THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH (OR BAPTIST) MAGAZINE. No. CCXCIII.-MAY 1, 1868. Essays, Expositions, &c. THE GOOD SHEPHERD. BY THE REV. SAMUEL COULING. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”—Psalm xxiii. 1. IN ancient times the occupation of a shepherd was not of that menial character that it is in the present day. Hence some of the greatest men of antiquity have borne the pastoral character and followed the shepherd's calling. The names of Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Abraham and Moses will readily present themselves to the memory as cases in point. David, too, was taken from the sheep cote to be made king over Israel. At what period of his life the twentythird Psalm was written there are no means of exactly determining. It was, however, probably written when he was far advanced in life and drawing near to the tomb. The ripe, rich experience portrayed in the psalm seems to indicate this. The psalmist is looking back upon all the way by which God has led him, and in thankful remembrance of God's mercies and in full confidence in God's grace, he looks even with satisfaction to the "walk through the valley of the shadow of death," fearing "no evil" in the midst of it, but depending upon the "rod" and the "staff" of his great and good shepherd to "comfort" and support him. Perhaps David, in taking a retrospective view of his life, had thought of one incident which occurred to him while keeping his flock of sheep at a time when he was alike "unknowing and unknown." David left his "few sheep in the wilderness," although not in the "pride and the naughtiness of his heart," as insinuated by his eldest brother Eliah, but with the sincere desire of doing good service to the people of the Lord by ridding them of their greatest enemy. And David said unto Saul, "Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." And while the recollection of this incident was passing through his mind, the thought would quickly flash across him-"The Lord is my shepherd. All VOL XXV.-NO. CCXCIII. K that I endeavoured to be to the flock committed to my care, God is to me. As I protected them so God will protect me. As I fed them so will God feed me. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Nay; God will be better to me than I was to my flock, for Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever'." This first verse of the psalm furnishes the key-note to the whole. It states a most glorious fact and then draws from that fact a most consolatory conclusion. "The Lord is my shepherd." That is the fact upon which the whole of the psalm hinges. And we can be at no loss in supposing that when David penned these words, he was looking by faith, down the long vista of ages, to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, as "the good shepherd," should "lay down his life for the sheep." The two appellatives which the royal psalmist here uses sufficiently indicate to whom he referred when he said, The Lord is my Shepherd." The term "Lord," sets before us Christ in his divine perfections, while the term "Shepherd," reveals him in his mediatorial character and office. And in the tenth chapter of John's gospel our Lord himself seems to apply this very passage to his own relationship with the church of God, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine and I lay down my life for the sheep." My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." But to save the sheep, and to secure for them all the blessings of this life and the life to come, it was necessary that the shepherd himself should die. "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts. Smite the Shepherd." And therefore in laying down his life for the sheep, "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." He laid down his life that we might have "eternal life." He "died the just for the unjust to bring us to God." He redeemed us from sin, death, and hell; and having given his life for us, he surely will not withhold the lesser gifts of his hand. Therefore with David may we say, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." "The Lord my pasture shall prepare, And this is the conclusion which may be safely arrived at, if it is an ascertained fact that the Lord is our shepherd. The king of Israel would not say "I shall not want," until he could truly say "The Lord is my shepherd." Here then is the language of an appropriating faith: a faith which not only believes the promise but which also says, 'my God is mine," even when all is dark and gloomy around, and there appears to be no promise to lay hold of. David does not say that the Lord is a shepherd, or the shepherd, but my shepherd, and therefore, "I shall not want." Not unfrequently did the psalmist and other inspired writers use a somewhat similar form of speech:- "The Lord is my portion; therefore will I hope in him;" "The Lord is my light and my salvation; therefore will I not fear." "This God is our God, for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death." Storms of trouble may threaten and we shall want shelter; dangers may beset us and we shall want courage; poverty may overtake us and we shall want food and raiment and habitation; sickness may come upon us and we shall need strength and comfort. But "The Lord is my shepherd" and has everything at his command to bestow upon the sheep of his pasture. He is Lord of all worlds. Heaven