The Washington herald., 1908-03-15
A SUNDAY TALK.

The fear Of the Lord is clean and endureth for
ever; the Judgments Of the Lord true. and right
eous eltogether.-Psalms XIX
The judgments Of the Lord are true"
II we would only remember that. and live
our lives accordingly. how infinitely much
trouble we might save ourselves; how
cleanly we might live our lives; how joy
Gus we might be each day; how content
edly each night we might go to our
weary beds. unstained and undIshcnored!
The fear OF the Lord Is clean" We
have come. in this age of growing ma
teriaiism, to realize that fear OF any sort
is bad tenant for our souls The man
who succeeds in life is the man who
bravely deiies; who recks little of conse-
quenee so long as the object on which
his heart is set is obtained And so long
as we deal with material things il is well.
indeed. that a man should front life with
a brave spirit, undismayed by petty fail
ure, undiscouraged by adverse eipcum-
stances, and absolutely unafraId of the ills
that the world may work upon him. II
is fine. and altogether desirable. that "A
man should feel his strength; should
know that he has power 20 do things
IN tho world, and. bearing in mind
not only his selfish interest but the good
of his fellow-man. should persistently and
earnestly keep faring toward his goal
There Is. after ALL only one fear that a
man should find lodgment for in his
heart and that is the fear OF the Lord,
which. as the text tells us. is clean and
endureth forever. We Of the twentieth
century are not experimenting; we are
not testing untried doctrine. or danylng
with new philosophy. The experience Of
the world during 2O0O years Of storm and
stress has convinced us-else history is n
lie-that THE judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether"
The laws which were laid down by
Moses for the government Of the children
Of Israel-laws FUN OF subtlety, and abso-
lutely unified for our day and age. were
abrogated by the coming OF the Redeemer.
whose most potent message 10 the world
was
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyseH.
lie said that on this commandment lay
all the law and the prophets. and it does
not require a high quality OF mind 10
realize how true this is. The judgments
of the Lord are true. and He saw with
His. elear-sighted. omniscient judgment
that if the gfeat body Of mankind could
only be brought "to love one another"
that thing in itself would eliminate envy.
malice, uncharitableness, hatred. covet-
BUSINESS. and all the sins 70 which weak
humankind-in its gross seihshness-is so
inclined
We can understand if We will but ap-
preciate how clearly Jesus Christ under
stood mans weaknesses. his opcnness 10
temptation, his lack OF strength TO resist
a new meaning in the words. ''rhe fear
OF the Lord is clean" Other fears that
come 10 the human soul. fears OF bodily
injury, fears Of loss Of money. fears of
what other people viii say about our con-
duct-these things are not clean fears:
they simply emphasize our cOwardlce
There is but one thing in heaven or earth
that man who Is living his life cleanly
and honestly. striving 10 accomplish the
best that Is in him. winning his way to-
ward a desirable goal, slould fear, and
that Is the fear of the Lord
Gross materialists though We may be
We have TO recognize the limitations OF
the human miRd-we cannot understand
things beyond our ken. To a certain point
We may trust our own strength, glory in
IT, and test il to its urtermost ability:
but above and beyond IL sn lies the
power OF God the Father who made US.
who viii reckon with US at last. who will
approve US for good or condemn us for
the evil And therefore there is but one
thing for which We should striVe-but ono
thing that is worth having-not the praise
and commendatiOn OF our fellOW-men
but we should 50 live our lives every day
that when the summons comes we shall
be able 70 meet the God who made Us IN
AFRAID; sure that we have done the hest
we could according 10 our limitations. and
leaving 10 Him, with perfect confidence.
the question OF what the end shall be.