COLLECT.

O GOD, the strength of all them that put their trust in Thee, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace, that in keeping of Thy commandments we may please Thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

Tracts for the Christian Seasons.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Christian Fear and Love.

It is sometimes said, that if we lead what is called a good life we need not care what form of faith we profess. This of course is not what the Scripture teaches; for it assures us again and again, that we are saved through faith-the faith once delivered to the saints. At the same time, it is quite true that this faith must evidence itself by our works, otherwise we know it is dead. And it is to instruct us in both these truths, viz., that we must believe the true or Catholic faith, and live good lives in accordance with the faith we profess, that our Church in the first part of the Christian year, from Advent to Trinity Sunday, instructs us in the grounds of the faith, and in the other period, from Trinity Sunday to Advent, urges upon us the practice of the doctrines in which we have been instructed. No wonder, then, that one of the earliest Col

lects in what may be called the practical portion of the Christian year, should teach us the important truth, that God never fails to govern them whom He brings up in His stedfast fear and love, and accordingly directs us to beseech Him to make us have a perpetual fear and love of His holy Name. Indeed, these are the grand principles of Gospel obedience, as our solemn Litany admonishes us when we beseech the good Lord, that it may please Him to give us an heart to love and dread Him, and diligently to live after His commandments.

And, first, let us mark the relation between fear and obedience. What is it, for instance, which makes the generality of men obey the laws of their country? Is it not fear of the power which enforces those laws, and of the penalties which follow the breaking of them. So that one of the chief principles of human government is power, power to carry out its laws, and thus to awe men into obedience. In like manner it is the fear of God which keeps us in the path of His commandments, lest we should incur the penalties denounced against disobedience by a mighty God and terrible, and whose power is infinite. In the world, an offender's hope of often stronger than the fear of punishment.

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with God all hope of escaping detection is at an end. He is all-knowing as well as Almighty, and He understands our thoughts long before we do ourselves. "The soul that sinneth it shall die,” is the sentence of Him who knows our most secret sins.

So also it is said in the book of Ecclesiasticus, "Whoso feareth the Lord, it shall go well with him at the last, and he shall find favour in the day of his death." (Ecclus. i. 13.) "The fear of the Lord driveth away sins, and where it is present it turneth away wrath." (Ecclus. i. 21.) And in words which strikingly mark the connection between fear and obedience, "If thou desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her unto thee. For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction." (Ecclus. i. 26, 27.)

Job, David, Solomon, witness the same truth. And in the new covenant we have our Lord Himself urging us to fear God at all hazard of worldly loss, (Matt. x. 28,) while His Apostle exhorts us to seek for grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, (Heb. xii. 28.)

Does not the whole Bible then teach us, that the more we accustom ourselves to fear God, and to realize to ourselves the terrible majesty of His

holy Name, the more disposed we shall be to obey Him? In other words, that would we keep the commandments, we must be brought up under a stedfast fear of the power, wisdom, and justice of God?

But here it may be asked, is God to be the object of our fear only? Are we to be driven into obedience like slaves and bondsmen? This surely is to deprive obedience of its chiefest grace, for such obedience is not the ready offering of a willing heart, but a forced service. It is plain that our obedience must be of a higher kind, it must spring from love as well as fear. God requires us to obey Him as servants indeed, but as children also. We are to be followers of God as dear children. He has given us the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father. Now we all know that love is not less an element of obedience in children towards their parents than fear. A dutiful child fears parental authority. The same principle operates in God's obedient children. "Oh how I love Thy law: all the day long is my study in it." have the secret of David's obedience. timonies were his delight, the joy of his heart. (Ps. cxix.) Would we therefore keep God's commandments, we must love Him, tempering our

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