dwellest Thou? He saith unto them, They came and saw where He dwelt, SERMON I. SALUTARY FEAR INSPIRED BY THE THOUGHT OF JUDGMENT. ISAIAH, ii. 20, 21. "In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." As Lent is the time of sorrow, and Christmas the time of joy, and Easter the time of triumph, and Whit-Sunday the time of love, and Epiphany the time of hope, so Advent is the time of fear. If any thing besides immediately impending danger will make men fear, it is the thought of judgment to come. If any thing will strike awe into the hearts of the careless, it is the picture of that dreadful day when the secrets of all hearts will be revealed, and every man shall receive of the deeds done in the body. B Now, one of the most remarkable things in the present day, is the absence of fear, even in those who seem to be religious, who are religious in a way, and who perhaps think themselves more religious than most men. Very few of us have much more than a small measure of that godly fear which is the beginning of wisdom. It is but now and then that you see a person who is possessed with an habitual awe of holy things we are, most of us, too easy, too soon satisfied about ourselves, too familiar in our thoughts of God Almighty. This seems to be the peculiar error of our day. It does not seem to have been so always. There have, indeed, always been a great number of persons destitute of religious fear; but then they have not been religious persons at all; they have banished thoughts of death and judgment, put them off to a convenient season, and tried to live without God in the world; but if they have come to repent afterwards, they have then manifested that fear of the awfulness of God's majesty which was always latent within them; and by prayer and fasting, and reverent silence, and a deepening humility, they have shown how true has been the image of God's holiness and justice impressed upon their minds in childhood, and never wholly effaced by the carelessness of their after lives. But now we see men passing whole years of life in active religious duties, saying their daily prayers, attending God's worship, hearing His Word, and receiving the Holy Communion, visiting the sick, relieving the poor, and comforting those that mourn, without solemnity, without awe, without reverence, unchastened, unsubdued, quick, ready, easy, natural, and self-complacent. Now, of these things we do not speak, my brethren, in the spirit of scorn-God forbid for who is there among us who has not the same fault to find with himself? Who does not feel himself in this matter tainted with the spirit of the age? Who that tries to do God's will at all, is not conscious of a want of reverence in himself? Who does not sometimes feel that the greatest cause in him for fear is, that the spirit of holy fear seems almost quenched within him? Surely we may well fear, because we do not fear more: we may well ask ourselves, when we have allowed ourselves to talk freely of the things that appertain to the majesty of God, without one thought of our own utter misery, and exceeding danger, and shameful uncleanness, whether we have any part or lot in the matter. We seem to have all to begin again; for of all that is past we are thoroughly ashamed: we have, we think, no root in ourselves, because the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, seems to be absent. How, then, does it come to pass, that even religious persons among us are thus almost destitute of the first Christian grace-the first, I mean, in order, that in which all genuine hope and love have root? Why do we not fear God more, when we acknowledge the glory of His Majesty, and confess our own unworthiness and helplessness? I think it is in a great measure because we allow ourselves to be influenced by prevailing systems of doctrine which we do not believe, which we have either renounced or never |