The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-03-11
HEAVENLY SHEPHERD.
DR.. Talmage Delivers q Glowing
Pastoral Sermon.
Plain Raiment of Humanity-The Crook
In the Hands of Christ--In the Pas
ture GrOund-The shcaring
and the New Fold.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage in the fol-
lowing sermon presents glowing pas
toral scene to the minds eye. The
text is:
The Lord is my shepherd.-PSalms xiii, /.
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-tiine shepherd.
Such an one had abundance of oppor-
tunity of becoming a poet, heing out of
doors II hours the day and oft-times
waking up in the night on the hills.
If the stars, or the torrents, or the sun,
or the flowers had anything to say, he
was very apt to hear it. The Ettrick
shepherd of Scotland, who afterwards
took his seat in the brilliant circle of
Wilson and LOckhart, got his wonder
full poetic inspiration in the ten years
in which he was watching the f1ocks of
Mr.. Laidlaw. There is often sweet
poetry in the rugged prose of the
Scotch shepherd. One of these Scotch
shepherds lost his only son, and he
knelt down in prayer, and was over
heard to say: "Oh, Lord, it has seemed
good in Thy province to take from me
the staff Of my right hand at the time
when to us sand blind mortals l seemed
to be most in need of it; and how /
shall climb up the hill of sorrow and
auId age without it, Thou mayst ken,
but l dinna."
Davi,,, the shepherd boy, is watch
ing his fathers sheep. They are past
uring on the very hills where after
ward Lamb was born of which you
have heard much: The Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the
world" David, the shepherd boy, was
beautiful, brave, musical and poetic.
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
noticed 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, and he had driven the old
stork off the nest to find how many
eggs were under her; and when he
beca me a man he said: LAS for the
stork, the fir trees are her house. "
In his bOyhoOd he had heard the
terrific thunder storm that frightened
the red deer into premature sickness,
and when he became a man he said:
1.-The voice of the Lord maketh the
binds to calve." David, the boy, had
lain upon his back looking ur at the
stars and examining the sky, and to
his boyish imagination the sky seemed
like 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 l
consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy
fingers When he became an old man,
thinking of the goodness of God, he
seemed to hear the bleating of his
fathers sheep across many years, and
to think of the time when he tended
them on the Bethlehem hills, and he
cries out in the text: The Lord is my
shepherd"
If God will help me, will talk to
you of the shepherds plaid, the shep-
herds crook, the shepherds dogs, the
shepherds pasture grounds, and the
shepherds 1ocks.
And first: The shepherds plaid: It
would be preposterous for a man going
out to rough and besoiling work to put
on splendid apparel. The potter does
not work in velvet; the serving maid
does not put on satin while tOiling at
her duties; the shepherd does not wear
a splendid robe in which to go out
amidst the storms, and the rocks, and
the nettles; he puts on a rough apparel
appropriate to his exposed work. The
Lord our shepherd, coming out to hunt
the lost sheep, puts on no regal apparel,
but the plain garment of our humanity.
There was nothing pretentious about
it. | know the old painters represent
a halo around the babe Jesus; but l 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 scissors and needle have done
nothing to make it graceful. l take
it to have been a sack with three holes
in it; one for the neck and two for the
arms. Although the gamblers quar-
relied over it, that is no evidence of it's
value. l have seen two rag piclers
quarrel over the refIse of an ash bar
rel. No; in the wardrobe of Heaven
He left the sandals of light, the Cir
dies of beauty, the robes of power, and
put on the besoiled and tavtered raj
ment of our humanity. Sometimes He
did not even wear the seamless robe.
What is that hanging about the waist
of Christ? Is it a badge of authority?
Is it royal coat OF arms? No, it is d
towel. The disciples feet are filthy
from the walk on the long way, and
are not tit to be put upon the sofas on
which they are to recline at the meal
and so Jesus washes their feet and
gathers them up in the towel to
dry them. The work of saving
this world was rough work, rug
ged work, hard work, and Jesus put
on the raiment, the plain raiment, of
our flesh. The storms were to beat
Him, the crowds were to jostle Him.
the dust was to sprinkle Him. the mobs
were to pursue Him. Oh! shepherd
of Israel! leave "a home Thy bright
array. For Thee, what streams to
ford! He puts upon Him the plain
raiment of our humanity; wears our
woes; and while earth and Heaven
and hell stand amazed at the abnega-
ton, wrapsaround Him the Shepherds
plaid:
Cold mountains and the midnight air,
Witnessed the feryor OF His prayer
Next I mention the shepherds crook.
This was a rod with a curve at the