FOURTH SEASON
HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM
FEARS IN TIME OF DANGERS
“The fourth special season of expressing our utmost diligence in keeping our hearts, is the time of danger and public distraction; in such times the best hearts are but too apt to be surprised by slavish fear; it is not easy to secure the heart against distractions in times of common destruction. If Syria be confederate with Ephraim, how do the hearts of the house of David shake, even as the trees of the wood which are shaken with the wind? Isa. vii. 2. When there are ominous signs in the heavens; on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; then the hearts of men fail for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, Luke xxi. 25, 26, even a Paul himself may sometimes complain of fightings within, when there are fears without, 2 Cor. vii. 5.
But, my brethren, these things ought not so to be; saints should be of a more raised spirit: so was David, when his heart was kept in a good frame. 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? Psal. xxvii. 1. 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. xxvi. 36. O what poor spirited men are these, to fly at a shaking leaf! which makes a pleasant not a terrible noise; and is in itself 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. i. 7. A sound mind, as it stands there in opposition to the spirit of fear, is an unwounded conscience, not infirmed by guilt: and this should make a man as bold as a lion. I know it cannot be said of a saint, what God said of Leviathan, that he was made without fear: there is a natural fear in every man, and it is as impossible to be wholly put off, as the body itself is: It is perturbation of the mind, rising from the apprehension of approaching danger; and as long as dangers can approach us, we shall find some perturbations within us. It is not my purpose to commend to you a stoical apathy, nor yet to take you off from such a degree of cautional preventive fear as may fit you for trouble, and be serviceable to your souls; there is a provident fear, that opens our eyes to foresee danger, and quickens to a prudent and lawful use of means to prevent it: such was Jacob’s fear, Gen. xxxii. 7, 9, 10, &c. But it is the fear of diffidence I persuade you to keep your heart from, that tyrannical passion which invades the heart in times of danger, distracts, weakens and unfits the heart for duty; drives men upon unlawful means, and brings a snare with it. Well then, the fourth case will be this:
Case 4. How a Christian may keep his heart from distracting and tormenting fears in times of great and threatening dangers.
Now there are fourteen excellent rules, or helps, for the keeping of the heart from sinful fear when imminent dangers threaten us; and the first is this;
Rule 1. Look upon all the creatures as in the hand of God, who manages them in all their motions; limiting, restraining, and determining them all at his pleasure.
Get this great truth well settled by faith in your hearts: it will marvellously guard them against slavish fears. The first chapter of Ezekiel contains an admirable scheme or draught of providence; there you may see the living creatures who move the wheels, viz. the great affairs and turnings of things here below, coming unto Christ, who sits upon the throne, to receive new orders and instructions from him, v. 24, 25, 26. And in Rev. vi. you read of white, black, and red horses, which are nothing else but the instruments which God employs in executing his judgments in the world, as wars, pestilence and death; but when these horses are prancing, and trampling up and down the world, here is that may quiet our hearts, that God hath the reins in his hand. Wicked men are sometimes like mad horses, they would stamp the people of God under their feet, but that the bridle of providence is in their lips, Job i. 11, 12. A lion at liberty is terrible to meet; but who is afraid of a lion in the keeper’s hand?