97 GROUND OF CHRISTIAN CONFI- Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.-Luke xii. 32. CONSTITUTED as man is in the present world, and receiving most of his knowledge, in the first instance, through the medium of the senses, it would be very difficult, if at all possible, for us to form any conceptions of spiritual truth, unless it were represented to us under the imagery of sensible objects. God has therefore made use of those material things with which we are best acquainted, to give us an idea of his character and will. To denote his anger, he declares himself a consuming fire,-a destroying lion,-a warrior, whetting his glittering sword for the slaughter of enemies, and making ready his bow to shoot destructive arrows,— as employing hailstones, earthquakes, lightnings, and coals of fire. To declare his grace towards returning and obedient sinners, as one who repents of his fierce vengeance,-as a father,—a friend,—a husband, a shepherd, watching over his people as a flock, guiding them to green pastures and living streams, seeking them when they go astray on the dark mountains of error, and restoring them to his fold, "carrying the lambs in his bosom, and gently F leading those that are with young." From these symbols we cannot, perhaps, fully ascertain the whole of spiritual truth, because the things which are seen bear little proportion to those which are invisible; yet, since there is always some resemblance, otherwise an infinitely-wise God would not have employed them, we have light sufficient to guide us in his ways. In those early times when Scripture was given, manufactures and commerce were not so extensive; men chiefly occupied themselves in agricultural pursuits, and large flocks being regarded as the sign of worldly prosperity, the shepherd's calling was both common and honourable. This accounts for the very frequent mention of Jehovah as a shepherd, and of his people under the corresponding character of sheep. "The Lord is my shepherd," said one who was was taken from the sheepfolds to rule the men of Israel. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; ""Thou leddest Joseph like a flock;" the promised Messiah was to be a shepherd in this spiritual sense. And not only in the Bible, but in heathen writings great personages wear the title; for Homer, when speaking of the Grecian princes, frequently calls them Poimenes laōn, “shepherds of the people." Though not so conversant in pastoral affairs, we can very well understand such images, and in what respects God's professing people are distinguished from the world as sheep. The tenor of our Lord's discourse in this chapter, for example, enables us to apprehend the view he takes of them in our text. They are few compared with the population of the earth. Under the Old Testament dispensation, the true knowledge of the Creator was confined to the inhabitants of a little tract of land in Judea, whilst the rest of mankind, through all their generations, were for ages left in the blindness of their minds, to worship stocks and stones, reptiles, and vegetables, and devils, for deities. Not that they were left for superior depravity and perverseness of disposition; for the Jews gave evidence of the same, they, with all their advantages, being a stiff-necked and rebellious nation, and, notwithstanding their light, often rushing prone to the idolatries of surrounding states. It was, then, owing to the sovereign grace of enjoyed such heavenly privileges. mysteriously dark, and we cannot God, that they This subject is enter upon it. "God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and none can say to him, what doest thou?” "He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, among the dwellers on earth," and rendereth account to no one. Even the Gospel, that recognizes no nation, but is given equally for the benefit of Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, has been distributed only among a small minority of the rational beings who live on this planet, and immense and populated districts know not the blessed tidings of salvation. A far more melancholy picture presents itself, if we regard those parts in which it has been made known; for not all the incontestible evidence it affords of human wretchedness, so far as regards our moral condition, not all the vistas it opens of futurity, not all the boundless grace it offers,not all the groans of the damned, or the bliss and hallelujahs of the ransomed, which it unfolds, have influenced the greater number of men to "fly for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them" in the sacred canon. Not only so, but multitudes of those who are professedly its converts, have embraced it, because it is the national faith of their native land, or from other secular motives, which Jesus Christ will not approve; and multitudes besides, who declare a pure intention in becoming disciples, rest in forms, or a theoretic knowledge, or in any thing short of that heart reception and practical exhibition of its doctrines, which alone constitutes a real believer. Who cannot see the meaning of our Saviour, then, when he calls his saints a little flock ?" And who, that feels his power to save, and is experimentally acquainted with the truth, is not overwhelmed with the soft and abundant swellings of gratitude towards Him whose grace hath made us to differ. But to come to what is more especially the main design of our text. Our Lord, in calling his folregard to their character, as lowers a flock, had harmless. The sheep is proverbial for this quality. Inoffensive creature! it seems by nature so little furnished with arms, that so far from attacking other animals, it has not the means of self defence, and, but for the shepherd's care, would become the prey of every other beast. Jesus appeared in the character of a lamb: he was holy, harmless, led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he also opened not his mouth. And those who are predestinated to be conformed to his image manifest the same resemblance in their temper and conversation, which is so obvious that the worst enemies of Christianity have in all periods of the Gospel wondered at the fact, and whilst they hate the faith, have admired and revered its effects upon their life. It is a living miracle of the power of grace,—it has not appeared the stupidity of an ignorant, powerless, and consequently timid mind, full of servile dread; or the harmlessness of the lion's whelp, that as yet possesses no teeth to bite, or claws to lacerate, and which, when grown older, will discover all the ferocity of its species; no, it has been found associated with transcendent talents, the largest measure of human learning, and the possession of wealth, influence, and empire. To what then can it be attributed, but to the power of the Divine Being, whose voice, whilst it calls to the raging ocean mingling with the skies, and it is calm, can with equal facility bid the unruly passions of man subside, and give place to the tranquil virtues, and the zephyrs of love, pity, forgiveness, patience, and other mild and godlike affections. It is the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and child shall lead the fatling together, and a little them." It is the consequence of that change |