His feet. . . . He has promised to take away the sins of the
world, and He is God, and cannot lie.

_National Sermons_.

III. OUT OF THE DEEP OF FEAR AND ANXIETY.

My heart is disquieted within me. Tearfulness and trembling are come
upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me.--Ps. lv. 4.

Thou hast proved and visited my heart in the night season--Ps. xvii.
3.

Nevertheless though I am sometimes afraid, yet put I my trust in
Thee.--Ps. lv. 3.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?--Ps. xxvii. 1.

I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my
fear.--Ps. xxxiv. 4.

Who is there who has not at times said to himself--"God is so holy, so
pure and glorious; while I am so unjust, and unclean, and mean! and God
is so great and powerful; while I am so small and weak! What shall I do?
Does not God hate and despise me? Will He not take from me all I love
best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I die? How can I
escape from Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape from Him! How
then can I turn away His hate? How can I make Him change His mind? How
can I soothe and appease Him? What shall I do to escape Him?"

Did you ever have such thoughts? And did you ever find those thoughts,
that slavish terror of God's wrath, that dread of hell make you better
men? I never did. Unless you go beyond them--as far beyond them as
heaven is beyond hell, as far above them as a free son is above a
miserable crouching slave, they will do you more harm than good. This
spirit of bondage, this slavish terror, instead of bringing us nearer to
God, only drives us farther from Him. It does not make us hate what is
wrong, it only makes us dread the punishment of it.

How then shall we escape the terror and misery of an evil conscience, and
rise out of our sins? Believe the warrant of your baptism. Your baptism
says to you--"God is your Father, He does not hate you though you be the
greatest sinner on earth. He loves you, for you are His child, and He
willeth not the death of a sinner, but that all should come and be saved.
He hateth nothing that He has made." This is the message of your
baptism--that you are God's child, and that God's will and wish is that
you should grow up to become His son, to serve Him lovingly, trustingly,
manfully; and that He can and will giv