Vcrs. 7, 12, 13.-" Fear," and" Fear not." "Fear ye not the reproach of men·" ".Afraid of a man that shall die;" " Forget test the Lord thy Maker." It has been said, "Fear God, an? th?u shalt ha~e none else to fear." And the apostle, glorifying the fear of God by calling 1t love, says, "Perfect love casteth out fear." The immediate connec- tion of the passage is Israel's fear of the Babylonians. But they need not have feared if they had looked to the" Lord as their Defence, and to the God of Jacob as their Refuge "-unt-0 the Lord who •• coulJ perform all things for them." "Let not those who embrace the gospel righteousness be afraid of those who will call them Beelzebub and will say all manner of evil against them falsely. Let them not be afraid of them'. let them not be disturbed by these opprobrious speeches, nor made uneasy by them' as if they would be the ruin of their reputation and honour, and they must for eve; lie under the load of them. ,Let. them not be afraid of their executin)!: their menaces, nor be deterred thereby from their duty, nor frightened into any sinful compliances 1,or dri \'en to take any indirect courses for their own safety. Those cau bear but littl; for Christ that cannot bear a hard word for him" (Matthew Henry). I. NATURAL FEAR OF MAN. Because the conquest of man by the spirit of self, self-will, self-pleasing, has set every man, in greater or less degree, upon gettina advantage over his brother; and so we all go in suspicion and fear of one anotbe;: Illustrate from the jealousies and rivalries of society, the competitions of business, the ambitions and conflicts of nations. Governments are organizations to keep within safe limirs men's fears of one another. The only natural triumph over such fear is for mrn to become possessed with the idea of serving one another, instead of takina advantage of, and getting something out of, one another. Geor)!:e Macdonald ha~ a dream in one of his works (' Wingfold, Curate'), in which heaven is pictured as busy earth, just as we know it, only everybody is set upon serving his neighbour, and nobody ever gets the idea of making bis neighbour serve him. Nobody bas anything to fear in such a heaven or in such an earth. II. PRoPEll FEAR OF Gon. That must be supreme. It must be the fear that draws us near to him in trust; that gives us the joy of obeying and following him; and that really is filial love. That fear is a sanctifying force to us, just as reverent fear of bis father mightily helps the boy to do right. That fear is a resting, quieting influence upon us; it makes us feel safe as the .boy feels in the storm, if the father whom he fears is at the helm.-R. T.
Ver. Il.-Joy-song on the way to Zion. (See eh. xxxv. 10.) There may be an ailusion to the custom, so common in the East, of singing upon a journey, particularly with a vfew to quicken the pace of the camels. Bush writes," We should not have passed this plain so rapidly, but for the common custom of the Arabs of urging on their camels by singing. The effect is very extraordinary; this mu&ical excitement increases their pace at least one-fourth. First one camel-driver sings a verse, then the others ansv.er in chorus. It reminded me somewhat of the Venetian gondoliers. I often asked the carntl-drivers to sing, uot only to hasten our progress, but also for the pleasure of hearing their simple melodies I Some of their best songs possess a plaintive sweetness that is almost as touching as the most exquisite European airs." And Pitts, in describing the mder of the caravan~, tells us," Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their fore-horses' necks, which, together with the servants (who belong to the camels and travel on foot) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes away delightfully." The picture is of the return of I~rael from captivity to Jerusalem. It is au ideal picture of what might have been, but tbe actual circumstances of the return came ver_y f&r short of the pictured ideal. As an earlier homily has dealt with this verse, only a frbsb line of thought need be suggested. It is that through all the Christian pilgrim-way there ought to be joy and song; the "joy of the Lord ou1 Strength." l. 'l'w; Joy or BEGlliNlNG 4 CtmlSTJA)f ~Jlll!l. This is -qsqally aii i11teiiae joy C.lt, Ll. 1-23.] THE BOOK OF 'rHE PROPHET ISAIAH. 2i7