PSALM XXIII. 3 429
^ Wherever St. Francis and his six friends went, their sermons excited the greatest attention in peasant circles. Some would speak to them, asking what order they belonged to and whence they came. They answered that they were of no order, but were only "men from Assisi, who lived a life of penance." But if they were penitents, they were not for that reason shame- faced— with Francis at their head, who sang in French, praised and glorified God for His untiring goodness to them. " They were able to rejoice so much," says one of the biographers, "because they had abandoned so much." When they wandered in the spring sunshine, free as the birds in the sky, through the green vineyards of Mark Ancona, they could only thank the Almighty who had freed them from all the snares and deceits which those who love the world are subject to and suffer from so sadly.^
^ On meeting with so many obstructing influences, I again laid the whole matter (of becoming a missionary) before my dear parents, and their reply was to this effect: — "Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your father's heart was set upon being a minister, but other claims forced him to give it up. When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a missionary of the Cross ; and it has been their con- stant prayer that you might be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision ; and we pray with all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare you, and give you many souls from the heathen world for your hire." From that moment, every doubt as to my path of duty for ever vanished. I saw the hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading me to, the foreign mission field.^
L
That We are Guided.
"He guideth me."
1. There are few things more largely written in Scripture, or more evidently and certainly experienced in good men's lives, than the leading of God — leading which is partly outward and providential, partly inward and spiritual. To the man of the
^ J. Jorgensen, St. Francis of Assisi, 68. ^ John O. Paton, i. 92.
430 GOOD GUIDANCE
world, for whom nature is a veil that hides the face of God, and who walks by the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears, or at the best by natural reason, it is wholly unreal, visionary, impossible, Utopian — a beautiful fancy, and nothing more. To the man of faith, on the other hand, who is " as seeing him who is in- visible," there is nothing more absolutely certain and worthy of con- fidence. To him, life is a course in which he may enjoy the guidance of the Infinite Wisdom and the Infinite Love : to him, Jehovah is " the Shepherd of Israel," who " leadeth Joseph like a flock " ; who " bringeth the blind by a way that they know not " ; in whose J paths " the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err." And so it is written, " The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord " : "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths " : " Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass " : "I am the Lord thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest
go."
The fulness of meaning contained in the words, " He leadeth
me," could not be known by Old Testament saints ; could not be
known till the Good Shepherd came and dwelt among us. Unlike
what we are accustomed to, the Eastern shepherd literally " leads "
his flock ; he goes before them, and calls them by name, and they
follow him: and this is what the Divine Shepherd has done.
He has not merely marked out the way for us in His Word ; He
does not merely lead us by His providence and by the inward
impulse of His Spirit ; but He has also gone before us, — has
given us an example that we should walk in His steps : and now
our part is to follow Him ; to reproduce His life among men ; to
be in the world even as He was in the world ; so that we may be
able to say, by no mere figure of speech, " I live ; yet not I ; but
Christ liveth in me."
^ Is God your leader ? — or does He only rein you in ? Are you personally conscious of the vast difference between these two experiences ? It is well to be held back from sin, no doubt, but the joy of the God-directed, sanctified man, is certainly beyond that of the horse and mule which have no understanding, and whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle.
There is no holiness of a radical sort without Divine, positive, everyday guidance. This difiers not only in degree but in kind