hides himself

shall behold his righteousness." Hence it appears plain that this cloud of darkness on the face of the Almighty, by which he from us, is his displeasure at sin. "My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends," Job xlii. 7; which displeasure, or wrath, is not revealed to us in Christ, for there it is done away, but in the law. "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth; I have seen his ways, and will heal him, and will restore comforts unto him." This healing and restoration of comfort is promised to them that fear God, and is effected by a fresh believing view of Christ; "Unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his beams." This sun is Christ, and God the Father shining in his face restores comfort. The light dispels the cloud of displeasure, in which God says, I hid me, and the comfortable healing of these beams heals the stroke that a sense of wrath has given to the soul. "I smote him and was wroth; I have seen his ways, and will heal him." Therefore, while this cloud remains, let him that is under it turn his thoughts to the name of Jesus if he has nothing else left. He that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God. I come now to treat,

2. Of the fear that attends this spirit of bondage. By which I do not mean filial fear; for that is a grace of the Holy Spirit, planted in the

heart by him, and has the goodness of God in Christ for its object. This fear is a reverential awe of a good and gracious God, that presents us under his watchful eye, and him always before our eyes. This fear is a little sentinel, one of the post army of grace, Song vi. 13. For the church is a company of two armies, grace and corruption, which war against each other. This fear is to keep us from departing from God, in which we are counselled to walk; "My son, be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long."

When any danger appears; when any error is advanced and presented to us by Satan or his hawkers; or when any trap is set by enemies, intended to be a future handle of reproach; or any temptations to sin; this little watchman, called fear, is upon his tower. He sounds the alarm, awakens the little camp, and will not let us proceed without well weighing matters. The understanding must be consulted, a proper judgment must be made of the case, a divine warrant must be obtained, the sentence of our judgment must be known, and the approbation of God and conscience. must be had, or this little soldier will withstand us; so that we cannot proceed, unless violence be offered to this diligent looker-out, which attends us in all company, and keeps us upon our guard, so as to cut off the future occasion of enemies, and to forestall the devil's market. But, if this grace be opposed by any violent measures, hardness of heart is sure to follow, and then we may

pray as others have done, "Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear?"

But this is not the fear that I am to treat of, nor yet the carnal fear of man, which is a sin of the human heart, and has the power and wrath of man for its object; which, when it awes a believer in his profession of Christ, is evil, and bringeth a snare; "Fear not them which can kill the body." Slavish fear is a principal ingredient in the spirit of bondage; which spirit of bondage is the wrath of God, and nothing else; and has the terrors of God, and his terrible majesty, for its object. And this fear works in the consciences of guilty sinners; in the fresh contracted guilt of real believers; and at times, without guilt, through the old man of sin, which works in all our members. This spirit of the law stirs up sin, and threatens us for it; and sin takes occasion by the law, and fights against that. The one is God's anger against man's sin, Zeph. ii. 3; and the other is man's enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7.

This slavish fear, whenever it falls upon a believer, awakens all his intellectual powers with an alarm of fright, as if something dreadful was coming on, some strange thing happening unto him, or some awful judgment or calamity going to befal him. "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me," Job iii. 25. "My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me; fearfulness and trembling are

come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me; and I said, O that I had wings like a dove!" Psalm lv. 4, 5. "My heart panted," saith the prophet; "fearfulness affrighted me; the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.' came upon me, and trembling, which made all "Let us make three taber

"Fear

my bones to shake.” nacles; one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias; for he wist not what to say, for they were sore afraid." But there came a voice to them, saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." By which voice the disciples were shewn which was the only way to get from this dreadful fear of the law.

Under the operations of this spirit of bondage to fear, God is not viewed as shining in the face of Jesus Christ. The new covenant characters of God, such as our God in covenant love, our Father in Christ, the portion of our souls, a present help, and a reconciled friend; which make him sweet and lovely to us, are quite out of sight, and nothing but terrible majesty is seen or felt. Moses, though he was a choice believer in Christ before he left Egypt, Heb. xi. 24, was seized with this panic at the bush; "And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." And David could not go to inquire of God, for he was afraid, 1 Chron. xxi. 30.

While this slavish fear works, the believer is confused, terrified, and always in a hurry. He can fix upon nothing; he can rest no where,

thinking that every thing is wrong with him; that his faith is only feigned, and his love dissembled; his former claim upon God, as his God, presumption; his confession of him as such nothing but a lie; the goodness of his state, as he once thought, nothing but deception; all that viewed him as a believer were deceived by him; and he in the household of faith nothing but a hypocrite, deceived by Satan, and a deceiver of others.

Next comes a dreadful expectation of some evident token of perdition; and there is a looking for it, and a looking out after it. "My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgment," Psalm cxix. 120. "He will cut me off with pining sickness. I reckoned till the morning; that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones; from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living; I shall behold inan no more with the inhabitants of the world," Isai. xxxviii. These were his last gasps and dying groans. "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord," &c. saith the Psalmist. "He hath sealed up mine iniquity in a bag; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent," says Job. This is the working of slavish fear, and is a principal ingredient in the spirit of bondage, which Paul calls the spirit of bondage to fear: which fear presents the wrath of God in view, and always has the displeasure of God for its object; which wrath is peculiar to