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6 CHUT CKVBCB, LONDON. TEXT: “He that dewelleth in the secret place- o: the Most High shall abide under the shadow o the Almighty.” OH 1 i i iIERE is no part of the 91st Psalm that can be properly considered without considering the whole, and though we take the first verse for our text, really the whole psalm forces itself upon us. If I were preaching entirely to children I could not select any section of Scrip ture that would be more adaptable to their child thinking and understanding than this one. From beginning to end the psalmist is giving us his ex perience in “the shadow of the Almighty.” It was not enough for the psalmist to have thrones and armies about him, he had tried all the experiences in the ways of the world and he had found that none of these sufficed in times of trouble. He had also had experience in the ways of God, “abiding in the shadow of the Almighty,” and he had found that this was the one thing that he could rely upon when all the rest of the experiences of his life failed him. And so he gives us here a testi mony of how he had found life “dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.” He gives us in this first verse the setting for his experience. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” You will observe in the first part the condition he gives—“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.” Only the Obedient Can Claim God’s Guidance in Life. The sheep that strays away from the shepherd can expect only his own strength when danger comes. The Father loves the prodigal at the swine trough, but He feeds him at home. The children are ever wanted in the Father’s presence. The Christian that eats husks with the swine surrenders the fatted calf with the Father. Esau lost his birth right because he sought something else. David lost his peace because he sought first his pleasure. To say, “I will have my way and walk with God” is equivalent to saying, “God will have His way and we will walk alone.” It is not enough for us” to stand on the promises” as we sometimes sing, we must also comply with the promises. So the psal mist, speaking of these rich promises conditions every one of them upon “dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.” The Result That Comes From This “Dwelling.” First of all there is here the promise of “abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.*' Properly con sidered this is one of the most far-reaching of all the promises we find in Scripture. In order to see its “far-reachingness” must consider the whole psalm. Here we find first of all the promise of refuge and fortification. “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress.” “He is my refuge.” I have seen a picture of a shepherd with THE GOLDEN AGE FOR WEEK OF JUNE 11, 1914 THE SECRET PLACE By REV. LEN G. BROUGHTON, D.D., of Christ Church, London. Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H. —Copyright Applied for. a drawn sword in his hand, while a lamb crouches at his feet and looks up into his face; and just out in front of the shepherd is a wolf. The story evidently, is that of a lamb being persued by a wolf until he sees his shepherd guard and keeper, the lamb falls restfully, confidently, and trustfully at his feet, while the shepherd with his sword drives back the wolf. And so, my friends, David had come to that experience where to him God his Father was his Guardian Shepherd, the one to whom he could go when his soul was tried, when tempta tion was hard after him; he-had found that God was the Shepherd with the drawn sword where he could find perfect rest and refuge. “He Is My Fortress.” You will see that there is also the promise here of fortification. Ido not know if you know the difference between a fort and a fortress. It is very significant that it is not said here, “He is my ‘fort,’” but my ‘fortress.’ Some years ago in con sidering this psalm I became puzzled to know what the psalmist had in mind by the use of the word ‘fortress.’ I went to my dictionary to find the dif ference between ‘fort’ and ‘fortress,’ and the differ ence there defined was so slight as to be scarcely worth noticing. And yet in talking with soldiers and army people I noticed that they made a differ ence and never spoke of a fort as a fortress, or of a fortress as a fort. And so one day I went to an cld Army General and said, “I am puzzled to know the difference between a fort and a fortress. I have gone to the dictionary and it seems no wiser than .” I said, “First of all is there any difference? He said, “Os course, a fort is a fort—” “Yes,” I said, “a very good definition, like I expected!” “Hold on a bit,” he said, “a fort is one fort, but a fortress is two or more forts.” So I came back to the 91st Psalm with an entirely new light upon its meaning, and I read into it what I had not seen before. “He is my fortres.s” God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a Trinity of forts so placed at every angle as to protect me against the approach of the enemy, and to defend me when the enemy does make an approach. To JPhom Is God a True Fortress? He is a fortress to the man who “dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.” 