,,little ,,books ,,on ,,religion        
,edited by    ,the ,rev4 ,w4 ,robertson 
,nicoll1 ,,ll4,d4    ,elegantly bound in
 cloth1 price #as4 #f;d4 each4          
,christ and the ,future ,life4  ,by     
,r4,w4 ,dale1 ,,ll4,d4    ,the ,seven   
,words from the ,cross4  ,by the ,rev4  
,w4 ,robertson ,nicoll1 ,,ll4,d4    ,the
 ,visions of a ,prophet4  ,by the ,rev4 
,professor ,marcus ,dods1 ,d4,d4    ,why
 be a ,christian8  ,addresses to ,young 
,men4 ,by the same  ,author4    ,the    
,four ,temperaments4  ,by the ,rev4     
,alexander ,whyte1 ,d4,d4    ,the ,upper
 ,room4  ,by the ,rev4 ,john ,watson1   
,m4,a41 ,d4,d4    ,four ,psalms4  ,by   
the ,rev4 ,professor ,george ,adam      
,smith1 ,d4,d41 ,,ll4,d4    ,gospel     
,questions and ,answers4  ,by the ,rev4 
,james ,denney1 ,d4,d4    ,the ,unity   
and ,symmetry of the ,bible4  ,by the   
,rev4 ,john ,monro ,gibson1 ,d4,d4      
,,hodder  ,,stoughton    ,,four ,,psalms
    ,,xxiii4 ,,xxxvi4 ,,lii4 ,,cxxi4    
,,interpreted ,,for ,,practical ,,use   

,,by    ,,george ,,adam ,,smith         
,,hodder ,,and ,,stoughton    ,,to      
,m4,s4 ,,and ,h4,a4,s4                  
,,contents      ,i  ,,psalm ,,xxiii3    
,,god ,,our ,,shepherd    ,,ii  ,,psalm 
,,xxxvi3 ,,the ,,greater ,,realism      
,,iii  ,,psalm ,,lii3 ,,religion ,,the  
,,open ,,air ,,of ,,the ,,soul    ,,iv  
,,psalm ,,cxxi3 ,,the ,,ministry ,,of   
,,the ,,hills ,,and ,,all ,,great       
,,things  ,,psalm ,,xxiii    ,,god ,,our
 ,,shepherd      ,the twenty-third      
,psalm seems to break in two at the end 
of the fourth  verse4 ,the first four   
verses clearly reflect a pastoral scene2
 the fifth  appears to carry us off1    
without warning1 to very different      
associations4  ,this1 however1 is only  
in appearance4 ,the last two verses are 
as pastoral  as the first four4 ,if     
these show us the shepherd with his     
sheep upon the  pasture1 those follow   
him1 shepherd still1 to where in his    
tent he  dispenses the desert's         
hospitality to some poor fugitive from  

blood4 ,the  ,psalm is thus a unity1    
even of metaphor4 ,we shall see         
afterwards that it  is also a spiritual 
unity2 but at present let us summon up  
the landscape  on which both of these   
features--the shepherd on his pasture   
and the  shepherd in his tent--lie side 
by side1 equal sacraments of the grace  
and  shelter of our ,god4    ,a ,syrian 
or an ,arabian pasture is very different
 from the narrow meadows  and fenced    
hill-sides with which we are familiar4  
,it is vast1 and often  virtually       
boundless4 ,by far the greater part of  
it is desert--that is1  land not        
absolutely barren1 but refreshed by rain
 for only a few months1  and through the
 rest of the year abandoned to the      
pitiless sun that sucks  all life from  
the soil4 ,the landscape is nearly all  
glare3 monotonous  levels or low ranges 
of hillocks1 with as little character   
upon them as  the waves of the sea1 and 
shimmering in mirage under a cloudless  
heaven4  ,this bewildering monotony is  

broken by only two exceptions4 ,here and
 there  the ground is cleft to a deep   
ravine1 which gapes in black contrast to
 the  glare1 and by its sudden darkness 
blinds the men and sheep that enter it  
to the beasts of prey which have their  
lairs in the recesses4 ,but there  are  
also hollows as gentle and lovely as    
those ravines are terrible1 where  water
 bubbles up and runs quietly between    
grassy banks through the open  shade of 
trees4    ,on such a wilderness1 it is  
evident that the person and character of
 the  shepherd must mean a great deal   
more to the sheep than they can possibly
  mean in this country4 ,with us1 sheep 
left to themselves may be seen any      
day--in a field or on a hill-side with a
 far-travelling fence to keep them  from
 straying4 ,but ,i do not remember ever 
to have seen in the ,east a flock  of   
sheep without a shepherd4    ,on such a 
landscape as ,i have described he is    
obviously indispensable4  ,when you meet
 him there1 'alone of all his reasoning 

kind1' armed1  weather-beaten1 and      
looking out with eyes of care upon his  
scattered  flock1 their sole provision  
and defence1 your heart leaps up to ask3
 ,is  there in all the world so dear a  
sacrament of life and peace as he8      
,there is1 and very near himself4 ,as   
prominent a feature in the wilderness   
as the shepherd is the shepherd's tent4 
,to ,western eyes a cluster of  desert  
homes looks ugly enough--brown and black
 lumps1 often cast down  anyhow1 with a 
few loutish men lolling on the trampled 
sand in front of  the low doorways1 that
 a man has to stoop uncomfortably to    
enter4 ,but  conceive coming to these a 
man who is fugitive--fugitive across    
such a  wilderness4 ,conceive a man     
fleeing for his life as ,sisera fled    
when he  sought the tent of ,jael1 the  
wife of ,heber the ,kenite4 ,to him that
 space  of trampled sand1 with the      
ragged black mouths above it1 mean not  
only  food and rest1 but dear life      
itself4 ,there1 by the golden law of the

  desert's hospitality1 he knows that he
 may eat in peace1 that though his      
enemies come up to the very door1 and   
his table be spread as it were in  their
 presence1 he need not flinch nor stint 
his heart of her security4    ,that was 
the landscape the ,psalmist saw1 and it 
seemed to him to reflect  the mingled   
wildness and beauty of his own life4    
,human life was just this  wilderness of
 terrible contrasts1 where the light is 
so bright1 but the  shadows the darker  
and more treacherous2 where the pasture 
is rich1 but  scattered in the wrinkles 
of vast deserts2 where the paths are    
illusive1  yet man's passion flies swift
 and straight to its revenge2 where all 
is  separation and disorder1 yet law    
sweeps inexorable1 and a man is hunted  
down to death by his blood-guiltiness4  
,but not in anything is life more  like 
the ,wilderness than in this1 that it is
 the presence and character of  ,one1   
which make all the difference to us who 
are its silly sheep2 that it  is ,his   

grace and hospitality which alone avail 
us when we awaken to the  fact that our 
lives cannot be fully figured by those  
of sheep1 for men are  fugitives in need
 of more than food--men are fugitives   
with the conscience  and the habit of   
sin relentless on their track4 ,this is 
the main lesson of  the ,psalm3 the     
faith into which many generations of    
,god's ,church have sung  an ever richer
 experience of ,his ,guidance and ,his  
,grace4 ,we may gather it  up under     
these three heads--they cannot be too   
simple3 ,i4 ,the ,lord is a  ,shepherd2 
,,ii4 ,the ,lord is my ,shepherd2 and1  
,,iii4 if that be too feeble a  figure  
to meet the fugitive and hunted life of 
man1 the ,lord is my ,host  and my      
,sanctuary for ever4    ,i4 ,the ,lord  
is my ,shepherd3 or--as the ,greek1     
vibrating to the force of  the          
original--,the ,lord is shepherding me2 
,i shall not want4 ,this is the  theme  
of the first four verses4    ,every one 
feels that the ,psalm was written by a  

shepherd1 and the first  thing that is  
obvious is that he has made his ,god    
after his own image4    ,there are many 
in our day who sneer at that kind of    
theology--pretty1  indeed1 as the pearl 
or the tear1 but like tear or pearl a   
natural and  partly a morbid deposit--a 
mere human process which1 according to  
them1  pretty well explains all         
religion2 the result of man's instinct  
to see  himself reflected on the cloud  
that bounds his view2 man's honest but  
deluded effort to put himself in charge 
of the best part of himself1  filling   
the throne of an imaginary heaven with  
an impossible exaggeration  of his own  
virtues4    ,but it is far better to    
hold with ,jesus ,christ than with such 
reasoners4  ,jesus ,christ tells us that
 a man cannot be wrong if he argues     
towards ,god  from what he finds best in
 himself4 ,if ye then1 being evil1 know 
how to  give good gifts to your         
children3 how much more shall your      
,heavenly ,father  give the ,holy       

,spirit to them that ask ,him8 ,what man
 of you1 having an  hundred sheep1 if he
 lose one of them1 doth not leave the   
ninety and nine  in the wilderness1 and 
go after that which is lost1 until he   
find it8  ,either what woman having ten 
pieces of silver1 if she lose one piece1
 doth  not light a candle1 and sweep the
 house1 and seek diligently till she    
find  it8 444 ,likewise1 ,i say unto    
you1 ,there is joy in the presence of   
the  angels of ,god over one sinner that
 repenteth4    ,that is a true witness1 
and strikes ,amen out of every chord of 
our hearts4  ,the ,power1 so evident in 
nature that ,he needs no proof1 the     
,being so far  beyond us in wisdom and  
in might1 must also be our great        
superior in every  quality which is more
 excellent than might4 ,with thoughts   
more sleepless  than our thoughts1 as   
the sun is more constant than our lamps2
 with a  heart that steadfastly cares   
for us1 as we fitfully care for one     
another2  more kingly than our noblest  

king1 more fatherly than our fondest    
fatherhood2 of deeper1 truer compassion 
than ever mother poured upon us2  whom1 
when a man feels that he highest thing  
in life is to be a shepherd1  he calls  
his ,shepherd1 and knows that1 as the   
shepherd1 whose the sheep  are1 shrinks 
not to seek one of his lost at risk of  
limb or life1 so his  ,god cannot be    
less in readiness of love or of         
self-sacrifice4 ,such is the  faith of  
strong and unselfish men all down the   
ages4 ,and its strength is  this1 that  
it is no mere conclusion of logic1 but  
the inevitable and  increasing result of
 duty done and love kept pure--of       
fatherhood and  motherhood and          
friendship fulfilled4 ,one remembers how
 ,browning has put  it in the mouth of  
,david1 when the latter has done all he 
can do for  ',saul1' and is helpless3   
,do ,i find love so full in my nature1  
,god's ultimate gift1    ,that ,i doubt 
,his own love can    compete with it8   
444    ,would ,i fain in my impotent    

