in the days of His flesh it was otherwise.

There it was true that

the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep-" but he that is an hireling, and whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep."

Our LORD found the sheep scattered, or, as He had said shortly before, "All that ever came before ME are thieves and robbers:" and in consequence the sheep had no guide. Such were the Priests and Rulers of the Jews when CHRIST came; so that "when He saw the multitudes, HE was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd"." Such, in like manner, were the rulers and prophets of Israel in the days of Ahab, when Micaiah, the LORD's Prophet, "saw all Israel scattered on the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd, and the LORD said, These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace 3." Such, too, were the shepherds in the time of Ezekiel, of whom the Prophet says, "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves; should not the shepherd feed the flocks? . . . . They were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered :" and in the time of the Prophet Zechariah, who says, "Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock"."

3

So was it all over the world when CHRIST came in His infinite mercy "to gather in one the children of GoD that were scattered abroad." And though for a moment, when in the conflict with the enemy the good Shepherd had to lay down His life for the sheep, they were left without a guide, (according to the prophecy already quoted, "Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered,") yet He soon rose from death to live for ever according to that other prophecy which said, "He that scattered Israel will gather him, as a shepherd doth his flock"." And as HE says HIMSELF in the parable before us, "HE calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out, and goeth before them, and the sheep follow HIM, for they know His voice," so on His resurrection, while Mary wept, He did call her by her name, and

2 Matt. ix. 36.

5 Zech. xi. 17.

31 Kings xxii. 17.

6 Jer. xxxi. 10.

4 Ezek. xxxiv. 2. 5.

7 John xx. 16.

she turned herself and knew HIM by the ear whom she had not known by the eye. So, too, HE said, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou ME?" And He added, "Follow ME." And so again HE and His angel told the women, Behold HE goeth before you into Galilee. . . go tell My brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see ME."

From that time the good Shepherd who took the place of the sheep, and died that they might live for ever, has gone before them and "they follow the LAMB whithersoever HE goeth";" going their way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feeding their kids beside the shepherds' tents.

:

No earthly images can come up to the awful and gracious truth, that GOD became the Son of Man-that the WORD became flesh, and was born of a woman. This ineffable mystery surpasses words of man. No titles of earth can CHRIST give to HIMSELF ever so lowly or mean, which will fitly show us His condescension. His act and deed is too great even for His own lips to utter it. Yet He delights in the image contained in the text, as conveying to us, in such degree as we can receive it, some notion of the degradation, hardship, and pain, which He underwent for our sake.

Hence it was prophesied under this figure by the Prophet Isaiah, Behold the LORD GOD will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for HIM.... HE shall feed His flock like a shepherd; HE shall gather the lambs with His arms and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young1." And again, He promises by the mouth of Ezekiel, "Behold I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." And the Psalmist says of HIM, "The LORD is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort"." And he addresses HIM, Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, THOU that leadest Joseph like a sheep, show THYSELF also, THOU that sittest upon the Cheru

8 John xxi. 15.

9 Rev. xiv. 4.

1 Is. xl. 10, 11.

2 Ez. xxxiv. 11, 12.

3 Ps. xxiii. 1, 2.

SELF,

bims." And HE HIMSELF says in a parable, speaking of HIM"What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing"."

Observe, my brethren, it is here said that CHRIST, the LORD of Angels, condescends to lay the lost sheep on His shoulders : in a former passage of the Prophet Isaiah it was said that HE should "gather them with His arms, and carry them in His bosom." By carrying them in His bosom is meant the love HE bears them, and the fulness of His grace; by carrying them on His shoulders is signified the security of their dwelling-place-as of old time it was said of Benjamin, "the beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by HIM... and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between His shoulders";" and again of Israel, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." And again, in the Prophet Isaiah," Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle . . hearken unto ME, O house of Jacob . . which are carried by Me from the womb. . Even to your old age I am HE, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you I have made and I will bear, even I will carry, and will deliver you'." HE alone, who "bowed HIMSELF and came down," HE alone could do it; HE alone could bear a whole world's weight, the load of a guilty world, the burden of man's sin, the accumulated debt, past, present, and to come; the sufferings which we owed but could not pay, the wrath of GOD on the children of Adam; "in His own body on the tree," "being made a curse for us ',' 999 66 the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God," "through the Eternal SPIRIT offering HIMSELF without spot to GOD, and purging our conscience from dead works to serve the Living GOD'." Such was the deed of CHRIST, laying down His life for us: and therefore He is called the Good Shepherd.

:

And hence, in like manner, from the time of Adam to that of CHRIST, a shepherd's work has been marked out with special Divine favour, as being a shadow of the good Shepherd who was to come. "Righteous Abel" was "a keeper of sheep," "and in process of time" he "brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering." And who were they to whom the Angels first brought the news that a SAVIOUR was born? "Shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night3." And what is the description given of the chosen family when they descended into Egypt? "Thy servants," they say, "are shepherds, both we and also our fathers ;" and what, in consequence, was their repute in Egypt, which surely is a figure of the world? "Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians "."

4

6

But there are three favoured servants of GOD in particular, special types of the SAVIOUR to come, men raised from low estate to great honour, in whom it was His will that His pastoral office should be thus literally fulfilled. And the first is Jacob, the father of the patriarchs, who appeared before Pharaoh. He became, as Abraham before him, a father of many nations; he "increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maid-servants, and men-servants, and camels, and asses "," and he was visited by supernatural favours, and had a new name given him-Israel for Jacob. But at the first he was, as his descendants solemnly confessed year by year, "a Syrian ready to perish;" and what was his employment? the care of sheep; and with what toil and suffering, and for how many years, we learn from his expostulation with his hard master and relative, Laban-"This twenty years have I been with thee," he says, "thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts, I brought not unto thee, I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; and thou hast changed my wages ten times "."

...

Thus I was; in the day the

Who is more favoured than Jacob, who was exalted to be a Prince with Gon, and to prevail by intercession? Yet you see, he is a shepherd, to image to us that mystical and true Shepherd and Bishop of souls who was to come. Yet there is a second and a third as highly favoured in various ways. The second is Moses, who drove away the rival shepherds and helped the daughters of the Priest of Midian to water their flock; and who, while he was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, saw the Angel of the LORD in a flame of fire in a bush. And the third is David, the man after God's own heart. He was "the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel;" but he was found among the sheep. "He took him away from the sheep-folds; as he was following the ewes great with young ones, He took him; that he might feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So he fed them with a faithful and true heart, and ruled them prudently with all his power"." Samuel came to Jesse, and looked through his seven sons, one by one, but found not him whom GOD had chosen. "And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep." And when he came "he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to; and the LORD said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he1." And again, after he had been in Saul's court, he "went and returned from Saul, to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem 2 ;" and when he came to the army his brother reproached him for "leaving those his few sheep in the wilderness ;" and when he was brought before Saul, he gave an account how a lion and a bear "took a lamb out of the flock," and he went after them, and slew them both, and delivered it. Such were the shepherds of old times, men at once of peace and of war— men of simplicity, indeed, "plain men living in tents," the meekest of men," yet not easy, indolent men, sitting in green meadows, and by cool streams, but men of rough duties, who were under the necessity to suffer, though they had the opportunity to do exploits.

8 2 Sam. xxiii. 1.

1 1 Sam. xvi. 11, 12.

9 Ps. lxxviii. 71-73.

21 Sam. xvii. 15. 28. 35-37.