Harry M. Philpott - "Fear and Knowledge" (February 15, 1970)

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	("All People That On Earth Do Dwell")	0:32
-	Beloved because we are sinners,	5:09
	having committed sins in particular	5:12
	and having sinful attitude in general,	5:15
	we do need to confess our sins before God,	5:20
	to repent of them and to seek his forgiveness.	5:25
	And because of that, let us join together our hearts	5:29
	and our voices in our unison prayer of confession	5:33
	and for pardon, let us pray.	5:37
	Oh Lord, most Holy, God, most mighty,	5:40
	who has found us wanting and yet has not forsaken us,	5:44
	deliver us in these days of Lenten devotion	5:49
	from all the luxuries and comforts	5:53
	of a smug private righteousness.	5:55
	Search us deeply, oh God,	5:58
	that in remembering the passion of our Lord	6:01
	and savior Jesus Christ,	6:03
	our minds and hearts may be cleansed of all insincerities	6:06
	of merely formal poses and dubious devotions.	6:10
	Oh God, we have failed to practice with diligence,	6:15
	the elementary drudgery of training ourselves	6:19
	to be spiritually competent.	6:22
	Forgive us Lord for words uttered without serious purpose,	6:25
	words that have helped us to forget our need of thee.	6:30
	Help us now to turn again to thee,	6:34
	with real hunger for thy righteousness	6:36
	through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.	6:39
	God does not leave the repentant sinner uncertain	6:48
	about the ultimate outcome of his salvation.	6:54
	Again and again in scripture,	7:01
	the words are clear concerning those	7:03
	who are sorry for their sins	7:07
	and who intend by God's help to forsake them.	7:09
	He says, "Though, your sins be as scarlet,	7:13
	they shall be as white as snow.	7:17
	If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just	7:21
	to forgive us our sins,	7:24
	and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."	7:26
	I invite you to take back to your room with you,	7:33
	the chapel bulletin in your hands,	7:37
	and to give attention to the items	7:40
	which are described in the announcements.	7:43
	There is one in which a change has been made	7:46
	just this morning.	7:49
	It is the one which has to do	7:50
	with the Afro-American society soul service	7:52
	to be held here in the chapel later today,	7:55
	it will be at five o'clock instead of at seven o'clock.	7:59
	(gentle uplift music)	8:09
	(singing)	8:56
	(singing continues)	10:08
	(singing continues)	11:08
	(singing continues)	12:01
	The scripture lesson this morning comes	13:12
	from Proverbs 1:7-9 and 20-33.	13:14
	"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;	13:20
	fools despise wisdom and instruction.	13:23
	Hear my son, your father's instruction	13:25
	and reject not your mother's teaching	13:28
	for they are a fair garland for your head	13:30
	and pendant for your neck.	13:33
	Wisdom cries loud in the street,	13:35
	in the market she raises her voice;	13:38
	on top of the wall she cries out;	13:40
	at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:	13:42
	'How long are simple ones will you love being simple?	13:46
	How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing	13:49
	and fools hate knowledge?	13:52
	Give heed to my reproof.	13:53
	Behold, I will pour out my thoughts to you.	13:56
	I will make my words known to you	13:58
	because I have called and you refuse to listen,	14:00
	have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,	14:03
	and you have ignored all my counsel	14:07
	and would have none of my reproof,	14:08
	I also will laugh at your calamity;	14:11
	I will mock when panic strikes you,	14:13
	when panic strikes you like a storm	14:16
	and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,	14:18
	when distress and anguish comes upon you.	14:21
	Then they will call upon me but I will not answer.	14:23
	They will seek me diligently and will not find me	14:27
	because they hated knowledge	14:29
	and did not choose the fear of the Lord.	14:31
	Would have none of my counsel	14:34
	and despised all my reproof.	14:35
	Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their way	14:38
	and be sated with their own devices.	14:40
