sarily implies much exertion, sacrifice, and suffering, on the part of the benefactor. In the case of the good Shepherd, we have this additional evidence in the highest conceivable form. These blessings could not have been secured for the sheep but by the sacrifice of the shepherd's life; and that sacrifice was cheerfully made. "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep; but he who is an hireling, and not the shepherd, 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." Here we have, as in the former case, an emphatic double statement: 'I am not like a hireling shepherd. He may, for his own advantage, take care of the sheep, when the care of them exposes him to no hazard; but let dangers arise, let the flock be attacked by wild beasts-resisting which might endanger his life-he betakes himself to flight, and leaves the sheep to their fate. I am like the proprietor shepherd, who has a peculiar interest in the flock; and so deep is that interest in my case, that I not only expose my life to danger, but I lay it down for the sheep.' The thought naturally rises: But if he lay down his life for the sheep, how can he subsequently take care of them? It is to meet this thought that he says: "I lay down my life that I may take it again." I lay down my life to secure these blessings; I take my life again, that I may bestow them. Because I die, they are saved from death by my dying; because I live, they live also by my life.' Let us endeavor to bring out a little more distinctly this figurative illustration of the close connection subsisting between the death of Christ and the salvation of his people. For this purpose a clear apprehension of the figure is necessary. It may be this: The flock has been carried off by the thief and robber, and he is determined to resist all attempts to wrest from him his ill-earned booty. The shepherd must engage in conflict with him. The proud defiance of the lawless one, supported by his legions, is: "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty; shall the captives of the terrible one be delivered?"""" The shepherd enters on a com bat apparently more unequal than that of David with Goliath. Alone he attacks his numerous assailants; and falls under their foul and murderous blows. A shout of triumph rises from the felon crew. But the triumph is short-the joy is but for a moment. The smitten Shepherd, having touched the earth, rises from the bed of death, and, armed with preternatural strength, overwhelms with shame and discomfiture the armies of robbers, and takes possession of his flock, now doubly his own. The ap plication of the figure, in this view of it, to the victory of Christ over Satan, and the emancipation of his people, who were enthralled by him, is obvious and easy. Or this may be the figure: The flock is attacked by a herd of ferocious wild beasts the shepherd rushes in between them, 17 Isa. xlix. 24. diverts their attention from the sheep, and becomes himself a prey to their ravenous appetites. But scarcely has he fallen, when he again rises, and completely destroys the whole herd of wolves and lions-setting his sheep entirely free from all danger from their craft and cruelty. In this view of the figure, we see death, and the other penal evils to which the whole race to which our Lord's flock belongs had exposed themselves, laying hold on the Redeemer; and as he submits to these, we hear him saying: "Oh Death! I will be thy plague; Oh Grave! I will be thy destruction." We see him destroying death, by dying; ransoming from the grave, by lying down in it; redeeming from the curse, by becoming a curse; bearing, and by bearing, bearing away the sins of men. In either view of the figure, it strikingly brings out the con. nection there is between the death of Christ and the salvation of his people. The last view strikes us as most probably the true one. It brings more fully before our mind the great truth respecting the nature of this connection, so often indicated by the death of Christ being represented as an expiatory sacrifice; that what he suffered, was suffered not only for the benefit, but in the room, of his people; that he suffered what they are liable to; and that it was by his having suffered it that they are freed from suffering it. It is the same truth that is so beautifully taughttaught, as some excellent expositors suppose, under the same set of figurative representations in Isaiah's prophecy: "All we like sheep had gone astray; we had turned every one to his own way; and the Lord made the iniquities of us all"—the ill deserts-the penal evils due to our sins-like so many beasts of prey ready to devour us-"to fall upon him," our surety-shepherd. "And he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed." In the first view of the figure, we see him "spoiling principalities and powers, and triumphing over them in his cross. In the other, we see him making provision for our being made the righteousness of God in him, by becoming a sin-offering in our room.2 1119 20 In dying, and in thus dying, Jesus Christ manifested in a remarkable manner his love of those whom he terms his sheep: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.""" And then such a life as was laid down!— a life more valuable than all the lives of men or of angels-the life of an absolutely innocent, an absolutely perfect, man—a man possessed of all possible wisdom, and holiness, and benignity—a man infinitely dignified by personal union to Divinity! The blood shed for us, and by which we are redeemed, is infinitely more valuable, and therefore the shedding of it infinitely more expressive of love, than would have been the sacrifice of the whole created universe. And then, still further, the life was laid down in the room of the guilty; the death was the death of a victim. 19 Hos. xiii. 14. 19 Isa liii. 5, 6. Col. ii. 15. 20 2 Cor. v. 21. 21 John xv. 13 Ah! to die on the field of battle in a glorious cause is a very dif ferent thing from dying on a cross like a felonious slave. Yes, the death of our Lord, for the salvation of his people, is an overwhelming proof that he is the good Shepherd! III. Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd, as there subsists the most intimate and endearing mutual acquaintance and intercourse between him and his people. I am not like an hireling, who cares not for the sheep, and for whom the sheep do not care; but I am like the good proprie tor shepherd-I have a deep interest in them.' "I know my sheep, and am known of mine; even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father." To perform the offices of a good shepherd, intimate knowledge of, and frequent kindly intercourse with, his flock, are necessary; and whenever these offices are performed the sheep readily recognize their shepherd, and show satisfaction in seeing his person-hearing his voice-following in his steps. This is remarkably the case in oriental countries, and affords a beautiful figurative representation of the mutual regard which subsists between our Lord and his peculiar people. He knows THEM-he distinguishes them from those who do not belong to his flock. "The Lord knoweth them that are his."" No hypocritical art, however exquisite, can impose on him; and no bashful retiredness of disposition can conceal genuine disciple