^ In January 1681, two "honest, worthy lasses," as Peden calls them, Isabel Alison and Marion Harvie, were hanged at Edinburgh. On the scaffold they sang together, to the tune of " Martyrs," Psalm Ixxxiv. " Marion," said Bishop Paterson, " you would never hear a curate; now you shall hear one," and he called upon one of his clergy to pray. " Come, Isabel," was the girl's answer — she was but twenty years of age — " let us sing the 23rd Psalm," and thus they drowned the voice of the curate. No execution of the time was more universally condemned than that of these two women. A roughly-drawn picture of the scene, with the title " Women hanged," is prefixed to the first edition of The Hind Let Loose (1687). By its side is another engraving, which represents " The Wigtown Martyrs, drowned at stakes at sea." ^
I.
Jehovah.
1. "The Lord." It is the name Jehovah. Now this name does not of itself express God's moral character, but rather His absolute, necessary, and eternal being, as the sole fount of existence, "who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light
^ G. Clarke, From the Cross to the C'roivn, 2.
- R. E. Prothero, The Psalms in JIuman Life, 286,
PSALM XXIII. I 387
which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see." While the generations of creaturely life pass on in ceaseless flow, while " our ages waste," while the heavens them- selves grow old, He stands up amidst His works the one, eternal, immutable " I am."
2. This great Jehovah — what is He in His relation to us ? The Psalm says He is a shepherd. The figure occurs very frequently in the Old Testament to indicate His relation to the covenant people and to every faithful member thereof. It is the word of Jacob, " God who shepherded me all my life long " ; it is the word of the seed of Jacob, " We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." It tells of care, guidance, knowledge, defence, tenderness, love, on the part of God. Even to us, who seldom see a flock of sheep, except it may be passing through our dusty streets or scattered on the hillsides, the figure tells very much ; but still more would it tell to the people of Israel.
^ Our English version misses something of the beauty of Jacob's words (in blessing ■ the sons of Josepli). The translation, God " who hath fed me," is too meagre. We need to say, " who hath shepherded me." The same word is the keynote of the finest of all the Psalms : " The Lord is my shepherd." It is a beautiful metaphor, which comes with an exquisite pathos and a profound significance from the lips of a dying shepherd. The poets of a later age could only echo his words : " Give ear, 0 Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." All the tender grace of the Old Testament religion is found in this lovely con- ception. It was not one man or two, but a whole nation, that learned to believe in God as a Shepherd : " We are his people, the sheep of his pasture." No other ancient nation ever expected from God such loving care and unerring guidance, no other nation ever promised such meek submission and faithful following. And while the Hebrew temple and sacrifice and priesthood have passed away as the shadows of better things, the Hebrew thought of a Shepherd-God will live for ever.^
3. " The Lord is my shepherd." Mark the fulness, the expan- siveness of this idea. On the one side " the Lord," the infinite, unchangeable, and everlasting God, all that is glorious, and holy, and wise, and self-sufficient, and much to be admired ; on the other
^ J. Stvacliuu, H('.hre%v Ideals, ii. 147.
3SS A PERSONAL PROVIDENCE
" the Shepherd," all that is tender, compassionate, and self-sacri- ficing, and much to be loved. These two characters — the one, all that is lofty in its magnificence ; the other, all that is lowly in its condescension ; the one, all glorious ; the other, all gracious — are united. They are included and concentrated in the same large and loving heart, whose every pulsation sends the tide of life through the veins of His vast universe, but at the same time does not disdain to throb with strong and unwearied regardfulness for me.
*j| You have seen a map or a plan on which these words are written: "Scale, 1 inch to a mile." Now, that is the meaning of the text ; it is one inch to a mile, one inch to a universe, one inch to infinity. Do you ask me what is the meaning of that peculiar writing upon the plan ? I will tell you ; give me the compasses. How far is it from A to B ? Stretch out compasses — " Ten inches." What does that mean ? It means ten miles. Ten inches on the paper, but the ten inches stand for ten miles. That is just the text. " Shepherd " stands for Ineffable, Eternal, Infinite, Unthinkable ; God on a small scale ; God minimized that we may touch the shadow of His garment,^