yearning    do all for this man2    ,and
 dare doubt he alone shall not    help  
him1 who yet alone can8    ,could ,i    
wrestle to raise him from    sorrow1    
grow poor to enrich1    ,to fill up his 
life1 starve my own out1    ,i          
would--knowing which    ,i know that my 
service is perfect4    ,oh1 speak       
through me now6    ,would ,i suffer for 
him that ,i love8    ,so wouldst        
thou--so wilt thou6    ,thus have felt  
and known the unselfish of all ages4 ,it
 is not only from  their depths1 but    
from their topmost heights--heaven still
 how far6--that  men cry out and say1   
,there is a rock higher than ,i6 ,god is
 stronger than  their strength1 more    
loving than their uttermost love1 and in
 so far as  they have loved and         
sacrificed themselves for others1 they  
have obtained  the infallible proof1    
that ,god too lives and loves and gives 
,himself away4  ,nothing can shake that 
faith1 for it rests on the best         
instincts of our  nature1 and is the    

crown of all faithful life4 ,he was no  
hireling herdsman  who wrote these      
verses1 but one whose heart was in his  
work1 who did  justly by it1 magnifying 
his office1 and who never scamped it1   
else had he  not dared to call his ,god 
a shepherd4 ,and so in every relation of
 our own  lives4 ,while insincerity and 
unfaithfulness to duty mean nothing less
 than  the loss of the clearness and    
sureness of our faith in ,god2 duty     
nobly  done1 love to the uttermost1 are 
witnesses to ,god's love and ceaseless  
care1 witnesses which grow more         
convincing every day4    ,the second1   
third and fourth verses give the        
details4 ,each of them is  taken        
directly from the shepherd's custom1 and
 applied without  interpretation to the 
care of man's soul by ,god4 ,he maketh  
me lie  down--the verb is to bring the  
flocks to fold or couch--on pastures of 
green grass--the young fresh grass of   
spring-time4 ,by waters of rest ,he     
refresheth me4#a ,this last verb is     

difficult to render in ,english2 the    
original meaning was evidently to guide 
the flock to drink1 from which it  came 
to have the more general force of       
sustaining or nourishing4 ,my life  ,he 
restoreth--bringeth back again from     
death4 ,he leadeth me in paths  of      
righteousness for ,his name's sake1 not 
necessarily straight paths1 but  paths  
that fulfil the duty of paths and lead  
to somewhere1 unlike most  desert tracks
 which spring up1 tempt your feet for a 
little1 and then  disappear4 ,yea1      
though ,i walk in a valley of deep      
darkness1 ,i will fear  no evil1 for    
,thou art with me4 ,thy rod and ,thy    
staff are not synonymous1  for even the 
shepherd of to-day1 though often armed  
with a gun1 carries  two instruments of 
wood1 his great oak club1 thick enough  
to brain a wild  beast1 and his staff to
 lean upon or to touch his sheep1 while 
the ancient  shepherd without firearms  
would surely still more require both4   
,they will  comfort me--a very beautiful

 verb1 the literal meaning of which is  
to  help another1 choked with grief or  
fear1 to breathe freely1 and give his   
heart air4    ,footnote #a3 ,the ,greek 
reads3 epi hudatos anapauses exethrepse 
me    ,these simple figures of the      
conduct of the soul by ,god are their   
own  interpretation4 ,who1 from his     
experience1 cannot read into them more  
than  any other may help him to find8   
,only on two points is a word required4 
,righteousness has no theological       
meaning4 ,the ,psalmist1 as the above   
exposition has stated1 is thinking of   
such desert paths as have an end and    
goal1 to which they faultlessly lead the
 traveller3 and in ,god's care of  man  
their analogy is not the experience of  
justification and forgiveness1  but the 
wider assurance that he who follows the 
will of ,god walks not in  vain1 that in
 the end he arrives1 for all ,god's     
paths lead onward and lead  home4 ,this 
thought is clinched with an expression  
which would not have the  same force if 

righteousness were taken in a           
theological sense3 for ,his  name's     
sake4 ,no being has the right to the    
name of guide or shepherd  unless the   
paths by which he takes the flock do    
bring them to their  pasture and rest4  
,the other ambiguous phrase is the vale 
of deep  darkness4 ,as is well known1   
the letters of the word may be made to  
spell  shadow of death2 but the other   
way of taking them is the more probable4
  ,this1 however1 need not lead us away 
from the associations with which our    
old translation has invested them4 ,it  
is not only darkness that the poet  is  
describing1 but the darkness where death
 lurks for the poor sheep1--the  gorges1
 in whose deep shadows are the lairs of 
wild beasts1 and the  shepherd and his  
club are needed4 ,it stands thus for    
every dismal and  deadly passage through
 which the soul may pass1 and1 most of  
all1 it is  the ,valley of the ,shadow  
of ,death4 ,there ,god is with men no   
less than by  the waters of repose1 or  

along the successful paths of active    
life4 ,was ,he  able to recover the soul
 from life's wayside weariness and      
hunger8--,he  will equally defend and   
keep it amid life's deadliest dangers4  
,,ii4 ,but the ,psalm is not only       
theology4 ,it is personal religion4     
,whether  the ,psalmist sang it first of
 the ,church of ,god as a whole1 or of  
the  individual1 the ,church herself has
 sung it1 through all generations1 of   
the individual4 ,by the natural progress
 of religion from the universal to  the 
particular2 by the authority of the     
,lord ,jesus1 who calls men singly  to  
the ,father1 and one by one assures them
 of ,god's ,providence1 ,grace and      
,glory2 by the millions who have taken  
,him at ,his word1 and every man of     
them in the loneliness of temptation and
 duty and death proved ,his  promise--we
 also in our turn dare to believe that  
this ,psalm is a psalm  for the         
individual4 ,the ,lord is my shepherd3  
,he maketh me to lie down3  ,he leadeth 

me3 ,he restoreth my soul4 ,lay your    
attention upon the  little word4 ,ask   
yourself1 if since it was first put upon
 your lips you  have ever used it with  
anything more than the lips3 if you have
 any right  to use it3 if you have ever 
taken any steps towards winning the     
right to  use it4 ,to claim ,god for our
 own1 to have and enjoy ,him as ours1   
means1 as  ,christ our ,master said over
 and over again1 that we give ourselves 
to ,him1  and take ,him to our hearts4  
,sheep do not choose their shepherd1 but
 man  has to choose--else the peace and 
the fulness of life which are here      
figured remain a dream and become no    
experience for him4    ,do not say that 
this talk of surrender to ,god is unreal
 to you4 ,happiness1  contentment1 the  
health and growth of the soul1 depend1  
as men have proved  over and over again1
 upon some simple issue1 some single    
turning of the  soul4 ,lives are changed
 by a moment's listening to conscience1 
by a single  and quiet inclination of   

the mind4 ,we must submit ourselves to  
,god4 ,we  must bring our wills under   
,his4 ,here and now we can do this by   
resolution  and effort1 in the strength 
of ,his ,spirit1 which is nearer us than
 we  know4 ,the thing is no mystery1 and
 not at all vague4 ,the mistake people  
make about it is to seek for it in some 
artificial and conventional form4  ,we  
have it travestied to-day under many    
forms--under the form of throwing  open 
the heart to excitement in an atmosphere
 removed from real life as  far as      
possible3 under the form of assent to a 
dogma3 under the form of  adherence to a
 church4    ,but do you summon up the   
most real things in your life--the duty 
that is  a disgust3 the sacrifice for   
others from which you shrink4 ,summon up
 your  besetting sin--the temptation    
which1 for all your present peace1 you  
know  will be upon you before           
twenty-four hours are past4 ,summon up  
these grim  realities of your life1--and
 in face of them give yourself to ,god's

 will1  put your weakness into the      
keeping of ,his grace4 ,he is as real as
 they  are1 and the act of will by which
 you give yourself to ,him and ,his     
,service  will be as true and as solid  
an experience as the many acts of will  
by  which you have so often yielded to  
them4    ,otherwise this beautiful name1
 this name ,shepherd1 must remain to you
 the  emptiest of metaphors3 this ,psalm
 only a fair song instead of the        
indestructible experience which both    
,name and ,psalm become to him who      
gives himself to ,god4    ,men and      
women1 who in this ,christian land have 
grown up with this ,psalm in  your      
hearts1 in all the great crises of life 
that are ahead shall this  ,psalm       
revisit us4 ,in perplexity and doubt1 in
 temptation and sorrow1 and  in death1  
like our mother's face shall this ,psalm
 she put upon our lips  come back to us4
 ,woe to us then1 if we have done       
nothing to help us to  believe it6 ,as  
when one lies sick in a foreign land1   

and music that is  dear comes down the  
street and swells by him1 and lifts his 
thoughts a  little from himself1 but    
passes over and melts into the distance1
 and he  lies colder and more forsaken  
than before--so shall it be with us and 
this  ,psalm4    ,but if we do give our 
hearts to ,god and ,his ,will1 if day by
 day of our  strength we work and serve1
 live and suffer1 with contented        
hearts--then ,i  know what we shall say 
when the day of our darkness and        
loneliness comes  down1 whether it be of
 temptation1 or of responsibility1 or of
 death  itself4 ,in that day we shall   
lift our faces and say3 ,yea1 though ,i 
am  walking in the ,valley of the       
,shadow of ,death ,i do fear no evil1   
for ,thou  art with me1 and ,thy rod and
 ,thy staff they comfort me6    ,,iii4  
,but some one may turn round upon all   
this and say3 ',it is simple1 it  is    
ideal1 but the real man cannot reach it 
out of real life4 ,for he is not  the   
mere sheep1 turned easily by a touch of 

the staff4 ,he is a man3 his  life is no
 mere search for grass1 it is a being   
searched2 it is not a  following1 it is 
a flight4 ,not from the future do we    
shrink1 even though  death be there4    
,the past is on our track1 and hunts us 
down4 ,we need more  than guidance3 we  
need grace4'    ,this is probably what  
the ,psalmist himself felt when he did  
not close with  the fourth verse1       
otherwise so natural a climax4 ,he knew 
that weariness  and death are not the   
last enemies of man4 ,he knew that the  
future is  never the true man's only    
fear4 ,he remembered the inexorableness 
of the  past2 he remembered that        
blood-guiltiness1 which sheep never     
feel1 is  worse to men than death4 ,as  
perchance one day he lifted his eyes    
from his  sheep and saw a fugitive from 
the avenger of blood crossing the plain1
  while his sheep scattered right and   
left before this wild intruder into     
their quiet world1--so he felt his fair 
and gentle thoughts within him          

scattered by the visitation of his past2
 so he felt how rudely law breaks       
through our pious fancies1 and must be  
dealt with before their peace can  be   
secure2 so he felt1 as every true man   
has felt with him1 that the  religion1  
however bright and brave1 which takes no
 account of sin1 is the  religion which 
has not a last nor a highest word for   
life4    ,consider this system of blood 
revenge4 ,it was the one element of law 
in  the lawless life of the desert4     
,everything else in the wilderness might
  swerve and stray4 ,this alone         
persisted and was infallible4 ,it       
crossed the  world2 it lasted through   
generations4 ,the fear of it never died 
down in  the heart of the hunted man1   
nor the duty of it in the heart of the  
hunter4 ,the holiest sanctions confirmed
 it1--the safety of society1 the  honour
 of the family1 love for the dead4 ,and 
yet1 from this endless  process1 which  
hunted a man like conscience1 a shelter 
was found in the  custom of ,eastern    

