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and the devil fear Him " (Luther, lvii. 56), but because he sees before his eyes the actual power of God giving him blessing ; and he fears to take one step beyond the sphere of that blessed power " as a good child fears, and will not arouse, its father's anger, or do anything that might not please him" (Luther, li. 365). Here again we see that the communion of man with God can take place only as an experience caused in the man by God Himself. For any one can work up for himself those feelings of horror that arise from a sense of inevitable dependence on a power we dread ; and such feelings are to be found, too, in any Christian life, for no Christian is perfect ; but, on the other hand, that fear of God which looks at God Himself, and is therefore true communion with Him, arises only in the soul that experiences the emancipat- ing power of the Gospel amid contact with the Christian brother- hood, through Christian training, custom, and preaching. But it is only complete when we have found in Christ the God that draws back to Himself even those who feel deeply estranged from Him by the sense of their own guilt. Inward trembling before the holy power of the Good can never cease to be part of man's communion with God. If we cease to fear God, we have lost our inward relation to Him. The communion of the Christian with God never succeeds in overcoming the inner opposition between fear and love.1
2. " And that thought upon his name." That name, with all the solemn and reverential fear it created in their souls, was still to them an object of intense delight. It was to them as ointment poured forth. The defence of its honour and glory became to them their greatest concern, the prime object, the regulating principle and motive of their whole life. Hence they thought upon it. It was ever present to them. When others spent their time in madly rushing after pleasure and earthly enjoyment, in seeking what to eat, drink, and put on, these sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, prayerfully planned and devised how they could best further the interests of the one, and secure for themselves and others the priceless blessings of the other. Where others found the service of God grievous and tiresome, a service of which they could only say that in it they afflicted their souls, and walked mournfully before God, because they had no delight in it, no sympathy of heart with its sacred duties, these found it a season of special enjoyment, a season of high festival and pleasure, a time in which they drew waters with joy from the 1 W. Herrmann, The Communion of the Christian with God, 270.
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wells of salvation. They joyed to go up to the house of God, to think upon His name and to inquire in His holy place, because there they had seen His glory, and had their souls fed with the finest of the wheat.
What a name that was on which they thought may be gathered from a study of the titles associated therewith in the mind of the Hebrew: Jehovah-Jireh — The Lord will provide; Jehovah- TsidJcenu — The Lord our righteousness; Jehovah-Shalom — The Lord send peace ; Jehovah- Nissi — The Lord our banner ; Jehovah- Shammah — The Lord is there. If we search the matter out for our- selves, we shall find that these people had a marvellous heritage in the name of Jehovah. He had revealed Himself by names con- tinually, and there had been along the line of their history new beauty, new glory, perpetually breaking out by means of those very names by which God had approached them time after time. These people thought upon the name of the Lord — of His pro- vision for them, His righteousness, His banner, the proof of love in His conflict with sin, His presence — and, thinking of these things, their nature was transformed into correspondence with His own, so that they became righteous, and they became peaceful, and they became quiet in the presence of their faithful God.
Tj They had the sublimest subject of contemplation. " His name" — boundless Power — eternal right — wisdom that cannot err and needs not to amend its plans — truth dazzling in its lustrous brightness — goodness essential and rejoicing in its own manifestations — love, fathomless, unsearchable, draining its own heart and pouring out its life-blood in sacrifice for the lost world — these are the glorious letters which spell out " his name " ; and upon these they think and ponder, intenter than rapt student of the mysteries of Isis — more absorbed than decipherer of cabalistic lore. " That thought upon his name," and by the thought were lifted from the common to the royal, were enraptured and trans- formed ; " that thought upon his name," until they heard it inspoken, and their whole being thrilled beneath the syllables of its grace and power — " merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth " ; " that thought upon his name," until, assimilated by the wondrous meditation, they felt the fingers of the forming hand writing it upon their own hearts — the new name — and rejoiced, in that, their second and inner christening, " with joy unspeakable and full of glory." x