when "at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Here, then, we perceive the reason of the order which is observed, in that the

green pastures" are placed before the "still waters." It is the order which would be suggested by the consciousness of man in retracing his steps to the fold of God. When the Good Shepherd has gone after that which is lost, until He find it; when He hath brought it back upon His shoulders rejoicing;" when he hath received it into the fold, and bestowed upon it a name; when, in other words, he who was a sinner has been transformed by grace into a penitent, and he who was a prodigal has been welcomed as a child, it is only natural that

Zec. xlv. 9; Heb. ii, 14; Phil. ii. 9, 10. r Luke xv. 4, 5.

he should go first to the word, that he may learn the mind of the Spirit; just as the sheep goes through the pastures of tender grass, that it may refresh itself at the still cool waters of the stream. As then, it is the instinctive desire of water which leads the sheep across the meadow, so it is the Spirit that worketh in the believer "to will as well as to do:" s yea, who "prevents him, that he may have a good will, and works with him, when he has it." We do not, then, derogate, in the slightest degree, from the full perfection, the entirety or integrity of the work of the Spirit, when we represent the enlightened penitent, the rescued and recovered sheep, as resorting to the House of Prayer for the ministration of the Gospel, or seeking the seclusion of his chamber for meditation on the word. "Both these worketh

s Phil. ii. 13.

tArt. x. of Free Will.

E

that one and the self-same Spirit," communicating and conveying His grace to the heart by such channels "as He will." u We only assume what the experience of many among God's people will corroborate and confirm, when we characterize the work of the Spirit as a work which does not develope itself all at once, but which becomes more and more manifest, in proportion as we advance nearer toward the Paradise of God. We become more and more sensible, in ordinary things, of His intervention, His interposition, enabling us to perform the common duties, strengthening us to endure the common trials of life: causing us to perceive that no action, no habit is too slight or trivial, wherein to confess our Redeemer, and to glorify our God; and also (which is more in accordance with our present consideration), that

1 Cor. xii. 4, 11.

there is no trial so slight, no temptation so insignificant, by which we may not be ensnared, and by which we may not be overcome, if we are "thinking that we stand" in our own strength, instead of "taking heed" in His strength, "lest we fall." With guidance to "green pastures," therefore, the Psalmist has, with good reason, associated guardianship beside "still waters" for as we can only appropriate the word through the Spirit, so we shall principally receive the Spirit through the word; not indeed only by hearing it, not only by reading it; not only by reflecting upon it: the Spirit of God, who is a most free agent, and who is Himself the source of liberty, will come into the heart of the believer when He will; and how He will; and as He will. But the effect of His coming will ever be, the realization of some pro

* 1 Cor. x. 12,

mise, the recognition of some principle, the attainment of some grace, the understanding of some mystery, which is already in the word, and which we shall thus find, with a deeper impression, and with a fuller developement, brought home with power to the heart.

Here, therefore, we may profitably note the manner in which the influences of the Spirit of God are ordinarily conveyed to the believing heart, as implied in the epithet "still;" He leadeth me beside still waters. Now this, in the full sense, could apply to David only in the evening of his days, when God had given him rest from all his enemies on every side,' and nothing remained for him upon earth but to rule his people in the fear of the Lord, and to discipline his soul for the mysterious and untried state of being which he was soon about to realize. His earlier

y 2 Sam. xxii.