THE STRAYED SHEEP
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At that instant a sheep leaped over the hedge, just where my companion and I stood, as if pursued by some enemy. The poor animal seemed much distressed and affrighted. He looked at us—but appeared disappointed. As he stood still I called to him; but he knew not my voice. At length a man appeared at the fence, over which the sheep had broken, and calling in a particular tone which the poor animal understood, he turned and looked upon him. The shepherd then came over the hedge, and advancing gently towards him, still continuing his call as he approached him, the sheep came to meet him, and seemed rejoiced at his presence; and they went away both of them together.—"Ah!" I cried, "I think I could spiritualize this occurrence." "Do so then," replied my friend, "for such should be the custom of Zion's pilgrims—to extract spiritual improvement from everything which they see or hear."
"I would suppose," I said, "this poor strayed sheep to be the emblem of the wandering sinner. And I would suppose that the man pursuing it is the emblem of Jesus, which the silly animal thought to be an enemy. And under those images, if I mistake not, several very sweet doctrines of the gospel may be discovered. As for example, that the Lord Jesus had a fold before the foundation of the world, is evident; for in the close of his ministry he thanks the Father for those who he had given him, and of which 'he had lost none.' This fold, by the entrance of the prowling wolf into paradise, wandered, and was scattered abroad in the wide wilderness of the world—for so the Lord speaks of them—'My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth.' (Ezek. 34:6.)
But though wandering and scattered, they were the Lord's sheep still. That little foolish wanderer we just now saw, was never altered in his nature, though wayward and perverse in his track. Though he left the sheepfold, yet he was still the sheep, and not the goat. In like manner, Christ's spiritual sheep did not lose their relation to him when they left his fold. This character of Jesus' sheep should never be forgotten by us, for it is plain that Jesus himself never loses sight of it. In the moment he speaks of them as wandering and scattered, as diseased and weak—he calls them still my sheep; and hence, in the recovery of every one of them, the same idea is carefully preserved—'I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.' (Ezek. 34:16.)
"And what can there be more refreshing and encouraging to a poor sinner than the consideration, that if of the fold of Jesus, originally given by the Father, however scattered over the face of the earth; however pent up in the den of beasts by the accursed enemy of souls; still he is the sheep of Jesus; concerning whom the promise is made and passed, 'My sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand!' (John 10:28.) The eye of the good Shepherd is ever over them; he beholds them as his sheep while they appear among wolves; and when the hour is come, according to his blessed promise, like that poor animal we just now beheld, they shall hear his voice and follow him, though they flee the voice of strangers. How expressive to this purpose are the words of God by the prophet—'For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day.' (Ezek. 34:11, 12.)
"And if this doctrine be well founded," I continued, "what a volume of consolation it holds forth to the sheepfold of Jesus, under their own diseases, weaknesses, and wanderings; and the long wanderings and wayward obstinacies and rebellions! The lion and the bear may have taken the tender lamb from the fold; but our David will in his time, and not ours, and the proper time too, go out after him, and deliver him from his devouring mouth. 'My sheep,' says Jesus, 'shall never perish.' That's enough!—'Fear not then, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' (Luke 12:32.) And how eternally secure must be every one of the fold, when the final presentation of them before the throne of glory is to be expressed in these words—'Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me'" (Isa. 8:18.)
When I had finished my remarks, my friend thanked me. "I am much pleased," he said, "I assure you, with your ideas upon the subject. You have, in my opinion, very sweetly spiritualized the incident of the strayed sheep—and you certainly have ample authority from Scripture, for the several observations you have made. The frequent allusion which is their adapted to the various circumstances of a sheepfold, is expressly done with this intention, to describe the Lord's gracious dealings with his people.
