speaks of the man having the "hundred sheep;" and that the whole parable is a description of what is, and always has been, His own individual work of grace, in that He Himself personally goes about seeking and saving lost souls. The man, then, who has the hundred sheep, i.e., the man whose property they are, represents the Son of God and Son of Man, Jesus Christ. The sheep are the souls that He has purchased with His precious Blood. The fold is the fold of His Church. The sheep that do not wander are those who may have grown up from their youth in His love and grace, or may have previously wandered and are now brought back, but still are now not merely outward professing members of His Church, but in living union with Him-living branches of the Living Vine.

The lost sheep is the wilful sinner who casts himself out of the grace of Christ, because he prefers the ways of his own lusts, his own selfwill, his own vanity, pride, or ambition, his own bad temper, malice and revenge, his evil covetousness, his sloth, his profanity, his ungodliness-who prefers these evil ways to the way of peace in following the footsteps of Christ and His saints.

And now let us endeavour to see how this parable sets forth that love of Christ to lost souls, to convince us of which was His one intention in giving utterance to it.

First of all, notice that the Lord here brings

Himself before us as the Owner of the flock; and the Scriptures speak of Him as having a double right of ownership. First, He has the right of creation. He made the flock. "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." Along with. the Father and the Holy Ghost, He is the Possessor and Lord of all things visible and invisible, so that when He comes to us He comes to His own. And the Fathers of the Church, in commenting on this parable, do not confine the scene of its action to this world. They suppose that by the ninety and nine sheep that went not astray are meant, in the first place, the worlds of angels who kept their first estate; and by the sheep that went astray, they understand this world of fallen men and women

-the human race; and by the owner leaving the ninety and nine, and going after that which was lost, they understand the Eternal Son leaving His throne in Heaven, and coming down from His high estate, and taking upon Him the form of His creature, man, in order that He may find him and bring him back; and by the calling together of His friends and neighbours when He cometh home, they understand His resumption of His seat on the right hand of God, in our nature, in the form and likeness of man, and the calling on the angels to sing His own and His Father's praise, which they did, when St. John, in vision, heard the

voices of ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, singing "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches-glory and blessing."

Whether this be one of the meanings of this parable or not, it is true in itself. It is the fact, and it is well to remember it that we may the more deeply impress upon ourselves the condescending love of Christ; for His possessions by right of creation are not merely some few sinners here, that may not unaptly be figured by a small flock of sheep, but His estate, His possessions, His empire, are all the worlds of Heaven, all the myriads of unseen spirits, all the principalities and powers, all created things, for He himself says, "All things that the Father hath are mine.”

But this meaning, glorious though it be, is not the one we have especially to do with.

The meaning that most concerns us is, that these sheep are men, redeemed or purchased by the Blood of Him who goes far off-even as far as they have wandered-to find them; they are not only redeemed by Him, but have been each one separately owned by Him. They have each one been marked by His mark, gathered into His fold, and so are under His watchful eye.

And here it may be well to pause and notice two things.

First of all, notice that the owner or Lord of

the flock is represented as having only one hundred sheep, and one of these goes astray, and He goes after this one. Well, one may say, of course He would. One out of one hundred sheep is a very appreciable loss. So the Good Shepherd has, after all, a very small flock, for it is represented as but one hundred. If then it is so small a flock, and the world is so full of sinners, is it at all likely that wethat you that I-should be of the number? So you and I need not trouble ourselves about the love of this Good Shepherd, seeing that we individually are so unlikely to be interested in it. But stay! How does the parable begin? “There came near to Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him;" and then when the Pharisees murmured, He puts forth a parable, the meaning of which is, that each one of these very many publicans and sinners was as precious in His sight, as much the object of His care and providence, as much under His eye when it was safe at home, and as much followed by His eye when it went astray, as would be a single sheep belonging to a man who had a flock of but one hundred. Nay, more: in order still further to bring out His love in seeking lost souls, the Saviour goes on to utter a second parable-the parable of the Lost Piece of Silver. A woman has ten pieces of silver. She loses one. Immediately, of course, she misses it, and she lights the candle, and sweeps the house, and

seeks diligently till she finds it. So that every one of these lost or straying souls of wilful sinners was as precious to the Saviour, and as much missed by Him when it fell on the ground, i. e., into the dirt and mire of sin, and was lost, and as much a matter of care and anxiety till it was found again, as would be the shilling of a poor woman who had but ten shillings in the world, and one that was needful for rent, or for the bread of the house, or for the wages of the little servant, had rolled away and was missing.

My brethren, when we thus think of the distinguishing love of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, it is difficult to say whether it is most wonderful, or most awful, or most encouraging. Wonderful indeed, for it is the love of Godthough God manifest in the flesh-yet still an Infinite Being, and so undistracted by numbers, able to keep count of the sand on the sea shore, and the drops of rain-able to take account of every sinner and of all his sins, no matter how long and how sinful his life, and of all his tears for his sins, and his calls for forgiveness, and repentance, and grace.

Awful, too, is this love of Christ. Awful for us ministers, who have taken upon ourselves the oversight of flocks of which our Master keeps such an exact count, and in each one of which He takes the same interest as a man who has a flock of but one hundred sheep takes in each sheep.