We know how often in Scripture the emblem of water, as a purifying and refreshing element, is employed to represent the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink . . . this spake he of the Spirit." This is the " pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, pro- ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." When the Spirit receives of the things of Christ and shows them to the believer, longing to behold His power, His glory, and His beauty, or discovers to him his interest in the hopes and promises of His Word, witnessing with his spirit that he is a child of God,
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he is strengthened and revived as by a draught from that " well of water which springeth up unto everlasting life." To be led " beside the still waters " is to be " walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," to be enjoying holy and tranquil communion with Him, to have clear and enlarged and soul-satisfying discoveries of Christ and His work, to have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, so that even amid outward tribulation we have in- ward peace. It is He who opens up " the wells of salvation," out of which the believer draws water with joy. Though often " in a dry and thirsty land where no water is," let him follow the leadings of his Shepherd, and the promise will be fulfilled, " When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." This is the rest wherewith He has caused the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing which comes down on the fainting soul as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion.
r Not always. Lord, in pastures green The sheep at noon Thou feedest. Where in the shade they lie Within Thy watchful eye: Not always under skies serene
The white-fleeced flock Thou leadest.
On rugged ways, with bleeding feet. They leave their painful traces; Through deserts drear they go. Where wounding briers grow. And through dark valleys, where they meet No quiet resting-places.
Not always by the water still. Or lonely wells palm-hidden, Do they find happy rest. And, in Thy presence blest, Delight themselves, and drink their fill Of pleasures unforbidden.
PSALM XXIII. 2, 3 413
Their track is worn on Sorrow's shore, Where windy storms beat ever — Their troubled course they keep, Where deep calls unto deep; So going till they hear the roar Of the dark-flowing river.
But wheresoe'er their steps may be, So Thou their path be guiding, 0 be their portion mine ! Show me the secret sign, That I may trace their way to Thee, In Thee find rest abiding.
Slowly they gather to the fold. Upon Thy holy mountain, — There, resting round Thy feet, They dread no storm nor heat, And slake their thirst where Thou hast rolled The stone from Life's full fountain.^
III.
Eestoration.
*' He restoreth my souJ."
1. The words translated "he restoreth my soul" mean to bring the soul back again to itself, to bring the soul tliat has become unlike itself once more into a condition of equilibrium, and therefore to inspire with new life, to recreate. There are thus two possible interpretations.
(1) Eestoration may mean bringing back that which has gone astray. We think at once of the parable of the Lost Sheep recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Yonder is a shepherd with a flock of an hundred sheep feeding around him. One of them wanders off unperceived, and is lost. Though ninety and nine remain, the good shepherd misses the lost one ; he goes forth to seek it ; having found it, perhaps far away in the wilderness or the mountain, and it may be near to nightfall, he brings it back with him to the rest of the flock. He does this most tenderly and lovingly. Though it has cost him toil and pain, he does not use it roughly; he does not scourge it before him, or drag it after
' J. Diummoiid Bums.
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him ; he does not leave it to hirehiig care ; he lays it on his own shoulders, rejoicing, and so brings it home.
With just such tender, compassionate loving-kindness does the Lord the Sheplicrd bring back the wandering soul ; He bears us no grudge for the toil and pain we have cost Him, but rejoices over us ; He forsakes us not, nor leaves us to our own strength, till He has carried us across the threshold of celestial bliss, and set us down among the saints in light, the home-doors folding us in.
^ In Deuteronomy (xxii. 1, 2) we read, " Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them : thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again." This humane and honest custom still prevails among the shepherds of Palestine. Whoever finds a sheep, goat, or any other domestic animal straying on his land, secures it and informs the neighbours and shepherds with whom he is acquainted, or whom he may meet, that he found an animal straying on his property and that any one who has lost such and can prove ownership should come and take it. If one finds an animal straying on the highway the finder will send it to the public square of the nearest village or city, where generally some one will recognize whose property it is. Everybody who heai's of the find relates the fact to everybody else with whom he is acquainted, and to every shepherd he meets if the animal is a sheep or a goat. Animals that have been bought and brought to a flock where they are strangers will sometimes stray away in search of their former companions and shepherd,^