and earth are at his disposal. "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's." And hence the psalmist might well say, "The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; and no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly." If then Christ is mine and I am his, I may well conclude that "I shall not want." And whether this applies to temporal or to spiritual matters, it is still true, for Christ is the fountain from whence flows all the streams of truth and love and mercy. We shall not want pardon for our sins for he died to save; we shall not want a righteousness to cover us for his all-perfect robe of righteousness is to all and upon all who believe in him. He is the Lord our righteousness. Strength shall be ours for "He giveth power to the faint, and to those who have no might he increaseth strength." Comfort shall be ours for do we not read Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." If any of you lack wisdom it shall be yours for "He is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption." "The 66 How precious is this word to the poor, the tried, and the afflicted. Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" bread to eat. Poor and perhaps penniless I may be, but "the Lord will provide." 'Thy bread shall be given thee and thy water shall be sure." My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Hence David declares that even in the presence of his enemies his shepherd had prepared a table for him, and so bountifully supplied all his necessities that he could say "My cup runneth over." "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" rest for either body or soul. Here we have plenty of care and anxiety; much to disturb and depress us, and many disquieting influences everywhere around. But there is rest for the weary in Christ. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Cast your burdens upon him then and he will sustain them. The Lord will bless his people with peace, and give his beloved sleep and all needful repose here, and then there "remaineth" still "a rest for the people of God." And so the Lord being our shepherd we shall not want for divine guidance and direction. He himself will lead us "in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.' Protecting mercy, supplying mercy, sustaining mercy, shall all be supplied for "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Scarborough. "Lead on, dear shepherd! led by thee No evil shall I fear; Soon shall I reach thy fold above, And praise thee better there." MOSES' PRAYER AND PAUL'S WISH. 66 BY T. W. MEDHURST, GLASGOW; AUTHOR OF ROMANISM NOT CHRISTIANITY BUT A SATANIC DELUSION," ETC. WHAT did Moses mean when he said to the Lord, "Yet now, it Thou wilt forgive their sins; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written?" (Exod. xxxii. 32). Not certainly that God should blot his name out of the book of PREDESTINATION OF ETERNAL LIFE. This is certain from God's answer, v. 33, "And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book." Now, will God ever blot out the name of those who are written in the book of eternal life? Impossible. God is immutable. Man's sin can never alter God's purpose. God had said to Moses, v. 10, "Now, therefore, let me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." Here we see God threatens Israel that he will blot out their name, and cut them off from being a nation; and promises that instead of Israel He would make of Moses a great nation. The reply of Moses is to this effect"Nay, Lord, I am so far from such an ambition to be made a great nation on condition that I let Thee alone, that Thy great wrath may cut off this whole people, that I would rather desire Thee to blot my name out of the writing of Israel, that my name may not stand in the record as the leader of Thy people, as I now am; rather let me not so much as be reckoned for an Israelite, than that Thy name should thus suffer." Moses would die with Israel, be cut off with the people, rather than live any longer, if God would execute the fierceness of his anger against them. This I take to be the sense of the passage. In Ezek. xiii. 9, we read of "the writing of the house of Israel.' God says concerning the lying prophets, "They shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel." It is from this writing that Moses would rather his name should be blotted, than that God should not forgive His people, whom he had brought up out of Egypt. The Jews were wont to number their families, and record their names; and thus God commanded a record of Israel to be kept. Thus David prayed against his enemies, "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous" (Psalm lxix. 28). Certainly David never would or could have prayed that any should be blotted out of THE BOOK OF GOD'S PREDESTINATION TO ETERNAL LIFE. 66 This is also what I conceive to be the meaning of Paul's words—“ For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Rom. ix. 3). Moses, and Paul, were both moved with the same spirit of zeal for the glory of God. And as Moses, so Paul, wished himself to be AN ANATHEMA from Christ, that is a person separated, or excommunicated from the society and communion of the faithful, and so no more to be remembered on earth amongst the saints. Paul, for the Israelites' sake, could wish that his name were blotted out of the church records, though he had been so great a planter and