1 J. Culross, God's She;pherd Care, 121. ^ A. L. Waring.
478 ENTERTAINMENT, ENRICHMENT
" Deliver us from evil," you must mean to struggle against that evil in your hearts, which you are conscious of, and which you pray to be forgiven.^
^ There are temptations, commonly so called, which can be a trouble, even when they have ceased to be a dread, just at the moment when we are enjoying the beauty of the scene.
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free; The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration ; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity; The gentleness of heaven is on the sea.
Just when all is peace and glory, there comes the ribald murmur of an evil thought, the haunting disquiet of some evil imagination. In a moment the vast unprotected surface of the mind is ruffled and clouded as with a storm-gust, and pitted with stinging suggestions of falling evil. Most certainly " those that trouble us " take the shape of evil thoughts.
Now it is not God's care to remove temptation, but to strengthen the tempted. He never promised to remove trouble ; but He has promised to make anxiety out of the question. He never promised to remove pain ; but He has promised to elevate it into a bearing, supporting cross. " He prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies," as they stand, like a lion greedy of his prey, casting their eyes down to the ground.^
^ You must recollect all places have their temptations — nay, even the cloisters. Our very work here is to overcome ourselves and to be sensible of our hourly infirmities ; to feel them keenly is but the necessary step towards overcoming them. Never expect to be without such while life lasts ; if these were overcome, you would discover others, and that both because your eyes would see your real state of imperfection more clearly than now, and also because they are in a great measure a temptation of the Enemy, and he has temptations for all states, all occasions. He can turn whatever we do, whatever we do not do, into a temptation, as a skilful rhetorician turns anything into an argument.^
(3) Here is a third enemy — tlie death that awaits us to-mo7TOiv. " And I looked, and behold a pale horse : and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." Man seeks to banish that presence from his conscience, but he pathetically fails. The pale horse with his rider walks into our feasts ! He
1 Cardinal Ne\vman. ^ W. C. E. Newbolt, Penitence and Peace, 133.
^ Letters of J. H. Neitmian, ii. 428.
PSALM XXIII. 5 479
forces himself into the wedding-day ! " To love and to cherish until death us do part ! " We have almost agreed to exile his name from our vocabulary. If we are obliged to refer to him we hide the slaughter-house under rose-trees, we conceal the reality under more pleasing euphemisms. I have become insured. What
for ? Because to-morrow I may No, I do not speak in that
wise. I banish the word at the threshold. I do not mention death or dying. How then ? I have become insured, because " if anything should happen to me ? " In such circumlocu- tion do I seek to evade the rider upon the pale horse. Yet the rider is coming nearer ! To-morrow he will dismount at the door, and his hand will be upon the latch ! Shall we fear his pursuit ? " The terrors of death compassed me," cries the Psalmist. " Through fear of death " they " were all their lifetime subject to bondage," cries the Apostle of the New Covenant. It is an enemy we must all meet. " The last enemy ... is death."
" God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble." In the Lord our God is the fugitive's refuge. " In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me." In the Lord our God we are secure against the destructiveness of our yesterdays, the menaces of to-day, and the darkening fears of the morrow. Our enemies are stayed at the door ! We are the Lord's guests, and our sanctuary is inviolable ! ^
Goodness and mercy
Ever attend. Guidance and keeping
On to the end ; Solace in sorrow.
Brightness in gloom, Light everlasting
Over the tomb.
Counsel and comfort
Whate'er befall Thou wilt afford us,
Saviour, in all. Let Thy glad presence
Still with us dwell: Nothing shall harm us,
All shall be well. * J. H. Jowett, I'he Silver Lining, 88.
48o ENTERTAINMENT, ENRICHMENT
Faint yet pursuing,
Upwards we rise ; See the bright city,
Yonder the prize ! On to the haven,
To the calm shore, In the fair city
Safe evermore.^
II.
Enjoyment.
'•Thou hast anointed my head with oil.'
1. If the figure of the shepherd and his sheep is still retained, as some hold, then the anointing refers to a singularly beautiful custom which the Eastern shepherd has. It is the last scene of the day. At the door of the sheepfold the shepherd stands, and the "rodding of the sheep" takes place. The shepherd stands turning his body to let the sheep pass : he is the door, as Christ said of Himself. With his rod he holds back the sheep while he inspects them one by one as they pass into the fold. He has the horn filled with olive oil, and he has cedar-tar, and he anoints a knee bruised on the rocks, or a side scratched by thorns. And here comes one that is not bruised, but is simply worn and ex- hausted; he bathes its face and head with the refreshing olive oil, and he takes the large two-handled cup and dips it brimming full from the vessel of water provided for that purpose, and he lets the weary sheep drink. There is nothing finer in the Psalm than this. God's care is not for the wounded only, but for the worn and weary also. " He anointeth my head with oil, my cup runneth over." ^