	For the simple are killed by their turning away,	14:43
	and the complacence of fools destroys them;	14:46
	but he who listens to me will dwell secure	14:49
	and will be at ease, without dread of evil.'"	14:52
	("Doxology")	14:57
	♪ Glory be to the Father, and to the Son ♪	15:06
	♪ And to the Holy Ghost ♪	15:13
	♪ As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be ♪	15:19
	♪ World without end, amen, amen ♪	15:29
	The Lord be with you?	15:42
-	And with your Spirit.	15:44
-	Let us pray.	15:45
	Eternal God, before whom the morning stars	15:54
	first sang together and who holdest in thy hands the destiny	15:58
	of every living thing, we worship thee.	16:03
	Blessed be the name of Jesus who tasted death for every man.	16:09
	And blessed be his glorious name	16:14
	that he is alive forevermore and have of the keys of death.	16:17
	We thank thee, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ,	16:24
	who according to thy abundant mercy hath begotten us again	16:29
	onto a lively hope by the resurrection	16:33
	of Jesus Christ from the dead.	16:37
	Oh, thou who art the Lord of life,	16:42
	we pray thee to come close to each one of us	16:46
	and beyond the power of any human prayer,	16:51
	meet our secret inner needs today.	16:55
	Especially come to those upon whose lips,	17:00
	the song of triumph is weak,	17:03
	who see no sunshine breaking through the clouds	17:06
	of their shadowed lives.	17:09
	Make some spirit radiant today that had not expected it.	17:12
	Surprise with hope some who have not dared to hope,	17:17
	bring life to some who spirits are already dead.	17:22
	And from the grave of self-defeat,	17:27
	let there be a resurrection here of love,	17:30
	of joy, of strength.	17:34
	Oh, thou to whom a thousand years are but as yesterday	17:40
	when it is passed and as a watch in the night,	17:44
	speak to us in this holy hour	17:49
	and refresh our souls with a new hope.	17:52
	Father of all mercies,	17:57
	we lift to thee for healing and strength,	17:58
	our broken purposes and lives,	18:03
	remembering also all other needy ones everywhere.	18:07
	We pray for this bewildered world,	18:12
	may God sent justice and law yet rule throughout the earth	18:16
	that there may be peace.	18:24
	We pray for all whose lives are a wilderness	18:27
	that thou will water them with loving kindness	18:31
	until they bloom again.	18:35
	We pray for all who are beset by evil,	18:38
	that they may know thee as their great deliverer.	18:41
	For those who are afraid we pray,	18:46
	whether the dangers they fear are real or merely imaginary,	18:50
	be thou their confidence.	18:56
	To the lonely ones do thou show Christ	18:59
	as their elder brother	19:02
	and the holy spirit as their comforter.	19:04
	Especially to those who are lonely	19:08
	because they have been rejected by a fraternity	19:09
	or not chosen by a sorority,	19:13
	those whose imagined friends turned out not	19:17
	to be real friends, who feel lonely,	19:21
	remind them by thy grace,	19:27
	that the acceptance of their heavenly father	19:29
	is more important than the rejection of any human.	19:33
	Cool every fevered brow, heal every broken heart.	19:38
	All who are bowed down to thou lift up in thy mercy.	19:44
	And now God visit us through our prayer	19:49
	as through an open door,	19:54
	abide with us through this week and throughout our lives,	19:57
	never let us go, never let us stray from thee.	20:01
	We pray for this with assurance	20:06
	because thy son Jesus has told us	20:09
	to come with boldness to thee, bringing our petitions.	20:12
	And so we make our prayer in his name	20:18
	and we make our prayer in the words,	20:21
	which he has taught us to use in prayer saying,	20:23
	Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;	20:27
	thy kingdom come;	20:31
	thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	20:33
	Give us this day our daily bread;	20:37
	and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive	20:40
	those who trespass against us;	20:43
	and lead us not into temptation,	20:46
	but deliver us from evil.	20:48
	For thine is the kingdom and the power	20:50
	and the glory forever, amen.	20:53
-	May I express, first of all,	21:12
	my deep appreciation to Chaplain Wilkinson,	21:14
