ii., where _vv._ 1 and 11 mention God's remembrance and God's
oath, and _v._ 17 has the _horn_ of David and _I will make to
flourish_, using a word akin to the word for _dayspring_ (_exanatelo_,
_anatole_).

_v._ 2. _A mighty salvation_. In S. Luke (A.V.) horn of salvation: see
Psalm xviii. 2. The horn is used as the symbol of strength.

_v._ 6. The oath is in Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18, _By myself have I
sworn--that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven--and in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed_. It is explained (Gal. iii. 16)
that Abraham's seed is Christ: in Him all nations are blessed. _And if
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise_ (Gal. iii. 29). Thus the oath to multiply Abraham's seed is
fulfilled in the increase of the Christian Family.

_v._ 9. _Thou, child_,=John the Baptist.

_The Highest_=God Almighty.

_v._ 10. St John Baptist was to give people knowledge of Jesus--the
Saviour.

_v._ 11. The Dayspring is Jesus. The word for dayspring in Greek means
"springing up," and is translated _Branch_ in Zech. iii. 8 and vi. 12,
and Jer. xxiii. 5.

_v._ 12. Read Isaiah ix. 2 (_to give light_, &c.) and Isaiah xlix.
9-11 (_to guide_, &c.). Also 2 Pet. i. 19 and Rev. xxi. 23 and xxii.
16.

It will be noticed that although the occasion was the Birth of John,
yet his father's Hymn is directed to the Coming of Jesus. Jesus is the
Dayspring or {86} Branch--John is to be the herald of the Saviour. Not
till the 9th verse does the father address his infant son: his mind is
turning upon the greater Birth which was to come six months later.

In verses 5, 6 and 7 there is a complex reference to the birth of
Christ's forerunner. By a play on the names Zacharias, Elizabeth and
John he sings that _God's remembrance_ was wedded to _God's oath_, and
thence was born _God's mercy_: for as we said above the 'text' of the
Hymn is John--God's mercy.

This Hymn may be called a Hymn of the Advent; whatever is read in the
Gospels as the Second Lesson will be sure to excite, in those who
listen, Praise to God for the Advent of His Son.

Nunc Dimittis.

The Evening Service is supplied with a different Hymn of the Advent for
its Second Lesson--that of the aged Simeon, when, having waited through
his long life for it, he was blessed at last with the sight of the
Infant Jesus. Holding Him in his arms