4. This idea of fellowship is prominent in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. We sit down together at the table of our heavenly Father; we take the bread as from the hand of the unseen Christ ; we acknowledge our brotherhood, with all its high and sacred obligations, in the Divine family; we feel ourselves united, by closer ties than those of blood relationship, to all the children of God, some of whom are before the throne, and some struggling, and praying, and rejoicing here on earth.
^ By fellowship is meant one-mindedness, sympathy, agreement. It is not the submission of a servant to a command because it is a command. It is more, much more, than this. It is the sympathy of the friend with the friend, seeing and appreciating his character and plans, and entering into them with real heart satisfaction. It is the " amen," the " so let it be," of the spirit. " I have not called you servants, but friends." To have this fellowship two things are needed : first, knowing our Master's will, and secondly, having that mind and spirit in us which necessarily sympathizes with it. It is delightful to stand in spirit beside Christ, and look outwards from that central point, and see things as He sees them. This is having His "light" and "life," and therefore so ^ J. Culross, God's Shejiherd Care, 128,
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living and seeing as He does ; and while we do so, He has fellow- ship with us ! There is something very grand I think in this high calling, to be made partakers of Christ's mind and joy ! It is such godlike treatment of creatures ! It shows the immense benevolence of Christ, to create us so as to lift us up to this sublime position, to make us joint heirs with Himself in all this intellectual and moral greatness and blessedness.^
5. There is even more than this to be taken into account, in order to enter into the full significance of David's words here. If you sit down to eat at the table of an Eastern chief, if you should even taste his salt accidentally, you come thereby under his defence; and obligations of kindness and faithfulness are created which he would count it foulest dishonour not to own.
I sit down at Jehovah's table, which He has prepared before me in the presence of mine enemies. It is not merely that I find supply for all the wants of my spiritual and immortal nature, but I am Jehovah's guest ; He has received me into His pavilion His tabernacle. His palace ; He has set me at His table ; thus He binds Himself to protect me ; He covers me with His defence, and takes me into relations of friendship with Him ; my enemies look on, and know that my cause is His cause, and that in reaching me for harm they must first pierce through His defence. Thus we perceive how the words are much more than a repetition, with change of figure, of the opening idea of the Psalm ; and how they lay a foundation for the great confidence, " If God be for us, who can be against us ? " ^
^ Chalmers came to know afterwards, from one of the chiefs, that again and again the murder of the whole missionary party had been determined, and that those appointed to do the deed had come once and again to the low fence which surrounded the rough mission home. They had only to step over it and rush in upon and murder the unarmed man and his wife. Had they done this they would have been hailed as heroes by local Suau opinion. But the same chief told Chalmers that at the low fence they were restrained by some mysterious thing which held them back. What was it ? To the devout mind there can be no doubt. It was the restraining Hand of that God and Father in whom both His servants so firmly trusted, at whose call they had come
^ Norman Macleod, in Memoir, by his brother, i. 328. 2 J. Culross, God's Shciiherd Care, 130.
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to Suau, and for whose sake tliey were willing to lay down their lives.^
ii. The Enemies.
1. " In the presence of mine enemies " — it is the one note which has a suspicion of jar in this Psalm's music of content. Were it not for the sudden intrusion of this phrase, one might suppose that for the Psalmist the whole world had been so absolutely transformed that no element of ugliness or hostility remained: here alone does his eye, as it roams over the field, alight upon something which reminds him that opposition is not quite done with yet. With all this deep peace within him — with all these marvellous mercies of God around him — the enemies still keep their hostile watch and await their chance to attack and slay. Notwithstanding the sweetness and sufficiency of the feast, it is in the presence of foes that the feast is spread. The Psalmist's joy is not a joy that blinds him to the harder realities of life, not a joy that prevents him from feeling their presence or recognizing the danger they hold ; and he beholds still the unlit spots upon his world where possibilities of tragedy and harm are gathered.