	to the members of the chapel board	21:18
	for giving me the privilege and opportunity	21:19
	of returning to North Carolina.	21:24
	As a native of this state,	21:27
	and one who lived here in childhood,	21:29
	it's always good to come back.	21:32
	I told the chaplain last night that	21:35
	I was tempted to take Tom Wolfe's, not last novel	21:39
	and turn it around and speak on you always go home again,	21:43
	because in the real sense of the word,	21:49
	you always look back	21:51
	and you always enjoy the opportunity to go home,	21:52
	to meet with so many old friends,	21:56
	to see president and Mrs. Sanford.	22:00
	So I congratulate you on getting,	22:04
	not as one president speaking about another president,	22:08
	but as a friend speaking about friends,	22:12
	that if you don't already know them and love them,	22:15
	you will come to know them and love them	22:18
	and know what a great contribution they will make	22:20
	to this institution.	22:23
	To see Ken people and to see former associates in school,	22:25
	former faculty associates,	22:30
	it is good to be back in North Carolina.	22:32
	Recently, I was engaged in a graduate seminar	22:37
	in which a student was presenting a paper	22:40
	on the theme that rote learning and memorization	22:44
	are the lowest forms of education.	22:50
	And I felt constrained because I was thinking	22:54
	about coming home at that time to disagree with the thesis,	22:56
	obviously a great deal of rote learning is low	23:01
	and the educational scheme of things,	23:05
	but some sticks with you.	23:08
	I could not help, but recall the second grade teacher	23:12
	that I had in Lexington, North Carolina,	23:16
	who had us memorize maxims or Bible verses	23:19
	for every letter of the alphabet.	23:23
	I shall not go through the whole list,	23:26
	but just to assure you that I can remember that;	23:29
	"As you would, that men should do unto you,	23:33
	do you even so unto them.	23:36
	Be sure your sins will find you out."	23:39
	And I can recall still the anticipation	23:42
	and the wonder as to what we were going to get	23:44
	when we got down to X, but she had one,	23:47
	"Except a man be born again,	23:51
	he will not see the kingdom of God."	23:53
	Beside, he drilled us well,	23:57
	and the drilling has stayed with me.	23:59
	One of the things that I recall still,	24:03
	one of the verses that sticks with me is the one for F,	24:07
	"Fear God, and keep his commandments."	24:12
	We hear rather little about the fear of God today.	24:17
	We hear instead that fear is something to be avoided	24:23
	in our lives, in our thoughts and in our spirits,	24:30
	we do not emphasize fear in educational circles	24:34
	as a pathway to knowledge anymore.	24:38
	Even though in the book of Proverbs,	24:40
	the thesis of that book is set out	24:42
	in the seventh verse of the first chapter,	24:46
	"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge	24:50
	and fools despise wisdom and instruction."	24:55
	I suppose, in part, this is due to the context	25:00
	in which we think about fear today.	25:03
	In our society and in our age,	25:06
	certainly Roosevelt captured the spirit of the times	25:09
	and the wish of the people	25:13
	when he listed the freedom from fear	25:16
	as one of the basic freedoms that we as an American people	25:18
	and people throughout the world we're striving for.	25:22
	But we are thinking of fear in terms of something	25:28
	to be dreaded, to be avoided at all costs.	25:32
	We think of it only in a negative sense of the word,	25:37
	about positive meaning seems to have escaped us	25:41
	in this day and age.	25:44
	Words do change their meaning.	25:46
	It is said that when Sir Christopher Wren	25:49
	had completed the construction	25:51
	and the planning of St Paul's,	25:55
	that a friend wrote him and described the new edifice	25:58
	as amusing, artificial and awful.	26:02
	And Sir Christopher Wren smile and was overjoyed	26:08
	because he had been complimented	26:13
	in every respect by that letter.	26:14
	For amusing was amazing.	26:17
	Artificial was something complimentary.	26:21
	It meant, not created by nature,	26:25
	but created in the best sense by a man.	26:27
