and in response to His profound love, we revere His name. To say that God requests fear is to limit his powers, to lower Him to the level of an earthly king, who sways his people with the tyranny of fear. The true attributes of God are outlined in Exodus 34 :6, "The Lord, the Lord God is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth." The Psalmist conceives of God as his Rock and his Salvation, and therefore triumphantly exclaims, "Whom shall I fear?" God is his Light and his Stronghold, his Shield and his Place of Refuge, therefore those who rise up against him can do him no injury. God is more to him than an earthly parent even, "For though my father and my mother have forsaken me, the Lord will take me up." God is his consolation in the day of sorrow, his hope in the hour of depression, his fortress in the presence of difficulties. The Psalmist does not fear his God; he has only trust in His love and protection.

It is clear that the object of the founders of the Jewish faith was not to sow fear of God in the hearts of the people; to plant love rather than fear was their aim. Our great lawgiver states distinctly in Deuteronomy 6:5, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might," and the devout Jew to this day repeats this impassioned injunction in his daily prayers. It is not conceivable that Moses in one passage would have commanded us to love our God, and in another to fear Him, for we never love those whom we fear. Reverence and love, on the other hand, are harmonious sentiments. In the very same chapter as that referred to, Moses enjoins his people first to love God, and then as a consequence, observe His law.

A system of ethics may be based either on fear or on love, but not on both. When based on fear,