propagator of churches. Certainly, Paul, whose heart was so on flame with love to Christ, could not wish himself accursed from Christ, in the sense in which he speaks when he says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha," that is, "accursed when the Lord cometh" (1 Cor. xvi. 22). Besides the IMPOSSIBILITY of such a wish, in Paul and Moses AS MEN, there would have been GREAT SIN in such a wish. But to wish, if that would benefit the Israelites, who were his kinsmen according to the flesh, to be the most contemptible amongst the Christians, even as those who were excommunicated from the church of Christ, which is sometimes called Christ (1 Cor. xii. 12), is no sin: for "there is no limit to the sacrifice which one man may make for the benefit of others, except that which his duty to God supposes." Neither Moses, nor Paul, prayed for anything contrary to God's will, nor for what would have been absolutely and determinately contrary to their own salvation. As Dr. Charles Hodge well asks, "If it is wrong to Do evil that good may come, how can it be right to wish to BE evil that good may come?" "We must be willing to give up our houses and lands, parents and brethren, and our life also, for Christ and his kingdom; but we are never required to give up HOLINESS for his sake, for this would be a contradiction." Master John Trapp says, "Paul's love to the church was like the ivy, which if it cleave to a stone or an old wall, will rather die than forsake it. Somewhat like to this holy wish was that of Ambrose, that the fire of contention kindled in the churches might (if it were the will of God) be quenched with his blood. And that of Nazianzen that (Jonah like) he might be cast into the sea, so by it all might be calm in the public." May a like holy love to the souls of men consume both writer and reader, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. THE USEFUL PREACHER.-No. 2. "THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE." 1 TIMOTHY i. 18. SERMONS BY THE LATE REV. B. LEWIS, MERTHYR TYDFIL. THE sole authority in all religious questions is the word of God. According to the Scriptures all Christians are soldiers fighting for the lawful rights of Jesus Christ their king. In the church militant we are soldiers; in the church triumphant conquerors. And more, in all probability the Christian life will continue to be a warfare until time shall be no more. Because in proportion as Christians are striving after holiness and perfection of character, they will be opposed by Satan and the world. Hence our Saviour said, that through much tribulation his disciples are to enter into life. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force, that is, by a hard struggle. Perceiving that we must fight we advice you brethren to ponder the contents of these words-War a good warfare; fight with credit to your king and country; defend your rights with intrepid courage. THE NATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. If you are to be good soldiers you must understand your work. Tremendous have been the results of the strife of nature in every age. But as Christians we are engaged in a far more important conflict. The warfares of this world are strictly prohibited; they are in fact unlawful. Ours is not so. With all their noise and boastings, their enemies and victories are very insignificant when compared with those of the church of God. 66 We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities, with devils of the blackest hue. We are all soldiers if we are Christians. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong-holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Paul was a very good soldier-listen to his words at the close of his earthly career, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." These were some of his words at the end of his struggles. The fact that all Christians are soldiers fighting under the banner of Christ pre-supposes a wonderful change in mind, character, and work. Once faithful and active subjects in the kingdom of darkness, waging a determinate war against God. (What madness.) Happily not so now. We have been translated into another kingdom altogether. Our captain Jesus Christ wishes to recruit the army. Orders have been issued. The command is gone forth "Follow thou me.' Christ expects every man to do his duty. We are not all officers, but we are all soldiers-colporteurs and evangelists-distributors of tracts-all soldiers. Up to duty brethren, the victory is ours. tarry wait for it. If it This warfare implies numerous foes. Remember that these foes are both internal and external. The propensities of a depraved and a polluted heart, which is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. The evil tendencies of the heart are restrained by Divine grace, notwithstanding their constant struggles to break loose and usurp the sole authority in the soul. A new government has been formed in the heart, but the old tories are still opposing it. Hence Christians are often called to fight against the lust which wars in their members. The These internal foes are much more dangerous than the external ones. hard work of self-denial must be accomplished before these are subdued. It is a continual struggle Christ against Satan. That's enough for him-holiness against sin-light against darkness—and heaven against hell. "Darkness struggles with light Till perfect day arise; |