	And awful meant, all inspiring or filled with awe.	26:31
	So it is that the word fear, while having a negative	26:37
	and an undesirable connotation in our time.	26:42
	In other times and under other circumstances,	26:46
	was looked upon as a desirable thing,	26:50
	was looked upon indeed as a pathway to knowledge,	26:53
	"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."	26:57
	In our time, we have been engaged in seeking ways and means	27:04
	in which we could overcome our fears.	27:10
	It is true in religion as in every other area of life.	27:13
	The Old Testament has been described as a book of fear	27:18
	in which man stood in terror of God,	27:22
	in terror of the natural calamities that could beset him,	27:25
	in terror of the punishment that would be inflicted upon him	27:29
	for his evil deeds.	27:32
	The man trembled when he thought of it all	27:35
	and the majesty and the power of God almighty.	27:38
	But it has also been commented	27:42
	that the New Testament is a book of love.	27:44
	The theme of which perhaps can be understood	27:47
	in Paul's epistle to Timothy,	27:51
	where we are told that God has not given us a spirit	27:54
	of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.	27:57
	The New Testament with its emphasis upon love is designed	28:05
	to take the fears of man away,	28:10
	to remove him from trembling	28:13
	in contemplation of God almighty.	28:16
	And to think of him rather in terms of a God	28:19
	who is so concerned that even the hair	28:25
	on our head are numbered in his sights,	28:28
	this power that falls to the ground is known by him.	28:32
	And the one sheep who has gone astray is	28:36
	of even greater worth than all of those	28:40
	that are safely in the foal.	28:43
	Standing not in terror and in all,	28:46
	but rather in a relationship of love describes the emphasis	28:49
	of the New Testament.	28:54
	So it is that John Macmurray in his book 'Creative Society,"	28:56
	published about 15 years ago, has this thesis;	28:59
	the task of religion is the conquest of fear.	29:04
	In 18th century America, the great preachers were preachers	29:11
	of fear and doom and terror.	29:16
	Jonathan Edwards, the new England congregationalist was said	29:20
	to speak so dramatically of the horrors of hell fire,	29:25
	the torments of damnation	29:30
	that people left his congregation	29:32
	literally shaking and trembling,	29:35
	fearful of the rath which was about	29:38
	to be vested upon them at any moment.	29:40
	In the 19th century, we saw a movement away from this.	29:43
	It is interesting that when the American revised version	29:48
	of the Bible was translated,	29:54
	the translators avoided the term fear	29:57
	in the book of Proverbs	30:00
	and substituted rather with the word reverence,	30:02
	reverence for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.	30:06
	It represented something of the spirit of that time,	30:10
	for fear had a negative connotation completely.	30:13
	But in the American standard revised version, more recently,	30:17
	I'm told that this particular translation was debated	30:21
	at great length.	30:26
	And the original documents led the translators to conclude	30:28
	that the word fear was the proper translation to use here.	30:32
	And so the latest translations have returned	30:37
	to the word fear.	30:40
	Ours is a time that seeks freedom from fear,	30:43
	that seeks a religion,	30:47
	which says that the task of religion	30:50
	is the conquest of fear.	30:53
	It is true that we have overcome many of our fears.	30:56
	We're not afraid at least to the same thing	31:00
	that some of our forefathers word.	31:03
	Other than a few sections of Pennsylvania,	31:06
	you no longer see circles painted on barn doors	31:09
	to keep the devils out of the corners of the barns.	31:12
	When the Carolina and these chapel chimes,	31:16
	I dare say that no one gives an interpretation	31:20
	of the bells ringing,	31:23
	the fact that we are trying	31:25
	to drive out the devils and the demons	31:27
	by the noise that the bells made.	31:30
	And here in Christendom at one time,	31:32
	this was one of the primary functions of a carelog,	31:34
	to drive out from the community and the surrounding area,	31:38
