are greatly cheered by the presence of the shepherd in time of danger or darkness. If it be too dark to see him they listen for his voice, or rejoice to feel the touch of his staff. The voice reveals his presence, though he is invisible. They can hear him if they cannot see him. The familiar touch of the staff reveals his presence though he is invisible in the darkness. They can feel that if they cannot see him. Hearing and feeling thus serve for sight. The audible and palpable evidences of a beloved and protecting presence are precious when visible evidences may not be had. So a frightened child in a dark night is comforted if the mother holds its hand and speaks assuring words, though the dear mother's face cannot be seen.

4. By the rod also the shepherd defended his sheep in the dark valleys or mountain gorges from the wild dogs, wolves and other beasts of prey that, encouraged by the gloom, issued from their dens to fall upon the flock.

5. And by it he separated the sheep from the goats, or his own sheep from members of a strange fold. The passage from Ezekiel before cited is in point: "I will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of my covenant, and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and they that transgress against me I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn and they shall not enter into the land of Israel." Picture to your mind the Shepherd standing at the door of the

fold, his staff outstretched, not only counting each sheep, one by one, as he goes in, that not even one may be found missing, but also checking and keeping back by the rod a strange sheep that would enter with them, that there may not be even one too many.

These Bible uses of the shepherd's crook enable us to tell its meaning when figuratively used. We have only to apply the imagery to our Lord and his people. He is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of his pasture. We have only to find out what instrument he employs as a visible symbol of his presence, of his voice, of his touch, and by which we are surely guided into nutritious spiritual pastures and safely defended from spiritual wolves, bears and lions which seek to devour us, by which also we are comforted in hours of darkness, when the Good Shepherd himself is not visible; by which, also, each individual may be assured that he is counted, and by which we will be separated from those who are not really his sheep; an instrument, too, that signals the scattered individuals to be assembled and becomes the bond of unity and fellowship when gathered together.

Ah! what an instrument that is which is both a key to the covenant with God and the bond of fellowship with each other. I know of but one instrument appointed of God for these varied and profitable uses, and it will be named presently; but before we announce it it may be well to answer

another question. Why are both terms used, both rod and staff, as if distinct things? "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Not because they are two distinct things, but because of two distinct uses. This statement is not arbitrary. It rests on God's Word. Through the prophet Zechariah, God speaks to his national flock, the Jewish people, from whom he is about to take his oracles, his messages of life, because they rejected and betrayed Christ, the Good Shepherd. This flock he now proposes to feed with slaughter, to cast off and to scatter. Hear him: "And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; . . . And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people."

The three following verses tell that this was broken when Jesus was bought and betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. Then the record continues:

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Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel." Here let us interpret. The shepherd's crook is one, but when considered in its relation to God or to his covenant, it is called Beauty; when considered with reference to the unity of the flock it is called Bands. The order of cutting these staffs asunder is philosophical. Beauty must be broken before Bands can be broken. That is, the covenant relation with God being first broken the

ties which bind us to each other in loving brotherhood are necessarily broken. In other words, when sheep are separated from the shepherd they will necessarily separate from each other and become scattered. It is equally true that to bring sheep together you bring them to the shepherd. When all come to him they are together. The secret, security and perpetuity of fellowship and harmony among men is the honoring of our relations toward God. The shepherd's crook is one, though as a symbol of authority over the whole flock you call it one name, and as the means of unity and fellowship among the flock you call it another name; as the law written on tables of stone by the finger of God was one law, though on the first table are four commandments expressing our obligations to God and on the second table are six commandments expressing our obligations toward each other.

We are now prepared to answer the question: What is the meaning of the phrase, "thy rod and thy staff"? It means the Word of God, his promises, that is, his Bible. Good old John Gill, in his commentary on this passage, says: "And it is no small comfort to the sheep of Christ that they have passed under his rod, who has told them, and that they are all numbered by him, not only their persons, but the very hairs of their head; and that they are under his care and protection; the Shepherd with his rod, staff or crook directs the sheep where to go, pushes forward those that are behind, and fetches

back those that go astray, as well as drives away dogs, wolves, bears, etc., that would make a prey of the flock; and of such use is the Word of God, attended with the power of Christ and his spirit; it points out the path of faith, truth and holiness the saints should walk in; it urges and stirs up those that are negligent to the discharge of their duty, and is the means of reclaiming backsliders, and of preserving the flock from the ravenous wolves of false teachers; in a word, the presence, power and protection of Christ in and by his gospel, and ordinances are what are here intended, and which are the comfort and safety of his people in the worst of times and cases."

We readily see how the use of the Bible conforms to the use of the shepherd's crook. Not only must the Book direct us into safe ways and quiet pastures; not only must it prod us when we lag, and check us when we go astray; not only must it on the judgment day furnish the test that separates the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the wicked; but according to its special use in our text it must comfort us when in the valley of the shadow of death. What, then, is that comfort?

"Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." The valley is very dark and full of dangers from pitfalls into which we are liable to stumble, from false teachers, who are wolves in sheep's clothing, from hypocrites and false professors, who are goats; from the devil and his demons, who go about as roaring