On Eichard's own confession —
0 coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! . . . Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd Came to my tent; and every one did threat To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Eichard.
Ghosts all, yet speaking in the voice of reality. Conscience wears the form of a haunting fiend as well as of a guiding friend. Yet it is no haunting fiend. " Thou hast beset me . . . and laid thine hand upon me." " I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee."
The promise is fulfilled as truly in the condemning voice of conscience as in our conviction of God's power and peace.^
(2) The hand suggests the ministry of guidance, — That is a most suggestive word, constantly in the book of the prophet Isaiah: " And the Lord said unto me with a strong hand." Speech by strong graspings ! Suggestion by grips ! Guidance by the creation of a mighty impulse ! The Lord declared His will unto the prophet Isaiah by implanting in his life the sense of a tre- mendous imperative, a terrific " must," a consciousness which the
» F. Ealand, The Spirit of Life, 55.
154 THE ENCOMPASSING GOD
prophet expressed under the symbol of the grasp of a "strong hand." " Thy right hand shall guide me."
^ There is surely nothing remote or obscure in the theme of God's guidance. It is relevant and immediate to everybody. We differ in many things and in many ways ; we differ in age and in calling, in physical fitness and in mental equipment ; we differ in knowledge and accomplishments; we are greatly different in temperament, and therefore in the character of our daily strife. But in one thing we are all alike — we are pilgrims travelling between life and death, on an unknown road, not knowing how or when the road may turn ; not knowing how or when it may end ; and we are in urgent need of a Greatheart who is acquainted with every step of the way. We are all in need of a leader who will be our guide by the •* waters of rest," and also in the perilous ways of the heights.^
(3) The hand suggests the ministry of soothing and comfort — The nurse lays her cool hand upon the burning brow of her patient, and he exclaims, " How lovely that is ! " And when we come into a sudden crisis in life, and are tempted to become feverish, and " heated hot with burning fears," the Lord lays His cooling hand upon us, and we grow calm again. " And Jesus touched her, and the fever left her."
^ Dr. Miller never forgot the universal need of comfort. " We forget how much sorrow there is in the world," he one day re- marked. " Why, there are hearts breaking all about us. I have made it a rule of my ministry never to preach a sermon without giving some word of comfort to the sorrowing. In every congre- gation there is sure to be some soul hungering for consolation. I spent the afternoon of Wednesday with two or three sore sufferers. In conversation with them I spoke freely of their trials and their comforts. . . . Comfort is one of life's best blessings. Even the comfort of earthly friends is soothing and sweet. But the real comfort which the Holy Spirit brings to the heart of the Christian movu'ner is infinitely better. ... It is better to go into the furnace and get the image of Christ out of the fire, than to be saved from the fire and fail of the blessed likeness." *
^ J. H. Jowett, Things that Matter Must, 111.
2 J. T. Faiis, Jesus and I are Friends: Life of Dr. J. Ji. Miller, 102.
The Searcher of Hearts.
XS5
Literature.
Black (H,), Christ's Service of Love, 158.
Bradley (C), Sermons, ii. 337.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, iii. 490.
Garbett (E.), Experiences of the Inner Life, 106.
Hamilton (J.), Faith in God, 78.
Joynt (R. C), Liturgy and Life, 125.
Keble, (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Lent to Passion-tide, 253.
Kemble (C), Memorials of a Closed Ministry, ii. 43.
Mackennal (A.), Christ's Healing Touch, 45.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Psalms li.-cxlv., 360.
„ „ The Wearied Christ, 170.
Moore (E. W.), Life Transfigured, 87. Mountain (J.), Steps in Consecration, 13. Slater (W. F,), Limitations Human and Divine, 97. Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xv. (1869), No. 903. Stephen (R.), Divine and Human Influence, i. 262, Thackeray (F. St. J.), Sermons Preached in Eton College Cluifel, 120. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), ix. (1872), No. 775. Voysey (C), Sermons, iv. (1881), No. 40. Walker (A. H.), Thinking about It, 1. Watkinson (W. L.), The Fatal Barter, 95. Wilkinson (J. B)., Mission Sermons, ii. 152, Church of England Pulpit, xxxvii. 105.
15«
The Searcher of Hearts.
Search me, O God, and know my heart :
Try me, and know my thoughts :
And see if there be any way of wickedness in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.— Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.
1. No intellectual man has ever dared to despise this poem, which has been called " the crown of all the psalms," and its teaching has had to be reckoned with by all schools of thought for many centuries. It is one of those pieces of literature which Bacon said should be "chewed and digested." There is much food for the intellect here ; but to every man who is anxious about the culture of his spirit we would say : " Test your heart by this psalm. If your heart is of steel, it will be attracted by its teaching, as by a magnet ; if you find nothing in it to move you to reverence, wonder, penitence, and prayer, be sure that your heart is not true, that you are in a morally perilous condition."