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SERMON XIV.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

PSALM Xxiii. 3.

He restoreth my soul.

THE soul is the chief part of man: it is the offspring of God. The powers of the soul are large; its guilt is great, the price of its redemption is infinite, and its duration is endless. Whatever relates to the soul, therefore, must be interesting. Its present state nearly concerns us; its future destiny is of unspeakable moment. Nothing can justify its neglect, nothing can recompense its loss. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

We contemplate, with pleasure, the sentiment of the text. It is that of one who speaks from his own experience, who magnifies the riches of Divine grace, who testifies what he understood and enjoyed, to the honour of his God: "He restoreth my soul."

The Psalm, from which these words are selected, is beautifully expressive of the Lord's tenderness and care, as the Shepherd of his people. The first verse contains a sentiment which the following verses

amply illustrate: "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." In proof of this, and as a specimen of what he provides, and what he gives, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. How desirable are these! What a Shepherd is this! And this Shepherd is ours, if we are the Lord's, and have given ourselves to him according to his word; if we, in faith and love, have received the Saviour, and sincerely committed ourselves to his care.

The text is short, but remarkably comprehensive; "He restoreth my soul." We observe three things-A painful FACT implied-A pleasing TRUTH expressed-and, The OBLIGATIONS which result from the experience of this truth.

I. We have a painful FACT implied.

The fact is this-The soul may wander. Yes, the soul whose Shepherd is the Lord, whose pastures are his ordinances, and whose enjoyment has been enriched with the consolations of his grace. It is affecting that one who has found rest in God, and comfort in Christ, should need restoring. If, however, he does need it, inestimable is the mercy that such help, that such a Friend, is at hand! "He restoreth my soul."

All men, by their original apostacy, and by their personal transgression, have revolted from God: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God: they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one." The testimony

* Rom. iii. 10-12.

of the prophet is to the same effect; "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way*." Thanks be to God, a way of recovery is devised; and this way is of glorious efficacy! By sin all have wandered, but by grace many are reclaimed, are brought back to God through Jesus Christ, redeemed by his precious blood, and renewed by his Holy Spirit.

It were well if the humbling fact supposed in the text regarded only the unconverted; but this is not the case. It particularly respects the redeemed of the Lord, and suggests the painful idea of their declension, their deviation from what is right. Hear the confession and the prayer of one who had known the grace of God in truth; "I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments."

What shall we say of this declension, this wandering? It receives an affecting illustration from the passage just mentioned. A lost sheep wanders foolishly it may want a wider range, greater liberty, better pasture; but it is grievously disappointed. And so assuredly are all such as go astray from God! Egregious folly marks their erring steps. They commit two evils, in that they "forsake the Fountain of living water, and hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water."-A lost sheep wanders into danger: it suspects nothing of the kind, yet danger is near; and near it doubtless is to all those that wander from God, and turn aside from his ways! They leave a verdant pasture for a sandy desert, living springs for polluted streams, the care of the kindest Shepherd for exposure to merciless

* Isai. liii. 6.

enemies. A lost sheep wanders, but has no heart no capacity to return; so neither have they who go astray from God. Mortifying fact to the pride of men! Left to themselves, they revolt still more and more; they fall back farther from happiness; they sink deeper in wretchedness and guilt.

This reminds us of one circumstance in which the resemblance does not exist. The wandering of a sheep is indeed foolish: there is loss sustained and danger incurred: but in our departures from God there is more than folly, much more than present loss and danger; there is guilt, great guilt contracted; and this subjecting the soul to utter and endless ruin ! Brethren, to forsake the Lord, the good Shepherd, and to wander from his fold, is criminal in a very high degree. It is a breach of the strongest obligations, a direct contradiction to our promises and prayers, a gross violation of our deliberate and solemn vows. It is ingratitude and rebellion against a God and Saviour of infinite goodness and love. No language can sufficiently mark the evil of sin, particularly the sin of those who have the Lord as their Shepherd, and have known something of his indulgent care. And have not several of us known this? Yet, how have we wandered? "Who can understand his errors ?" Shame and confusion of face belong to us, for we have sinned-greatly sinned against the Lord our God! And truly it is of his mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not !-But,

II. Here is a pleasing TRUTH expressed: "He restoreth my soul.

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We can wander of ourselves, but we cannot restore ourselves. It is the Lord that restoreth. "O Is

rael, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help." To restore means to recover, to convert, to turn back again; and, in every sense of the word, in every stage of the believer's experience, this is the Lord's doing. He first raises the soul from death in sin, and saves from the danger of everlasting destruction: he afterwards healeth all our backslidings, and cures our sinful declensions ;-the verb "not describing" only "the first grand revolution in the heart, by which a new determination is given to the judgment, and a new bias to the affections; but expressing those subsequent operations of the Divine Spirit, by which we are recovered from our various relapses, and healed of our daily infirmities*."

It may be asked, To what does the Lord restore the soul?-We answer, To real safety. It was in danger, imminent danger; but the good Shepherd brings it back to his own keeping and care.-He restores it to conscious peace. "There is no peace

to the wicked:" and, let a man's habitual character be what it may, "it is an evil thing and bitter to forsake God:" but He gives rest and comfort, satisfaction as well as safety. Of the penitent wanderer he says; "I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners."-The Lord restores the soul to spiritual prosperity and enjoyment. Nothing of this is found in a state of guilty declension; you know already the truth of this. But the Lord that healeth gives health and cure; he revives the grace which languished, and subdues the sin which was ready to prevail. In his salutary influence he becomes as the dew unto Israel ;" and the conse

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* Hervey.

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