The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-08
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
A TALMAGE SERMON THAT PIC.
TUREs GREEN PASTURES

The Disiinguishe Dfvi e Discourses of
the Shepard's Plaid. the pard's jrook,
The Shepherds Dog, the Shepherd Pas
ture Grounds and FIocks
In this wintry season Dr.. Talmage
refreshes US with this glowing pastor
al until we can almost hear the bIeat-
Ing Of the focks IN green pastures.
Tbs text is Psalms XIII, l, The Lord
is my Shepherd"
What with post and rail- fences and
our pride in southdown, Astrakhan
and Flemish varieties Of sheep, there
is no use now Of the old time shepherd.
Such a one mad abundance Of opportu-
nifty Of becoming a poet, being out of
doors Il hours the day, and ofttimes
waking up in the night on the hills.
II the stars or the torrents or the sun
or the flowers had anything to say. he
vas very p to hear it. The EttricI;
Shepherd of Scotland. who afterWard
took his seat in the brilliant circle OF
Wilson and Lockhart, got his wonder
poetic inspiration in the ten years in
which he was watching the focks Of
III. IdIuIOM- mere Is often d sweet
poetry in the rugged prose Of the
Scotch shepherd. One of these Scotch
shepherds lost his only son, AID he
knelt down in prayer and was over
heard to say, 20 Lord, il has seemed
god in thy providence to take from me
the staff of my right hand at the time
when to US sand blind mortals / seem
ed to be most in need of it, and how I
shall climb up the hill of sorrow and
a1,1T apa uitho11t If thou roov-L low
but I dinna."
DAVID. THE SHEPHERD BOY.
David, the shepherd boy, is watch
Ing his fathers sheep. They are pas
turing on the very hills where after
ward a Lamb was born of which you
nave heard much, "the Lamb Of Cod,
which taketh away the sin OF the
world" David, the shepherd boy, was
beautiful, brave, musical and poetic.
I think he often forgot the sheep in
his reveries. There in the solitude he
struck the harp string that is thrilling
through all ages. David the boy was
gathering the material for David the
poet and David the man. Like other
boys, David was fond of using his knife
among the saplings, and he had nOt'ced
the eXuding of the juice of the tree,
and when he became a man he said,
THE trees of the Lord are full of sap
David the boy. like other boys, had
been fond Of hunting the birds nests,
anL he had driven the old stOrk off the
nest to find how many eggs were under
he1, and when he became man he said,
for the stOrk, the fir trees are her
house." In boyhood he had heard the
terrific thunderstorm that frightened
the red deer into premature Sickness,
ami when he became a man he said,
THE voice of the Lord maketh the
binds +n oa11-ob Doyi1 tho how Nod
lain upon his back looking up at the
stars and examining the sky, and to
his bOyish imagination the sky seemed
like a piece OF divine embroidery, the
divine fingers working in the threads
of light and the beads Of stars, and he
became a man and wrote, "When I
consider thy heavens, the work OF thy
fingers" When he became an Old mar
thinking of the goodness Of God, he
seemed to hear the bleating of his
fathers sheep across many years and
t. think of the time VIII m he tended
them on the Bethlehem hills, and he
cries out in the text, 1.-The Lord is lIiy
shepherd"
If God WI help me, I will talk to
you of the shepherds plaid, the shep-
herds crook, the shepherds dogs, the
shepherds pasture grounds, and he
Shepherds fccks.
THE SHEPHERDS LAII
And lirst the shepherds plaid. 1t
would be preposterous for a man going
out - Rough ard besOiling work to put
on splendid apparel. The potter does
not work in rc-vet. The servant maid
does NJ; pu: Oh satin whlle tOilinG at
her dates. The shepherd does NOT
"ear a splendid robe in which % 80
cut ami. the storms, and the rocks
and the E%ctt.es; he puts on the rough
| n ~ rp1 nri D t0 tn his aY M HI
work. The Lord our Shepherd, Ginning
out to hunt the lost sheep, puts on no
regal apparel, but the plain garment
of our humanity. There was nothing
pr~etentious about it. 1 know the old
painters represent a halo around the
babe Jesus, but 1 do not suppose that
there was any more halo about that
child than about the head of any other
babe that was born that Christmas
eve in Judea. Becoming a man., he
wore a seamless garment. The scis-
sOrs and needle had done nothing to
make it graceful. I take it to have
been a sack with three holes in it, one
for the neck and two for the arms. AL
though the gamblers quarreled over it,
that is no evidence of its value. I have
seen wv ragpickers quarrel over the
refuse of an ash barrel. No; in the
wardrobe of heaven he left the sandals
of light, the girdles Of beauty, the robes
Of power, and put on the besoiled and
,tattered raiment Of our humanity.
Sometimes he did not yer wear the
seamless robe. What is that hanging
about the waist Of Christ? Is it a
badge Of authority? Is it a royal coat
Of arms? No; it is a towel. The dis
ciples' feet are filthy from the walk on
the long way and are not fit to be put
upon the sofas on which they are to
recline at the meal, and so Jesus wash
es their feet and gathers them UP in
the towel to dry them. The work Of
saving this world was rough work,
rugged work, hard work, and Jesus
put on the raiment, the plain raiment
Of our flesh. The storms were to beat
him, the crowds We're to jostle him,
the dust was to sprinkle him, the mobs
were to pursue him.. 0 Shepherd Of
Israel, leave at home thy bright array!
For thee, what streams to ford, what
nights all unsheltered He puts upon