The Penn's Grove record., 1910-08-12
fear of the Lord is the Deginntng d

rear OF q LOru is Tue DeSlHHIHS oL
wisdom" - ..-O" a. :. -
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 successsRas
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 sem
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 malefactors 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 explanations OF
this extraordinary i~n1uence?. .lYeuG
and 1 could not have affected il. The
Judge could not, in an official capac-
ity. His benevolent control
those boys was due to a combination
of his philanthropy and his judge
ship. They knew that back of the
lOf0 III pdloOA IAC4 OAAS kAN
power and the will, If they were inn
| 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. It
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 g~entleness, the
sympathy and love of Jesus can be
rightly measured only as we Know
that behind that lowly demeanor
there towersHthe 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 or
angels?"
Thus in the combination of the two
1 lQSd6, anu AOI III ClIAC1 ny ANoOAAg We
have the complete and highest con-
ception of the Deity. The noblest Dig
nifty of the soul is in it's reverence.
The tempest's blast, the destroying
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 n
ryh4 hoc mana nf fhi- hn1u fAor 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
of God. 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 no 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 Di-
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
inmost essence, a God of the most
changeless pity, eve 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 it's violation, and to have
the faith and the strength to walk
patiently in the way of its obedience.