hospitality--the 'golden piety of the   
wilderness1' as it  has been called4    
,every wanderer1 whatever his character 
or his past might  be1 was received as  
the2 'guest of ,god'--such is the       
beautiful name which  they still give   
him1--furnished with food1 and kept     
inviolate1 his host  becoming           
responsible for his safety4    ,that the
 ,psalmist had this custom in view1 when
 composing the last two  verses of the  
,psalm1 is plain from the phrase with   
which these open3 ,thou  spreadest      
before me a table in the very face of   
mine enemies2 and perhaps  also from the
 unusual metaphor in verse #f3 ,surely  
goodness and mercy  shall follow1 or    
hunt1 me all the days of my life4       
,and even if those were right 7which ,i 
do not admit7 who interpret the  enemies
 and pursuers as the mere foes and      
persecutors of the pious1 it is  plain  
that to us using the ,psalm this        
interpretation will not suffice4 ,how   
can we speak of this custom of          

blood-revenge and think only of our     
material foes8 ,if we know ourselves1   
and if our conscience be quick1 then  of
 all our experiences there is but one   
which suits this figure of              
blood-revenge1 when and wheresoever in  
the ,old ,testament it is applied to    
man's spiritual life4 ,so only do the   
conscience and the habit of sin  pursue 
a man4 ,our real enemies are not our    
opponents1 our adversities1 our  cares  
and pains4 ,these our enemies6 ,better  
comrades1 better guides1 better  masters
 no man ever had4 ,our enemies are our  
evil deeds and their  memories1 our     
pride1 our selfishness1 our malice1 our 
passions1 which by  conscience or by    
habit pursue us with a relentlessness   
past the power of  figure to express4   
,we know how they persist from youth    
unto the grave3  the sting of death is  
sin4 ,we know what they want3 nothing   
less than our  whole character and will4
 ,simon1 ,simon1 said ,christ to a soul 
on the  edge of a great temptation1     

,satan hath asked you back again for    
himself4    ,yet it is the abounding    
message of the whole ,bible1 of which   
our  twenty-third ,psalm is but a small 
fragment1 that for this conscience and  
this habit of sin ,god hath made        
provision1 even as sure as those        
thoughts  of ,his guidance which refresh
 us in the heat of life and comfort us  
amidst  its shadows4    ,in ,nature8    
,yes3 for here too the goodness of ,god 
leadeth to repentance4  ,there is       
nothing which the fifth verse so readily
 brings to mind as the  grace of the    
,divine hospitality in nature4 ,thou    
spreadest a table before  me in the     
presence of mine enemies4 ,how these    
words contrast the fever  and uncertain 
battle of our life with the calmness and
 surety of the  ,divine order6 ,through 
the cross currents of human strife1     
fretted and  stained1 the tides of      
nature keep their steady course1 and    
rise to their  invariable margins4 ,the 
seasons come up undisturbed by crime and

 war4  ,spring creeps even into the     
beleaguered city2 through the tents of  
the  besiegers1 across trench and scarp1
 among the wheels of the cannon1 and    
over the graves of the dead1 grass and  
wild flowers speed1 spreading  ,god's   
table4 ,he sendeth ,his rain upon the   
just and the unjust4 ,and even  here the
 display is not merely natural1 nor     
spread only in the sight of  our        
physical enemies2 but ,god's goodness   
leadeth to repentance1 and ,nature  is  
equipped even for deliverance from sin4 
,who has come out upon a great          
landscape1 who has looked across the    
sea1 who has lifted his eyes to the     
hills and felt the winds of ,god blowing
 off their snows1 who has heard  earth's
 countless voices rising heavenwards1   
but has felt3 ,what a wide  place this  
world is for repentance6 ,man does find 
in ,nature deliverance  from himself1   
oblivion of his past1 with peace and    
purity6 ,and yet the  provision1 though 
real1 is little more than temporary4    

,the herdsmen of the  desert are not    
obliged to furnish to their fugitive    
guest shelter for more  than two nights 
with the day between4 ,little more than 
two nights with the  day between is the 
respite from conscience and habit which 
,nature provides  for the sinful heart4 
,she is the million-fold opportunity of 
repentance2  she is not the final or    
everlasting grace of ,god4 ,and1        
therefore1 whatever  may have been the  
original intention of our ,psalmist1 the
 spiritual  feeling of the ,church has  
understood his last two verses to sing  
of that  mercy and forgiveness of our   
,god which were spoken to men by the    
prophets1  but reached the fulness of   
their proclamation and proof in ,jesus  
,christ4  ,he who owned the simple trust
 of the first four verses1 saying1      
',thou art  right1 ,i am the ,good      
,shepherd1' so that since ,he walked on 
earth the name  is no more a mere       
metaphor of ,god1 but the dearest1      
strongest reality  which has ever       

visited this world of shadows--,he also 
has been proved by  men as the ,host and
 ,defender of all who seek ,his aid from
 the memory and  the pursuit of sin4 ,so
 ,he received them in the days of ,his  
flesh1 as they  drifted upon ,him across
 the wilderness of life1 pressed by     
every evil with  which it is possible   
for sin to harry men4 ,to ,him they were
 all 'guests of  ,god1' welcomed for    
,his sake1 irrespective of what their   
past might have  been4 ,and so1 being   
lifted up1 ,he still draws us to        
,himself1 and still  proves ,himself    
able to come between us and our past4   
,whatever we may flee  from ,he keeps it
 away1 so that1 although to the last1   
for penitence1 we  may be reminded of   
our sins1 and our enemies come again and
 again to the  open door of memory1 in  
,him we are secure4 ,he is our defence1 
and our  peace is impregnable4          
,,psalm ,,xxxvi    ,,the ,,greater      
,,realism      ,like the twenty-third   
,psalm1 the thirty-sixth seems to fall  

into two  unconnected parts1 but with   
this difference1 that while both of the 
twenty-third are understood by us1 and  
heartily enjoyed1 of the  thirty-sixth  
we appreciate only those verses1 #e-aj1 
which contain an  adoration of ,god's   
mercy and righteousness4 ,verses #a-d1 a
 study of sin1  are unintelligible in   
our versions1 and hardly ever sung1     
except in  routine1 by a ,christian     
congregation4 ,so sudden is the break   
between the  two parts1 and so opposite 
their contents1 that they have been     
taken by  some critics to be fragments  
of independent origin4 ,this1 however1  
would  only raise the more difficult    
question3 ,why1 being born apart1 and   
apparently so unsympathetic1 were they  
ever wedded8 ,to a more careful  reading
 the ,psalm yields itself a unity4 ,the 
sudden break from the close  study of   
sin to the adoration of ,god's grace is 
designed1 and from his  rhapsody the    
,psalmist returns to pray1 in verses    
#aj-ab1 against that same  evil with    

which he had opened his poem4 ,indeed1  
it is in this1 its most  admirable      
method1 more than in details1 that the  
,psalm is instructive and  inspiring4   
,the problem of ,israel's faith was the 
existence of evil in its most  painful  
form of the successful and complacent   
sinner1 the oppressor of  good men4     
,this problem our ,psalm takes1 not1    
like other ,psalms1 in its  cruel       
bearing upon the people of ,god1 but in 
its mysterious growth in the  character 
of the wicked man4 ,through four verses 
of vivid realism we  follow the progress
 of sin4 ,then1 when eye and heart are  
full of the  horror1 the ,psalmist steps
 suddenly back1 and lifts his gaze      
beyond and  above his study of evil to  
,god's own world that stretches         
everywhere4 ,the  effect is to put the  
problem into a new perspective4 ,the    
black bulk which  had come between the  
,singer and his ,sun shrinks from his   
new position to a  point against that   
universal goodness of the ,lord1 and he 

conceives not  only courage to pray     
against it1 but the grace to feel it    
already beneath  his feet4 ,this is not 
an intellectual solution of the problem 
of evil3 but  it is a practical one4    
,the ,psalm is a study--if we can call  
anything so  enthusiastic a study--in   
proportion2 the reduction of the cruel  
facts of  experience to their relation  
to other facts as real but of infinite  
comfort  and glory2 the expansion1 in   
short1 of the words of verse #i3 ,in    
,thy light  we see light4    ,the       
,psalmist's analysis of sin has been    
spoiled in translation4 ,take our  ,old 
,version1 or the ,revised one1 and you  
will find no meaning in the first  two  
verses1 but take the rendering offered  
on the margin by the ,revisers  7and    
approved by most scholars71 and you get 
a meaning intelligible1  profound1 and  
true to experience3      ,oracle of sin 
hath the wicked in the      midst of his
 heart2    ,there is no fear of ,god    
before his eyes4    ,the word oracle    

means probably secret whisper1 but is   
elsewhere used  7except in one case7 of 
,god's word to ,his prophets4 ,it is the
 instrument  of revelation4 ,the wicked 
man has in him something comparable to  
this4 ,sin  seems as mysterious and as  
imperative as ,god's own voice to the   
heart of  ,his servants4 ,and to        
counteract this there is no awe of ,god 
,himself4  ,temptation in all its       
mystery1 and with no religious awe to   
meet it--such  is the beginning of sin4 
,the second verse is also obscure4 ,it  
seems to describe the terrible power    
which sin has of making men believe that
 though they continue to do evil  they  
may still keep their conscience4 ,the   
verse translates most readily1  though  
not without some doubt3      ,for it    
flatters him1 in his eyes1    ,that he  
will discover his guilt--that he will   
hate it4    ,while sin takes from a man 
his healthy taste for what is good1 and 
his  power to loathe evil1 it deludes   
him with the fancy that he still enjoys 

them4 ,temptation1 when we yield1 is    
succeeded by self-delusion4    ,the     
third and fourth verses follow clearly  
with the aggravated effects4  ,sin      
ceases to flatter1 and the man's habits 
are openly upon him4 ,truth1            
common-sense and all virtue are left    
behind3      ,the words of his mouth are
 iniquity    and deceit1    ,he has     
given up thinking sensibly    and doing 
good4    ,so he becomes presumptuous and
 obstinate4    ,he devises iniquity upon
 his bed--which is but the ,hebrew for  
'planning  evil in cold blood'--        
,he takes up his post on a way that     
is not good1    ,he abhors not evil4    
,there we have the whole biography of   
sin from its first whisper in the       
centre of man's being1 where it seems to
 speak with the mystery and power  of   
,god's own word1 to the time when1      
through the corruption of every         
instinct and quality of virtue1 it      
reaches the border of his being and     
destroys the last possibility of        

