of a slavish fear, arising from an apprehension of God's judg- ments : we speak of a filial fear, which is excited as much by a sense of " his goodness," as by a dread of his displeasure. And it is remarkable, that, when the Prophet Hosea foretold the piety that should reign under the gospel dispensation, and in the milleimial period, he characterized it in the very way that we have now done : " They shall seek the Lord, and David their king ; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days\"]
That we may be led to cultivate piety in early life, let us consider,
II. The great advantages of it —
" Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come : " and the earlier it is acquired, the more will its inestimable value appear. Consider its use,
1. To the person who possesses it —
[When religion has acquired a just ascendant over a young person, it will determine his connexions ; (he will not be un- equally yoked with unbelievers as friends, and much less in that relation of life which death only can dissolve :) it will also form his habits, leading him to the study of the Holy Scriptures, to constant prayer, to holy watclifulness and self-denial, and to a
conscientious regard for God in every thing that he does
It will also facilitate his attainmejits : it is scarcely to be con- ceived what difficulties they have to struggle with through life, who have spent their early days in sensual indulgences : but those who have been early trained in the exercise of self-denial are enabled with comparative ease to restrain forbidden appe- tites, and to mortify unhallowed affections. Not that a life of holiness is easy to any one : it is a constant warfare, as long as we continue m the body : but the more we exercise ourselves in it, the more effectual will our efforts be, and the more certain our victory.]
2. To the world around us —
[Early piety attracts particular attention, and produces great effects, in encouraging the young, and in putting to shame the old. Only compare the benefits which the world receives from one who has the fear of God in his heart, with the evils it derives from one who lives, as it were, " without God :" how many are instructed, and comforted, and edified by the one, whilst multitudes have reason to curse the day that ever they beheld the other ! It is truly said by Solomon, that " one
^ Hos. iii. 5.
344.1 obadiah's early piety. 401
sinner destroyeth much good." Yes, one sinner encourages and hardens many others in their iniquities, and places a stum- bling-block in the way of all who desire to return to God : and, if he afterward have repentance given him from the Lord, he would in vain attempt to undo a thousandth part of the evil that he has done : many of his former associates in iniquity cannot be found ; many are gone into the eternal world beyond a possibility of redemption ; and if he were to warn all those to whom he could get access, the greater part of them would only laugh at him, and think him mad. All these distressing consequences of iniquity are avoided by him who devotes his early years to the service of his God : and perhaps, instead of having to reflect on the ruin that he has brought on others, he will find many in the day of judgment to whom his words and his example have been a sovxrce of good.
What may be done by a single person even under the most unfavourable circumstances, we see in Obadiah : no less than an hundred of the Lord's prophets did he conceal and nourish at his own expense, and at the risk of his own life; when, without his interposition, they would all have been put to death. And though we may never be in a capacity to render such a public service to the Church of God, we may be the means of keeping many from destruction, and of saving their souls alive.]