	the demons, the devils,	31:42
	and those who would see the destruction of man.	31:44
	Yet in our day and time we have come to new fears.	31:49
	Rather than being free to fears,	31:54
	we probably have substituted new fears for old fears.	31:57
	Perhaps the most recent example	32:02
	of this is the attention being given	32:04
	to our environment and to the problem of pollution.	32:09
	We have suddenly become aware of the fact	32:13
	that through what we have been doing to our streams	32:16
	and to our air, we have come to a place	32:20
	where a man may perhaps not by an hydrogen bomb,	32:24
	but by the very environment we inhabit,	32:29
	bring about his own destruction	32:33
	and the destruction of our civilization.	32:35
	And every paper we pick up at this moment is filled	32:40
	with a note of fear and a note of warning.	32:44
	We have suddenly come to a fear of overpopulation,	32:47
	with the prediction that the doubling of our population	32:51
	in the next 30 years,	32:54
	may lead to food shortages and famine so severe	32:56
	that again, we bring about the extinction	33:00
	of a major portion of the human race	33:02
	on this planet we inhabit.	33:05
	In many communities of our land,	33:09
	there's a fear to walk in the streets.	33:12
	The crime wave has reached such proportions	33:16
	that literally individuals are unwilling	33:19
	to subject themselves to the dangers that may lurk.	33:24
	So instead of freeing ourselves from fears,	33:29
	we have produced new fears,	33:33
	or we have concentrated on new fears.	33:37
	The thesis of what I'm trying	33:41
	to say this morning is simply this;	33:42
	while we are engaged	33:47
	in trying to free ourselves from fears.	33:50
	And while the task of religion	33:54
	in the words of Macmurray is the conquest to fear.	33:56
	There is still a definite place,	34:01
	both in our lives and in our religious faith for fear	34:04
	and a need for fear.	34:10
	And it is true as it was in the Old Testament times	34:13
	that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.	34:17
	There is a distinction that we need to draw about fear,	34:23
	and that is between what might be termed natural fears,	34:29
	and neurotic fears.	34:34
	There are some things which obviously	34:37
	we should be afraid of.	34:40
	And there are other fears that beset us,	34:42
	which are not fears that are justified.	34:44
	I was talking not long ago to my friend, George Starcher,	34:50
	who is president of the University of North Dakota.	34:54
	He told me of an experience in December that amused me.	34:58
	About two weeks before this incident took place,	35:04
	he had been approached	35:07
	by the student leadership on his campus	35:08
	who requested on a particular evening	35:12
	an audience with him.	35:14
	They wished, they said to talk	35:16
	about some of the problems on the campus	35:18
	and to present certain demands to the president.	35:20
	He agreed to meet at the appointed time and place.	35:25
	The afternoon of the meeting,	35:28
	he was called told that because of widespread interest	35:30
	among the student body,	35:34
	had them decided that they couldn't meet	35:35
	in the president's office	35:37
	and would have to meet in a classroom,	35:38
	because a number of people wanted to come.	35:41
	He went to the classroom	35:44
	and there were only two or three people there.	35:45
	And he was informed at that point that	35:48
	so many had indicated an interest in attending	35:51
	that they had had to move it to the gymnasium.	35:54
	And so they were going there.	35:57
	George said that as he approached the gymnasium,	35:59
	he saw what looked like six to 7,000 cars around.	36:02
	And then fear and trembling and wondering	36:07
	what in the world was going to take place.	36:09
	He entered the building where upon he was greeted by a sign,	36:12
	happy birthday, George,	36:15
	and the song being sang by the student body.	36:17
	It was a little surprising	36:20
	because his birthday was in January,	36:21
	but they explained to him that examinations	36:25
	would be going on in January	36:27
	so they decided to have his birthday party	36:28
	in December, total surprise.	36:31
	But he said that you have no idea the kind of fear	36:35
