Heavenly Guardianship.

Second Sunday after Easter.

The Lord is my Shepherd.-Ps. 23: 1.

HIS little Psalm contains one of the fullest and tenderest utterances of assured faith to be found in any of the

songs of Zion. It has perhaps made more precious melody in the hearts of God's children than any other composition ever given to the ancient Church. No tongue can tell the tears it has dried, the fears it has dispelled, the hopes it has begotten, the confidence it has inspired, and the peace it has breathed into timid and troubled souls, in its descent through these many ages. And it is so calm, beautiful, and overflowing with joyful faith, that we almost fear to touch it lest we should spoil it.

Thousands of years have passed since first it rose from the heart of the man who made it. For centuries it was sung by Hebrew tongues in old Judea; and weeping captives beside Babel's rivers comforted themselves with it in their sorrowful captivity. Dispensations have since been changed, and new revelations have found place in our world; but this inspired song still holds its place in the

affections of believers. It comes to us redolent with precious memories and with a clearer and sweeter light since Jesus was on earth. Wondrous has been its influence and its life, and eternity alone can reveal the comfort and blessing it has been to souls.

It is generally ascribed to David, to whom nature and life were parables of the sacred and divine. It seems to rise directly out of his own. shepherd life. What he was to his flock imaged to him God's tender providence. His leading of his sheep into the watered pastures, where they could feed and rest in peace, pictured to him the goodness and grace of Jehovah. In his watchful guardianship to protect his flock against the wild beasts that prowled around, he read the unsleeping care of God to protect and defend His people. In conducting his charge through dark and threatening gorges, where he had to be near his timid sheep to encourage and direct them by his staff, and thus bring them out into new fields, he saw a life picture of Jehovah's nearness to His people amid earth's trying changes, and their passage through the valley and shadow of death. And that new land thus reached directed his thoughts to the better country beyond, and the gracious reception and entertainment of the worn and weary one in the blessed house of God. Beautiful and happy contemplations! How natural! How truthful! How full of comfort to the soul! Jehovah exercises a rule and authority over all men and over all things; but there is a peculiar

and special office which He exercises over His chosen people, which is best illustratad by that of a shepherd over his flock. Accordingly we find this imagery constantly applied both in the Old and the New Testaments. Thus Asaph prayed, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock." So it was predicted of the coming Saviour, "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and shall carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead them that are with young." So the Lord Jesus himself declares, "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine; and I give unto them eternal life." Hence also the Apostles write of Him as "the great Shepherd of the sheep,”— "the Shepherd and Bishop of souls."

It is not easy in our modern times to realize what all is included in this designation. We know what a merchant is, a farmer, a legislator, a minister, an engineer, a soldier, a navigator, a mechanic, an author; but when we would have. an idea of what is meant by a shepherd we have to go far back among phases of society so different from ours as to be totally foreign to what we now see and know.

Naturally, we might suppose a shepherd to be a very humble, servile personage; but in ancient times, when riches consisted chiefly of flocks and herds, a shepherd was one of the most distinguished of men. The office bordered on princely dignity. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and

David served as shepherds. And such an idylic beauty and gracious authority connect with the office that the greatest and mightiest kings used it to denote their relations to their people. The shepherd was far above his flock in intelligence, strength, and ruling power. He was the king, lord, and absolute commander and guide of his sheep. They were his property, his possession. But for that very reason he was most concerned for their welfare. He was even joined to his flock, and never separated from it by day or by night. All his time, interest, and affection were given to the serving of it, guarding it from danger, leading it into good pastures, and exercising. toward it all manner of tenderness and love. And in this we are to see and read the picture of our blessed Saviour's care of those whom He has bought with His blood. They are His possession

-His peculiar treasure.

And with the great and glorious Jehovah filling such an office toward him, the Psalmist was full of joyful confidence.

Herein he found assurance of sufficiency for all his wants. No good shepherd will ever suffer his flock to starve. Times of scarcity may come, but he will see to it to find enough to serve them. Nor will our divine Shepherd do less for His people than the shepherd for his sheep. Wealth and abundance are not pledged; for wealth and abundance cannot feed the soul. Even leanness and famine may be the richer blessing. But with Jehovah as our Shepherd there can come no des

titution that can destroy,-no real want that will not be amply met.

Herein also was plentiful enjoyment. As a flock in a valley of tender grass, where it could eat to fullness, drink of the purest waters, and lie down in quiet by the gentle streams; so blest did the Psalmist find himself as he believed and realized that Jehovah was his Shepherd.

In the midst of such lives as we are forced to live there is nothing that is more welcome to the soul than the idea of rest. But we seek it in vain in the pursuits and possessions of this world. None better know the utter hollowness of all that earth can give than those who have the most of it. The soul was made to rest in God, and can rest in nothing else. The truest enjoyment, and the only abiding peace, is in the living consciousness that Jehovah is our Shepherd.

Herein also all the trials, hardships, and sorrows of life are modified and transformed into a healthgiving discipline. "All we like sheep have gone astray," wide wandering from the paths of right. Hurts, bruises, and sorrows are the result. But the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. By His word and Spirit He comes to the faint and perishing, restoreth their lost strength, helps them back to their true place, and overrules their very afflictions to further them in righteousness. There is more joy in redemption than if there never had been need of it. Heaven is all the happier for the saints for the hurts of sin which they have felt.