Psalms 22:20

Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

The dog

Dogs in the East are not much thought of, and never properly treated. The varieties with which we are familiar they knew nothing of. The dogs they had were but of one kind,--all hungry, half-starved, savage, cowardly, and more like wolves than dogs. But with us the dog is not only useful and beloved, but often displays the noblest qualities. For instance--

I. Courage. God expects us to have courage (Deuteronomy 31:1). And the dog sets us a good example in this respect. Take this story of an incident which took place in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey. A horse attached to a waggon, in one of the streets, became frightened, and started off in a run. The owner of the waggon was thrown from his seat as the horse started, and was left lying on the street. The horse went galloping along, increasing his speed every moment, till he reached the corner of the next street. There a large Newfoundland dog made his appearance. He looked at the horse for a moment, and then sprang out into the street and rushed towards the horse’s head. The dog made repeated efforts by springing up to grasp the bridle firmly with his teeth. But he failed each time and fell to the ground, narrowly escaping injury from the horse’s feet. But the brave dog kept on trying, and at last, making an extraordinary spring into the air, he grasped the bridle firmly in his teeth and, pulling down the horse’s head, put a stop to his running away. As soon as this was done the dog turned round quietly and walked away. But the people standing by, who had witnessed the dog’s noble action, when they thought of the injury which might have been done by the runaway horse, felt disposed to praise very highly the conduct of the dog for the greatest act of courage they had ever seen a dumb animal perform. The next lesson we may learn from the dog is--

II. Intelligence. God looks for intelligent understanding of His will in us all. See the opening verse of Proverbs 2:1. And the dog sets us a good example of understanding and then obeying what we are told to do. A gentleman connected with the Newfoundland fishery had a dog of remarkable intelligence and fidelity. On one occasion a boat’s crew in his employ were seen to be in circumstances of great danger. They were near a line of breakers outside of the harbour over which the waves were dashing and roaring in great fury. The danger of passing those breakers was so great that the men, brave as they were, did not dare to attempt it. A crowd of people stood watching them on the shore with great anxiety, but could do nothing to help them. Much time had passed, and the danger was increasing every moment. Among the people on the shore was the fishery master’s great Newfoundland dog. He seemed to understand what the danger was. Presently he ran to the water, jumped in, and swam towards the boat. He soon made his way through the surf, and the men in the boat saw him coming near to them. At first they thought he wanted to get into the boat, but it soon became evident that that was not his purpose. He did not come near the boat, but kept swimming round it. While doing this he looked earnestly at the men, and would whine from time to time. The men wondered what he wanted. At last one of them cried out, “Give him a rope; that’s what he wants!” The rope was thrown; the dog seized the end of it with his mouth, and then turned round and swam towards the shore. The men waiting there took hold of it, and began to pull it, and in a short time the boat with its crew was hauled through the dangerous surf, and the men on board of it were landed safely on the shore. And so the lives of that boat’s crew were saved by the intelligence of that noble dog.

III. Affecting. Love brought Jesus to die for us. “God so loved the world that,” etc. And He desires love to be the ruling principle in our lives. Even dogs have shown this in remarkable ways. The captain of the artillery company of South Carolina was killed in a battle in Virginia during the American Civil War. His body was placed in a coffin, which was put into a strong box and carried to the home of his family in Columbia. It arrived there about a week after his death. On his arrival the captain’s dog that he had reared and petted during his lifetime was at the gate, and, approaching the house, began to smell about him, with a good deal of excitement. When the coffin was taken from the hearse he ran under it and followed it to the house between the pall bearers. Although a week had passed by since his master’s death, and his body was closely fastened up in the coffin, yet by the sense of smell alone the dog had found out that it was his master’s body which was in that coffin, and this stirred up all his affection for him. When the coffin was put on the table in the parlour the dog lay down under the table, and remained there till the funeral took place on the next day. Then after the funeral the dog took his place on the grave of his old master. They tried to coax him away, but in vain. He would stay there. He refused to eat or drink, but lay moaning there till the third day after the funeral, when he died on his master’s grave. How real and genuine that dog’s affection for his master was!