penitence4 ,it is the horror of ,evil in
  the four stages of its growth3        
,temptation1 ,delusion1 ,audacity1 and  
,habit  ending in ,death4    ,to us sin 
has not become any less of a mystery or 
a pain4 ,temptation is as  sudden and   
demonic4 ,into every soul1 however      
purged and fenced1 evil  appears to have
 as much freedom of entrance as ,god    
,himself4 ,it begins as  early4 ,in the 
heart of every little child ,god works1 
but they who next to  ,god have most    
right there1 the father and the mother1 
know that something  else has had1 with 
,god1 precedence of themselves4 ,as the 
years go on1 and  the knowledge of good 
and evil grows1 becoming ever more      
jealous and  expert a sentinel1 it still
 finds its watch and fence of the       
outside world  mocked by the mysterious 
upburst of sin within4 ,the whole       
mystery of  temptation is to have sins  
suggested to us1 and to be swept after  
them by  a sudden enthusiasm1 which     
sometimes feels as strong as the ,spirit

 of ,god  ever made in us the enthusiasm
 for virtue4 ',there are moments when   
our  passions speak and decide for us1  
and we seem to stand by and wonder4     
,they carry in them an inspiration of   
crime1 that in an instant does the  work
 of long premeditation4'#b ',an         
inspiration of crime1' that is the      
oracle of sin4 ,from that come the panic
 and the despair of temptation4  ,the   
heart1 which has still left in it some  
loyalty to ,god1 is horrified by  the   
ease and the surprise of evil4 ,yet the 
greater horror is that this  horror may 
be lost3 that men and women do          
continually exchange it for a           
complacent and careless temper toward   
the besetting sin which they have  once 
felt to be worse than death4 ,from being
 panic-stricken at the rise  and surge  
of temptation1 they will 7and there is  
no more marvellous change  in all fickle
 man's experience7 grow easy and        
scornful about it1 time  after time     
permitting it to overcome them1 in the  

delusion that they may  reassert        
themselves when they will1 and put it   
beneath their feet4 ,the  rest is       
certain4 ,falsehood becomes natural to  
him who was born loyal1  audacity to him
 who grew up timid and scrupulous4 ,the 
impulsive lover of  good1 who has fallen
 through the very warmth of his nature1 
develops into  the deliberate           
sensualist4 ,natures sensitive and      
enthusiastic grow  absolutely empty of  
power to revolt against what is unjust  
or foul4 ,a  great writer once said of  
himself in middle life3 ',i am proud and
  intellectual1 but forced by the habits
 of years to like the base and          
dishonourable from which ,i formerly    
revolted4' ,little children have the    
seeds of all this within them2 men and  
women are born with the inspiration     
which starts these mysterious and       
direful changes2 the fatal decadence    
takes place in countless lives4         
,footnote #b3 ,george ,eliot4    ,before
 facts so horrifying--they are within as

 well as everywhere around  us--our real
 need is not an intellectual explanation
 of why they are  permitted or whence   
this taint in the race arose4 ,for1     
supposing that we  were capable of      
understanding this1 the probability is  
that we might  become tolerant of the   
facts themselves1 and1 perceiving that  
cruelty and  sin had a necessary place  
in the universe1 lose the mind to fight 
them4  ,constituted as are the most of  
mankind1 for them to discover a reason  
for  a fact is1 if not to conceive a    
respect for it1 at least to feel a      
plausible excuse for their sluggishness 
and timidity in dealing with it4  ,nay1 
the very study of sin for the purpose of
 acquainting ourselves with  its nature1
 too often either intoxicates the will1 
or paralyses it with  despair2 and it is
 in recoil from the whole subject that  
we most surely  recover health to fight 
evil in ourselves and nerve to work for 
the  deliverance from it of others4 ,the
 practical solution of our problem is to

  remember how much else there is in the
 ,universe1 how much else that is       
utterly away from and opposed to sin4   
,we must engross ourselves in that1  we 
must exult in that4 ,we must remember   
goodness1 not only in the  countless    
scattered instances about us1 but in its
 infinite resource in  the ,power and   
,character of ,god ,himself4 ,we must   
feel that the ,universe is  pervaded by 
this3 that it is the atmosphere of life1
 and that the whole  visible framework  
of the world offers signals and         
sacraments of its real  presence4 ,we   
may not1 we shall not1 be able to       
reconcile this goodness  with the cruel 
facts about us2 but at least we shall   
have reduced these to  a new proportion 
and perspective2 we shall have          
disengaged our wills from  the horrid   
influence of evil1 and received a new   
temper for that contest1  in which it is
 temper far more than any knowledge     
which overcomes4    ,this is what our   
,psalmist does4 ,from the awful realism 

of ,sin he sweeps1  without pause or    
attempt at argument1 into a vision of   
all the goodness of  ,god4 ,the ,divine 
,attributes spread out before him1 and  
it takes him the  largest things in     
nature to describe them3 the personal   
loving-kindness  and righteousness of   
the ,most ,high3 the care of            
,providence3 the tenderness  of intimate
 fellowship with ,god3 the security of  
faith3 the satisfaction  of worship4 ,he
 makes no claim that everything is      
therefore clear3 still  are ,thy        
judgments the ,great ,deep1 fathomless1 
awful4 ,but we receive new  vigour of   
life as from a fountain of life1 and the
 eyes1 that had been  strained and      
blinded1 see light3 light to work1 light
 to fight1 light to  hope4 ,mark how the
 rapture breaks away with the name of   
,god3      ,,lord1 to the heavens is    
,thy leal      love6    ,thy            
faithfulness to the clouds6    ,thy     
righteousness is like the mountains of  
,god1    ,thy judgments are the ,great  

,deep4      ,man and beast thou         
preservest1 ,o ,,lord4    ,how precious 
is ,thy leal love1 ,o ,god6    ,and so  
the children of men put their      trust
 in the shadow of ,thy wings4    ,they  
shall be satisfied with the fatness of  
,thy house2    ,and of the river of ,thy
 pleasures      ,thou shall give them to
 drink4    ,for with ,thee is the       
fountain of life1    ,in ,thy light we  
see light4    ,the prayer follows1 and  
closes with the assurance of victory as 
if already  experienced3      ,continue 
,thy leal love unto them that know      
,thee1    ,and ,thy righteousness to the
 upright of heart4    ,let not the foot 
of pride come against me1    ,nor the   
hand of the wicked drive me away4       
,there are the workers of iniquity      
fallen1    ,they are flung down and     
shall not    be able to rise4    ,two   
remarks remain4    ,a prevailing temper 
of our own literature makes the method  
of this ,psalm  invaluable to us4 ,a    
large and influential number of our     

writers have lent  themselves1 with     
ability and earnestness1 to such an     
analysis of sin as we  find in the first
 four verses of the ,psalm4 ,the inmost 
lusts and passions  of men's hearts are 
laid bare with a cool and audacious     
frankness1 and the  results are         
inexorably traced in all their revolting
 vividness of action  and character4 ,i 
suppose that there has not been a       
period1 at least since  the             
,reformation1 which has had the real    
facts of sin so nakedly and  fearfully  
laid before it4 ,the authors of the     
process call it ,realism4 ,but  it is   
not the sum of the ,real1 nor anything  
like it4 ,those studies of sin  and     
wickedness1 which our moral microscopes 
have laid bare1 are but  puddles in a   
,universe1 and the ,universe is not only
 ,law and ,order1 but is  pervaded by   
the character of its ,maker4 ,god's     
mercy still reaches to the  heavens1 and
 ,his faithfulness to the clouds4 ,we   
must resolutely and with  'pious        

obstinacy' lift our hearts to that1 else
 we perish4 ,i think of one  very       
flagrant tale1 in which the selfishness1
 the lusts and the cruelties  of modern 
men are described with the rarest of    
power1 and so as to reduce  the reader  
to despair1 till he realises that the   
author has emptied the  life of which he
 treats of everything else1 except a    
fair background of  nature which is     
introduced only to exhibit the evil     
facts in more horrid  relief4 ,the      
author studies sin in a vacuum1 an      
impossible situation4 ,god  has been    
left out1 and the conviction of ,his    
pardon4 ,left out are the  power of     
man's heart to turn1 the gift of        
penitence1 the mysterious  operations of
 the ,spirit1 and the sense of the      
trustfulness and patience  of ,god with 
the worst souls of men4 ,these are not  
less realities than the  others2 they   
are within the knowledge of1 they bless1
 every stratum of  life in our          
,christian land2 they are the biggest   

realities in the world  to-day4 ,let us 
then meet the so-called realism of our  
times with this  ,greater ,realism4 ,let
 us tell men who exhibit sin and        
wickedness apart from  ,god and from    
man's power of penitence1 apart from    
love and from the  realised holiness of 
our human race1 that they are working in
 a vacuum1  and their experiment is     
therefore the most un-real that can be  
imagined4  ,we may not be able to       
eliminate the cruel facts of sin from   
our universe1  but do not let us        
therefore eliminate the rest of the     
,universe from our  study of sin4 ,let  
us be true to the ,greater ,realism4    
,again1 the whole ,psalm is on the      
famous keynote of the ,epistle to the   
,philippians3 ,rejoice in the ,lord4    
,this is after all the only safe temper 
for tempted men4 ,by preachers of a     
theology as narrow as their experience1 
it is often said that our guilt and     
native vileness1 our unquestioned  peril
 and instability1 are such that no man  

of us can afford to be  exultant in this
 life4 ,but surely1 just because of     
these1 we cannot afford  to be anything 
else4 ,whether from the fascination or  
from the despair of  sin1 nothing saves 
like an ardent and enthusiastic belief  
in the goodness  and the love of ,god4  
,let us strenuously lift the heart to   
that4 ,let us  rejoice and exult in it1 
and so we shall be safe4 ,but1 withal1  
we must  beware of taking a narrow or an
 abstract view of what that goodness is4
  ,the fault of many ,christians is that
 they turn to some theological          
definition1 or to some mystical         
refinement of it1 and their hearts are  
starved4 ,we must seek the              
loving-kindness of ,god in all the      
breadth and  open-air of common life4   
,lord1 ,thou preservest man and beast4  
,or1 as  ,st4 ,paul put it in that same 
,epistle3 ,whatsoever things are true1  
whatsoever things are honourable1       
whatsoever things are just1 whatsoever  
things are pure1 whatsoever things are  

lovely1 whatsoever things are of  good  
report1 if there be any virtue1 and if  
there be any praise1 think on  these    
things4 ,it is1 once more1 the ,greater 
,realism4 ,but behind ,paul's  crowd of 
glorious facts let us not miss the      
greatest ,reality of all1 ,god          
,himself4 ,god's righteousness and love1
 ,his grace and patience toward us1     
become more and more of a wonder as we  
dwell upon them1 and by force of  their 
wonder the most real facts of our       
experience4 ,how excellent is ,thy      
loving-kindness1 ,o ,god4 ,rejoice in   
the ,lord always1 and again ,i say unto 
you1 ,rejoice4          ,,psalm ,,lii   
,,religion ,,the ,,open  ,,air ,,of     
,,the ,,soul      ,with the thirty-sixth
 ,psalm we may take the fifty-second1   
which attacks  the same problem of evil 
in pretty much the same temper4 ,it is  
peculiar in  not being addressed1 like  
others1 to ,god or to the ,psalmist's   
own soul1  but to the wicked man        
himself4 ,it is1 at first at least1     