ship. The best of the under-shepherds, however sagacious, may be often mistaken both ways; Eli may mistake Hannah for a drunkard," and Jehoiada may suppose Joash a pious youth;" but the good Shepherd is never deceived. He knows them; i, e., he is intimately acquainted with them individually. He needs not that any one should testify of them -he knows what is in them. He knows everything pertaining to them all the peculiarities of their constitution, he knows their frame"-all the incidents of their history-all their excel lencies and all their faults-all the strong and all the weak points of their character-all their fears, anxieties, and sorrows-so as to be able to suit the communications of his grace to the exigencies of each of them. He knows them; i. e., he acknowledges them as his peculiar property-the objects of his peculiar love and care. This is not an uncommon use of the word know, in Scripture: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." "Depart from me; I never knew you."" He recognizes them as his. He manifests himself to them in another way than he does to the world. He and his Father come to them, and make their abode in them-dwell in them-walk in them. He shows them his glory. He gives them his spirit-the seal of their disciple ship-the earnest of their inheritance. He sets an indelible mark on them, showing that they are his "purchased possession." 22 2 Tim. ii. 19. 24 2 Kings xii. 23 1 Sam. i. 13. 25 Amos iii. 2. Matt. vii. 2o And this intimate knowledge and intercourse is mutual. As HE knows his sheep, he is known of THEM. If the sheep do not know the shepherd, it is a proof that he is not a good shepherd. Our Lord does not want this mark of being a good shepherd; for all his peculiar people know him. They can distinguish him from all others. The language of their minds and hearts is, "None but Christ, none but Christ," as the ground of hope-as the Lord of the conscience-as "the one mediator between God and man." They are intimately acquainted with him. They know him, and follow on to know him, and count all things loss for his excellent knowledge. They delight in studying the truth about him, as revealed in his Word. The divinity of his person-the perfection of his atonement-the prevalence of his intercessionthe omnipotence of his grace-the tenderness of his compassion -the faithfulness of his promises-"the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints-the excellent greatness of his power towards them who believe"-these are among the things most firmly believed among them. And they know him experimentally. They have experienced his wise guidance and his condescending care-the depth of his wisdom and the tenderness of his heart-in his conduct to them individually. They have, as it were, not only heard of him, but they have heard his voice-they have seen his countenance, they have "looked on him, and their hands have handled the Word of Life." They have eaten his flesh, and drunk his blood, and know and are sure that "his flesh is meat indeed-his blood drink indeed." Still further: they acknowledge and recognize him as their Shepherd. He is "the Apostle, the High Priest," the Shepherd, of "their profession." They hear his voice-they follow in his steps. Where he gocs, they go; where he lodges, they lodge. His people is their people-his God, their God. Their whole character and conduct say, "I am Christ's." What is said in reference to the faithful under-shepherd, is true in a higher sense of the great Shepherd :-"The sheep follow him, for they know his voice; and a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from hin, for they know not the voice of a stranger." The illustration which our Lord gives of the intimate and endearing acquaintanceship and intercourse which exist between him and his people, is derived from a comparison which could scarcely have entered into any human imagination; and if it had, he must have been a bold, if not an impious man, who should have dared to utter it: "I know my sheep, and am known of mine; even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father;" for this, according to the most learned and judicious interpreters, is the manner in which the words should be construed. An attentive observer of mankind must have noticed that the mode of illustrating a sentiment often marks the peculiar character, 25 Eph. i 18, 19 27 1 John i. 1. John vi. 55. 28 Heb. iii. 1. circumstances, profession, and pursuit, of him who employs it The same subject-the same principle-is very differently stated and illustrated by different men. The agriculturist, the mer chant, the lawyer, the physician, the soldier, the minister of religion, will generally, when speaking unrestrainedly on almost any subject, give token to a sagacious hearer by which to form a probable conjecture regarding their respective professions. The general principle now referred to is applicable to our Lord. He uses illustrations natural to him, which never would have occurred to any other, and which plainly tell us he was "not of this world"-he was "from above." He borrows his illustrations from the heavenly state, and from the very adytum of the celestial temple-the holy of holies-the holiest of all. Who but Christ-he who had been "in the bosom of the Father"-would bave used such language as this to illustrate his love to his people? "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you" ? And who but he would have sought, in the ineffable intimacies of the Father and his Only Begotten, an illustration of the mutual, intimate knowledge, and complacential intercourse of himself and his chosen ones? This is a subject dark through excess of brightness; yet we cannot choose but gaze a little on it. However incapable we may be of conceiving of the manner in which the Divine Persons apprehend truth, nothing can be more apparent than that there must be the most perfect mutual knowledge and mutual complacency among the mysterious Three, who, having the same Divine nature, must have one mind-one will; and that mind, the perfect light-that will, the absolute good. The Father knows the Son"-thoroughly knows him; he regards him with most complacential delight; and he acknowledged him, no doubt -though in a way we can form no conception of from all eternity. We can, however, form a conception of the way in which he acknowledged him on earth, and is acknowledging him in heaven. He gave his Spirit to him without measure. He sustained him amid all his toils and sufferings. He bore witness to him by the mighty works which he enabled him to perform. He again and again, from the most excellent glory, proclaimed, "This is my beloved Son; hear ye him." He raised him from the dust of death-he set him at his own right hand, and said to him, "Sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot stool." And while he is bringing him into the possession of the world he proclaims, "Let all the angels of God worship him." In like manner, "the Son knows the Father." He is inti mately acquainted with his perfections, his purposes, and his works; and regards all these with infinite complacency. And as he knows, so also does he acknowledge the Father. This he 29 John viii. 23. 30 John i. 18; xv. 9. 32 Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5. 4 Heb. i. 6; comp. Psal. xcvii. 7. |