Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/603



Ex.: I.  Protestants  as  to  fear  of  God. II. Worthy motive. III. Church's liturgy.

I. Last  day:  i.  Sudden,  certain,  uncertain. 2. Great  day. 3. Day  of  the  Lord.

II. Commotion: 1. In earth  and  heaven. 2. In  souls  of men. 3. The  resurrection.

III. Judgment: 1. Trembling criminal. 2. Rendering  of verdict. 3. Sentence  and  execution.

Per. : 1.  Faithful  servant. 2. Parable  of  fig-tree. 3. Holy  indifference and  fear.

Brethren, Catholic  pulpits  excepted,  the  preaching of  the  fear  of  the  Lord  has  become  a  thing  of  the past. It is  a  harsh  subject,  equally  offensive  to  the refined and  the  sinful,  and  besides,  say  the  reformers and  the  reformed,  it  makes  of  sinners  hypocrites still more  displeasing  to  God. Yet Holy  Writ  has  it that  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom, that it  drives  sin  from  the  soul,  and  that  without  it no  one  can  be  sanctified. St. Augustine  compares fear of  God  and  the  grace  of  God  to  a  needle  and thread, it  being  utterly  impossible  for  God's  grace to enter  the  soul  unless  the  fear  of  the  Lord  precede. No vice  was  more  roundly  rated  by  Christ  than hypocrisy; yet  He  frequently  pointed  to  death  and judgment and  hell  as  objects  of  dread,  and  He  bade