neither a prayer  nor a meditation1 but 
a challenge and an arraignment of       
character4    ,some may be disposed to  
cavil at its bitterness1 and to say that
 for  ,christians it is too full of     
threats and vengeance4 ,perhaps it is2  
nay1  certainly it is4 ,but there are   
two noble feelings in it1 and two vivid 
pictures of character4 ,the ,psalm is   
inspired by a brave contempt for        
wickedness in high places1 and by a most
 devout trust in the love of ,god4  ,and
 in expressing these two noble tempers1 
the poet analyses two  characters4 ,he  
analyses the character which is ruled   
from within by the  love of ,self1 and  
he gives his own experience of a        
character inspired from  without by     
faith--by faith in the mercy of the     
,living ,god4    ,we ,christians too    
hastily dismiss from our own uses the   
so-called ,cursing  ,psalms4 ,it is     
unfortunate that the translators have so
 often tempted us to  this by           
exaggerating the violence of the ,hebrew

 at the expense of its  insight1 its    
discrimination1 and its sometimes       
delicate satire4 ,if only we  had a     
version that produced the exact colours 
of the original1 and if we  ourselves   
had the quick conscience and the honest 
wit to carry over the  ideas into terms 
suitable to our own day--in which the   
selfishness of the  human heart is the  
same old thing it ever was1 though it   
uses milder and  more subtle            
means1--then we should feel the touch of
 a power not merely of  dramatic        
interest but of moral conviction1 where 
we have been too much  accustomed to    
think that we were hearing only ancient 
rant4 ,so treated1  ,psalms like the    
fifth1 the tenth1 the fourteenth1 and   
the fifty-second1  which we so often    
pass over1 offended by their violence1  
become quick and  powerful1 the very    
word of ,god to our own times and       
hearts4    ,let us take a more literal  
version of the ,psalm before us3        
,why glory in evil1 big man8    ,the    

leal love of ,god is all day long4      
,thy tongue planneth mischiefs1    ,like
 a razor sharp-whetted1 thou worker of  
fraud4    ,thou lovest evil more than   
good1    ,lying than speaking the truth4
    ,thou lovest all words of voracity1 
,tongue of deceit4    ,god also shall   
tear thee down1 once for all1      ,cut 
thee out1 and pluck thee from the       
tent1    ,and uproot thee from off the  
land        of the living4    ,that the 
righteous may see and fear1    ,and at  
him they shall laugh4        ',lo6 the  
fellow who sets not ,god        for his 
stronghold1        ,but trusts in the   
mass of his        wealth1        ,is   
strong in his mischief4'      ,but ,i   
like an olive-tree1 green in ,god's     
house1    ,i have trusted in ,god's leal
 love for      ever and aye4    ,i will 
praise ,thee for ever1 that ,thou       
hast done this1    ,and ,i will wait on 
,thy name--for      'tis good--    ,in  
face of ,thy saints4      ,the character
 who is challenged is easily made out1  

and we may recognize  how natural he is 
and how near to ourselves4    ,in the   
first verse he is called by a name      
expressing unusual strength or          
influence--a mighty man1 a hero4 ,the   
term may be used ironically1 like  our  
'big fellow'1 'big man4' ,but1 whether  
this is irony or not1 the man's  bigness
 had material solidity4 ,he was rooted  
in the land of the living1  he had      
abundance of riches4 ,riches are no sin 
in themselves1 as the  exaggerated      
language of some people of the present  
day would lead us to  imagine4 ,rich men
 are not always sent to hell1 nor poor  
men always to  heaven4 ,as ,st4         
,augustine remarks with his usual       
cleverness3 ',it was not  his poverty   
but his piety which sent ,lazarus in the
 parable to heaven1 and  when he got    
there1 he found a rich man's bosom to   
rest in6' ,riches are no  sin in        
themselves1 but1 like all forms of      
strength1 a very great and  dangerous   
temptation4 ,this man had yielded4      

,prosperity was so unchanging  with him 
that he had come to trust it1 and did   
not feel the need of  trusting anything 
else4 ,he was strong enough to stand    
alone3 so strong  that he tried to stand
 without ,god4 ,if he was like many     
self-centred men  of our own time he    
probably did not admit this4 ,but it is 
not profession  which reveals where a   
man puts his trust4 ,it is the practice 
and discipline  of life1 betraying us by
 a hundred commonplace ways1 in spite of
 all the  orthodoxy we boast4 ,it is    
sorrow and duty and the call to         
self-denial4 ,when  this man's feelings 
got low1 when he was visited by touches 
of  melancholy--those chills sent       
forward from the grave to every mortal  
travelling thither1--when conscience    
made him weak and fearful1 then he  made
 not ,god his strength1 but trusted in  
the abundance of his riches4  ,with that
 audacity which the touch of property   
breeds in ,us1 he said1 ',i  am sure of 
to-morrow1' plunged into cruel plans1   

gloried in his  mischief1 and was       
himself again4    ,trusting in          
riches--we all do it1 when we seek to   
drive away uncomfortable  fears and the 
visitations of conscience by            
self-indulgence2 when1 instead  of      
saying ,i will lift mine eyes unto the  
hills1 whence cometh my  help8--and     
seeking the steep and arduous           
consolations of duty1 we look  into our 
nearest friends' faces and whine for a  
sympathy that is often  insincere1 or   
lie down in some place of comfort that  
is stolen or unclean4    ,no man with   
such habits stops there4 ,this big man  
strengthened himself in  his wickedness 
and in all manner of guile and cruelty4 
,it is a natural  development4 ,the     
heart which finds life in material      
wealth is usually  certain to go farther
 and seek for more in the satisfaction  
of base and  sullen appetites4 ,we hear1
 it is true1 a great deal about the     
softening  influence of wealth1 and     
moralists speak of luxury as if its bad 

effects  were negative and it only      
enervated4 ,but if riches and the habit 
of  trusting to them1 if the material   
comforts of life and complacency in     
them1 only made men sleek and tame--if  
luxury did nothing but soften and       
emasculate--the world would have been   
far more stupid and far less cruel  than
 it is to-day4    ,they are not negative
 tempers1 but very positive and         
aggressive ones1 which  the ,bible      
associates with a love of wealth1 and we
 have but to remember  history to know  
that the ,bible is right4 ,luxury may   
have dulled the  combative instincts in 
man1 but it has often nursed the meanly 
cruel ones4  ,the ,romans with the rapid
 growth of their wealth loved the       
battlefield  less2 but the sight of the 
arena1 with its struggling gladiators1  
and  beasts tearing women and children1 
became more of a necessity to their     
appetites4 ,take two instances4 ,titus  
was a rough1 hardened soldier2 but he   
wept at the horrors which his siege     

obliged him to inflict on ,jerusalem4   
,nero was an artist1 and fiddled while  
,rome was burning4 ,coddle your boys2   
you may keep them from wishing to fight 
their equals1 but you will not cure     
them of torturing animals4 ,idleness    
means not only sluggishness1 but a      
morbid and criminal desire for          
sensation1 which honest industry would  
have  sweated out of the flesh4 ,money  
often renders those who have it         
unconsciously impatient with the        
slowness of poorer men1 and             
unconsciously  insolent about their     
defects4 ,everywhere1 on the high places
 of history1  and within our own humble 
experience1 we perceive the same truth1 
that  materialism1 and the temper which 
trusts in wealth or in success1 does not
  turn men into fat oxen1 but into      
tigers4 ,hence the frequency with which 
the  ,old ,testament1 and especially the
 ,psalms1 connect an abundance of wealth
  with a strength of wickedness1 and    
bracket for the same degree of doom the 

rich man and the violent one4 ,our      
,psalm is natural in adding to the      
clause1  trusting in the abundance of   
riches1 that other about strengthening  
himself in wickedness4 ,this is the very
 temper of a prosperous and  pampered   
life3 which seeks lust or cruelty not to
 forget itself1 as a  stunted and       
tortured nature may be forgiven for     
doing1 but in order to work  off its    
superfluous blood4    ,observe1 too1 how
 much sins of the tongue are            
mentioned1-1 lying1  backbiting and the 
love of swallowing men's reputations    
whole4 ,thou lovest  all words of       
voracity1 thou tongue of deceit4 ,we    
are1 too1 apt to think  that sins of    
speech most fiercely beset weak and puny
 characters3 men that  have no weapon   
but a sharp and nasty tongue4 ,yet none 
use their words more  recklessly than   
the strong1 who have not been sobered by
 the rebuffs and  uncertainties of life4
 ,power and position often make a man   
trifle with the  truth4 ,a big man's    

word carries far1 and he knows it2 till 
the temptation  to be dogmatic or       
satirical1 to snub and crush with a     
word1 is as near to  him as to a        
slave-driver is the fourteen-feet thong 
in his hand1 with a  line of bare black 
backs before him4    ,these things are  
written of ourselves4 ,in his great book
 on ',democracy in  ,america1' ,de      
,tocqueville pointed out1 more than     
fifty years ago1 the  dangers into which
 the religious middle classes fall by   
the spread of  wealth and comfort4 ,that
 danger has increased1 till for the rich
 on whom  ,christ called woe1 we might  
well substitute the comfortable4 ,at a  
time  when a very moderate income brings
 within our reach nearly all the        
resources of civilisation1 which of us  
does not find day by day a dozen        
distractions that drown for him the     
voice of conscience3 a crowd of men to  
lose himself in from ,god and his best  
friends3 half a dozen base comforts1  in
 the lap of which he forgets duty and   

dreams only of self8 ,comfort makes  us 
all thoughtless1 and thoughtlessness is 
the parent of every cruelty4    ,the    
,psalm makes no attempt to turn this    
tyrant whom it challenges2 it  invokes  
the mercy of ,god1 not to change him1   
but to show how vain his  boasts are1   
and to give heart to those whom he      
oppresses4 ,god's mercy  endureth for   
ever2 but he must pass away4 ,the       
righteous shall see his end1  and fear  
and laugh3 their satire will have       
religion in it4 ,but though the  ,psalm 
does not design this sinner's           
conversion1 its very challenge contains 
an indication of the means by which he  
and all selfish people who are like  him
 may be changed to nobler lives4 ,in    
this respect it has a gospel for us     
all1 which may be thus stated4    ,there
 are poor invalids who ought to get     
their health again by seeking the  open 
air and sunshine1 but who keep between  
their bed and their hearthrug1  cowering
 over their fire with the blinds pulled 

down2--to whom comes the  wise doctor1  
pulls up the blinds1 shows them that it 
is day outside1 with  the sun shining   
and the trees growing1 and men walking  
about1 and tells  them that the health  
they are trying to get inside1 and      
thereby only  making themselves worse   
invalids1 they will get out there4 ,this
 big man  was such a moral invalid1     
seeking strength within his own riches  
and  qualities4 ,and so doing he had    
developed the nasty indoor tempers1 till
 it  seemed pleasant and satisfactory to
 him to be spiteful1 slanderous and     
false4 ,meantime1 outside the darkened  
windows of his selfishness1 the mercy   
of ,god1 in which other men gloried and 
grew strong1 rose every day4 ,with  one 
sweep the ,psalmist tears the curtains  
down and lets in the sunshine4  ,the    
leal love of ,god is every day4 ,there1 
in that commonplace daily  light3 in    
that love which is as near you as the   
open air and as free as  the sunshine1  
are the life and exultation which you   

