^ R. E. Prothero, The Psalms in Human Life, 313. ^ W. H. Gray, Ott,r Divine Shepherd, 21.
458 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
death, one has stood forth as a champion-fear to terrify and daunt me. It is the loneliness of death. " I die alone." ^
Jesu, have mercy !
'Tis this new feeling, never felt before, (Be with me, Lord, in my extremity !)
That I am going, that I am no more, 'Tis this strange innermost abandonment,
(Lover of souls ! great God ! I look to Thee,) This emptying out of each constituent
And natural force, by which I come to be. Pray for me, 0 my friends ; a visitant
Is knocking his dire summons at my door, The like of whom, to scare me and to daunt,
Has never, never come to me before.^
2. Loneliness is a thing which we must learn to face, in our work, in the separations of life, and in times of quiet. Certainly, whether we like it or not, we must be alone in death, as far as this world is concerned. And men preach to us detachment. " Sit loosely to the world," they say, that the wrench may be less when it comes. But the Good Shepherd says rather, learn attachment. It is His promise: "Fear not; I will be with thee." It is our confidence : " I will fear no evil : for thou art with me." It is more ; it is our joy : " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? " And is not this the true answer to our fears — How can I go to meet that shadow ? How will my faith stand its cold embrace ? How shall I ever believe in the bright promise of a land beyond, when here all is dark ? Let us ask rather — How am I going to meet the duty just before me ? Is He with me now ? Have I learned to find Him in the quiet hours of the day ? Have I found His presence in desolating sorrow ? Have I felt His hand in darkness and doubt ? Have I found Him near me in prayer and Eucharist ? If so, I need not look forward. He is leading me on, step by step, and day by day. He is habituating me, little by little, to the withdrawal of the light, and to utter trust in Him. " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." There is grace given me for the new day's work ; there is grace given me under this desolating sorrow. There is grace given me to live
^ W. G. E. Newbolt, Penitence and Peace, 118. ^ Newman, Dream of Gerontius.
PSALM XXIII. 4 459
well ; when I need it, there will be grace given me to die well. "Eor thou art with me." Now is the time to make firm that companionship. To be still, and know that He is God. To find the guiding Hand in all its strength and security, amid the death and life of each day's hopes and fears. And then, when we enter the shadow, still it will be " with God onwards."
^ What is it that a mother's love with its infinite tenderness and ministry should welcome us into the world, what is it that friendship and love should gladden life through all its days, if when we pass away from earth there be but an awful solitude, a horror of great darkness, where no hand grasps ours, and no voice cheers us ? What is it that the sun should shine, or that earth should yield ten thousand things to meet my commonest needs, if these highest and deepest wants within me be all unmet, and I go forth perishing with hunger ? If in what is there be any prophecy of what shall be, if the beneficence of the present is any promise and pledge of the future, surely it must be that love shall not fail us then — then when we need it most. All hope, all need, all the goodness and promise of every day do find their fulness in the words of our Lord : " I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." i
3. Observe at this point the change in David's manner of address. Hitherto he has been speaking about the Lord the Shepherd in the third person ; now as he moves into the sphere of darkness, like a child creeping closer to his father's side in the blackening gloom, he draws closer to God, and changes from " he " to " thou " ! Instead of speaking about Him, he speaks directly to Him, as to one near and hearing. In the last verse of the Psalm it was " He leadeth me " ; now, in the region of death-shadow, it is " TJwu art with me." The change, I think, marks the energiz- ing of faith, and its closer grip of the great Hand in the dark. What a conception it gives us of the greatness of God that He hears, really hears, this breathing of the heart, " Thou art with me." Think what multitudinous voices rise to the ear of God — voices of sin, distress, joy, praise, prayer — in whispers, groans, shrieks, hosannas — in all tones — in all languages — by night and by day — from the whole earth ! And yet 7ny feeble voice is not