“It is a great sin to love or fear any creature above its worth, as if it were master of all our temporal & eternal comforts… To trust in any creature as it had God’s power to help us, or to fear any creature as if it had God’s power to hurt us, is exceedingly sinful. It provokes God… It is a sinful & dangerous mistake to give to a creature that trust & dependence that belongs to God alone… We are inclined to a sinful trust and dependence upon each other, & to inordinate fear and dread of each other. We act as if the creature were god rather than a man, a spirit rather than flesh… God rebukes this sin in His own people: “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker…?” (Isaiah 51:12-13a). It is evident that fear exalts people and belittles God. It thinks upon a person’s harmful power so much that it forgets God’s saving power.”
— John Flavel, Triumphing Over Sinful Fear
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