seek so vainly within  yourself4    ,it 
was in the sunshine that the ,psalmist  
felt himself growing3      ,but ,i am   
like an olive-tree1 green in ,god's     
house4    ,i trust in the leal love of  
,god for ever and aye4    ,this open-air
 figure suggests 7though we have no     
confirmation of the fact7  a tree       
growing in the high temple precincts1 as
 trees to this day grow upon  the ,haram
 around the great mosque in ,jerusalem1 
open to the sunshine and  washed by the 
great rush of wind from the west4 ,the  
,old ,testament as much  as the ,new    
haunts the open air for its figures of  
religion--a tree in full  foliage1 a    
tree planted by a river1 a river        
brimming to its banks1 the  waves of a  
summer sea4 ,now this is not only       
because there is nothing else  that will
 reflect the freedom of ,god's grace and
 the lavish joy it brings  upon the     
world1 but still more because the ,bible
 feels the eternal truth1  that to win  
this joy and freedom a man has got to go

 outside himself1  outside his          
selfishness and other close tempers1    
outside his feelings and  thoughts about
 himself1 and receive the truths of     
religion as objective to  him1 taking   
the knowledge of ,god's pardon and peace
 as freely as he takes  the sunshine of 
heaven1 the calm of earth in summer1 and
 the cool1 strong  winds from off the   
hills4 ,to those old founders of our    
faith1 religion was  never man's        
feelings about religion3 it was the love
 of ,god4 ,god was not  man's thoughts  
about ,god1 but ,god ,himself in ,his   
wonderful grace and truth1  objective to
 our hearts4 ,therefore those ancient   
saints moved to the ,spirit  as the tree
 rustles to the wind1 and as in summer  
she is green and glad in  the sunshine  
that bathes her1 so they rejoiced in the
 ,lord1 and in ,his  goodness4 ,i will  
give thanks1 for ,,thou hast done it4   
,but this getting out of self does not  
only bring a man into the open air1  and
 to gladness in a ,god who worketh for  

him4 ,it gives him the company of  all  
good and noble men4 ,i will wait on ,thy
 name1 for it is good1 in the  presence 
of ,thy saints4 ,what a fellowship faith
 and unselfishness make a  man aware of6
           99       99       99       99
       99    ,let us turn back for a    
moment to the man1 to whose close       
character this  open air is offered  as 
a contrast4 ,is it really difficult for 
us to  imagine him8 ,there is not one of
 us who has not tried this kind of thing
  again and again1--and has succeeded in
 it with far less substance than the    
great man had to come and go upon4 ,he  
trusted in the abundance of his  riches3
 he lost ,god for the multitude of his  
temptations4 ,but for us there  is no   
such excuse4 ,there has been no pleasure
 too sordid1 no comfort too  selfish1 no
 profit too mean1 no honour too cheap   
and vulgar1 but we have  sometimes      
preferred it1 in seeking for happiness1 
to the infinite and  everlasting mercy  
of our ,god4 ,we may not be big men1 and

 deserve to have  psalms written about  
us2 but in our own little ways we exult 
in our  selfishness and the tempers it  
breeds in us just as guiltily as he did1
  and just as foolishly1 for ,god's     
great love is as near to us1 and could  
as  easily chase these vapours from our 
souls1 if we would but open the windows 
to its air4    ,take one or two         
commonplace cases that do not require   
the great capital  which this fellow put
 into his business of sinning1 but are  
quite within  reach of your and my very 
ordinary means of selfishness4    ,you  
have been overreached in some business  
competition1 or disappointed in  getting
 a post1 or foiled along some path of   
public service4 ,you come home  with a  
natural vexation in your heart3 sore at 
being beaten and anxious  about your    
legitimate interests4 ,it is all right  
enough4 ,but sit down at  the fire for a
 little and brood over it4 ,shut ,god   
out as care and anger  can4 ,forget that
 your ,bible is at your elbow4 ,think   

only of your wrong1 and  it is wonderful
 how soon you will find spite rising1   
and envy and the  cruellest hate4 ,it is
 wonderful how quickly plans of revenge 
will form  themselves in your usually   
slow mind1 and how happy they will make 
you4  ,malice is like brandy to a man's 
brain1 and will send him back with a    
beaming face to the work he left with   
scowls4 ,ah1 why boast thyself in       
mischief1 ,o man8 ,god's leal love is   
all day long6 ,the ,bible is within     
reach of you4 ,the lustre is as fresh on
 the promises as the rain-drops were    
under the glints of sun this morning4   
,walk there with ,god in ,his own       
garden3 all ,god's steps are comfort and
 promise to the meek who will walk  with
 ,him4 ,god is full of gentleness1 and  
,his gentleness shall make you  great4  
,i will be as the dew unto ,israel4 ,or 
seek with the ,master the  crowds of    
men4 ,keep near ,him in the dust and the
 crush3 watch how ,he  endures the      
contradiction of sinners1 how patient   

,he is with men1 how  forgiving4 ,watch 
most of all how ,he prays4 ,bow the knee
 like ,him1 and ,he  shall lift thee up 
a sane and a happy man4 ,to think of    
it--all that ,divine  fellowship and    
solace may be ours by opening the pages 
of a ,book which lies  on every table4  
,god's love is all the day4    ,let the 
other case be for young men and young   
women4 ,for you the fresh air  and      
sunshine are not yet shut out by the    
high walls of success or the thick  ones
 of material prosperity4 ,the dust of   
strife for you has not yet hidden       
heaven4 ,but we all know that passion   
can build as solidly as wealth1 and     
that a young heart may be as closely    
prisoned in a sudden temptation as an   
old one among the substantial           
accumulations of a lifetime4 ,what is   
,temptation8      ,i turned to her3 she 
built a house    ,and ,thought was her  
swift architect1    ,and ,falsehood let 
the curtains fall1    ,and ,fancy all   
the tables deck'd4      ,and so we shut 

the world out1    ,soul and ,temptation 
face to face1    ,and perfumed air and  
music sweet1    ,and soft desire fill'd 
all the place4    ,o brothers1 in such  
an hour1 and it comes to every one of   
us1 think upon  the vast world outside1 
and the walls so magically built will as
 magically  fall4 ,god's sunshine is    
there1 and ,god's fresh air1 to think   
upon which1  with the companies of men  
and women who walk up and down in it and
 are  fair1 is the most sovereign charm 
against temptation that ,i know4 ,why   
glory in this evil8 ,put that challenge 
to your heart in the crisis of  every   
evil passion4 ,god's mercy is all day   
long4 ,think of the love of  the        
,father3 of ,his patience with thee1 of 
,his trust of thee2 think of the  ,love 
of the ,redeemer1 ,who gave ,himself for
 thy life2 think of the great  objective
 truths of religion--righteousness1 joy 
and peace in the ,holy  ,ghost4 ,or if  
these seem unsubstantial thoughts1 that 
flash and fade  again like clouds on the

 western sky at evening1 come out among 
the  flesh-and-blood proofs of them     
which walk our own day4 ,frequent the   
pure1 strong men and women who are in   
sight of us all1 fair on every          
countryside1 radiant in every city      
crowd4 ,hearken to the greater spirits  
who by their songs and books come down  
and speak with the lowliest and  most   
fallen4 ,and do not forget the holy     
dead1 nor doubt that though unseen  they
 are with us still4      ,i will wait on
 ,thy name1    for 'tis good1 in face of
 ,thy    ,saints4          ,,psalm      
,,cxxi    ,,the ,,ministry ,,of ,,the   
,,hills ,,and ,,all ,,great ,,things    
,we catch the key-note of this ,psalm if
 we read the words whence cometh my     
help not as a statement but as a        
question4 ,our older version takes them 
as a statement2 it makes the ,psalmist  
look to the hills1 as if his help  broke
 and shouted from them all like         
waterfalls4 ,but with the ,revised      
,version we ought to read3 ,i will lift 

mine eyes unto the mountains--from      
whence cometh my help8 ,the ,psalmist   
looks up1 not because his help is       
stored there1 but because the sight of  
the hills stirs within him an  intense  
hope4 ,his heart is immediately full of 
the prayer1 ,whence cometh  my help8 and
 of the answer1 ,my help is from the    
,lord1 that made heaven  and earth4     
,we need not wish to fix a locality or a
 date to this ,psalm4 ,it is enough     
that the singer had a mountain skyline  
in view1 and that below in the  shadows1
 so dark that we cannot make out their  
features1 lay ,god's church  and people4
 ,they were threatened1 and there was   
neither help nor hope of  help among    
themselves4    ,perhaps it was one of   
those frequent periods in the life of   
,israel1 in  which the religious        
institutions of the people were so      
abased that the  ,psalmist could see in 
them no pledge nor provocation of hope4 
,indeed1 these  institutions may have   
been altogether overthrown4 ,there was  

no leader on  whom ,god had set ,his    
seal1 and the national life had nothing 
to raise the  heart1 but was full of    
base thoughts and paltry issues that    
dissipate  faith1 and render the        
interference of ,god an improbable      
thing4 ,so the  ,psalmist lifted his    
thoughts to the sacraments which ,god   
has fixed in the  framework of ,his     
world4 ,he did not identify his help    
with the hills--no  true ,israelite     
could have done that1--but the sight of 
them started his  hope and filled his   
heart with the desire to pray4 ,this may
 have happened  at sunrise1 when1 even  
more than at other hours1 mountains     
fulfil the  ministry of hope4 ,below    
them all was in darkness2 it was still  
night1 but  the peaks saw the morning1  
and the signal of its coming fell       
swiftly down  their flanks4 ,in this    
case the ,psalm is a matin-song1 a      
character which  the rest of the verses 
carry out4 ,or at any other hour of the 
day1 it may  simply have been the high1 

clear outline of the hills which        
inspired the  ,psalm--that firm step    
between heaven and earth1 that margin of
 a world of  possibility beyond4 ,a     
prophet has said1 ,how beautiful upon   
the mountains  are the feet of them that
 bring good tidings6 ,but to our        
,psalmist the  mountains spread a       
threshold for a ,divine arrival4 ,up    
there ,god ,himself  may be felt to be  
afoot4    ,now to a pure heart and a    
hungry heart this is always what a      
mountain view  effects4 ',a hill-top1'  
says a recent writer1 'is a moral as    
well as a  physical elevation4' ,he is  
right1 or men would not have worshipped 
on  hill-tops1 nor high places have     
become synonymous with sacred ones4     
,whether  we climb them or gaze at them1
 the mountains produce in us that       
mingling of  moral and physical emotion 
in which the temper of true worship     
consists4  ,they seclude us from        
trifles1 and give the mind the          
fellowship of  greatness4 ,they inspire 