	that overcomes you when you think	36:39
	that perhaps suddenly you're going to be confronted	36:40
	by 6,000 complainers, demanders,	36:43
	all of them are going to wish to have a voice	36:48
	and expressing the concerns of the student body	36:51
	at a particular time.	36:54
	Well, he said looking back, he had no reason to be afraid,	36:56
	and yet he's trembled.	37:00
	A natural fear and a neurotic fear,	37:01
	perhaps it's best illustrated by the fact that	37:03
	when you leave this chapel and start to cross the street,	37:07
	it will be the path of wisdom	37:12
	and good judgment to look both ways.	37:15
	Not only are college driver is dangerous,	37:20
	but all other drivers are dangerous	37:22
	and you need to have a positive kind of fear	37:25
	that causes you to be cautious	37:29
	before you step out into the street.	37:31
	But if you are so fearful of crossing the street	37:34
	that you're totally mobilized at the curb and cannot move,	37:36
	we would have to say that this becomes a kind	37:41
	of neurotic fear.	37:43
	There is a broad and educational circles today,	37:46
	a movement to do away with tests, examinations, and grades.	37:49
	There are certainly some merit in the movement itself.	37:55
	One of the reasons that is put forth sometimes	37:58
	for doing away with tests, examinations and grades,	38:02
	is that students approach the moment of decision	38:06
	with such great fear and trembling	38:10
	that they are completely unable to do their work.	38:12
	And so to get away from the fears,	38:16
	which plague and beset our students,	38:18
	let's do away with the tests and the exams	38:20
	and the grades that are given.	38:23
	This is one of the least justifiable reasons obviously.	38:25
	While there can be a neurotic fear	38:30
	and there is among certain students a neurotic of exams,	38:32
	tests, and grades, it is good to have a healthy fear	38:36
	overcoming examination or a test.	38:40
	It is good to be worried about the kind of grade	38:43
	that will come in the course,	38:48
	not because this in and of itself is significant,	38:50
	but it represents rather the larger fear of ignorance	38:53
	or the larger fear of lost opportunity,	38:57
	which may assert itself into the future.	39:00
	And if fear motivates us to learn more,	39:03
	to do a better job in the classroom,	39:06
	to grasp the content and the subject matter	39:09
	to a greater extent,	39:12
	then one can say that this is not only a natural,	39:14
	but a good kind of fear to have.	39:18
	So it is in terms of the fear of God,	39:21
	there can be a natural, good, healthy fear of God,	39:25
	or that can be a neurotic fear.	39:32
	The neurotic kind of fear that keeps on living and trembling	39:35
	at all moments fearful of the day	39:40
	of doom coming at any given time	39:42
	or fearful of the damnation and retribution	39:45
	to such a degree that we're unable to engage	39:48
	in constructive activities on behalf of the kingdom of God.	39:51
	But a fear of God which is healthy is basic	39:57
	to the understanding of God	40:02
	and is the first step in religious knowledge.	40:05
	It is this, because first of all,	40:10
	it acknowledges the existence of God.	40:13
	And it proclaims God is a being of power and of words.	40:16
	The greatest danger that we faced religiously today	40:23
	comes not from those who deny the existence of God	40:28
	or who proclaim the death of God,	40:31
	but those who act as though the existence	40:34
	of God does not matter.	40:37
	All those who choose simply blithefully	40:39
	to ignore any of the implications	40:44
	to the existence of God in our day and in our society.	40:49
	The fear of the Lord begins	40:55
	with the acknowledgement of his existence.	40:59
	It does not ignore him, but it takes him into account.	41:03
	And thus it becomes one of the foundations	41:07
	of our understanding of God.	41:10
	One of the foundations of the understanding of our universe,	41:12
	it serves also as a foundation	41:17
	of understanding about ourselves,	41:19
	because the fear of God brings us to conceive of ourselves	41:22
	as his creatures.	41:27
	We acknowledge that we have not created ourselves,	41:30
	nor do we sustain ourselves.	41:34
