The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-08-31
! fear of. the Lord Is the lightning OF


fear Of. the Lord Is the lightning OF
wisdom"
There Is, or was, in the city OF
| Denver, a judge who attained to ma
! tional celebrity by reason Of his won
derful success in dealing with youth
! full criminals. And that success was
| due, to an unusual degree, of the
| quality we call love in his heart. Boys
| Of various ages, caught in all kinds
Of lawbreaking, were brought before
| him, and instead of laundering SEN
| fences at them from the bench and
| sending them to Jail, he got down on
the seat beside them and talked to
| them like a father in earnest appeals
to their better natures. The method
was successful in redeeming a large
number Of youthful maiefactors from
their evil ways, who, had they been
sent to Jail, would probably have
been confirmed in a life Of crime.
But what was the explanation OF
this extraordinary influence? You
and I could not have affected 1t. The
Judge could not, in an official capac-
ity. His benevolent control over
| those boys was due to a combination
| Of his philanthropy and his judge
| ship. They knew that back OF the
love and pardon there locmed the
power and the will, If they were i'm
penitent, to punish. They responded
to the human friendship and sympa-
thy of the man, because back OF him
there stood forth in their magma
ton the awful majesty and the
threatening arm Of the law.
We should not, therefore, attempt
to dissipate the element Of fear in
religion on the ground that It implies
a derogatory estimate of God. 1t
does not do that, and the fear is NEED
ed as the background Of the deepest
| religious experience. We cannot
| rightly estimate the brightness and
| glory of the Mount Of Transfgura-
ton except as It stands out against
the dark background Of the thunder
| clap of Sinai. The gentleness, the
sympathy and love Of Jesus can be
rightly measured only as we know
that behind that lowly demeanor
there towers the overwhelming, might
and majesty of the .Godhead. Think
est thou not that I cannot now pray
to my Father, and He shall presently
give me more than twelve legions OF
angels?"
Thus in the combination of the two
ideas, and not in either by itself, we
have the complete and highest con-
ception of the Deity. The noblest dig
nifty OF the soul Is in its reverence.
| NH {o-o-a,fbo blast thu 6ncfrNuin0
food, the sky reverberating thunder
| and river by the lightning, were In
tended to inspire that sense Of the
awful power of the Creator before
which the soul cringes. And no one
| who has none Of this holy fear In
him can truly appreciate the majesty
Of these things. A soul without fear
is a soul without sublimity. To rob
| religion of its fear is to emasculate,
to enfeeble, to degrade it.
Yet we will close with our backs
turned upon Sinai, and our faces set
toward the Mount of TRANSPORTATION.
Though wisdom begins In fear, 1t
should end in love. We need not hesi-
tate to start our children on the jour-
ney deeply impressed with the fear
otGod. The fear will duly ripen into
love, and the love will be all the
truer because it began in fear. They
will come to understand that God Is
indeed a being of undiluted love who
Furnishes nc one, the only punishment
for sin being the injury wrought
upon our own characters. And that,
though that punishment is terrible,
yet the wrath and the fury Of the d.
| vine Being are but an appearance,
| existing for US only In the realms of
violated law, and that, as step by
step we desist from the evil, we come
into the region Of the eternally real,
coming to know God as He Is In His
Utmost essence, a God of the most
changeless pity, ever seeking the re-
demption of the most fallen Of His
children, always hungering to fold
them forever to His breast Of Love.
To that end may we come to know
the majesty of the law, the penalties
attaching to its violation, and to have
the faith and the strength to walk
patiently in the way Of Its obedience.