confess it. They dared not face the storm of ridicule, if not of persecution, which confession would have entailed. And so, like cowards, they held their peace, and kept their convictions to themselves.
Their case, it may be feared, is a sadly common one. There are thousands of people who know far more in religion then they act up to. They know they ought to come forward as decided Christians. They know that they are not living up to their light. But the fear of man keeps them back. They are afraid of being laughed at, jeered at, and despised by the world. They dread losing the good opinion of societj^, and the favourable judgment of men and women like themselves. And so they go on from to year to year, secretly ill at ease and dissatisfied with themselves, — knowing too much of re- ligion to be happy in the world, and clinging too much to the world to enjo}^ any religion.
Faith is the only cure for soul ailments like this. A believing view of an unseen God, and unseen Christ an unseen heaven, and an unseen judgment-day, — this is the grand secret of overcoming the fear of man. The expulsive power of a new principle is required to heal the disease. " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John v. 4.) Let us pray for faith, if we would conquer that deadly enemy of souls, the fear of man and the love of man's praise. And if we have any faith, let us pray for more. Let our daily cry be, " Lord, increase our faith." We may easily have too much money, or too much worldly prosperity ; but we can never have too much faith.
Notes. John XII. 34—43.
34.— [The people answered, etc.'] This verse supplies a remarkable instance of the perverse and hardened blindness of the Jews in our Lord's time. They pretended to be unable to reconcile the Lord's language about being " lifted up," with the Old Testa-