	It is an assertion that we are created in the image of God.	41:39
	It does not demean a lower man because it proclaims	41:45
	that because of the fact of his creation by God	41:48
	and creation in the image of God,	41:52
	he is a being of infinite word.	41:55
	It sees man in a prospective relationship,	41:59
	which enables him in my opinion,	42:05
	to function most successfully and creatively	42:08
	and most worthily in our society and in our day.	42:13
	The fear of the Lord, again,	42:17
	motivates us in thought and action.	42:22
	You recall Jesus' reference to the judge.	42:26
	He said, neither feared God nor man.	42:31
	And who acted as though there was no God	42:36
	and as though man were insignificant and unworthy.	42:38
	we have heard a great deal about the tragedy	42:44
	and the historical calamity of holy wars.	42:49
	And certainly they are to be cried, regretted, avoided,	42:53
	condemned in every fashion.	43:00
	But we have not heard quite as much	43:03
	about some of the tragedy vested upon man	43:04
	by those who have waged unholy wars	43:09
	or those who have acted without a fear of the glory,	43:12
	without even a concept of his existence.	43:19
	Certainly the unholy wars have contributed to the tragedy	43:24
	of mankind as much as the holy wars have	43:28
	and perhaps even more so.	43:31
	The judge who neither feared God nor man	43:34
	or considered man or regarded man is symbolic	43:38
	of an individual destroying human beings	43:45
	and destroying our society.	43:48
	The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.	43:52
	Should issue forth and do a new concept	43:56
	of the divine retribution	44:03
	for those who may break the laws of God.	44:05
	Those who may go contrary to his will and to his purpose	44:08
	and of the retribution which faces those	44:15
	who live not in love, but in hatred with their fellow man.	44:18
	Who are motivated by selfishness rather than service,	44:23
	who see themselves as of all consuming importance	44:29
	and of others is of no significance.	44:34
	It is right that the task	44:39
	of religion should be the conquest of fear,	44:43
	but it is also true that religious faith	44:47
	and religious endeavors succeed only	44:51
	when there is a fear of the Lord	44:57
	which leads us to the beginning of knowledge.	45:00
	And there's a postscript one might say that	45:05
	in combating the neurotic fears of our times,	45:08
	the Christian faith provides us with an antidote in faith.	45:13
	Again, faith is a word that sometimes is used today	45:20
	in a derogatory sense.	45:26
	That is, it is sneered at, it is derided,	45:29
	it's put in opposition to knowledge,	45:32
	something that's not quite respectable.	45:37
	The words of H. L. Mencken	45:40
	who had this point of view concerning faith.	45:42
	He defined it as an impossible belief	45:45
	than an improbable occurrence.	45:48
	But the words of Paul are of much greater significance.	45:51
	That faith is the substance of things hoped for	45:55
	and the conviction of things not seen.	45:59
	It do along with fear as a pathway to knowledge,	46:03
	it leads us to even greater understanding and greater truth.	46:07
	This was well described	46:13
	by the late professor Santayana of Harvard	46:15
	in some little verses.	46:18
	"O WORLD, thou chooses not the better part!	46:21
	It is not wisdom to be only wise,	46:25
	and on the inward vision close the eyes,	46:27
	but it is wisdom to believe the heart.	46:31
	Columbus found a world, and had no chart,	46:35
	save one that faith deciphered in the skies.	46:37
	To trust the soul's invincible surmise	46:42
	with all his science and his only art.	46:46
	Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine	46:50
	that lights the pathway but one step ahead	46:53
	across a void of mystery and dread.	46:56
	Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine	47:01
	by which alone the mortal man is led	47:04
	unto the thinking of the thought divine."	47:08
	Faith in ourselves and others and in God	47:13
	represent the positive approach to the conquests,	47:23
	the fears which we should not possess.	47:28
	But the fear of the Lord enables us	47:32
	to produce the basis on which a great faith can be built.	47:38
