April 19

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! - Genesis 28:17.

THAT is, how venerable, how august, how solemn, how divine! Intercourse with God is calculated to check levity of mind and to produce serious impressions. The man who was not at all afraid to be down in this place, surrounded with danger and enveloped in darkness, is filled with fear in the morning-at what? at the thought of a present Deity. This was not a slavish dread, like that which Belshazzar felt when he saw the handwriting upon the wall; but he was filled with what the Apostle calls “reverence and godly fear.” Such the seraphim know when they cover their faces with their wings, when they appear before God; such Isaiah felt, when he said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Such Peter felt, when he said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord God.” Such Job felt, when he said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, and now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And the experience of every believer now is the same. He knows “there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared.”

The Christian fears the Lord and his goodness; and when we can meet Christ as our own, “as our portion for ever”-when in duty we draw near to him, “even to his seat”-when we enter the secret pavilion and our thoughts are arrested-then the character of God, as He is, rises in our estimation, and more of the adoration of the supreme Being is introduced in all the feelings of our soul. It was so with Jacob here. This may serve to check an improper practice among some persons, who, in addressing God in prayer, express themselves in a manner they would not dare to do in addressing a fellow-creature of their own rank. We should never forget that we are addressing the King of kings and Lord of lords. This, therefore, may remind us, that if we would serve God acceptably, we must serve him with reverence and godly fear.

There is nothing that tends to render devotional exercises so conducive to edification, as our coming to them in a solemn and impressive frame of mind, just as Jacob felt after this interview and this address.