1 remembered this the other day when I was at Gibraltar. Stand ing there looking upon that great rock I observed that there were fortresses at each end, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean end, arranged in triangular form at the base and at each side, at the places of danger on the right and on the left. Fronting the Mediterranean there is a fortress which pro tects the rock from the sea, from the Straits on the right, and at the other angle from the bay. And then there is a similar arrangement at the Atlantic end of the fortress of Gibraltar. There it is, that great solid rock with those many forts making its great fortress impregnable. So is God to the man who “dwells in the secret place.” On the Mediterranean side of that great rock and for tress there is a little, fishing village inhabited only by fishermen. They carry on their vocation under the shadow of that great rock, scarcely ever having the sun to shine upon their little habitation. But oh, how secure they are in the shadow of that rock, nestling in the cliffs! No enemy could ap proach them. All the guns of that fortress would protect them! And, my friends, they are not more secure nestling under the shadow of Gibraltar than are we if we nestle under the shadow of God Al mighty. “In whom I trust.” Again, as we read further we see that there is trust in “the shadow of the Almighty” It is only the man who “abides under the shadow of the Almighty” who knows God well enough to trust Him. A story is- told of a man who was being tried for treason after the war be tween the States. They were about to convict him, and there was brought in an old slave who had lived with him for many a year, and been his clos est companion in many respects. The old slave was put in the witness box, and the attorney began to ply him with questions, when finally the old slave raised himself up and said, “If you had lived with my master like I have you wouldn’t talk like that.” And, my friends, it is the man who lives closest to God, who is His daily companion, who knows God. When I hear men speaking lightly of God and profanely of His ruls and reign, I feet like replying in the words of that old slave, and saying, “If you had lived with God as I have—poor specimen that I am—you wouldn’t talk like that, you would know Him.” It is only the man who lives with Him, and talks with Him and hears Him talk and sees Him work, that is able to trust Him. So David out of all these experiences had said, “In the shadow of the Almighty there is trust, I will put my trust in Him." There is also deliverance. Surely,” he says, “He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” I had a man in my church in Atlanta who was before he professed conversion a great drunkard and gambler. And after he was converted the taste for strong drink dogged him day and night so that he was not able to get rest for it. He had resolved not to touch it, but oft times it looked as if his resolution would fail him and he would have to go back to it. He tried this and that, but nothing took away that thirst for drink, that awful craving that at times almost made him mad. Finally, one night he went, into his room and got down on his face and, as I have often heard him say, “handed his appetite over to God.” He said something like this, “If j cu are not able to take this appetite away you are not able to save my soul; and if I can trust yon with my soul I can trust you with my appetite; take it.” And he came out of that experience with i ever another thirst until this day. This is what David is talking about; He who abides under the shadow of the Almighty can rely upon Him to be his Deliverer from all that would destroy him. In His deliverance is comfort. “He shall cover thee with his pinions, and under His wings shalt thou take refuge; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” This is something every child can un derstand. The figure is that of a mother hen gath ering her chicks under her wing. All of us doubt less have seen that. The very thought of it takes me back to the days of childhood. Out in the country district where we lived how often have I seen a group of mother hens with their chicks in the field. And when some shadow appeared that looked like the figure o: a hawk I have seen those different chicks run to their respective mothers,, never one of them made a mistake, every one final ly lying under the wing of his own mother. No one needed to be there to point out to them the mother to whom they belonged, but every one per fectly adjusted himself to his respective place. And then [ have seen her as she nestles the chicks to herself, getting as low as she can on the ground,, even getting her head down so as to make it im possible for the hawk to locate her. Oh, how sim ple and beautiful is this picture! “He shall cover thee with His pinions, and under His wings shalt thou trust.” The old mother hen covers her chicks : under her wings in time of danger, to protect them from exposure, to impart to them the warmth of hre body, to rest them from their labours, and give them required sleep. In all these respects God our Father proposes to protect us tinder His wings. In “the shadow of the Almighty” there is cour age. As we read further we see that, “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” Courage 1 And if there is anything that the Church seems to need more than another it is this courage. We have come to be so discouraged and beset with clouds that we need courage. We are almost today in the pos ition of the Apostle Peter when e sat there while (Continued on Page 15.)