	A faith that leads forth into responsive	47:43
	and creative action.	47:46
	And substance do not give you fears as all bad	47:50
	and never accept the idea	47:56
	that faith is synonymous with ignorance.	47:58
	Recognize rather that the right fears are the beginning	48:02
	of knowledge and that it is faith that leads us	48:08
	to the discovery of knowledge	48:13
	and its most significant areas of life.	48:16
	Let us pray.	48:20
	Help us oh God,	48:28
	to hold and fear in all the things that should be feared	48:31
	and to reject through faith,	48:39
	those things which can destroy our capacity	48:42
	for creative action through neurotic fear.	48:45
	Give us we pray thee, the understanding	48:54
	of what constitutes the great dangers	49:00
	to ourselves and to others.	49:03
	And give us the faith to move forward	49:07
	in the overcoming of these dangers	49:10
	in fulfilling and doing thy will and thy purpose	49:14
	for our lives,	49:18
	through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen.	49:21
	♪ God of love and God of power ♪	49:48
	♪ Grant us in this burning hour ♪	49:53
	♪ Grace to ask these gifts of thee ♪	49:59
	♪ Daring hearts and spirits free ♪	50:03
	♪ God of love and God of power ♪	50:09
	♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪	50:14
	♪ We are not the first to be ♪	50:22
	♪ Banished by our fears from thee ♪	50:27
	♪ Give us courage, let us hear ♪	50:33
	♪ Heaven's trumpets ringing clear ♪	50:38
	♪ God of love and God of power ♪	50:43
	♪ Thou hast called us for this hour ♪	50:48
	♪ Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended ♪	52:46
	♪ That we to judge thee have in hate pretended ♪	53:04
	♪ By foes derided, by thine own rejected ♪	53:22
	♪ O most afflicted ♪	53:41
	♪ Who was the guilty ♪	53:55
	♪ Who brought this upon thee ♪	54:04
	♪ Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee ♪	54:14
	♪ 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee ♪	54:32
	♪ I crucified thee ♪	54:54
	♪ For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation ♪	55:08
	♪ Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation ♪	55:23
	♪ Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion ♪	55:38
	♪ For my salvation ♪	55:55
	♪ Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee ♪	56:08
	♪ I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee ♪	56:23
	♪ Think on thy pity and thy love unswerving ♪	56:37
	♪ Not my deserving ♪	56:56
	♪ Jesus, your boundless love to me ♪	57:55
	♪ No thought can reach, no tongue declare ♪	58:04
	♪ Dwell in my heart eternally ♪	58:14
	♪ And reign without a rival there ♪	58:23
	♪ Thine wholly, thine alone I live ♪	58:33
	♪ Myself to thee and thou in me ♪	58:43
	♪ Amen ♪	58:55
-	Almighty God, we stand here quietly now,	59:05
	pondering the loss that can come to us and to thee	59:10
	by misplacing our money and misplacing our lives.	59:18
	Mindful of the game that can come to all.	59:23
	If we seek thy knowledge and I will and follow.	59:28
	And so now we dedicate both our money and ourselves,	59:34
	to Jesus Christ, and we pray for his grace	59:38
	as we use them, amen.	59:43
	Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.	59:50
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:00
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:08
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:17
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:36
	♪ Amen ♪	1:00:48
	♪ Amen ♪	1:01:07
	(bell ringing)	1:01:30
	(bright uplift music)	1:01:46
	(congregation murmuring)	1:02:24

Item Info

Title:

Harry M. Philpott - "Fear and Knowledge" (February 15, 1970)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r46d5tc57

Date:

February 15, 1970

Speaker:

Philpott, Harry M.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0509
ref6223_nit
uachapelsermaud
duke:628352
dcrau002499
ark:/87924/r46d5tc57
487e603a-7a2d-4d23-8daa-e983aee4fdff

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

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Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

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Harry M. Philpott - "Fear and Knowledge" (February 15, 1970)

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