Page:Two Sermons on the Duty and Joy of Frequent Public Worship.djvu/22

10 in all the glorious scenes of the natural world more striking, in some respects, than that of any human preacher? And did any one ever feel that more deeply than the "sweet Psalmist of Israel" who wrote the glorious 19th Psalm, which tells of how "the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork," and how "one day telleth another, and one might certifieth another?" Or had ever any one more of that devout spirit of contemplation which reads in all the common sights of Nature spiritual lessons—messages from the Father of man's spirit—parables of the kingdom of God—than David, who, while he kept those few sheep in the wilderness, wrote the 23rd Psalm? The care of the sheep led him to feel how, just as he cared for those helpless creatures, defended them against the wild beasts of the forest, the lions and the bears, the brute powers of nature about them, and by his royal power, as a child of the great Lord of all, discomfited and slew them, and just as he led the helpless sheep into green pastures, and away from the barren stones and wastes of the wilderness, so was there indeed One above, who equally cared for him. "The Lord," he says, "is my Shepherd :" I am as helpless against the spiritual enemies of my soul, as these sheep are against the lions and the bears; I am as blind to the way to those true pastures in which to feed my soul, as these dumb animals are to find their way about the lonely wilderness; but, notwithstanding this, I shall not starve, nor become the prey of evil spirits,—"The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me."

You see, then, my brethren, how spiritually-minded was this shepherd of the wilderness—how real and intense his faith in the Living God, present everywhere, in the loneliest wilderness as well as in the Temple. He