On Sacramental Solemnity and Awe

“God greatly requires [the sealing of the covenant], for in this public covenanting there is a Great Solemnity & awe of God upon the soul, but now in sealing there is this public covenanting. But where this  is not, there is no public, of any, covenanting & therefore it is so.”

-Edward Taylor, Church Records, page 59.

The sacraments should convey solemnity and awe upon the believer’s soul, because they correspond to the Covenant of Grace. The substitution and resurrection of Jesus necessarily inspires solemnity and awe in the heart of God’s covenant children, and the sacraments, as seals of that covenant, should be approached in like manner.