The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-11-28
BISHOP HALL IN BARRE.
Conducted Two Services at the Church Of
the Good Shepherd Yesterday.

The Rt. Rev. A. c. A. Hall, bishop of
the diocese of Vermont, made his annual
visitation to the Church OF the Good
Shepherd yesterday. On account OF the
illness of the rector, Rev. w. J. NJ. Beat
tie, the bishop conducted both the morn.
ing and evening services. At the morn
ing service, special music was rendered
by the vested choir. As yesterday was
the first Sunday in Advent, which sea-
son marks the beginning of the Christian
year in the church calendar, Bishop Hall
delivered a sermon appropriate to that
occasion The auditorium of the church
was well filled, and all listened closely
to his scholarly discourse. In prefacing
his address with a few remarks concern
ing the parish, the bishop expressed his
keen disappointment that the rector
could not be present at his visitation
and united with the parishioners in pray
ing for a speedy recovery.
Bishop Hall took for his text the
words from the epistle to the Hebrews,
18th chapter, 2Sth verse, which reads as
follows: 'Let us have grace whereby
we may serve God acceptably with rev.
erence and godly fear" Lack Of careful
examination OF the phrase "godly fear"
he said has led to a wide difference of
opinion as to what our Lord really meant
when he used these words. Misnterpre-
tation of the same phrase has kept
many a man at arms length from Chris
tianity He disqualified this fallacy that
men must serve God with slayish fear
that he win take some awful revenge
if they fail to comply with His wishes,
by saying that the word "fear" in its
scriptural sense conveyed the idea of rev.
erence and loving respect, rather than
that OF a painful emotion excited by
the expectation Of evil God Is not
searching character for flaws or scrutiniz-
ing mems faces for faults. There was
gentler doctrine in the mind of Jesus
Christ when he repeated these words
Of the Master.
When we are in the presence of our
moral or intellectual superiors, he said,
we are naturally inclined to act in re
spect and with Difference to their wishes.
By the same token Christian men and
women look upon the great wisdom and
power of God with respect and reverence
in great degree Fear OF God is an
expression Of our love and regard for the
omnipotent Being.
He compared Gods power to a ma
chine. Without the guiding power Of
mans hand, the engine, for example,
might become a deadly force Of destruc
ton. The power Of God is infinitely
greater, but behind it all is His equally
infinite wisdom, which asks not for fear
in the heart OF man He brought his
discourse to a close by calling attention
to the growing evil Of profanity. This
practice, he said, increases nowadays
with surprising rapidity. The tendency
among the young to commit this need
less sin was strongly deplored, and he
urged that greater pressure be brought
10 bear upon those who have charge OF
the bringing up OF young people.
Attendance at the evening service
equalled, if not exceeded, that Of the
morning, many representatives from 9TH
er religious bodies being among those
present. The bishop chose his text from
the third chapter Of ST. Johns epistle,
and drew q timely lesson from the pass
ages contained therein His address
dealt largely with the three saeraments
Of the church and of their place in tho
life of the churchman. 1t is now expect
ed that the bishop will pay another
visit to the local parish, at which time
the confirmation service will take place.