About this Book

 AS A COUNTRY preacher in the lowlands of eastern Carolina I lived literally by still waters. Here is a serene retreat for him who cares to live a day at a time with leisure to “linger, list and dream": cypress swamps low-hung with moss; lazy waters where fishing-boats float carelessly; darkies abundant—another proof of leisureliness!—and everywhere the calm of restfulness that seems to drift in with the tide from the nearby sea.

For one who easily grows tired of modernity’s mad masquerade it is pleasant to return to these tranquil lowlands. Nothing is more restful than a stroll beside these still waters while the wood-thrush serenades from the cypresses, while cattle amble homeward along pasture-lanes, and darkies hum their way from the fields at sundown.

Is it not significant that most of the men of God in the Bible knew best the fields, the pastures, the woods and waterways? Abel, the keeper of sheep; Abraham, Joseph, Moses, learning their deepest lessons among the flocks; David, the ideal shepherd-boy, whose later psalms breathe so often the spirit of early days among the quiet hills; Amos, the herdsmen, John the Baptist, the fishermen-disciples, and, above all, the Lord Jesus—these knew the way of the still waters.

But drowsy waters alone cannot rest the soul. Yet these pleasant waterways of earth have their counterpart in the Word: “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” In the terrific pace of this age men break in body, mind and spirit, and he who knows not God’s waters of quietness knows no peace at any price. By Stoic hardihood, by “drowning their troubles,” by forced optimism, by psychologic fads and freakish mental calisthenics, men seek

“That blessed mood

In which the burden of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world Is lightened.”

But they find it not. Partly, because it is not a mood, “a feeling fond and fugitive.” It is a matter of faith, taking God at His Word. We reach the still waters when we cease being Ponce de Leons, looking for an elusive fountain of youth, and humbly follow the Good Shepherd to the green pastures. Men call that foolish, crude, childish—there are so many newer, more up-to-date recipes for peacefulness. Everywhere fine boulevards lead to the popular resorts of this “ism” and that, where with clever new methods earth’s doctors seek to treat the soul. But how often scholars ransack libraries looking for the secret of peace while the janitor may have found it long ago by the way of the Cross!

Do you know the waters of His rest? We do not mean that daily you will bask in happy circumstances. “In the world ye shall have tribulation” Our Lord’s life was full of storm and tempest, yet in the darkest days of all He bequeathed to us His legacy of peace (John 16:33). His rest is no imaginary escape from reality. His peace is that blessed consciousness that in the midst of trouble our real lives are beyond the reach of circumstance hid with Christ in God.

Blessed experience, possible for the humblest believer here and now! And blessed prospect still ahead for us when this mortal shall have put on immortality: “A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb!”