A30211:266
A treatise of the fear of God showing what it is, and how distinguished…A treatise of the fear of God shewing what it is, and how distinguished…
A treatise of the fear of God showing what it is, and how distinguished from that what 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 / by John Bunyan.A treatise of the fear of God shewing what it is, and how distinguished from that what is not so : also whence it comes, who has it, what are the effects, and what the priviledges of those that have it in their hearts / by John Bunyan.
London: printed for N. Ponder, 1679
Of several sorts of fear of God in the heart of the Children of men.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. The Church in the Lamentations complains that the Lord had afflicted her for her transgressions, and that in the day of his fierce anger; also that he had trodden under foot her mighty men, and that he had called the heathen against her; she says, that he had covered her with a cloud in his anger, that he was an enemy, and that he had hung a chain upon her, she adds moreover that he had shut out her prayer, broken her teeth with gravel stones, and covered her ⟨p. 81⟩with ashes, and in conclusion, that he had utterly rejected her. But what doth she do under all this trial? doth she give up her faith and hope, and return to that fear that begot the first bondage? No, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him; yea she adds, O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul, thou hast redeemed my life, Lamen. 1.5. Chap. 2.1, 2, 5. Chap. 3.7, 8, 16. Chap. 5.22. Chap. 3 24, 31, 58.
4. The Church in the Lamentations complains that the Lord had afflicted her for her transgressions, and that in the day of his fierce anger; also that he had trodden under foot her mighty men, and that he had called the heathen against her; she saies, that he had covered her with a cloud in his anger, that he was an enemy, and that he had hung a chain upon her, she adds moreover that he had shut out her prayer, broken her teeth with gravel stones, and covered her ⟨p. 81⟩with ashes, and in conclusion, that he had utterly rejected her. But what doth she do under all this tryal? doth she give up her faith and hope, and return to that fear that begot the first bondage? No, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him; yea she adds, O Lord, thou hast pleaded the cause of my soul, thou hast redeemed my life, Lamen. 1.5. Chap. 2.1, 2, 5. Chap. 3.7, 8, 16. Chap. 5.22. Chap. 3 24, 31, 58.
These things show, that Gods people, even after they have received the spirit of adoption, have fell foully into sin, and have been bitterly chastised for it; and also that when the rod was most smart upon them, they made great conscience of giving way to their first fears wherewith they were made afraid by the Spirit, as it wrought, as a spirit of bondage; for indeed there is no such thing as the coming of the Spirit of bondage to put us in fear the second time, as such, that is, after he is come as the spirit of adoption to the soul.