A Saint Indeed

But my Brethren, these things ought not to be so; Saints should be of a more raised Spirit: •o was David when his heart was kept in a good frame, Psal. 27. •. ⟨p. 71⟩The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my Life, of whom shall I be afraid: let none but the servants of sin be the slaves of fear, let them that have delighted in evil, fear evil, impius tantum metuit, quantum nocuit. O let not that which God hath threatened as a Judgment upon the wicked, ever seize upon the breasts of the righteous; I will send (saith God) faintness into their hearts in the land of their enemies, and the sound of a shaking leaf shall chase them, Lev. 26. 36. O what poor spirited men were these, to fly at a shaking leaf! which makes a pleasant, and not a terrible noise, and is in it self a kind of natural music; but to a guilty Conscience, the whistling leaves are Drums and Trumpets: but God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Tim. 1. 7. A sound mind as it stands there in opposition to the spirit of fear, is an unwounded Conscience, not infirmed by guilt: and th•s should make a man as bold as a Lyon. I know it cannot be said of a Saint, what God spake of Leviathan, that he is made without fear: there is a natural fear in every man, and it's as impossible to be wholly put off, as the body it self is: 'tis a perturbation ⟨p. 72⟩of the mind, rising from the […] of approaching danger; and as […] can approach us, we shall find some perturbations within us. 'Tis […] my purpose to commend to you a […] apathy, nor ye• to take you off fr•m […] • degree of cautional preven•ve•car as may fit you for troubles, and be serviceable to your souls. There is provident ear that opens our eyes to […] danger and quickens to a prudent and wful use of means to preve it; Such was Jacobs fear,