IV. Fidelity. This is a most important lesson. Whatever other good elements of character we may have, they will all be of little use to Us without faithfulness. The want of it is like a hole in a purse, which lets all the money run out and be lost. Now, dogs have often been noted for fidelity. A French merchant was riding home on horseback one day. He had a large bag of gold with him, which was tied to the saddle in front of him, and was accompanied by a faithful dog. After a long ride he stopped to rest himself, and eat a lunch which he had with him. He alighted from the horse and sat down alder a shady tree, taking the bag of gold and laying it down by his side. On mounting his horse again he forgot to take his bag of gold with him. The dog saw the mistake his master had made, and tried to take the bag to him; but it was too heavy for him to drag along. Then he ran after his master, and tried by barking to remind him of his mistake. But the merchant did not understand what the dog meant. Then the dog went in front of his master and kept jumping up before the horse and barking loudly. The merchant called to him to be quiet and to stop that jumping. But the dog wouldn’t stop. Then his master was alarmed, He began to think that the dog must be going mad. And as the dog went on barking and jumping with increasing violence, the merchant felt sure he was right. He said to himself, “He may bite me, or someone else. The only safe thing will be to kill him.” Then he took a pistol from his pocket and, pointing it to the dog, fired at him. The poor dog fell weltering in his blood, and his master, unable to bear the sight, put spurs to his horse and went on. “I am very unfortunate,” he said to himself; “I would rather have lost my bag of money than my good dog.” Then he felt for his bag, but it was not there. In a moment he saw what it all meant. The dog had seen that he had left his bag of money behind him, and was trying the best he could to get him to go back for it when he shot him! How sorry he felt! Then he turned his horse, and rode back to the place where he had left his money. On reaching the spot he found the dog there. He had crawled back, all bleeding as he was, and had lain down beside his master’s money to protect it, This brought the tears into the merchant’s eyes. He kneeled down by his dog, petted him, and spoke kindly to him. The dog looked lovingly into his face, licked his hand, and then turned over and died. The merchant had the body of the dog carried home and buried in his garden; and over its grave he had a stone slab set up, and with these words engraved on it: “In Memory of a Faithful Dog.” Such are some of the lessons we may learn from the dog. (Richard Newton, D. D.)

The power of the dog

(Sermon to Children):--The Bible does not generally speak well of dogs. The word dog in the Scriptures often means a wicked person. When he says, “Deliver my darling from the power of the dog,” it is a prayer that God would deliver His only Son from the hands of wicked men. In Eastern countries dogs are reckoned as unclean animals, and there if you want to give a man a bad name you call him a dog. But there are good dogs and bad dogs, dogs to be trusted and dogs to be avoided. Let us think about the good dogs first. Most of you have read the beautiful story of the hound Gelert. And in Scott’s beautiful story of the Talisman there is a story of Roswal, a noble deer hound who kept guard over the English standard. And there are the dogs of St. Bernard, who go out in the snow to rescue lost travellers. And there are the blind men’s dogs. All these are good dogs. But there are bad ones. Here are the names of some of them. First, there is a dog called Sulky, a black do. I remember when I was a little boy my mother used to tell me not to let the clack dog get on my shoulder, that is, not to be sulky. When a child is bitten by that black dog his face becomes quite changed. All his beauty goes; and his character is altered too. He becomes stubborn, obstinate, won’t work, won’t play. His speech is altered too; he is rude, and the very tone of his voice is quite different. Beware of that black dog. Then there is another dog--a red one this--and he is called Passion. Yes, a very fiery red dog, with gleaming, cruel eyes and foaming mouth. If he bites you he sends you mad for a time. The old Romans were quite right when they called anger a snort madness. If you see a child with a very red face, kicking and stamping and screaming, you may be sure that the fierce dog Passion has bitten him. Julius Caesar, when he was provoked, used to say over all the letters of the Roman alphabet before he gave an answer. Beware, then, of that fierce dog Passion. There is another dog of which you must beware. He is called Idly. You never see him doing anything useful--carrying a basket or a bundle, as some dogs will, He lies in the sun sleeping, almost too lazy to get up and eat his food. Don’t let him bite you. If he bites a child the boy or girl becomes heavy and slow. Instead of getting up in the morning fresh and bright, with plenty of time to say his prayers and start for school after breakfast, the child bitten by dog Idle gets up late, and so begins the day badly. The only thing he cares for is play, and very often he is too idle even for that. There is another dog called Mischief, which is very dangerous. You must not think that I am speaking of Fun and Merriment,--they are good dogs, which skip and play about, and do good, not harm. But Mischief is sly and secret, he goes about in dark places, and is never safe to meddle with. When a child is bitten by dog Mischief no one can tell what harm he may do. I know a poor man blind for life through a stone thrown by a mischievous boy. There is another dog of which you must beware. His name is Careless. He is not so bad as some dogs,--at times we can scarcely help liking him, and yet he does much harm. When a child is bitten by dog Careless things go badly with him. Perhaps, in school, the child is writing a copy, suddenly he lets a great drop of ink fall on his copybook, and there is a blot. And he is guilty of more things than these. Be on your guard against dog Careless. There are many other dogs of which I could warn you, but! will only speak of two. There is dog Selfish,--one of the worst dogs of all. When we get a bite from him we are never happy ourselves, and we make others unhappy too. Then there is another dog called Greedy, and he is a very near relation to dog Selfish. Children are often bitten by him, and they generally suffer; for greedy people by trying to get too much often lose all. There is a fable which tells us how dog Greedy was one day crossing a bridge over a river, and carrying a piece of meat in his month. As he looked into the river he saw his own shadow. Thinking it was another dog who carried a larger piece of meat than his own, dog Greedy flew at him with an angry bark, and as he opened his mouth the meat fell into the river and was lost. So it is often with greedy people, because they are not contented with what they have they lose it altogether. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)