Lord had not where to lay his head; he was fed by the bounty of kind friends and pious women, who ministered to him of their substance. The great and the wise, the rich and the learned of that day, made him their mockery: The very finger of scorn pointed at him in the streets: And why should the disciple think it necessary that he should be above his Lord. Ye may be poor in this world, and at the same time rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom; James ii. 5.

You are afraid of sickness and pains of the flesh, and your life becomes a burden to you, by reason of your constant dread of some infectious distempers. You shift your dwellings, you hide yourselves at home, and yet you enjoy no peace. Suppose the distemper should seize you, has not sickness often brought your soul nearer to God? And if your outward man has decayed, your inward man and your best interest have had a rich advancement thereby.

You are terrified at the threatening of bloody men. It must be granted, that flesh has a strong empire over the soul where dangers of torment and death appear. But suppose men of violence kill the body, then you will be dismissed at once from all their fury, and from your own fears. Their terror cannot reach beyond the grave; that is a safe and peaceful hiding-place.

But perhaps you are frighted at the thoughts of dying, even in the common way of nature: It may be, the king of terrors dresses himself in formidable airs, and shakes your very frame: But would you live here on earth for ever? A christian who has hopes and interests, and possessions beyond the regions of time and sense, should not be afraid to enter upon them. Remember that death itself, even in its most formidable appearance, is ordained of God to open the door of heaven for you, and let your souls into the joy of eternal life: The grace of your Redeemer, and the epistle of St. Paul, join to teach you this song, O death, where is thy sting? And O grave, where is thy victory? 1 Cor. xv. 55.

Thus, by keeping your soul in a ready preparation for the worst events that your fear can imagine, you overcome this tyrant of the soul, and triumph over this slavish passion. Thus you transform your very terrors into joys, and gather honey out of the lion, as Samson did. The more fatal your dangers are, the nearer is your final deliverance. Say to yourself, Is my feeble flesh tottering into the grave? Then my soul is so much nearer to the gates of glory. This is the holy skill of turning evil into good. Such a faith, kept in lively exercise can make roses spring out of the midst of thorns, and change the briars of the wilderness into the fruit-frees of paradise. O what a state of divine and sacred peace does that christian enjoy, who can look stedfastly upon the face of danger, in its most frightful forms, and say through grace, I am prepared! Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for my God is with me, and he will be with me for ever.

Recollection.—What progress hast thou made, O my soul, in acquiring this sacred fortitude? The former discourse has taught thee the necessity of it, and the various occasions for the exercise of it in the course of the christian life. In this latter sermon thou hast heard the motives that should awaken all thy powers to obtain and practise it, and thou hast been informed what are some of the most sovereign remedies against thy foolish and sinful fears. Methinks I feel the want of this holy hardiness of soul, to walk through the midst of temptations unmoved, unterrified, and undefiled. My virtue and my religion have too often suffered by the prevailing power of a slavish fear: my conscience has lost its innocence and peace by too many sinful compliances. What shall I do to harden my spirit all over, that temptation and slavish fear may not find a place to enter.

For this end I review the glorious motives set before me. For this end I look to the noble army of martyrs, to the blessed society of the apostles, to the cloud of witnesses which have trod the same path before me, who have borne an undaunted testimony to the same religion which I profess. I would chide and shame myself out of my sinful cowardice, while I behold their illustrious examples of zeal. But above all I fix my eye upon Jesus, the divine author of this religion, the Author and Finisher of my faith; Heb. xii. 2. I would learn of the Captain of my salvation, who was made perfect through sufferings; Heb. ii. 10. I would learn of my divine Teacher, to endure hardships like a good soldier of Christ, while I fight under his banner, against those very enemies that he hath subdued.

Consider, my soul, what thou art: What is thy character and profession: If thou art a christian indeed, thou hast taken up arms against sin and Satan, and a world that is in rebellion against God: And shall the frown of a man make thee drop thy weapons, and discourage thee from the glorious service? Thou hast many rich encouragements to expect divine assistance: Many joyful assurances of victory are given to them that endure in the day of conflict, and a glorious crown stands ready for those that overcome. O may the crown of glory sparkle in my eye, and grow brighter and larger by a nearer view, and a perpetual contemplation of it! Make me forgetful of ease and health, O my God, and of all my mortal interests, while I press forward with sacred courage to lay hold on this crown! Blessed Saviour, make me triumph over every difficulty, till death the last of all my enemies, be subdued, and I have obtained the glorious prize.

I would shake myself out of my fears, and awaken my zeal by such motives as these. And O that I could treasure up in my memory the various remedies of which I have heard this day, to heal this infirmity of my nature, and to overcome these foolish and sinful terrors of spirit! I will review my faith, and the grounds of my hope, that I may know that I am a christian indeed, that I am one of the sheep of Christ, and under his divine care; and I would watch against every temptation, lest I contract a new guilt and defilement, and thereby darken my evidence and awaken my fears. I would survey with pleasure the gracious words of promise, which are scattered up and down in the book of God. O may the blessed Spirit print many of them on my heart, that they may be always present with me, and that I may find them within my reach, and ready at hand as a special cordial in every fainting hour! I would run to them as my sure refuge in every season of danger and conflict, and be animated to confront a sinful world.

Give, me, O my God, give me the spirit of prayer, and let me keep ever near to the throne of grace, that my soul may not come thither as a stranger, but that in every surprize I may address thee as a God near at hand, and that in the name of my great High-priest, Jesus the Son of God, I may find grace ready to help me in the time of need.

Wean me, O Lord, from all the delights and hopes of flesh and sense? Mortify me to all the humours and joys of a perishing life, and a vain world. Arm my soul all over with a religious hardiness, that I may venture into the field of battle, and may scarce feel the wounds which I receive, in thy cause. Give me the happy skill of diverting my fears, when I cannot at once subdue them, and lead me into proper employments of my heart and hand for this purpose.

I would live as under the eye of God. I would take notice of his hand in all the affairs of life, and all the dangers that attend me. I would learn of Moses to endure the fight of afflictions, as seeing him who is invisible. Let me hear thy voice, O Jesus, my Saviour, let me hear thy voice walking upon the waters; when I am tossed about upon the waves of distress and difficulty, speak to my soul, and say, It is I, be not afraid.

Surely I have had some experience of the Divine Presence with me in the midst of dangers: God has sometimes disappointed all my fears, and interposed his shield of power and love for my defence: Why should not I trust a faithful God, and that infinite goodness which I have already tasted of? I charge my conscience with the authority of thy word. O Lord, when thou forbiddest all my sinful fears, I would renounce them too, I would struggle to break these painful fetters, and fight against this inward slavery of the soul, these domestic tyrants. O that the spirit of power were always with me, to dispel the spirit of bondage.

I would be bravely prepared for the worst of sufferings, to which my circumstances in this life may expose me. I would be ready to meet contempt and scandal, poverty, sickness, and death itself. Jesus can support me in the heaviest distresses, though all the sorrows I fear should come upon me. He can bear me on the wings of faith and hope, high above all the turmoils and disquietudes of life: He can carry me through the shadow of the dark valley, and scatter all the terrors of it. Give me, O Lord, these wings of faith and hope, and bear me upon them through all the remains of my short journey in the wilderness: Make me active and zealous in thy cause while I live, and convey me safely above the reach of fear, through the valley of death, to the inheritance prepared for me in the land of light. Then my fears shall cease for ever, for enemies and dangers are not known in that land. There all our conflicts shall be changed into everlasting triumphs, while songs of honour and salvation ascend in a full choir to the grace that has made us overcomers. Amen.