"There is one view of the subject which has often struck me—but which, so far as my reading extends, has not been sufficiently noticed, if at all, by any writer—I mean, where Jesus is following the thousands of his fold through all their wayward paths, amid the lion's den, and over the mountains of darkness—his eye is still over them for good, and his arm unremittingly stretched forth to keep them from everlasting ruin; though they, as yet in their unconscious state, senseless either of his presence or his favor, continue to weary him with their iniquities! There is somewhat in this view which opens to them a most precious and endearing trait in the character of the Lord Jesus; when once the film which obstructed vision in them is removed, to see things as they are, and that he has brought home any of his wanderers to his fold 'on his shoulders rejoicing!'
"If you and I, my brother," he added, "had the faculty of discerning objects spiritually, we would discover many in this situation now, who appear to every eye but His who knows his own under all disguises, as goats, from their behaviour—but yet are the real sheep of Jesus, which, by and by, he will gather out, and say to them, as he did to the church of old, 'Come with me, my spouse, from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of the leopards.'
"Gracious Power!" he exclaimed, "while speaking of your patience to your people, oh! let me never forget for how many years that patience was extended to me!"
"And to me!" I cried. A moment of silence followed, when my friend resumed his discourse.
"I cannot help remarking, my friend," he said, how wonderfully the Lord has brought you on your way—and particularly in the knowledge of divine things. Many there are who, notwithstanding they are very precious plants which the Lord's right hand has planted, do not make great advances. But I may truly say of you, as the apostle did of the church of the Thessalonians, 'Your faith grows exceedingly.'"
"Alas!" I replied, "I fear I do not grow at all. I cannot perceive in myself any progress." "Do not say so," he answered, "for this borders on unthankfulness. In our desires after greater measures of knowledge and grace, let us never overlook the less; nor, while we earnestly beg the Lord to bestow more, unthankfully forget what he has already given. It is very true, as the apostle observes, that our highest attainments in the present state are only as the attainments of children; and that 'if any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.' Nevertheless, an apprehension of the very first principles in grace, no, the circumstance of being taken into the school of Jesus, is an unspeakable mercy, which a whole life of thankfulness is not sufficient to acknowledge."
"Look back, my brother," he added, "from the first traces you can discover of God's manifestations in your mind—to the present period; and compare your situation then with now, and you will at once perceive what rapid advances you have been making in the divine life, under the teachings of God the Holy Spirit. And this is, in fact, the only method whereby to form a true estimate of ourselves; for when we draw conclusions for the present only, or when we erect as a standard, whereby to judge ourselves, the excellency of others more advanced; all these models being ill-constructed and ill-chosen, must invariably induce mortifying views of ourselves by the comparison.
This is not, therefore, the right plan by which we are to ascertain our state. But if we so judge of our progress in grace, as we estimate growth in the works of nature, the method will be more accurate. In the vegetable kingdom, for instance, however certain an advance in growth may be, yet the most intense eye can never discern any one plant actually growing—but, by the comparative observation of a few days, everyone is enabled to discover that a progression has taken place.
"And while I am speaking of this subject of growth in grace, I would desire to add another observation, which is intimately connected with it—The apostle says, 'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' Now, if I really grow in grace (as increasing grace humbles more and more the soul) I shall grow more sensible of my own worthlessness and Christ's all-sufficiency; deeper views of sin in my fallen nature will induce all those gracious effects which tend to enhance the Saviour; a conscious sense of need will awaken as conscious a desire of having those needs supplied; and every day's experience will make self more lowly—and Christ more exalted. This is to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord together.
The progress of grace therefore, connected with the progress of the knowledge of the Lord, must ever produce those effects. A little grace, like the dawn of day, when shining in the heart, enables the believer to discover by this twilight, something of the darkness around. In proportion as the light advances—he sees the objects clearer; but he then only becomes sensible of all the evils lurking within, when the meridian brightness is completed. Grace, in like manner shining in its full lustre, discovers to us more clearly the corruptions of our nature; and while it accomplishes this purpose, it answers the other blessed purpose also, which the apostle connects with it, of giving us 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'"
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