osing him for repentance. We cannot return to God, once we
have deserted Him, without His help. It is our awful power to be able to
leave Him, but to return alone we are not able. Wherefore He comes after
us when we have wandered into the wilds of sin; He pleads as it were, with
our souls, and offers us the grace to repent. Oh privileged are our souls
to be thus appraised by God, and happy those who hear and heed the
appealing voice of His grace!

VI. HE LEADETH ME IN THE PATHS OF JUSTICE FOR HIS NAME'S SAKE.

The shepherd country of the East is full of walks and pathways, some
leading this way, some that. Some lead to dangerous precipices over which
the sheep might fall and be lost, others would expose them to the attack
of wild beasts, while still others would lead them so far astray that they
could not find their way back. It is, therefore, always needful that the
shepherd go ahead of his flock and lead them in the right path. The
Psalmist, in the title of the present chapter, is applying this
carefulness of the shepherd for his sheep to our Lord, in His regard for
our spiritual welfare. The Saviour goes before us with the blessings of
His goodness to help and lead us aright, lest perchance we become lost and
perish in our journey.

This solicitude of our Redeemer in providing for the various needs of our
souls is characteristic of Him as Saviour. It is implied in the meaning of
his name. Before He was born, before He was conceived in His Mother's
womb, it was foretold of Him that He should be called Jesus, which means
Saviour, for He would save His people from their sins.(26) He exercised,
as we know, this mission of saviour throughout His earthly career. It was
for this that He came into the world, for this that He was born in
Bethlehem with a manger as His cradle, for this that, at the age of
twelve, He was found teaching in the Temple, for this that He retired to
Nazareth and was subject to Mary and Joseph, for this that He labored and
suffered and bled and died. And with His passing from this visible scene
to the bosom of His Father, He did not cease to be that for which He had
been eternally anointed--the great High Priest, the Mediator between God
and man, the Saviour of the world. His work is everlasting; and now that
He has gone up on high, He pleads for us ever more with the Father. We
belong to Him, He has purchased us with His blood, and He must needs care
for our safety to the end.

Inasmuch