Make mention then of the name of the Lord at all times with great
dread of his majesty on your hearts, and in great soberness and
truth. To do otherwise is to profane the name of the Lord, and to
take his name in vain.
Next to God's nature and name, his service, his instituted worship,
is the most dreadful thing under heaven. His name is upon his
ordinances, his eye is upon the worshippers, and his wrath and
judgment upon those that worship not in his fear.
His presence is dreadful; and not only his presence in common, but
his special, yea, his most comfortable and joyous presence. When God
comes to bring a soul news of mercy and salvation, even that visit,
that presence of God is fearful. When Jacoh went from Beersheba to
Haran, he met with God in the way by a dream, in the which he
apprehended a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to
heaven. Now in this dream, at the top of this ladder, he saw the
Lord, and heard him speak unto him, not threateningly, not as having
his fury come up into his face, but in the most sweet and gracious
manner, saluting him with promise of goodness after promise of
goodness, to the number of eight or nine. Yet, I say, when he awoke,
all the grace that discovered itself in this heavenly vision to him
could not keep him from dread and fear of God's majesty: "And Jacob
awoke out of his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord was in this place,
and I knew it not;' and he was afraid, and said, 'How dreadful is
this place; this is none other but the house of God, and this is the
gate of heaven.
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