obadiah's early piety. 1 Kings xviii. 12. I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.
IT is comfortable to reflect, that in the worst of times there are some who fear God, and that the state of religion is rarely so bad as it appears. The days of Ahab were peculiarly unfavourable to the existence of real piety in Israel : for, in addition to that king's personal aversion to every thing that was good, he was stirred up by Jezebel his wife to destroy
344.] obadiah's early piety. 399
every prophet in the land: and so bitter was he against EHjah in particular, that he sought him in all the adjacent countries, and even exacted an oath of their governors that they could not find him. But in the midst of all this wickedness, there was one even of Ahab's household, and he " the governor of his house," who retained his integrity, and used all his influence to protect the servants of the Lord. This man, constrained in vindication of his own character to bear testimony to himself, was enabled to declare to the Prophet Elijah, " I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth."
In considering the subject of early piety, we shall notice,
L Wherein it should consist —
[We would not on any account disparage devotional feel- ings: but we must entertain some jealousy respecting them as a
criterion of early piety. We know their immense value ;
but we know also how susceptible of strong impressions the
youthful mind is, on whatever subject it is occupied
and that the characteristic mark of a very numerous set of un- profitable hearers is, that " anon they receive the word with joy." We must therefore look for some better and safer test of piety than this.
Nor would we by any means undervalue a clear knowledge of the Gospel. A view of ourselves as sinful creatures, alto- gether helpless and hopeless in ourselves, and a view of Christ as the only and all-sufficient Saviour of the world, and an habitual consciousness that we must receive every thing out of his fulness, all this, I say, is absolutely essential to the Chris- tian character — • but then it may all exist in the mind as
a theory, without entering into the heart as a prmciple of Hfe. Not only do the thorny-ground hearers evince this melancholy truth, but daily observation and experience compel us to ac- knowledge it
There is however a test which is subject to no such uncer- tainties, namely, " the fear of God." By this we mean a re- verential awe of the Divine Majesty, a dread of offending him, and a determination through grace to obey every one of his
commandments This must be an abiding principle in
the soul, operating as forcibly upon us in our most secret actions, as the presence of a fellow-creature would in reference to any thing which would expose us to universal execration.
Let it not however be supposed that we are now speaking