1 W. M. Macgregor. ^ Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
36o A VOLUNTEER ARMY
powers that accrue to those who choose the Christian life ; and it is strange if the way along which they are acquired is a way of self-seeking ; strange if, in striving towards a paradise of selfish pleasure, there is formed a character which would be as wretched there as a selfish character in the heaven of the saints. Sui'ely it is a very different sort of aim and quest that is betrayed in the development of the Christian character and in the lines on which it presses forward ; its preparation through the discipline of this life is for something else than what is here called pleasure or success ; the faculties that are strengthened with its strength must have a work surpassing all our thoughts, and the capacity it brings can never be satisfied with aught that is created. For, in truth, the Christian character prophesies of this — that God has made us for Himself ; and that there is neither rest, nor goal, nor joy for man, save in His love.^
III.
Patriot-Priests in Perpetual Youth.
"From the womb of the tnorningf, thou hast the dew of thy youth."
Alexander Henderson, expounding this passage, says : " The words are somewhat obscure even to the learned ear, but look to the 133rd Psalm, and there ye will see a place to help to clear them. Always (however) observe here, * from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth,' that as in a May morning, when there is no extremity of heat, the dew falls so thick that all the fields are covered with it, and it falls in such a secret manner that none sees it fall, so the Lord, in the day of His power, He shall multiply His people, and He shall multiply them in a secret manner ; so that it is marvellous to the world, that once there should seem to be so few or none of them, and then incontinent He should make them to be through all estates."
1. The " dew of thy youth " has often been understood to mean the fresh youthful energy attributed by the psalm to the Priest-King. It has been suggested that the historical setting of the psalm is to be found in the Maccabean period. The heroic Judas had fallen in battle. Only one Maccabee remained, an ' Francis Paget, Studies in the Cliristian Character.
PSALM ex. 3 361
elder brother, Simon, who had been passed over till this time — a great man and a wise one, it would seem, who had deliberately and unselfishly stood aside while his younger brethren had been doing theii mighty work. He had been their lieutenant, counsellor, helper in every way. " The father of them all " was the affection- ate title which he bore among them ; the organizer and statesman of the valiant band ; one of those strong, keen, silent souls who are content to work in obscurity, so that the grand object is obtained, but who often have more real power than those who stand glittering in the front. But now his time was come — come when he was apparently more than sixty years of age. He rose to the occasion; he took the critical and dangerous place. He went up to Jerusalem, stood among the excited and trembling multitude, and said : " Ye yourselves know what great things I and my brethren and my father's house have done for the laws and the sanctuary. You know the battles and troubles we have seen, by reason whereof all my brethren are slain for Israel's sake, and I am left alone. Now therefore, be it far from me that I should spare mine own life in any time of trouble, for I am no better than my brethren, I will defend my nation and the sanctuary, and our wives and our children, though all the heathen be gathered together to destroy us for very malice."
The people gazed upon the grand old man. They watched his kindling eye, his martial bearing; they saw the fires of a still youthful spirit burning in the aged frame, and they answered with a loud voice, " Thou shalt be our leader. Fight thou our battles, and whatsoever thou commandest us, we will do." Then they brought him into the temple, clothed him in the sacred robes, placed the tiara upon his head, and saluted him as the great Priest-King of Israel: and it may be that this 110th Psalm preserves the memory of the coronation anthem sung at that service in the temple when the old man with the brave young heart inside him stood before the awestruck multitudes and took the perilous honour of the lofty place. A joy-shout of the people finds its echo in the text, " From the breaking of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth " ; that is to say, " Though aged, it is upon thee still."
T] Certain leaders in their young days have led their troops to battle, and, by the loudness of their voice, and the strength of
362 A VOLUNTEER ARMY
their bodies, have inspired their men with courage; hue the old warrior hath his hair sown with grey; he begins to be decrepit, and no longer can lead men to battle. It is not so vith Jesus Christ. He has still the dew of His youth. The same Christ who led His troops to battle in His early youth leads them now. The arm which smote the sinner with His word smites now ; it is as unpalsied as it was before. The eye which looked upon His friends with gladness, and upon His foemen with a glance most stern and high — that same eye is regarding us now, undimmed, like that of Moses. He has the dew of His youth.^