Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-12-10

, y 1 y A 4 Z!
/ win teaeh you the good and the right way.
Only fesr the Lord, and serve Him in truth
and with oil your heart, For consider how great
things He hath done for you.-ls1. SAMUEL,
18th Chapter, Esd and Gath verses.
Turning back the pages Of history three
thousand years. we find the children of
Israel celebrating day of Thanksgiving.
Their shining harvests had lately decked
the fields with gold. Peace, twin.sister
Of Plenty, smiled over all the mountains
and villages. Saul who quite recently
had led the Jewish hosts to.victory was
now to be triumphantly crowned amid
the festivities of jubilant people. Be-
fore the rising splendor of Saul, the meek
eyed Samuel, the ruler whom God had
chosen, was eclipsed and forgotten. The
tried counsellor, the arointed prophet of
God, must make way for the upstart &C.
quaintance of an hour. How lovely the
character Of the man of God in this scene
Though rejected, though superseded by
an inferior, his love for his nation is not
abated by lngratitude or injustice. Ashe
retired gracefully from Office, his patriot
ism so exalted, so religiously enthusiastic,
swelled up from his noble heart in pledg.
es Of abiding loyalty to Israel, and in
whole-souled desires for her welfare.
"God forbid" said he, that should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for
you; but ], will teach you the good and
the right way; only fear the Lord, and
serve him in truth and with all your heart
for consider how great things he hath
done for you" No longer permitted to
serve his country officially he gave this
affecticnate counsel, as the best evidence
Of his loyalty and the surest guide to thai
national prosperity which he prayed his
people might enjoy. The same reasons
which made the text SO applicable to Is.
rael render it equally appropriate to this
nation of ours, and appropos to this ma
tional Aoliday-or rather holy.day-as il
should he regarded. Never was there a
nation which more truly needed the pray.
ers of good men; never was there a peo.
pie more in need of being led in the right
way, than ours. Never was there a peo-
pie in greater or more apparent danger
OF neglecting to fear the Lord, nor one
where exhortation to serve Him in truth
and with all the heart was more neces.
sary;-never nation so apt to forget how
great things God hath done,-or one for
which He hath done greater things than
ours,ye 4,
The text presents, 1st, A duty-"Fcar
the Lord and serve Him in truth and with
all the heart,
I'd: An argument for the performance
of this duty-fer consider how great
things he hath done for YOU"
First, then, the duty. We may regard
the expression "fear the Lord. and the
one following, ''serve him in truth and
with all your heart" as synonymous; OF
rather, the latter is explanatory of the
former. :: - w.
When man truly fears God he will
sorve Him, and when he serves Him
Alright, it is because he fears Him as he
ought. The conclusion of the whole mat.
ter is, love God and keep his command
ments. To fear God is to regulate ou1
lives, from their centre to circumference
by his ll,-avoiding whatever can in
the least offend him, doing and pursuing
diligently what he has declared to be we'll
pleasing in his sight. -
It is not dread of God, so much as q
dread of offending Him; not only o,
chiefly dread Of his anger, as aversion tc
the baseness which kindles it. -.
True fear Of the Lord, is fillial, child
like. accompanied by faith and love. &c
fear the Lord all ye, his saints" cries David
"for there is no want to them that fea,
Him." To fear God in the sense Of tn.
text involves the christian character sc
completely and embodies that character
so fully, that those to whom fear of thu
Lord is attributed in scripture are alway.
spoken of as His children. '"Ihen they
that feared the Lord spake often one t
another, etc. - they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts in that day when 1make
up my jewels.
In this fear of the Lord, there are two
essential elements. 1st. A sence Of God'i
allpervading, all.seeing presence. 10
seph, tempted in the palace of the Phara
obs feared and exclaimed, "How' can
do this great wickedness and sin agains
God. =
The man IN whose life this fear Of Coo
Is the controlling regnant thought viii
realize the words Of Hagar, "Thou Goo
seest me'' and IN exact proportion as thi'
fear Is controlling and regnant, will ht
depart from evil, because co-equal with
q sense Of the divine presence there is Z
sense Of responsibility and accountability
Adam hides ID vain among the trees
when that sMfa1 Presence draws on him
with measured tread, for . monitor with
In tells him, hat i. this that thou has
donel'' must surely follow. Adam had
become sinner before this fearful look
ing for Of Judgment and therefore think
l.all sinners III iunrenewed men may have
some sense 81 the divine presence, though
Irepslted transg gresa,on may oblitcrate q
trace sof Il to human ewes. Even Il,
Iheathen 1hayei Il In q low and impeffsc
.degec, and wherever Found, low, ever