patience and peace2 they speak of       
faithfulness and  guardianship4 ,but    
chiefly the mountains are sacraments of 
hope4 ,that high1  steadfast line--how  
it raises the spirits1 and lifts the    
heart from care2  how early it signals  
the day1 how near it brings heaven6 ,to 
men of old its  margin excited thoughts 
of an enchanted world beyond2 its clear 
step  between heaven and earth made easy
 the imagination of ,god descending     
among  men4    ,so it is here4 ,at the  
sight of the hills our ,psalmist's      
hope--instead of  lying asleep in       
confidence of a help too far away to be 
vivid1 or dying of  starvation because  
that help is so long of coming--leaps to
 her feet1 all  watch and welcome for an
 instant arrival4 ,whence cometh my     
help8 ,my help  cometh from the ,lord1  
that made heaven and earth4 ,this is not
 fancy2 it is  an attitude of real life4
 ,this is not a poet with a happy phrase
 for his  idea3 it is a sentry at his   
difficult post1 challenging the signal1 

and  welcoming the arrival1 of that help
 which makes all the difference to life4
    ,but we may widen the application of
 the ,psalmist's words far beyond the   
hills4 ,this is a big thing to which he 
lifts his eyes to feed his hope4 ,god   
is unseen2 so he betakes himself to the 
biggest thing he can see4 ,and  therein 
is a lesson which we need all across our
 life4 ,for it is just  because1 instead
 of lifting our eyes to the big things  
around us1 we busy  and engross         
ourselves with trifles1 that the        
practical enthusiasm which  beats       
through this ,psalm is failing among us1
 and that we have so little  faith in   
,god's readiness to act1 and to act     
speedily1 within the circle of  our own 
experience4 ,trifles1 however innocent  
or dutiful they may be1 do  not move    
within us the fundamental pieties4 ,they
 reveal no stage worthy for  ,god to act
 upon4 ,they give no help to the        
imagination to realise ,him as  near4 ,a
 church which never lifts her eyes above

 her own denominational  details1 petty 
differences in doctrine or government1  
petty matters of  ritual and posture1   
cannot continue to believe in the       
nearness of the  living ,god4 ,the      
strain on faith is too great to last4   
,the reason recoils  from admitting that
 ,god can help on such battle-fields as 
those on which  the churches are often  
so busy1 that ,he can come to help such 
causes as  the sects1 neglectful of the 
real interests of the world1 too often  
stoop  to champion4 ,and so the churches
 insensibly get settled in far-off1     
abstract views of ,god1 and are sapped  
of the primal and practical energies  of
 religion4 ,whereas it is evident that  
in the religious communities which  lift
 their eyes above their low hedges to   
the high hills of ,god--to the  great   
simple outlines of ,his kingdom1 to the 
ideals and destiny which ,god  has set  
before mankind--in such churches faith  
in ,his nearness to the world  and in   
,his readiness to help must always      

abound4 ,to men who have an eye for  the
 big things of earth1 ,god will always  
seem to be afoot upon it4 ,they  are    
conscious of an arena worthy for ,him to
 descend upon1 and of causes  worthy for
 ,him to interfere in4 ,it is no shock  
to their reason1 no undue  strain upon  
their imagination1 to feel the ,almighty
 and the ,all-loving come  down to      
earth1 when earth has such horizons and 
such issues4    ,turning to ourselves as
 individuals1 we may ask why we have    
such distant  notions of ,god1 so shy a 
faith of ,his coming within the circle  
of our own  life and work8 ,why are our 
prayers so formal1 so empty of the      
expectation  of an immediate and divine 
answer8 ,why is our attitude at our work
 so  destitute of practical enthusiasm8 
,because we1 too1 are not lifting our   
eyes to the hills4 ,we are looking for  
nothing but little things1 and          
therefore we see nowhere any threshold  
or field worthy of ,god4 ,how can the   
sense that the living ,god is near to   

our life1 that ,he is interested in it  
and willing to help it1 survive in us1  
if our life be full of petty things8    
,absorption in trifles1 attention only  
to the meaner aspects of life1 is       
killing more faith than is killed by    
aggressive unbelief4 ,for if all a man  
sees of life be his own interests1 if   
all he sees of home be its comforts1  if
 all he sees of religion be the outlines
 of his own denomination1 the           
complexion of his preacher's doctrine1  
the agreeableness and taste of his      
fellow-worshippers--to such a man ,god  
must always seem far away1 for in  those
 things there is no call upon either    
mind or heart to feel ,god near4  ,but  
if1 instead of limiting ourselves to    
trifles1 we resolutely and 'with  pious 
obstinacy' lift our eyes to the         
hills--whether to those great           
mountain-tops of history which the dawn 
of the new heavens has already  touched1
 periods of faith and action that signal
 to our more forward but  lower ages the

 promise of ,his coming2 or to the great
 essentials of human  experience that at
 sunrise1 noon and evening remain the   
same through all  ages2 or to the ideals
 of truth and justice2 to the           
possibilities of human  nature about us2
 to the stature of the highest          
characters within our sight2  to the    
bulk and sweep of the people's life2 to 
the destinies of our own  nation that   
still rise high above all party dust and
 strife--then we shall  see thresholds  
prepared for a divine arrival1          
conditions upon which we can  realise   
,god acting4 ,our hope will spring1 an  
eager sentinel1 as if she  already heard
 upon them all the footfalls of ,his    
coming4    ,these lines may meet the    
eyes of some who have lost their faith1 
and are  sorry and weary to have lost   
it4 ,whether the blame be outside       
yourselves1  in the littleness of many  
of the prevailing aspects of religious  
life1 and  the crowding of our religious
 arenas with the pettiest of interests1 

or  within yourselves1 in your own mean 
and slovenly views of life1 your        
indolence to extricate details and      
discriminate the large eternal issues   
among them--there is for you but one way
 back to faith4 ,lift your eyes to  the 
hills4 ,let your attention haunt the    
spots where life rises most near to     
heaven1 and your hearts will again      
become full of hopes and reasons for    
,god  being at work upon earth4    ,let 
those who1 still in their youth1 have   
preserved their faith and  fullness of  
hope1 keep looking up4 ,amid all the    
cynicism and the  belittling of life1   
strenuously take the highest views of   
life4 ,amid all  the selfishness and    
impatience1 which in our day consider   
life upon its  lowest levels1 and there 
break it up into short and selfish      
interests1  strenuously lift your eyes  
and sweep with them the main outlines1  
summits  and issues4 ,may no man lose   
sight of the hills for want of looking  
up1  till at the last he is laid upon   

his back1--and then must look up whether
  he has done so before or not--and in  
the evening clearness and evening  quiet
 those great outlines stand forth before
 his eyes--stand forth but  for a few   
moments and are lost for ever in the    
falling night4    ,many men have bravely
 lifted their eyes to the hills1 who    
have felt nothing  come back upon them  
save a vague wonder and influence of    
purity4 ,they have  been struck with an 
awe to which they could give no name1   
with a health and  energy which they    
could only ascribe to physical          
infection4 ,but to this  ,psalmist the  
hope and worship which the hills excited
 were satisfied by the  revelation of a 
,person4 ,above earth and her hills he  
saw a ,character4    ,there have been   
revelations of ,god more rich and       
brilliant than this one4  ,but its      
simplicity suits the ,psalmist's point  
of view4 ,he is looking to the  hills4  
,it is on that high line he sees his    
,helper appearing4 ,now we all  know how

 a figure looks upon a skyline4 ,we see 
just the outline of it--a  silhouette1  
as it were3 no details1 expression1     
voice nor colour1 but only  an attitude4
 ,this is all the ,psalmist sees of ,god
 on that high threshold  against the    
light--,his attitude4 ,the attitude is  
that of a sentinel4 ,the  ,lord is thy  
,keeper--thy watchman4 ,the figure is   
familiar in ,palestine1  especially     
where the tents of the nomads lie4 ,the 
camp or flock lies low  among the       
tumbled hills1 unable to see far1 and   
subject1 in the intricate  land1 to     
sudden surprise4 ,but sentinels are     
posted on eminences round  about1 erect 
and watchful4 ,this is the figure which 
the ,psalmist sees his  help assume upon
 the skyline to which he has lifted his 
eyes4    ,compared with other           
experiences of ,god1 this outline of    
,him may seem bare4  ,yet if we feel the
 fact of it with freshness of heart and 
imagination1 what  may it not do for us8
 ,life may be hallowed by no thought    

more powerfully  than by this1 that it  
is watched3 nor peace secured by any    
stronger trust  than that the ,almighty 
assumes responsibility for it2 nor has  
work ever  been inspired by keener sense
 of honour than when we feel that ,god  
gives  us freedom and safety for it4    
,these are the fundamental pieties of   
the  soul2 and no elaborateness of      
doctrine can compensate for the loss of 
fresh  convictions of their truth4      
,the ,lord is thy ,keeper4 ,if men had  
only not left this article out of  their
 creeds when they added all the rest1   
how changed the religious life  of      
to-day would have been6--how simple1 how
 strenuous1 how possibly heroic6    ,the
 ,lord is thy ,keeper4 ,what sense of   
proportion and what tact does the       
thought of those sleepless thoughts     
bring upon our life6 ,how quickly it    
restores the instinct to discriminate   
between what is essential and what is   
not essential in faith and morals2 that 
instinct1 from the loss of which  the   

religious world of to-day suffers so    
much4 ,how hard does it make us  with   
ourselves that ,his eyes are on us1 yet 
how hopeful that ,he counts us  worth   
protecting6 ,when we realise1 that not  
only many of the primal forces  of      
character1 but its true balance and     
proportion1 are thus due to so  simple a
 faith in ,god1 we understand the       
insistence laid upon this by the        
prophets and by ,christ4 ,there is no   
truth which the prophets press more     
steadily upon ,israel than that all     
their national life lies in the sight   
and on the care of ,god4 ,the burden of 
many prophetic orations is no more  than
 this--you are defended1 you are        
understood1 you are watched1 by ,god4   
,and in the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and  
in that address to the disciples now    
given in the tenth of ,matthew1 there is
 no message more clear or frequent  than
 that ,god cares for us1 has to be      
reckoned with by all our enemies1 is    
aware of everything that befalls us1 and

 while ,he relieves us from             
responsibility in the things that are   
too great for us1 makes us the more  to 
feel our responsibility for things      
within our power--in short1 that the    
,lord is our ,keeper4    ,of course we  
shall be able to realise this1 according
 as we realise life4  ,if we have a     
heart for the magnitudes of life1 it    
will not seem vain to  believe that ,god
 ,himself should guard it4    ,if we    
keep looking to the hills1 ,god shall be
 very clear upon them as our  ,keeper4  
,but this distant view of ,god upon the 
skyline1 full as it is of discipline    
and of peace1 does not satisfy the      
,psalmist4 ,to him the ,lord is not only
  ,israel's ,keeper or ,sentinel1 but   
the ,lord is also thy shade on thy right
  hand3 the sun shall not smite thee by 
day1 nor the moon by night4 ,the  origin
 of these expressions is vague1 but     
their application here is vivid  enough4
 ,a sentinel is too far away1 and is1   
physically1 too narrow a figure  to     

