Today we will be looking at Charnock's third reason (p.41) why the existence of a god is natural and innate. We have seen that it is not because of mere tradition that there is a universal consent to this truth. Nor can we say that it is because of societies leaders having made this notion up so as to keep the masses in check. His third reason is that it is not fear that introduced this belief.
Charnock's argument here is simple. Fear is the consequence of wickedness. You do not fear a god unless a god was already there prior. Unless you feel that you have offended a Deity there is no reason for fear to rise up. As he has argued prior, "it is not the existence of a thing that excites any of [these] affections, but the relationship a thing bears to us in particular." Charnock also notes that it was more often love and hope of blessing which gave birth to sacrifices than fear of punishment. "The fear of evils in the world, and the hopes of relief and assistance from the gods, and not a terrifying fear of God, was the principal spring of their worship". Even in Scripture when we think of the "fear of God as the beginning of wisdom" we think of it not as a terrifying fear but a reverential fear.
Fear, whether reverential or terrifying, only comes from already knowing an established god. It is not grounds for making one up. The question I believe the Lord would ask us today is this. What does a meditation upon His character spring up in us? Are we shamed by the worshippers of a false god? Are they more devoted than we who worship the real and living God? The character of God should excite all sorts of passions within us, all reach their climax in humble exuberant worship of the living God. The existence of fear, then, is not a reason to deny the existence of God but to worship Him all the more!