^ Perfect the day shall be, when it is of all men understood that the beauty of Holiness must be in labour as well as in rest. Nay ! more, if it may be, in labour ; in our strength, rather than in our weakness; and in the choice of what we shall work for through the six days, and may know to be good at their evening time, than in the choice of what we pray for on the seventh, of reward or repose. With the multitude that keep holiday, we may perhaps sometimes vainly have gone up to the house of the Lord, and vainly there asked for what we fancied would be mercy ; but for the few who labour as their Lord would have them, the mercy needs no seeking, and their wide home no hallowing. Surely goodness and mercy BhaXl follow them, all the days of their life ; and they shall dwell in the house of the Lord— for evek.^
^ Ought not we who bear the name of Jesus to ask ourselves whether we are keeping pace in new purposes and answering with devotion God's summoning gifts and challenging mercies ? When the year is old or the year is young, and we think of the passing of life, it is a good thing to ask whether our trees justify the room they take and the nourishment they get in the Master's vineyard. Is your tree standing because " it brings forth more fruit " ? or is it because of the mercy, the hope, the patience, of the Lord who intercedes, — " Spare it yet another year ; it may be it will bear fruit " ? Let the goodness of God lead us to repentance and a better return in fruitfulness and fidelity for His loving care.^
^ No gloomy foreboding as to a dark and unknown future — no dread of the King of Terrors — no doubts as to his acceptance
1 Ruskin, Lectures on Art, § 96 ( Works, xx. 94).
2 M. D- Babcock, Thoughts for Every-Day Living, 36.
PSALM XXIII. 6 499
in Christ, obscured the radiance of his setting sun. In the same letter, written within six weeks of his death, when he was in good health, James Haldane thus affectionately addresses his eldest son in London, as if anticipating that his years (now eighty-three) were numbered : " This is the last day of the year, and the last letter I shall write this year. My life has been wonderfully preserved, much beyond the usual course of nature. Goodness and mercy have follow^ed me all the days of my life, and, without the shadow of boasting, I can add, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. May the blessing of God Almighty rest on you and yours ! " ^
Enough that blessings undeserved
Have marked my erring track; — That wheresoe'er my feet have swerved,
His chastening turned me back; —
That more and more a Providence
Of love is understood, Making the springs of time and sense
Sweet with eternal good;
That death seems but a covered way
Which opens into light, Wherein no blinded child can stray
Beyond the Father's sight; —
That care and trial seem at last,
Through Memory's sunset air, Like mountain-ranges overpast;
In purple distance fair —
That all the jarring notes of life
Seem blending in a psalm, And all the angles of its strife
Slow rounding into calm.
And so the shadows fall apart.
And so the west- winds play; And all the windows of my heart
I open to the day.^
^ A. Haldane, The Lives of Robert and James Haldavr, 640. 2 Whittier, My Psalm.
500 PURSUIT AND PERMANENCE
2. The Psalmist's hope is uttered ia a twofold form of speech. First and in general, it is the hope of "goodness and mercy"; "goodness" including all that contributes to our well-being, temporal and spiritual, and " satisfies " the wants of our nature, — not mere cold beneficence that chills us while it aids, but having a heart of lovingkindness ; " mercy'' including all the manifesta- tions of His favour, whether as compassion, forbearance, long- suffering, deliverance, forgiving love, help in time of need, or whatever else may be named — all that it glorifies God to bestow, and blesses u£ to receive.
^ There is a touching story of Lord Westbury which Sir William Gull told me. He was dying of a painful disease, and said to Sir William and Sir James Paget, " Surely this is, if ever there was, a case for Euthanasia, or the happy despatch." They argued with him that their duty was to preserve life, and on the following day he said, " I suppose you are right. I have been thinking over the story of what the Eoundhead said when he met the Eoyalist in heaven. He was surprised at his presence, and asked him how it had come about. The Eoyalist answered —
Between the saddle and the ground I mercy sought and mercy found.
I suppose you think that might be my case." ^
(1) We may compare Goodness to an angel with a radiant countenance, bright as the sun, ever beaming with smiles that shed gladness all around her. She has a light and buoyant step, and movements musical as the chiming of marriage bells. Flowers grow where she treads, and springs of living water flow to refresh the thirsty ground. She has a full and yet open hand, for while always dispensing her gifts, her store is never exhausted.