fulfil man's imagination of ,god4 ,the  
,psalmist requires something near       
enough to express both intimacy and     
shelter4 ,so he calls ,god the ,comrade 
as  well as the ,sentinel of ,his       
people2 their ,champion as well as their
  ,watchman4 ,the shade upon thy right  
hand is of course the shade upon the    
fighting or working arm1 to preserve it 
from exposure1 and in the full  freedom 
of its power4    ,now it is never ideas 
about ,god1 nor even aspirations after  
,him1 which in  the real battle of life 
keep us fresh and unexhausted4 ,ideas1  
and even  aspirations1 strain as much as
 they lift4 ,they give the mind its     
direction1  but by themselves they      
cannot carry it all the way4 ,nor is the
 influence of  a ,personality sufficient
 if that ,personality remain far off4   
,reverence  alone never saved any human 
soul in the storm of life4 ,it is ,one  
by our  side ,whom we need4 ,it is by   
the sense of trust1 of sympathy1 of     
comradeship1 of fighting together in the

 ranks1 that our strength is  thrilled  
and our right hand preserved in         
freshness4 ,without all this  between us
 and bare heaven1 we must in the end    
weary and wither4    ,twofold is the    
experience in which we especially need  
such compassion and  fellowship--in the 
time of responsibility and in the time  
of temptation4  ,these are the two great
 ,lonelinesses of life--the ,loneliness 
of the ,height  and the ,loneliness of  
the ,deep--in which the heart needs to  
be sure of more  than being remembered  
and watched4 ,the ,loneliness of the    
,height1 when ,god  has led us to the   
duty of a great decision1 or given us   
the charge of other  lives1 or sent us  
on the quest of some truth1 or lifted us
 to a vision and  ideal4 ,the king1 the 
father1 the thinker1 the artist1 all    
know this  loneliness of the height1    
which no human fellow can share1 no     
human heart  fully sympathise with4     
,then it is that1 with another          
,psalmist1 the heart1  exposed to the   

bare heaven1 cries out for something    
higher than itself to  come between the 
heaven and it3 ,what time my heart is   
overwhelmed do ,thou  lead me unto the  
rock that is higher than ,i2 and ,god   
answers us by being  ,himself a shade   
upon the right hand1 and the sun shall  
not smite by day1  nor the moon by      
night4 ,and there is the ,loneliness of 
the ,deep1 when we  are plunged into the
 pit of our hearts to fight with        
terrible  temptations--a conflict no    
other man knows about or can help us in4
 ,shall  ,god1 ,who sees us fighting    
there1 and falling under the sense of   
our  helplessness1 leave us to fight    
alone8 ,the ,lord is thy shade on thy   
right  hand2 thy ,comrade1 fighting with
 thee1 ,his presence shall keep thy     
heart  brave and thine arm fresh4 ,it is
 a truth enforced through the whole of  
the  ,old ,testament4 ,god is not a ,god
 far away4 ,he descends1 ,he comes to   
our  side3 ,he battles for and suffers  
with ,his own4    ,these then are the   

main thoughts of this ,psalm4 ,what new 
authority and  vividness have ,jesus    
,christ and ,his ,cross put into them8  
,there are few of  the ,psalms which the
 early ,christians more frequently      
employed of ,christ4  ,on the lintel of 
an ancient house in ,hauran ,i once read
 the inscription3  ',o ,jesus ,christ1  
be the shelter and defence of the home  
and of the whole  family1 and bless     
their incoming and outgoing4' ,how may  
we also sing this  ,psalm of ,christ8   
,by remembering the new pledges ,he has 
given us1 that ,god's  thoughts and     
,god's heart are with us4 ,by           
remembering the infinite degree1  which 
the ,cross has revealed1 not only of the
 interest ,god takes in our  life1 but  
of the responsibility ,he ,himself      
assumes for its eternal issues4  ,the   
,cross was no new thing4 ,the ,cross was
 the putting of the ,love of ,god1  of  
the ,blood of ,christ1 into the old     
fundamental pieties of the human  heart1
 the realising by ,jesus in ,himself of 

the dearest truths about ,god4  ,look   
up1 then1 and sing this ,psalm of ,him4 
,can we lift our eyes to any of  the    
hills without seeing ,his figure upon   
them8 ,is there a human ideal1 duty  or 
hope1 with which ,jesus is not          
inseparably and for ever identified8 ,is
  there a human experience--the struggle
 of the individual heart in  temptation1
 the pity of the multitude1 the warfare 
against the strongholds  of             
wickedness--from which we can imagine   
,him absent8 ,no2 it is impossible  for 
any high outline of morality or religion
 to break upon the eyes of our  race1 it
 is impossible for any field of         
righteous battle1 any floor of          
suffering to unroll1 without the vision 
of ,christ upon it4 ,he dominates our   
highest aspirations1 and is felt by our 
side in our deepest sorrows4 ,there  is 
no loneliness1 whether of height or of  
depth1 which ,he does not enter by  the 
side of ,his own4    ,who has warned us 
like ,christ8 ,to this day ,he stands   

the great ,sentinel of  civilisation4   
,if all within the camp do not          
acknowledge ,him1 no new thing  starts  
up in its midst1 no new thing comes upon
 it from outside1 which ,he  does not   
challenge4 ,his judgment is still the   
highest1 clearest1 safest the  world has
 ever known2 and each new effort of     
service1 each new movement of           
knowledge1 is determined by its worth to
 ,his ,kingdom4    ,who has assumed     
responsibility for our life as ,christ  
has8 ,who has taken  upon himself the   
safety and the honour1 not of the little
 tribe for whom  this ,psalm was first  
sung1 but of the whole of the children  
of men6 ,he  called about ,himself our  
weariness1 ,he lifted our sorrow1 ,he   
disposed of  our sin--as only ,god can  
call or lift or dispose4 ,nothing       
exhausted ,his  pity1 or ,his confidence
 to deal with us2 nothing ever betrayed 
a fault in  ,his character1 or belied   
the trust ,his people put in ,him4 ,he  
suffers not  thy foot to be moved2 ,he  

neither slumbers nor sleeps4    ,for all
 this we sing the ,psalm of ,christ4 ,we
 know that so long as we have  our      
conversation among the lofty things of  
life1 ,his dominating ,presence  grows  
only the more clear2 and so long as we  
are beset by things adverse  and        
tempting1 ,his sympathy and ,his        
prevailing grace become the more sure4  
,the ,lord shall preserve thee from all 
evil4 ,he shall preserve thy soul4      
,the ,lord shall preserve thy going out 
and thy coming in1 from this time  forth
 and for evermore4           99       99
       99       99       99             
,edinburgh ,university ,press  ,t4 and  
,a4 ,constable1 ,printers to ,her       
,majesty    ,by the same ,author        
,,the ,,historical    ,,geography ,,of  
,,the    ,,holy ,,land    ,with ,six    
,maps1 specially prepared4    ,seventh  
,thousand4 #hvo1 cloth1 #aes4    ,with  
,new ,index and additions1 and          
corrections4    ',a very noteworthy     
contribution to the study of sacred     

history1 based  upon the three          
indispensable conditions of personal    
acquaintance with  the land1 a study of 
the explorations1 discoveries1 and      
decipherments  444 and the employment of
 the results of ,biblical               
criticism4'--,times4    ',professor     
,smith is well equipped at all points   
for this work4 ,he is  abreast of the   
latest findings of ,scripture exegesis1 
and of geographical  survey1 and of     
archological exploration2 and he has    
himself travelled  widely over          
,palestine4 ,the value of the work is   
incalculably increased  by the series of
 geographical maps1 the first of the    
kind representing  the whole lift and   
lie of the land by gradations of        
colour4'--,scotsman4    ,,hodder        
,,stoughton          ,,the ,,book ,,of  
,,isaiah    ,,vol4 ,i4--,,chaps1        
,i4--,,xxxix4    ,crown #hvo1 cloth1    
#gs4 #f;d4      ',this is a very        
attractive book4 ,mr4 ,george ,adam     
,smith has such a mastery  of the       

scholarship of his subject that it would
 be sheer impertinence for  most        
scholars1 even if tolerable ,hebraists1 
to criticise his translations4  ,all we 
desire is to let ,english readers know  
how very lucid1 impressive1  and1       
indeed1 how vivid a study of ,isaiah is 
within their reach4444 ,we will  give an
 example of both aspects of this most   
fascinating  book4'--,spectator4        
,,vol4 ,,ii4--,,chaps1 ,,xl4--,,lxvi4   
,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4      ',it
 is needless to mention the literary    
merits which in reviews of the  first   
volume of this work were so abundantly  
recognised4 ,this is1 indeed1  one of   
the few theological works which it is a 
pure pleasure to read2 nor  need one in 
the case of the present volume add the  
qualifying remark that  the homiletical 
element is somewhat unduly large4 ,the  
scholarship1 too1 is  still as accurate 
as might be expected from ,mr4 ,smith's 
excellent  training4'--,academy4        
,,hodder  ,,stoughton          ,,the    

,,book ,,of ,,the ,,twelve ,,prophets   
,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4          
,,vol4,i4--,,amos1 ,,hosea1 ,,and       
,,micah4    ,with an ,introduction and a
 ,sketch of ,prophecy in ,early ,israel4
      ',the work of an interesting      
writer1 an excellent theologian1 whose  
previous book on ,isaiah showed the same
 qualities of fairness1 historical      
imagination1 and enthusiasm for a great 
subject that now appear in the  handling
 of these precious fragments from the   
lesser prophets of ,israel4  ,each      
separate prophecy calls out an          
appropriate literary and historical     
commentary written with a true sense for
 life and reality1 and with that  effort
 to get at the psychological and        
historical background which             
characterises all that is best in modern
 critical work4'--,times4          ,,the
 ,,book ,,of  ,,the ,,twelve ,,prophets 
,,vol4 ,,ii4 ,crown #hvo1 #gs4 #f;d4    
,completing ',the ,expositor's ,bible1' 
in #di ,volumes4    ,,the ,,preaching   

,,of    ,,the ,,old ,,testament    ,,to 
,,the ,,age    ,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #as4 
,,hodder  ,,stoughton      ,,the        
,,psalms    ,,in ,,three ,,volumes      
,by ,alexander ,maclaren1 ,d4,d4        
,crown #hvo1 cloth1 #gs4 #f;d4 each4    
,in ',the ,expositor's ,bible' ,series4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,a    ,,biblical ,,commentary    ,,on   
,,the ,,psalms    ,by ,professor ,franz 
,delitzsch    ,translated by the ,rev4  
,david ,eaton1 ,m4,a4 from the latest   
,edition1 and  ,specially ,revised by   
the ,author4    ,in ,three ,volumes     
,crown #hvo1 each #gs4 #f;d4            
99       99       99       99       99  
,,the ,,psalter    ,by ,joseph ,parker1 
,d4,d4    ,,vol4 ,,xii4 in ',the        
,people's ,bible4'    ,demy #hvo1 #fs4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,,hodder  ,,stoughton